QuoteProject
The universe (he said) offers a paradox too great for the finite mind to grasp. As the living brain cannot conceive of a nonliving brain — although it may think it can — the finite mind cannot grasp the infinite.
Stephen King
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The human mind struggles to comprehend concepts that are infinitely greater than itself.

This quote reflects on the limitations of human understanding, suggesting that while we may attempt to conceptualize the infinite, our finite minds are inherently unable to fully grasp it. Just as a living brain cannot understand a nonliving brain, we cannot completely fathom the universe's vastness and complexities which are beyond our mental capacities.

Themes

InfiniteMindUnderstandingPhilosophyUniverseParadox

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the limits of human comprehension during a philosophy class.

More from Stephen King

Try any goddam thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it.
Stephen KingRead
Eddie discovered one of his childhood's great truths. Grownups are the real monsters, he thought.
Stephen KingRead
Hairstyles change, and skirt lengths, and slang, but high school administrations? Never.
Stephen KingRead
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
Stephen KingRead
That's the day's business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn't matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you're alone. He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet. The thoughts kept coming and there was no way to deny them.
Stephen KingRead
Late last night and the night before, tommyknockers, tommyknockers knocking on my door. I wanna go out, don't know if I can 'cuz I'm so afraid of the tommyknocker man.
Stephen KingRead

Similar quotes

I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of daily life.
Arthur Conan DoyleRead
Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.
Alan WattsRead
Suicides have a special language. Like carpenters they want to know which tools. They never ask why build.
Anne SextonRead
The self of which you speak, whether it is the great self or the small self, is only a concept that does not correspond to any reality.
Gautama BuddhaRead
The earliest sensation at the onset of illness, often preceding the recognition of identifiable symptoms, is apprehension. Something has gone wrong, and a glimpse of mortality shifts somewhere deep in the mind. It is the most ancient of our fears.
Lewis ThomasRead
Those who have a why to live for can bear almost any how. The necessary premise is that a person is somehow more than his or her "characteristics," all the emotions, strivings, tastes, and constructions which it pleases us to call "My Life." We have grounds to hope that a Life is something more than a cloud of particles, mere facticity. Go through what is comprehensible and you conclude that only the incomprehensible gives any light.
Saul BellowRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.