---
title: "1 Having Brain Quotes By Douglas Hofstadter"
description: "1 Having Brain quotes by Douglas Hofstadter. Plus more from Douglas Hofstadter and more Having Brain sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/douglas-hofstadter-16025_bits_the-nice-thing-about-having-a-brain-is-t_2992334.jpg"
---

> [The nice thing about having a brain is that one can learn, that ignorance can be supplanted by knowledge, and that small bits of knowledge can gradually pile up into substantial heaps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/the-nice-thing-about-having-a-brain-is-that-one-can-learn-that/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b9/douglas-hofstadter-16025_bits_the-nice-thing-about-having-a-brain-is-t_2992334.jpg)

## More by Douglas Hofstadter

> [You make decisions, take actions, affect the world, receive feedback from the world, incorporate it into yourself, then the updated 'you' makes more decisions,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/you-make-decisions-take-actions-affect-the-world-receive-feedback/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [“It is an inherent property of intelligence that it can jump out of the task which it is performing, and survey what it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/it-is-an-inherent-property-of-intelligence-that-it-can-jump-out-of/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [This sentence contradicts itself - no actually it doesn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/this-sentence-contradicts-itself-no-actually-it-doesn-t/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [Irrationality is the square root of all evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/irrationality-is-the-square-root-of-all-evil/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal system to lead you to the truth. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/relying-on-words-to-lead-you-to-the-truth-is-like-relying-on-an/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [For 13 to be unlucky would require there to be some kind of cosmic intelligence that counts things that humans count and that also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/for-13-to-be-unlucky-would-require-there-to-be-some-kind-of-cosmic/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [The proverbial German phenomenon of the verb-at-the-end about which droll tales of absentminded professors who would begin a sentence, ramble on for an entire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/the-proverbial-german-phenomenon-of-the-verb-at-the-end-about-which/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [No reference is truly direct—every reference depends on SOME kind of coding scheme. It's just a question of how implicit it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/no-reference-is-truly-direct-every-reference-depends-on-some-kind-of/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [You can never represent yourself totally … to seek self -knowledge is to embark on a journey which ... will always be incomplete, cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/you-can-never-represent-yourself-totally-to-seek-self-knowledge-is-to/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [The entire effort of artificial intelligence is essentially a fight against computers’ rigidity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/the-entire-effort-of-artificial-intelligence-is-essentially-a-fight/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [It is an inherent property of intelligence that it can jump out of a task which it is performing and survey what it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/it-is-an-inherent-property-of-intelligence-that-it-can-jump-out-of-a/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [Enormous numbers of people are taken in, or at least beguiled and fascinated, by what seems to me to be unbelievable hocum, and relatively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/enormous-numbers-of-people-are-taken-in-or-at-least-beguiled-and/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [No matter what verbal space you try to enclose Zen in, it resists, and spills over ... the Zen attitude is that words and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/no-matter-what-verbal-space-you-try-to-enclose-zen-in-it-resists-and/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [It is perhaps wrong to say that the enemy of enlightenment is logic; rather, it is dualistic, verbal thinking. In fact, it is even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/it-is-perhaps-wrong-to-say-that-the-enemy-of-enlightenment-is-logic/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

> [In the end, we self-perceiving, self-inventing, locked-in mirages are little miracles of self-reference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/in-the-end-we-self-perceiving-self-inventing-locked-in-mirages-are/)

[Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/)

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