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Quotes about thinking

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There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The Time Machine (1895), Chapter XIIIIn context
- Change
- Intelligence
No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The War of the Worlds (1898), Book One: The Coming of the Martians, Chapter IIn context
- Intelligence
- Science
Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The War of the Worlds (1898), Book One: The Coming of the Martians, Chapter IIn context
- Envy
- Intelligence
Great and strange ideas transcending experience often have less effect upon men and women than smaller, more tangible considerations.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The Invisible Man (1897), Chapter XIn context
- Ideas
All men, however highly educated, retain some superstitious inklings.
H. G. Wells1866–1946The Invisible Man (1897), Chapter XVIIIn context
- Education
Never dream of forcing men into the ways of God. Think yourself, and let think.
John Wesley1703–1791Sermons on Several Occasions (1771)
- Religion
True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision.
Edith Wharton1862–1937The Writing of Fiction (1925), ch. I
- Art
- Ideas
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900
- Forgiveness
- Genius
The intellect is not a serious thing, and never has been. It is an instrument on which one plays, that is all.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900
- Intelligence
An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Epigrams of Oscar Wilde, edited by Alvin Redman (1954)
- Ideas
There is no sin except stupidity.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Critic as Artist (1891), Part II
- Intelligence
Now, the value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it. Indeed, the probabilities are that the more insincere the man is, the more purely intellectual will the idea be, as in that case it will not be coloured by either his wants, his desires, or his prejudices.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
- Ideas
Genius lasts longer than beauty.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), Chapter IIn context
- Beauty
- Genius
A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that’s unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Culture and Value (1980), p. 42e
Ambition is the death of thought.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Culture and Value (1980), p. 77e
- Motivation & Goals