Abstract Thinking Quotes

“It's weird that apples bruise like humans. I'm glad they don't scream when you bite into them.”
― Phil Lester

“Which do you think is more patient, an idea or a hope?”
― Max Porter, Lanny

“Instead of being a sign of their inferiority, the lack of abstract thinking among cats is a mark of their freedom of mind. Thinking in generalities slides easily into a superstitious faith in language. Much of the history of philosophy consists of the worship of linguistic fictions. Relying on what they can touch, smell and see, cats are not ruled by words.
Philosophy testifies to the frailty of the human mind. Humans philosophize for the same reason they pray. They know the meaning they have fashioned in their lives is fragile and live in dread of its breaking down. Death is the ultimate breakdown in meaning, since it marks the end of any story they have told themselves.”
― John N. Gray, Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life

“The most dangerous thing about an academic education is that it enables my tendency to over-intellectualize stuff, to get lost in abstract thinking instead of simply paying attention to what’s going on in front of me.
Instead of paying attention to what's going on inside me.”
― David Foster Wallace

“Forgotten Stars. Time in the Flame.
Missing Shard. The Only Rain.
Door of the Memory. Waves in the Silk.
Silent Birch. Thoughts of Lunatics.
Secret of the Flowers. Soaring of the Souls.
Heart in the Night. And a Kiss Unfolds.
Forgotten Voyager. Voyage in the Words.
Nothing of the World. Someone of the Hemisphere.
Trembling Stones. Sucking Tears.
The Next Gift. The World in the Kisses.
Missing Angels. The Woman of the Girl.
Guardian of the Rings. Thorn in the Pearl.
Whispering Sword. Touching exclaim.
Soul in the Truth. Heat in the Flame.
Thy name, my name, Thy name!
Came. Became. To Remain.”
― Jasleen Kaur Gumber, Ginger and Honey

“Calling a book "Young Adult" is just a fancy way of saying the book is censored. People used to say they like to read books about romance, true crime, comedy, horror or science fiction. But these days people simply say they like to read "Young Adult" books. As if that were a topic. But that's the thing: Young Adult is not a topic, it's a level of censorship. Saying "I like Young Adult books" is just another way of saying "I like books that have been dumbed down for children. I like books with no big words and no difficult abstract concepts. Nothing that will strain my brain." People like to brag that they used to start reading at an early age, as if that were a badge of honor, a sign of intelligence. Nobody brags about when they started to watch TV. But books are being dumbed down so much these days, it's really not a sign of great intelligence when you're a grown up and you struggle your way through Green Eggs and Ham.”
― Oliver Markus

“Another Celtic legend tells of the duel of two famous bards. One, accompanying himself on the harp, sang from the coming day to the coming of twilight. Then, when the stars or the moon came out, the first bard handed the harp to the second, who laid the instrument aside and rose to his feet. The first singer admitted defeat.”
― Borges, Jorge

“Evil doesn't actually exist. It's just an abstract concept we use to describe shitty behavior. It's an idea, a concept, a thought, not a thing.”
― Oliver Markus Malloy, Inside The Mind of an Introvert: Comics, Deep Thoughts and Quotable Quotes

“We shall understand the mode of purification by confession, and that of contemplation by analysis, advancing by analysis to the first notion, beginning with the properties underlying it; abstracting from the body its physical properties, taking away the dimension of depth, then that of breadth, and then that of length. For the point which remains is a unit, so to speak, having position; from which if we abstract position, there is the conception of unity.”
― Clement of Alexandria, Volume 12. The Writings of Clement of Alexandria

“If we dig even deeper to the roots of words, we unearth physical metaphors for still more abstract concepts.”
― Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature

“I fully recognize that all certainty and truth in science depend only on a knowledge of the true God, so much so that, before I knew Him, I could have no perfect knowledge of anything else. But now I am able to understand innumerable things completely and clearly, about both God Himself and other intellectual matters, as well as about all those things in corporeal nature that are objects of study in pure mathematics.”
― René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy

“Использование правильных абстракций приводит к более глубокому проникновению в суть вопроса и большему могуществу при его решении.”
― Steven Strogatz

“The causal, abstract, binary, holistic, and reductionist functions of the human brain all help you to process the enormous amount of information coming into our brain from the external world every day.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“The increased velocity of technological change is introducing questions that were not relevant 10 years ago, and which we have no clear answers. More importantly we are faced with the realization that we will be challenged to find answers to questions we have yet to consider.

Approaching the undiscovered requires a more comprehensive approach, one that is multi-discipline with an emphasis on critical thinking around abstract concepts. One that builds on current measurable knowledge, without being restrained by it. One that leverages the Humanities and encourages abstract thinking so we avoid being overly reliant on our current perception of what is considered baseline knowledge.”
― Tom Golway

“The Home: A Haiku

From void's womb they bloom,
Cosmic dance of fleeting forms,
Stars return to dusk.”
― Amogh Swamy, On My Way To Infinity: A Seeker's Poetic Pilgrimage

“Maybe patterns are children of methods !”
― mohammad amin mardani

“Abstract ideas are conceptual integrations which subsume an incalculable number of concretes - and without abstract ideas you would not be able to deal with concrete, particular, real-life problems. You would be in the position of a new born infant”
― Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It

“If you want to influence a country’s intellectual trend, the first step is to bring order to your own ideas and integrate them into a consistent case. Knowledge necessarily includes the ability to apply abstract principles in specific issues, to demonstrate them, and to advocate a consistent course of action.

What is required is honesty - intellectual honesty, which consists in knowing what one does know, constantly expanding one’s knowledge, and never evading or failing to correct a contradiction”
― Ayn Rand