Tout est poison, rien n'est poison, tout est une question de dose. Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose.
Claude BernardRead
The fact that knowledge endlessly recedes as the investigator is about to grasp it is what constitutes at the same time his torment and happiness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The pursuit of knowledge can be both frustrating and rewarding.
This quote by Claude Bernard reflects the paradox of knowledge where the more one seeks to understand, the more elusive that understanding becomes. It captures the dual nature of intellectual pursuit, where the investigator experiences the agony of never fully grasping knowledge, while simultaneously finding joy in the relentless quest for learning and discovery.
Themes
KnowledgePursuitInvestigationLearningHappinessTorment
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about lifelong learning, a speaker might quote Bernard to emphasize the joy and challenges of seeking knowledge.
More from Claude Bernard
All quotes βWhen a physician is called to a patient, he should decide on the diagnosis, then the prognosis, and then the treatment. ... Physicians must know the evolution of the disease, its duration and gravity in order to predict its course and outcome. Here statistics intervene to guide physicians, by teaching them the proportion of mortal cases, and if observation has also shown that the successful and unsuccessful cases can be recognized by certain signs, then the prognosis is more certain.
Claude BernardRead
The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate.
Claude BernardRead
Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
Claude BernardRead
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
Claude BernardRead
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
Claude BernardRead
Similar quotes
One who is wise and disciplined, always kind and intelligent, humble and free from pride. One like this will be praised.
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What are we going to get out of life? This can understandably be a question of fundamental importance to us. We begin with certain basic needs and desires. It is important to have a comfortable home, plenty of food, a meaningful and well-paying job, comfort, companionship, and joy. However, many of us have not fully realized a simple, basic principle: for our receiving to take place, we must first give. Giving and receiving are two aspects of the same law of life.
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One paradox of professional writing is that books written solely for money and/or acclaim will almost never be good enough to garner either.
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Only in quietness do we possess our own minds and discover the resources of the Inner Life.
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The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes.
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We have little control over the circumstances of life. We can't control the weather or the economy, and we can't control what other people say about or do to us. There is only one area where we have control--we can rule the kingdom inside. The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart.
Warren W. WiersbeRead