Arthur Desmond (1859–1929) New Zealnd writer
Rival Caesars (1903)
Tout homme a vu le mur qui borne son esprit.
Poèmes philosophiques, "La flute", line 108; (ed.) Paul Viallaneix Oeuvres complètes (1965) p. 103; translation from Jason Merchey Values of the Wise (2004) p. 200. (1843).
Arthur Desmond (1859–1929) New Zealnd writer
Rival Caesars (1903)
“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
Arthur Schopenhauer book Parerga and Paralipomena
"Psychological Observations"
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Studies in Pessimism
Variant: Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.
Source: Studies in Pessimism: The Essays
“Every man has at times in his mind the Ideal of what he should be, but is not.”
Theodore Parker (1810–1860) abolitionist
"A Lesson for the Day; or The Christianity of Christ, of the Church, and of Society" in The Dial (October 1940), p. 196.
Context: Every man has at times in his mind the Ideal of what he should be, but is not. This ideal may be high and complete, or it may be quite low and insufficient; yet in all men, that really seek to improve, it is better than the actual character. Perhaps no one is satisfied with himself, so that he never wishes to be wiser, better, and more holy. Man never falls so low, that he can see nothing higher than himself.
“The man who knows his limitations, has none.”
David Foster Wallace book Infinite Jest
Source: Infinite Jest
“Let every man mind his own business.”
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part I, Book III, Ch. 8.
“A man’s at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with.”
Cormac McCarthy (1933) American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
Blood Meridian (1985)
Source: Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
“Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.”
Bernard Baruch (1870–1965) American businessman
Deming Headlight (New Mexico), 6 January 1950, as cited in the Yale Book of Modern Proverbs and at There Are Opinions, And Then There Are Facts; Freakonomics blog post by Fred R. Shapiro http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/08/18/there-are-opinions-and-then-there-are-facts/ (18 August 2011)