The quotations included in this exhibit were chosen because they strike me as particularly insightful. Many of them are anonymous and most are not by philosophers, yet they are all philosophical in the sense that they illustrate the perspectival character of all profound truths (i.e., they require us to shift our thinking from one way of looking at something to another). For the same reason, many of them are also quite humorous.
My Introduction to Philosophy textbook, The Tree of Philosophy, compares insights to "seeds". In this sense, the following quotations can be regarded as succinct statements of viable positions that could be developed into full-blown philosophical theories, though of course the "full grown tree" is not presented here. In most cases I have either found the quotation from a reliable source, or else checked out the source (where named). However, some inaccuracies may remain. If you see an error, either in a quotation or in the way its source is named, please notify me.
The insights are categorized, like most of the material on my web site, into four parts, as shown on the cross below. Within each category, the quotations are listed alphabetically, by author. As you browse through these quotations, note that some are (or will be) linked to specific photos that also appear in my photo gallery. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a handful of well-chosen words can express an insight as well as any picture; the only thing that surpasses both is when the words and picture fit together so that each mutually deepens our ability to appreciate the other. I hope my attempts to link insights with relevant photos will enhance the effect of each in this way.
wisdom
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This page was last updated on 19 November 1997.
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