--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is in our incompleteness, of which we…" description: "\"It is in our incompleteness, of which we are aware, that education as a permanent process is grounded. Women and men are capable of being educated only..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b3/paulo-freire-1551_capable_it-is-in-our-incompleteness-of-which-we_1140575.jpg" --- # It is in our incompleteness, of which we are aware, that… ![“It is in our incompleteness, of which we are aware, that education as a permanent process is grounded. Women and men are capable of being educated only to the extent that they are capable of recognizing themselves as unfinished.” quote by Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b3/paulo-freire-1551_capable_it-is-in-our-incompleteness-of-which-we_1140575.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b3/paulo-freire-1551_capable_it-is-in-our-incompleteness-of-which-we_1140575.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b3/paulo-freire-1551_capable_it-is-in-our-incompleteness-of-which-we_1140575.jpg) > “It is in our incompleteness, of which we are aware, that education as a permanent process is grounded. Women and men are capable of being educated only to the extent that they are capable of recognizing themselves as unfinished.” [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Education is an ongoing process rooted in recognizing our inherent incompleteness and the need for continual self‑discovery. **In simple terms:** Learning is lifelong and acknowledges we are unfinished. Key Takeaway Pursue continuous self‑education. Themes education self‑awareness growth Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - adult learning - social reform - personal development Key Concepts critical pedagogy human development self‑recognition Questions to Reflect On - How do you confront your own incompleteness? - What practices foster lifelong learning? A Different Perspective Self‑recognition can be uncomfortable or destabilizing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Aware Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aware-education-3177443/) [Capable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capable/) [Capable Educated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capable-educated-3177445/) [Educated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/educated/) [Educated Extent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/educated-extent-3177444/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Education Permanent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education-permanent-3177442/) [Grounded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grounded/) [Incompleteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incompleteness/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [Permanent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/permanent/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Recognizing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recognizing/) [Unfinished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unfinished/) ## Related quotes > [The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-unfinished-character-of-human-beings-and-the-transformational/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“I am afraid I am going to drift into fiction, truthful but incomplete, for lack of some details which I cannot conjure up today…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonora-carrington/i-am-afraid-i-am-going-to-drift-into-fiction-truthful-but-incomplete/) [Leonora Carrington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonora-carrington/) > [“The true genius shudders at incompleteness — imperfection — and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-true-genius-shudders-at-incompleteness-imperfection-and-usually/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [ ...Bliss is not something to be got. On the other hand you are always Bliss. This desire \[for Bliss\] is born of the sense… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramana-maharshi/bliss-is-not-something-to-be-got-on-the-other-hand-you-are-always/) [Ramana Maharshi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramana-maharshi/) > [This superficial blurring has something to do with the incapacity I have just mentioned. I can make no statement about reality clearer than my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerhard-richter/this-superficial-blurring-has-something-to-do-with-the-incapacity-i/) [Gerhard Richter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerhard-richter/) > [The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/the-biography-of-a-writer-or-even-the-autobiography-will-always-have/) [V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/) > [“Egoism is itself incompleteness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/egoism-is-itself-incompleteness/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [For me, there's the certain focus points that come out, which could reference a song or a pop disco, or something really abstract. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-tompkins/for-me-there-s-the-certain-focus-points-that-come-out-which-could/) [Sue Tompkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-tompkins/) > [ “Interesting-sounding, supposed applications of the incompleteness theorem \[here earlier taken explicitly to refer to the incompleteness theorems as a whole\] outside mathematics, therefore, often… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torkel-franz/interesting-sounding-supposed-applications-of-the-incompleteness/) [Torkel Franz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torkel-franz/) > [How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. . . . We are to find God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/how-wrong-it-is-to-use-god-as-a-stop-gap-for-the-incompleteness-of/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [Every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/every-part-is-disposed-to-unite-with-the-whole-that-it-may-thereby/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [In whatever you do, if you leave a sense of incompleteness, then Creation cannot resent you, ghosts and spirits cannot harm you. If you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zicheng-hong/in-whatever-you-do-if-you-leave-a-sense-of-incompleteness-then/) [Zicheng Hong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zicheng-hong/) > [Our emotional life maps our incompleteness: A creature without any needs would never have reasons for fear, or grief, or hope, or anger.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-c-nussbaum/our-emotional-life-maps-our-incompleteness-a-creature-without-any/) [Martha C. Nussbaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-c-nussbaum/) > [Today I begin to understand what love must be, if it exists. . . . When we are parted, we each feel the lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aroha-janet/today-i-begin-to-understand-what-love-must-be-if-it-exists-when-we/) [Aroha Janet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aroha-janet/) > [Dark Souls is in some ways an incomplete game, and I like to think that it has been completed by players, by their discoveries,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hidetaka-miyazaki/dark-souls-is-in-some-ways-an-incomplete-game-and-i-like-to-think/) [Hidetaka Miyazaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hidetaka-miyazaki/) ## More by Paulo Freire > [The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-teacher-is-of-course-an-artist-but-being-an-artist-does-not-mean/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“if i am not in the world simply to adapt to it, but rather transform it, and if it is not possible to change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/if-i-am-not-in-the-world-simply-to-adapt-to-it-but-rather-transform/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [The earliest language was body language and, since this language is the language of questions, if we limit the questions, and if we only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-earliest-language-was-body-language-and-since-this-language-is/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [The behavior and reactions of the oppressed, which lead the oppressor to practice cultural invasion, should evoke from the revolutionary a different theory of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-behavior-and-reactions-of-the-oppressed-which-lead-the-oppressor/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“The fact that certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation, thus moving from one pole of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-fact-that-certain-members-of-the-oppressor-class-join-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“When a word is deprived of its dimension of action,reflection automatically suffers as well and the word is changed into idle chatter, into verbalism,into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/when-a-word-is-deprived-of-its-dimension-of-action-reflection/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [A reader does not suddenly comprehend what is being read or studied, in a snap, miraculously. Comprehension needs to be worked forged, by those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/a-reader-does-not-suddenly-comprehend-what-is-being-read-or-studied/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“If I do not love the world, if I do not love life, if I do not love people, I cannot enter into dialogue.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/if-i-do-not-love-the-world-if-i-do-not-love-life-if-i-do-not-love/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [ \[Humans'\] capacity to intervene, to compare, to judge, to decide, to choose, to desist makes them capable of acts of greatness, of dignity, and,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/humans-capacity-to-intervene-to-compare-to-judge-to-decide-to-choose/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [If I am a pure product of genetic, cultural, or class determination, I have no responsibility for my action in the world and, therefore,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/if-i-am-a-pure-product-of-genetic-cultural-or-class-determination-i/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“To begin always anew, to make, to reconstruct, and to not spoil, to refuse to bureaucratize the mind, to understand and to live life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/to-begin-always-anew-to-make-to-reconstruct-and-to-not-spoil-to/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [“The man or woman who proclaims devotion to the cause of liberation yet is unable to enter into communion with the people, whom he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/the-man-or-woman-who-proclaims-devotion-to-the-cause-of-liberation/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/one-cannot-expect-positive-results-from-an-educational-or-political/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [Any situation in which some men prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;… to alienate humans from their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-freire/any-situation-in-which-some-men-prevent-others-from-engaging-in-the/) [Paulo Freire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-freire/) > [Educators need to know what happens in the world of the children with whom they work. 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