Alfred Whitehead Quotations

There is a self-satisfied dogmatism with which mankind at each period of its history cherishes the delusion of the finality of existing modes of knowledge.

The only use of a knowledge of the past is to equip us for the present. The present contains all that there is. It is holy ground; for it is the past, and it is the future.

Necessity is the mother of invention" is a silly proverb. "Necessity is the mother of futile dodges" is much nearer the truth.

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change.

Every philosophy is tinged with the colouring of some secret imaginative background, which never emerges explicitly into its train of reasoning.

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

Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended

The Day of Judgment is an important notion: but that Day is always with us