Alfred North Whitehead

“We think in generalities, but we live in details.”

— Alfred North Whitehead

Error is the price we pay for progress.

— Alfred North Whitehead

The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment.

— Alfred North Whitehead

We think in generalities, but we live in detail.

— Alfred North Whitehead

I consider Christian theology to be one of the great disasters of the human race.

— Alfred North Whitehead

“In the study of ideas, it is necessary to remember that insistence on hard-headed clarity issues from sentimental feeling, as if it…

— 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

The term many presupposes the term one , and the term one presupposes the term many.

— 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

There is a tradition of opposition between adherents of induction and of deduction. In my view it would be just as sensible…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Religion is what a person does in his solitariness.

— Alfred North Whitehead

There are two principles inherent in the very nature of things, recurring in some particular embodiments whatever field we explore - the…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Above all things we must be aware of what I will call 'inert ideas' - that is to say, ideas that are…

— Alfred North Whitehead

“Religion is what an individual does with his solitariness.”

— Alfred North Whitehead

The science of pure mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit.

— 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

Learning preserves the errors of the past, as well as its wisdom. For this reason, dictionaries are public dangers, although they are…

— Alfred North Whitehead

A culture is in its finest flower before it begins to analyze itself.

— Alfred North Whitehead

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

— Alfred North Whitehead

Art flourishes where there is a sense of adventure.

— Alfred North Whitehead

But in the prevalent discussion of classes, there are illegitimate transitions to the notions of a 'nexus' and of a 'proposition'. The…

— Alfred North Whitehead

Scientists animated by the purpose of proving that they are purposeless constitute an interesting subject for study.

— Alfred North Whitehead

That knowledge which adds greatness to character is knowledge so handled as to transform every phase of immediate experience.

— Alfred North Whitehead

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

— Alfred North Whitehead

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

— Alfred North Whitehead