Science has to be understood in its broadest sense, as a method for apprehending all observable reality, and not merely as an instrument for acquiring specialized knowledge.
In man, the things which are not measurable are more important than those which are measurable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the intangible aspects of life, such as feelings and values, hold greater significance than what can be quantified.
Alexis Carrel's quote emphasizes the importance of the non-material aspects of human existence, such as emotions, relationships, and moral values, which cannot be measured or quantified. He argues that these elements are crucial to understanding the human experience and contribute to a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in life, asserting that the measurable attributes of life, such as wealth or physical achievements, are significantly less valuable.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about personal growth and values.
More from Alexis Carrel
All quotes βMan offers himself to God. He stands before Him like the canvas before the painter or the marble before the sculptor. At the same time he asks for His grace, expresses his needs and those of his brothers in suffering. Such a type of prayer demands complete renovation. The modest, the ignorant, and the poor are more capable of this self-denial than the rich and the intellectual.
Hard conditions of life are indispensable to bringing out the best in human personality.
A few observation and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.
The first duty of society is to give each of its members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny. When it becomes incapable of performing this duty it must be transformed.
Discipline brings us effort, sacrifice and suffering. Later it brings us something of an inestimable value: something of which those who live only for pleasure, profit or amusement will always be deprived. This peculiar indefinable joy which one must have felt oneself to understand is the sign with which life marks its moment of triumph.
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With a tiny bit of effort, the nettle would be useful; if you neglect it, it becomes a pest. So then we kill it. How many men are like nettles My friends, there is no such thing as a weed and no such thing as a bad man. There are only bad cultivators.
It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.
The reason why we want to remember an image varies: because we simply 'love it,' or dislike it so intensely that it becomes compulsive, or because it has made us realize something about ourselves, or has brought about some slight change in us. Perhaps the reader can recall some image, after the seeing of which he has never been quite the same.
Instantaneous and mass communication is the mother of mass naivety. Should we then lose hope? Is there any hope? But to lose hope is as dangerous as to nurture false hope. Where then can we find hope that is responsible?
Where liberty is, there is my country.
The Negro enslaved by his inferiority, the white man enslaved by his superiority alike behave in accordance with a neurotic orientation.