We keep, in science, getting a more and more sophisticated view of our essential ignorance.

We keep, in science, getting a more and more sophisticated view of our essential ignorance.

...originality consists of the achievement of new combinations, and not of the creation of something out of nothing.

...originality consists of the achievement of new combinations, and not of the creation of something out of nothing.

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.

If you happen to be one of the fretful minority who can do creative work, never force an idea; you'll read more

If you happen to be one of the fretful minority who can do creative work, never force an idea; you'll abort it if you do. Be patient and you'll give birth to it when the time is ripe. Learn to wait.

Happy is he who bears a god within.

Happy is he who bears a god within.

There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.

There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.

Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of read more

Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.

The success of many books is due to the affinity between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of read more

The success of many books is due to the affinity between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of the public.

Considering the enormous range of human knowledge, from intimate personal knowledge of specific individuals to the complexities of organizations and read more

Considering the enormous range of human knowledge, from intimate personal knowledge of specific individuals to the complexities of organizations and the subtleties of feelings, it is remarkable that one speck in this firmament should be the sole determinant of whether someone is considered knowledgeable or ignorant in general. Yet it is a fact of life that an unlettered person is considered ignorant, however much he may know about nature and man, and a Ph.D. is never considered ignorant, however barren his mind might be outside his narrow specialty and however little he grasps about human feeling or social complexities.