Quotes about experiment
A collection of quotes on the topic of experience, experiment, use, life.
Quotes about experiment
“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.”
John Dewey (1859–1952) American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
As quoted in "A Visit to Nikola Tesla" by Dragislav L. Petković in Politika (April 1927); also in Tesla, Master of Lightning (1999) by Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, p. 82
Harry Styles (1994) English singer, songwriter, and actor
In conversation with Timothée Chalamet for i-D Magazine (2 November 2018) https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/evwwma/harry-styles-interviews-timothee-chalamet-photos
Carl Sagan book Pale Blue Dot
Source: Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994), p. 8, Supplemental image at randi.org http://www.randi.org/images/122801-BlueDot.jpg
Robert Downey Jr. (1965) American actor
Quoted in David Carr, "Been Up, Been Down. Now? Super." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/movies/20carr.html?_r=4&pagewanted=2&8dpc&oref=slogin&, New York Times (2008-04-20)
Ram Dass (1931–2019) American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor
"Radio Power Will Revolutionize the World" in Modern Mechanics and Inventions (July 1934)
J. J. Thomson (1856–1940) British physicist
Warning about the non-conclusiveness for the experimental foundation of electrostatic theory, in a footnote of the third edition of: [James Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Vol.1, 3rd Edition, Oxford University Press, 1891, 37]
Quotes eat me
Sadhguru book Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy
Source: Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy
“At 100, I have a mind that is superior — thanks to experience — than when I was 20.”
Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012) Italian neurologist
Source: Quoted in Associated Press obituary http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50324234/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UO09q6w1fTp
“Wisdom is a perfection of knowledge acquired through experience.”
Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author
“You feel your strength in the experience of pain.”
Jim Morrison (1943–1971) lead singer of The Doors
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Foreword (January 1960)
You Learn by Living (1960)
“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Source: Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with Annotations - 1841-1844
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher
6.4311
Der Tod ist kein Ereignis des Lebens. Den Tod erlebt man nicht. Wenn man unter Ewigkeit nicht unendliche Zeitdauer, sondern Unzeitlichkeit versteht, dann lebt der ewig, der in der Gegenwart lebt. Unser Leben ist ebenso endlos, wie unser Gesichtsfeld grenzenlos ist.
1920s, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922)
Variant: Death is not an event of life. Death is not lived through.
If by eternity is understood not endless temporal duration but timelessness, then he lives eternally who lives in the present.
Our life is endless in the way that our visual field is without limit.
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Variant: Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Hannah Arendt book The Origins of Totalitarianism
Part 3, Ch. 13, § 3. <br class="br">Source: On the subject the ideal subjects for a totalitarian authority. Source: The Origins of Totalitarianism, published in 1951. As quoted by Scroll Staff (December 04, 2017): Ideas in literature: Ten things Hannah Arendt said that are eerily relevant in today’s political times https://web.archive.org/web/20191001213756/https://scroll.in/article/856549/ten-things-hannah-arendt-said-that-are-eerily-relevant-in-todays-political-times. In: Scroll.in. Archived from the original https://scroll.in/article/856549/ten-things-hannah-arendt-said-that-are-eerily-relevant-in-todays-political-times on October 1, 2019.
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
My Twisted World (2014), Thoughts at 14
Charlie Parker (1920–1955) American jazz saxophonist and composer
As quoted in Bird : The Legend Of Charlie Parker (1977) by Robert George Reisner, p. 27
Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science
Anthony Storr as quoted in The Observer (12 July 1970)
Misattributed
Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) American singer, guitarist and songwriter
B-Side Magazine, October/November 1994
From Interviews
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States
Source: You Learn by Living (1960), p. 29–30
Context: You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.
NasserTone (1994) Nasser Ali Albahrani is a director, cinematographer, photographer, producer, & YouTuber, who was born on April 3…
Panorama Magazine Article (September 19, 2010)
“We learn of great things by little experiences.”
Bram Stoker book The Jewel of Seven Stars
Source: The Jewel of Seven Stars
“Poets are shameless with their experiences: they exploit them.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881–1955) French philosopher and Jesuit priest
This is attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Joy of Kindness (1993), by Robert J. Furey, p. 138; but it is attributed to G. I. Gurdjieff in Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone's Guide To The Coming Changes (1993) by Moira Timms, p. 62; neither cite a source. It was widely popularized by Wayne Dyer, who often quotes it in his presentations, crediting it to Chardin, as does Stephen Covey in Living the 7 Habits : Stories of Courage and Inspiration (2000), p. 47. Such statements could be considered paraphrases of Hegel's dictum that matter is spirit fallen into a state of self-otherness. Or any number of thousands of similarly vague quotes by hundreds of predecessors.
Disputed
Variant: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Variant: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel book Lectures on the Philosophy of History
Introduction, as translated by H. B. Nisbet (1975)
Variant translation: What experience and history teach is this — that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.
Pragmatical (didactic) reflections, though in their nature decidedly abstract, are truly and indefeasibly of the Present, and quicken the annals of the dead Past with the life of to-day. Whether, indeed, such reflections are truly interesting and enlivening, depends on the writer's own spirit. Moral reflections must here be specially noticed, the moral teaching expected from history; which latter has not unfrequently been treated with a direct view to the former. It may be allowed that examples of virtue elevate the soul, and are applicable in the moral instruction of children for impressing excellence upon their minds. But the destinies of peoples and states, their interests, relations, and the complicated tissue of their affairs, present quite another field. Rulers, Statesmen, Nations, are wont to be emphatically commended to the teaching which experience offers in history. But what experience and history teach is this, that peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, exhibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with itself, and itself alone. Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help. It is useless to revert to similar circumstances in the Past. The pallid shades of memory struggle in vain with the life and freedom of the Present.
Lectures on the History of History Vol 1 p. 6 John Sibree translation (1857), 1914
Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1832), Volume 1
“Experience is what you get while looking for something else.”
Federico Fellini (1920–1993) Italian filmmaker
"Experience"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)
Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) poet, mountaineer, occultist
Source: The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography
“We know not through our intellect but through our experience.”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) French phenomenological philosopher
Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power
Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part II: The Glass Cellars of the disposable sex, p. 233.
Keith Haring (1958–1990) American artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s b…
Haring – Art in Transit http://www.haring.com/!/selected_writing/haring-art-in-transit#.V1cw0tIrKyw The Keith Haring Foundation
Bob Ross (1942–1995) American painter, art instructor, and television host
Bob Ross: Beauty Is Everywhere. Collection 1: Ep. 8 "Wintertime Blues"; The Joy of Painting Season 20: Episode 3 Bob Ross: Winter in Pastel.
Jeff Tweedy (1967) musician
Interviewed in 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65688,00.html
Patch Adams (1945) Physician, activist, diplomat, author
Source: House Calls: How we can all heal the world one visit at a time (1998), p. 10
“Experience first, then intellectualize.”
Carl Orff (1895–1982) German composer
As quoted in "The Orff Process" (4 July 1997) by Deborah Jeter
Emil Zátopek (1922–2000) Czech Olympic long-distance runner
Attributed in "Making a run at the Olympic dream", an unsigned article from The StarPhoenix, 9 May 2007, at canada.com (CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.) http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/sports/story.html?id=b111ee9e-182a-4cff-831a-f784cc7bb37e
RuPaul (1960) Actriz de Televisa, dueña y señora de los ejidos cacaoahuateros
Quoted by Doug Rule in RuPaul: Ultimate Queen http://www.metroweekly.com/2016/04/ultimate-queen-rupaul/ (2016)
Helena Bonham Carter (1966) British actress
Of co-star Greg Sulkin in film "66"; Evening Times (Glasgow); Nov 2, 2006; Andy Dougan; p. 3
Louis IX of France (1214–1270) King of France
On se doit assemer en robes et en armes en tel manière que li preudome de cest siècle ne dient que on en face trop, ne les joenes gens de cest siècle ne dient que on en face peu. <br class="br">Page 171. http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/chroniq/joinv/JV006.htm <br class="br">Jean de Joinville Livre des saintes paroles et des bons faiz nostre roy saint Looys
“A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience.”
Mark Rothko (1903–1970) American painter
As quoted in 'Mark Rothko', Dorothy Seiberling in LIFE magazine (16 November 1959), p. 82
1950's
“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.”
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher
This is declared to be "an old Kantian maxim" in General Systems Vol. 7-8 (1962), p. 11, by the Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory, but may simply be a paraphrase or summation of Kantian ideas.
Kant's treatment of the transcendental logic in the First Critique contains a portion, of which this quote may be an ambiguously worded paraphrase. Kant, claiming that both reason and the senses are essential to the formation of our understanding of the world, writes: "Without sensibility no object would be given to us, and without understanding none would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind (A51/B75)".
Disputed
Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English humorist
Harry Pepner, as quoted in Chicken Soup for the Soul : Stories for a Better World (2005) by Jack Canfield, p. 2
Misattributed
Rudolf Clausius (1822–1888) German mathematical physicist
First Memoir.
The Mechanical Theory of Heat (1867)
“Direct experience is the evasion, or hiding place of those devoid of imagination.”
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 163
The Book of Disquiet
Original: A experiência directa é o subterfúgio, ou o esconderijo, daqueles que são desprovidos de imaginação.
Erwin Rommel (1891–1944) German field marshal of World War II
Source: The Rommel Papers (1953), Ch. XXIII : The Sky Has Grown Dark, p. 523.
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
I ended up walking for two hours, and at the end of it I was crying to myself because I felt so sad.
My Twisted World (2014), Thoughts at 19, Longing
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) Russian composer, pianist, and conductor
Interviewed by David Ewen in The Etude, 1941; cited from Josiah Fisk and Jeff Nichols (eds.) Composers on Music (Boston, MA: Northeastern Universities Press, 1997) pp. 235-6
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
"On the Method of Theoretical Physics" The Herbert Spencer Lecture, delivered at Oxford (10 June 1933); also published in Philosophy of Science, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1934), pp. 163-169., p. 165. [thanks to Dr. Techie @ www.wordorigins.org and JSTOR] <br class="br">There is a quote attributed to Einstein that may have arisen as a paraphrase of the above quote, commonly given as “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler,” "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler", or “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.” See this article from the Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/13/einstein-simple/ for a discussion of where these later variants may have arisen. <br class="br">The original quote is very similar to Occam's razor, which advocates that among all hypotheses compatible with all available observations, the simplest hypothesis is the most plausible one. <br class="br">The aphorism "everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler" is normally taken to be a warning against too much simplicity and emphasizes that one cannot simplify things to a point where the hypothesis is no more compatible with all observations. The aphorism does not contradict or extend Occam's razor, but rather stresses that both elements of the razor, simplicity and compatibility with the observations, are essential. <br class="br">The earliest known appearance of Einstein's razor is an essay by Roger Sessions in the New York Times (8 January 1950) http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30615FE3559137A93CAA9178AD85F448585F9, where Sessions appears to be paraphrasing Einstein: “I also remember a remark of Albert Einstein, which certainly applies to music. He said, in effect, that everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler.” <br class="br">Another early appearance, from Time magazine (14 December 1962) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872923,00.html: “We try to keep in mind a saying attributed to Einstein—that everything must be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.” <br class="br">1930s
Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker
Page 138
The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966)
“Mystical experiences, like those that marked my childhood, are apparently far from rare.”
Albert Hofmann (1906–2008) Swiss chemist
Foreword
LSD : My Problem Child (1980)
Context: In studying the literature connected with my work, I became aware of the great universal significance of visionary experience. It plays a dominant role, not only in mysticism and the history of religion, but also in the creative process in art, literature, and science. More recent investigations have shown that many persons also have visionary experiences in daily life, though most of us fail to recognize their meaning and value. Mystical experiences, like those that marked my childhood, are apparently far from rare.
Niels Bohr (1885–1962) Danish physicist
"The Unity of Human Knowledge" (October 1960)
Context: Physics is to be regarded not so much as the study of something a priori given, but rather as the development of methods of ordering and surveying human experience. In this respect our task must be to account for such experience in a manner independent of individual subjective judgement and therefore objective in the sense that it can be unambiguously communicated in ordinary human language.
Jeff Foster (1980) Spiritual teacher
Source: https://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/writings/shockingly-simple-principles-of-spiritual-awakening/
“Move on...holding on to any one experience will limit you.”
Swami Samarpanananda Monk, Author, Teacher
Tiya-A Parrot's Journey Home ( Page 20 )
Alexis Karpouzos (1967)
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/14108295.alexis_karpouzos?page=2
Friedrich Nietzsche book On the Genealogy of Morality
Essay 3, Aphorism 16
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)
Anthony Bourdain book A Cook's Tour
A Cook's Tour (2001)
Source: A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
“Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection.”
Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor
Source: The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are
“Experience, the name men give to their mistakes.”
Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mr. Dumby, Act III. <br class="br">Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880) <br class="br">Variant: Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes. <br class="br">Variant: Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. <br class="br">Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray <br class="br">Context: Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. [First used by Wilde in Vera; or, The Nihilists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera;_or,_The_Nihilists. ]
Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth
Episode 2, Chapter 13-14
The Power of Myth (1988)
Context: Campbell: Eternity isn't some later time. Eternity isn't a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now which thinking and time cuts out. This is it. And if you don't get it here, you won't get it anywhere. And the experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. There's a wonderful formula that the Buddhists have for the Bodhisattva, the one whose being (sattva) is illumination (bodhi), who realizes his identity with eternity and at the same time his participation in time. And the attitude is not to withdraw from the world when you realize how horrible it is, but to realize that this horror is simply the foreground of a wonder and to come back and participate in it. "All life is sorrowful" is the first Buddhist saying, and it is. It wouldn't be life if there were not temporality involved which is sorrow. Loss, loss, loss.
Moyers: That's a pessimistic note.
Campbell: Well, you have to say yes to it, you have to say it's great this way. It's the way God intended it.
Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995) French philosopher
“Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom.”
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic
Source: There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra
“Experience is a good school. But the fees are high.”
Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic
As quoted in The Modern Handbook of Humor (1967) by Ralph Louis Woods, p. 493
Henry Beston (1888–1968) American writer
Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod

