Civilization is first of all a moral thing. Without truth, respect for duty, love of neighbor, and virtue, everything is destroyed. The morality of a society is alone the basis of civilization.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
Man never knows what he wants; he aspires to penetrate mysteries and as soon as he has, wants to re-establish them. Ignorance irritates him and knowledge cloys.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Humans have an insatiable curiosity that leads them to seek knowledge, yet they often find that knowledge can be overwhelming.
This quote by Henri Frederic Amiel reflects the paradox of human desire for understanding and the simultaneous discomfort that comes with gaining it. While people strive for knowledge and the resolution of mysteries, once attained, this knowledge can feel burdensome or unsatisfying, leading individuals to crave the uncertainty and mystery that once existed. This highlights the complex relationship between ignorance and knowledge, suggesting that both are integral to the human experience.
Themes
KnowledgeIgnoranceCuriosityMysteryHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the complexities of human desire and knowledge.
More from Henri Frederic Amiel
All quotes βTruth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
Any landscape is a condition of the spirit.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
True love is that which ennobles the personality, fortifies the heart, and sanctifies the existence.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
Similar quotes
I have existed from the morning of the world and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night. Although I have taken the form of Gaius Caligula, I am all men as I am no man, and therefore I am a god.
CaligulaRead
Straight ahead you can't go very far.
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
The secret was such an old one now, had so grown into me and become a part of myself, that I could not tear it away.
Charles DickensRead
The lapse of ages changes all things - time - language - the earth - the bounds of the sea - the stars of the sky, and everything 'about, around, and underneath' man, except man himself, who has always been and always will be, an unlucky rascal. The infinite variety of lives conduct but to death, and the infinity of wishes lead but to disappointment. All the discoveries which have yet been made have multiplied little but existence.
Lord ByronRead
Thats how we survive infinity - we kill it by breaking it up into small bits.
Terry PratchettRead
There is nothing by which men display their character so much as in what they consider ridiculous... Fools and sensible men are equally innocuous. It is in the half fools and the half wise that the great danger lies.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead