WIST Quotations

Whitehead, Alfred North -- “Harvard: The Future,” sec. 5, The Atlantic Monthly (Sep 1936)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
“Harvard: The Future,” sec. 5, The Atlantic Monthly (Sep 1936)
(Source)

Reprinted in Essays in Science and Philosophy, Part 3 (1947). Often misattributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Whitehead, Alfred North -- “John Dewey and His Influence” (1), The Philosophy of John Dewey [ed. P. Schlipp] (1939)

Dave — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:09:44 +0000

Nothing is more curious than the self-satisfied dogmatism with which mankind at each period of its history cherishes the delusion of the finality of its existing modes of knowledge.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
“John Dewey and His Influence” (1), The Philosophy of John Dewey [ed. P. Schlipp] (1939)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- “Mathematics and the Good,” The Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, ed. Paul A. Schilpp (1941)

Dave — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:16:59 +0000

The thorough skeptic is a dogmatist. He enjoys the delusion of complete futility.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
“Mathematics and the Good,” The Philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, ed. Paul A. Schilpp (1941)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- (10 Jun 1943), Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead [rec. L. Price (1954)]

Dave — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:26:05 +0000

Ninety percent of our lives is governed by emotion. Our brains merely register and act upon what is telegraphed to them by our bodily experience. Intellect is to emotion as our clothes are to our bodies; we could not very well have civilized life without clothes, but we would be in a poor way if we had only clothes without bodies.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
(10 Jun 1943), Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead [rec. L. Price (1954)]

Whitehead, Alfred North -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
(Attributed)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Every really new idea looks crazy at first.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
(Attributed)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Adventures of Ideas, 4.3 (1933)

Dave — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:06:40 +0000

Where there is a creed, there is a heretic around the corner or in his grave.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Adventures of Ideas, 4.3 (1933)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 18 July 1939 [rec. Lucien Price] (1954)

Dave — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:28:14 +0000

Machiavelli wrote rules for a short-term success.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 18 July 1939 [rec. Lucien Price] (1954)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 28 Apr 1939 (1954)

Dave — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:16:50 +0000

Ideas won’t keep. Something must be done about them.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 28 Apr 1939 (1954)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 5 May 1943 [rec. Lucien Price (1954)]

Dave — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:17:55 +0000

The events which we see, and which look like freaks of chance, are only the last steps in long lines of causation.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, 5 May 1943 [rec. Lucien Price (1954)]

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Modes of Thought, 1.3 (1938)

Dave — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:33:13 +0000

Dogmatism is the anti-Christ of learning.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Modes of Thought, 1.3 (1938)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (1929)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (1929)
(Source)

Based on his Gifford Lectures, University of Edinburgh (1927-28), on process philosophy.

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, Preface (1929)

Dave — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 19:28:02 +0000

How shallow, puny, and imperfect are efforts to sound the depths in the nature of things. In philosophical discussion, the merest hint of dogmatic certainty as to finality of statement is an exhibition of folly.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, Preface (1929)
(Source)

The book is a collection of his Gifford Lectures, University of Edinburgh (1927-1928).

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Science and the Modern World (1925)

Dave — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 23:55:24 +0000

It is the business of the future to be dangerous.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Science and the Modern World (1925)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Science and the Modern World, ch. 12 (1925)

Dave — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:25:19 +0000

In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of a defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress towards a victory. This is one great reason for the utmost toleration of variety of opinion. Once and forever, this duty of toleration has been summed up in the words, “let both grow together until the harvest.”

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Science and the Modern World, ch. 12 (1925)

Reference is to Matthew 13:30.

Whitehead, Alfred North -- The Aims of Education and Other Essays, II (1929)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The function of University is to enable you to shed details in favor of principles.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
The Aims of Education and Other Essays, II (1929)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Essay (1926-08), “The Education of an Englishman,” Atlantic Monthly

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Essay (1926-08), “The Education of an Englishman,” Atlantic Monthly
(Source)

This is often slightly misquoted as "... but we live in details."

Whitehead, Alfred North -- In Lucien Price, ed., Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogue 25, 1941-12-10 (1954)

Dave — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 18:49:40 +0000

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you. If a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
In Lucien Price, ed., Dialogues of Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogue 25, 1941-12-10 (1954)
(Source)

Whitehead, Alfred North -- Speech (1916-01), “The Aims of Education — a Plea for Reform,” Presidential Address to the Mathematical Association

Dave — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:20:21 +0000

In the conditions of modern life the rule is absolute, the race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed. Not all your heroism, not all your social charm, not all your wit, not all your victories on land or at sea, can move back the finger of fate. To-day we maintain ourselves. To-morrow science will have moved forward yet one more step, and there will be no appeal from the judgment which will then be pronounced on the uneducated.

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) English mathematician and philosopher
Speech (1916-01), “The Aims of Education — a Plea for Reform,” Presidential Address to the Mathematical Association
(Source)

Collected in The Organisation of Thought: Educational and Scientific, ch. 1 (1917).