"The important thing is not to know..." - Quote by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The important thing is not to know more than all men, but to know more at each moment than any particular man.
More by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Just as, out of habit, one consults a run-down clock as though it were still going, so too one may look at the face of a beautiful woman as though he still loved her.”
“To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.”
“The mind is found most acute and most uneasy in the morning. Uneasiness is, indeed, a species of sagacity - a passive sagacity. Fools are never uneasy.”
More on Knowledge
“We must guard against becoming so engrossed in the specific nature of the roots and bark of the trees of knowledge as to miss the meaning and grandeur of the forest they compose.”
“All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses. The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions.”
“All men desire by nature to know.”
More on Learning
“Learning is but an adjunct to ourself, And where we are our learning likewise is.”
“I was at Reed [College] for only a few months. My parents intended for me to stay there for all four years but I decided that college wasn't right for me. I had no idea what I wanted to do I didn't see how college was going to help me.”
“If I'm going to a new country, I try to learn something about the language and the culture, so I don't just go bumbling over things.”