Personal Knowledge Quotes

“We cannot ultimately specify the grounds (either metaphysical or logical or empirical) upon which we hold that our knowledge is true. Being committed to such grounds, dwelling in them, we are projecting ourselves to what we believe to be true from or through these grounds. We cannot therefore see what they are. We cannot look at them because we are looking with them.”
― Michael Polanyi, Meaning

“You cannot change another person's mind or educate them; this they must do themselves.”
― Bryant McGill, Voice of Reason

“Broadening personal knowledge of the world is a worthwhile adventure. Education flows from insightful firsthand experience and from listening carefully to the astute observations of other people. It is essential to pay heed to valuable information passed down by writers and by the viva voce of respected contemporaries. I must take what is portable from the dearth of personal encounters and make out what I can from the richness of studious words shared by kindhearted souls whom I have met and what few author’s lustrous works that I was privileged to read.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

“I believe that in spite of the hazards involved, I am called upon to search
for the truth and state my findings. This sentence, summarizing my
fiduciary programme, conveys an ultimate belief which I find myself
holding. Its assertion must therefore prove consistent with its content by
practising what it authorizes. This is indeed true. For in uttering this
sentence I both say that I must commit myself by thought and speech, and
do so at the same time. Any enquiry into our ultimate beliefs can be
consistent only if it presupposes its own conclusions. It must be
intentionally circular.”
― Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge : Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy