The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Understanding
The thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.
Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged · 1957

Quotes

“Most problems in real life are poorly understood, in that the real problem is often something different from what it is orginally thought to be.”

Tony Hoare · Computer Science, 1971 · Primary source

“In the development of our understanding of complex phenomena, the most powerful tool available to the human intellect is abstraction. Abstraction arises from a recognition of similarities between certain objects, situations, or processes in the real world, and the decision to concentrate on these similarities, and to ignore for the time being the differences.”

Tony Hoare · Structured Programming, 1972 · Primary source

“Above all, I did not allow anything to be done which I did not myself understand. It worked!”

Tony Hoare · The Emperor’s Old Clothes, 1981 · Primary source

“Have you felt it, too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you—except the things that count? And your most important is nothing to them, nothing, not even a sound they can recognize.”

Ayn Rand · The Fountainhead, 1943 · Primary source

“Fear always springs from ignorance.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · The American Scholar, 1837 · Primary source

“Beauty is the form under which the intellect prefers to study the world.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Beauty, 1841 · Primary source

“There is no knowledge that is not power.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Old Age, 1870 · Primary source

“A problem thoroughly understood is half solved.”

Charlie Munger · Daily Journal Corporation Annual Meeting, 2020 · Primary source

“Just as food eaten without caring for it is turned into loathsome nourishment, so study without a taste for it spoils memory, by retaining nothing which it has taken in.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“Any one who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but rather his memory.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

“Finally, I said that I couldn’t see how anyone could he educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, and teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything.”

Richard Feynman · Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 1985 · Primary source

“I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

Richard Feynman · What Do You Care What Other People Think?, 1986 · Primary source

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”

Marie Curie · No reliable source

Related Tags

Judgement 31 Uncertainty 20 Perception 20 Discipline 19 Learning 19 Curiosity 19 Knowledge 18 Observation 17 Problem-solving 15 Complexity 15 Beauty 14 Critical thinking 13 Fear 12 Power 11 Motivation 11 Leadership 9 Reasoning 8 Memory 7 Aesthetics 6 Capability 6 Education 6 Identity 5 Reason 5 Design 4 Abstraction 4 Intellect 4 Authority 4 Analysis 3 Recovery 3 Recognition 3 Clear thinking 3 Rote learning 3 Generalisation 2 Ignorance 2 Root causes 2 Study 2 Assessment 2 Project management 1 Alienation 1 Emotional distance 1 Knowledge retention 1 Conceptual learning 1 Exam culture 1 Educational systems 1 Terminology 1 Conceptual knowledge 1