Philosophia Botanica (1751), aphorism 210. Trans. Frans A. Stafleu, Linnaeus and the Linnaeans: The Spreading of their Ideas in Systematic Botany, 1735-1789 (1971), 80.
“All perishes. A thing of flesh and pore
Am I. Divine impatience also dies.”
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher
Allez! Tout fuit! Ma présence est poreuse,
La sainte impatience meurt aussi!
As translated by by C. Day Lewis
Charmes ou poèmes (1922)
“The map is not the territory, and the name is not the thing named (see also, Alfred Korzybski).”
Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist
Source: Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity, 1979, p. 30
“Yet leaving here a name, I trust,
That will not perish in the dust.”
Robert Southey (1774–1843) British poet
My Days Among the Dead Are Past, st. 4.
Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time
Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from The Teachings of Don Juan (Chapter 4)
“We are sickened by the unknown, but knowledge can prove poisonous.”
Steven Erikson book The Crippled God
The Crippled God (2011)
“God's knowledge extends to things not in existence, and includes also the infinite.”
Maimónides book The Guide for the Perplexed
Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.20
“Many branches of knowledge exist in our world that are unknown to theory and untaught in schools.”
Alexander Bryan Johnson (1786–1867) United States philosopher and banker
The Philosophical Emperor, a Political Experiment, or, The Progress of a False Position: (1841)
Victor Hugo book Les Misérables
Variant: The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous, it means opportunity.
Source: Les Misérables
“Science has only increased the area of the unknown. And if there is a God, her name is Mystery.”
Fritz Leiber book Our Lady of Darkness
Source: Our Lady of Darkness (1977), Chapter 8 (p. 43)
