Quotes about thinking
552 quotes from 279 people
Think before you speak is criticism’s motto; speak before you think is creation’s.
E. M. Forster1879–1970Two Cheers for Democracy (1951)The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step outside the frame.
Salman Rushdieborn 1947The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999)Most men judge only by their senses and let themselves be persuaded by what they see.
Cyrano de Bergerac1619–1655The Other World (1657)His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings.
Ernest Hemingway1899–1961A Moveable Feast (1964), Ch. 17, “Scott Fitzgerald”The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing.
Sigmund Freud1856–1939The Future of an Illusion (1927)One human thought alone is worth more than the entire world, hence God alone is worthy of it.
John of the Cross1542–1591The Sayings of Light and Love‘Tis the hardest thing in the world to be a good Thinker, without being a strong Self-Examiner.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury1671–1713Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, p. 92; “Soliloquy: or Advice to an Author”.The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.
Martin Heidegger1889–1976What is Called Thinking? [Was heisst Denken?] (1951–1952), as translated by Fred D. Wieck and J. Glenn Gray (1968)I’m not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why.
Bernard Baruch1870–1965New York Post (24 June 1965)There are very few really brilliant men who have not had at least one madman among their ancestors.
André Maurois1885–1967Les silences du colonel Bramble (The Silence of Colonel Bramble) (1918), Ch. 12
Peter Ustinov1921–2004Dear Me (1977)
Philip Roth1933–2018The Counterlife (1986), Ch. 5
William Makepeace Thackeray1811–1863The History of Henry Esmond (1852), Bk. II, Ch. 1.
Walt Disney1901–1966The Quotable Walt Disney (2001)
Christopher Hitchens1949–2011Christopher Hitchens vs. William Dembski, 18/11/2010 (closing remarks)