“Everything that is human looks like a special case”

—  Max Frisch

Sketchbook 1946-1949

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Everything that is human looks like a special case" by Max Frisch?
Max Frisch photo
Max Frisch 67
Swiss playwright and novelist 1911–1991

Related quotes

Garth Nix photo

“Lieutenant Crosshaw says you are a special case!" bellowed Helve. "I do not like special cases! Special cases do not make good soldiers! Special cases do not help other recruits become good soldiers! Therefore, you will not be a special case! You understand me!”

Garth Nix (1963) Australian fantasy writer

"I think so-"
"Shut up! That was not a question!"
Source: The Keys to the Kingdom series, Sir Thursday (2006), p. 124.

Jonathan Franzen photo
Roman Vishniac photo
John Gray photo

“The psychology of committees is a special case of the psychology of mobs.”

Celia Green (1935) British philosopher

The Decline and Fall of Science (1976)

Edward de Bono photo

“Design is really a special case of problem solving.”

Edward de Bono (1933) Maltese physician

Source: Lateral Thinking : Creativity Step by Step (1970), p. 198; Cited in: Eddie Norman, Urry (1995) Advanced design and technology. p. 65-66.
Context: Design is really a special case of problem solving. One wants to bring about a desired state of affairs. Occasionally one wants to remedy some fault but more usually one wants to bring about something new. For that reason design is more open ended than problem solving. It requires more creativity. It is not so much a matter of linking up a clearly defined objective with a clearly defined starting position (as in problem solving) but more a matter of starting out from a general position in the direction of a general objective

Rosabeth Moss Kanter photo

“Everything looks like a failure in the middle.”

Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1943) American economist

Slightly edited version of text in The Change Masters, Simon and Shuster, 1987

Buckminster Fuller photo

“Our brains deal exclusively with special-case experiences.”

Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983) American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist

1960s, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1963)
Context: Our brains deal exclusively with special-case experiences. Only our minds are able to discover the generalized principles operating without exception in each and every special-experience case which if detected and mastered will give knowledgeable advantage in all instances.

Related topics