“There are too many things we do not wish to know about ourselves.”
James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time
Source: The Fire Next Time
The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (2019)
“There are too many things we do not wish to know about ourselves.”
James Baldwin book The Fire Next Time
Source: The Fire Next Time
“In America, we like everyone to know about the good work we're doing anonymously.”
Jay Leno (1950) American comedian, actor, writer, producer, voice actor and television host
Said on a 2008 episode (12.7) of British motoring program Top Gear.
Miscellaneous
Aron Ra (1962) Aron Ra is an atheist activist and the host of the Ra-Men Podcast
"3rd Foundational Falsehood of Creationism" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnj7PlqmJ5o, Youtube (December 10, 2007) <br class="br">Youtube, Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism
Allan Bloom (1930–1992) American philosopher, classicist, and academician
“Western Civ,” p. 18.
Giants and Dwarfs (1990)
Jane Goodall (1934) British primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist
As quoted in Going Blue: A Teen Guide to Saving Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers, & Wetlands (2010) by Cathryn Berger Kaye and Philippe Cousteau, p. 14
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
Entry (1955)
Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)
Context: Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
“The most difficult thing is to know what we do know, and what we do not know.”
P. D. Ouspensky book Tertium Organum
Source: Tertium Organum (1912; 1922), Ch. I
Context: The most difficult thing is to know what we do know, and what we do not know.
Therefore, desiring to know anything, we shall before all else determine WHAT we accept as given, and WHAT as demanding definition and proof; that is, determine WHAT we know already, and WHAT we wish to know.
In relation to the knowledge of the world and of ourselves, the conditions would be ideal could we venture to accept nothing as given, and count all as demanding definition and proof. In other words, it would be best to assume that we know nothing, and make this our point of departure.
But unfortunately such conditions are impossible to create. Knowledge must start from some foundation, something must be recognized as known; otherwise we shall be obliged always to define one unknown by means of another.