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
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.
men mind passionate
The new tinge to modern minds is a vehement and passionate interest in the relation of general principles to irreducible and stubborn facts. All the world over and at all times there have been practical men, absorbed in 'irreducible and stubborn facts'; all the world over and at all times there have been men of philosophic temperament, who have been absorbed in the weaving of general principles. It is this union of passionate interest in the detailed facts with equal devotion to abstract generalisation which forms the novelty of our present society.
fate ideas mind
The importance of an individual thinker owes something to chance. For it depends upon the fate of his ideas in the minds of his successors.
mind way wells
An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it.
style mind lasts
Style, in its finest sense, is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also the most useful. It pervades the whole being.
mind impressive metaphysics
Vedanta is the most impressive metaphysics the human mind has conceived.
ideas mind combination
Above all things we must be aware of what I will call 'inert ideas' - that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.
life math mind
Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the purpose of life is to grasp as much as we can out of that infinitude.
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.
achievement english-mathematician periods seldom
Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.
matter subject-matter manifestation
There is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations
imagination experience tragedy
The tragedy of the world is that those who are imaginative have but slight experience, and those who are experienced have feeble imaginations.
may coats seamless
You may not divide the seamless coat of learning,