Life Quotes by Alfred North Whitehead

There is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations

— Alfred North Whitehead

The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Youth is life as yet unblemished by much tragedy, but hardly by TV.

— Alfred North Whitehead

One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of wandering.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Religion is what a person does in his solitariness.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Life is the enjoyment of emotion, derived from the past and aimed at the future.

— Alfred North Whitehead

The human body is an instrument for the production of art in the life of the human soul.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the Universe.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Human life is driven forward by its dim apprehension of notions too general for its existing language.

— Alfred North Whitehead

There is a quality of life which lies always beyond the mere fact of life; and when we include the quality in…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of infinitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the…

— Alfred North Whitehead

To be an abstraction does not mean that an entity is nothing. It merely means that its existence is only a factor…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The point about zero is that we do not need to use it in the operation of daily life. No one goes…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The factor in human life provocative of a noble discontent is the gradual emergence of a sense of criticism, founded upon appreciation…

— Alfred North Whitehead

In the conditions of modern life the rule is absolute, the race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the…

— Alfred North Whitehead

In a sense, knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows, for details are swallowed up in principles. The details for knowledge which are important,…

— Alfred North Whitehead

In the history of the world the prize has not gone to those species which specialized in methods of violence, or even…

— Alfred North Whitehead

In its solitariness the spirit asks, What, in the way of value, is the attainment of life? And it can find no…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Our rate of progress is such that an individual human being, of ordinary length of life, will be called on to face…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The misconception which has haunted philosophic literature throughout the centuries is the notion of 'independent existence.' There is no such mode of…

— Alfred North Whitehead

In a living civilization there is always an element of unrest, for sensitiveness to ideas means curiosity, adventure, change. Civilized order survives…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. Life refuses to be embalmed alive.…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The point about zero is that we do not need to use it in the operations of daily life. No one goes…

— Alfred North Whitehead

In the conditions of modern life the rule is absolute, the race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed. Not all…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The essence of Christianity is the appeal to the life of Christ as a revelation of the nature of God and of…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Apart from blunt truth, our lives sink decadently amid the perfume of hints and suggestions.

— Alfred North Whitehead

It is natural to think that an abstract science cannot be of much importance in affairs of human life, because it has…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The justification for a university is that it preserves the connection between knowledge and the zest of life, by uniting the young…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Identification of rhythm as the casual counterpart of life; wherever there is some life, only perceptible to us when the analogies are…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Life is complex in its expression, involving more than percipience, namely desire, emotion, will, and feeling.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Disputing the commonsense notion that all events require the prior existence of some underlying matter or substance. There is no antecedent static…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The foundations of the world are to be found, not in the cognitive experience of conscious thought, but in the aesthetic experience…

— Alfred North Whitehead

So far as the mere imparting of information is concerned, no university has had any justification for existence since the popularization of…

— Alfred North Whitehead

The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, seek simplicity and distrust it.

— Alfred North Whitehead

Religion increasingly is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life.

— Alfred North Whitehead

The fact of the religious vision, and its history of persistent expansion, is our one ground for optimism. Apart from it, human…

— Alfred North Whitehead