
Why I Am An Agnostic (1929)
Source: Why I Am An Agnostic and Other Essays
Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 60, “Values and Knowledge” (p. 236)
Why I Am An Agnostic (1929)
Source: Why I Am An Agnostic and Other Essays
“Curiosity is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Dans un mois, dans un an (1957, Those Without Shadows, translated 1957)
“To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.”
1960s, Freedom From The Known (1969)
Context: That is the first thing to learn — not to seek. When you seek you are really only window-shopping. The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality, or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosophers or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself and that is why you must know yourself. Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self. To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.
“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”
“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.”
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
“The beginning of all wisdom is acknowledgement of facts.”
Source: Quoted on the Paasikivi monument in Helsinki, supposedly originating from Thomas Carlyle
“A knowledge of Bach is the beginning of musical wisdom.”
Page 47 https://books.google.com/books?id=pQARAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA47.
Music: An Art and a Language (1920), Polyphonic Music; Sebastian Bach (Ch. III)