“No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Divinity
“It is not proof that I sought. I, of all men, know that proof is but a fallacy invented by man to justify to himself and his fellows his own crass lust and folly.”
The Judge
"Beyond" (1933)
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William Faulkner214
American writer 1897–1962Related quotes
“Feelings are self-justifying, with a set of perceptions and "proofs" all their own.”
Daniel Goleman (1946) American psychologist & journalist
Source: Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1995), p. 295
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Source: The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child (1877)
Context: Only a few years ago there was a great awakening of the human mind. Men began to inquire by what right a crowned robber made them work for him? The man who asked this question was called a traitor. Others asked by what right does a robed hypocrite rule my thought? Such men were called infidels. The priest said, and the king said, where is this spirit of investigation to stop? They said then and they say now, that it is dangerous for man to be free. I deny it. Out on the intellectual sea there is room enough for every sail. In the intellectual air there is space enough for every wing.
The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
“Man's knowledge, save before his fellow man,
Is ignorance—his widest wisdom folly.”
Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914) English literary critic and poet
The Coming of Love and Other Poems (1897)
Source: "Prophetic Pictures at Venice VII: New Year's Morning, 1867", p. 207.
“I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof.”
Andrew Wiles (1953) British mathematician
Nova Interview
“Beyond his own sure knowledge, he had not a shred of proof.”
Clifford D. Simak (1904–1988) American writer, journalist
“The Sitters” (p. 90)
Short Fiction, Skirmish (1977)
Florian Cajori book A History of Mathematics
Source: A History of Mathematics (1893), p. 30, Reported in Moritz (1914)
“His folly has not fellow
Beneath the blue of day
That gives to man or woman
His heart and soul away.”
A.E. Housman book A Shropshire Lad
No. 14, st. 3.
A Shropshire Lad (1896)
