Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead OM FRSwas an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found application to a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology, among other areas...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth15 February 1861
Alfred North Whitehead quotes about
may coats seamless
You may not divide the seamless coat of learning,
race may littles
The way in which the persecution of Galileo has been remembered is a tribute to the quiet commencement of the most intimate change in outlook which the human race had yet encountered. Since a babe was born in a manger, it may be doubted whether so great a thing has happened with so little stir
numbers poetry-and-music may
You cannot evade quantity. You may fly to poetry and music, and quantity and number will face you in your rhythms and your octaves.
truth heaven may
Heaven knows what seeming nonsense may not tomorrow be demonstrated truth.
men long may
It does not matter what men say in words, so long as their activities are controlled by settled instincts. The words may ultimately destroy the instincts; but until this has occurred, words do not count.
wise may bases
You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom.
ideas may firsts
If you have had your attention directed to the novelties in thought in your own lifetime, you will have observed that almost all really new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced, and almost any idea which jogs you out of your current abstractions may be better than nothing.
may mood paradox
It is not paradox to say that in our most theoretical moods we may be nearest to our most practical applications.
errors may chance
Error itself may be happy chance.
math development may
The science of pure mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit.
brutal courage firm force rather resolve true virtue vulgar
True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes. Rather the firm resolve of virtue and reason.
analysis common-sense mind seldom simple solutions takes undertake unusual
Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.
bother familiar mankind mind requires undertake unusual
Familiar things happen, and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
achievement english-mathematician periods seldom
Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.