Henri Bergson Quotes on Knowledge
Henri Bergson was a 19th and 20th-century French philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of the early 20th century and a major figure of continental philosophy in the period between phenomenology's founding and the rise of existentialism. This page collects quotes attributed to Henri Bergson on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”
-
Attributed to Henri Bergson:
“Intelligence is characterised by a natural incomprehension of life.”
-
“An Introduction to Metaphysics (1903), translated by T. E. Hulme . New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1912, p. 44”
I cannot escape the objection that there is no state of mind , however simple , that does not change every moment . -
“Creative Evolution (1907), Chapter I, as translated by Arthur Mitchell (1911), p. 14.; italicized in the original.”
The present contains nothing more than the past , and what is found in the effect was already in the cause. -
“Creative Evolution (1907), Chapter III. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911, p. 271”
All the living hold together, and all yield to the same tremendous push. The animal takes its stand on the plant , man bestrides animality, and the whole of humanity , in space and in time , is one immense army galloping beside and before and behind each of us in an overwhelming charge able to beat down every resistance and clear the most formidable obstacles, perhaps even death . -
“In a letter accepting the 1927 Nobel Prize in literature , read by the French minister, Armand Bernard.”
The prestige of the Nobel Prize is due to many causes, but in particular to its twofold idealistic and international character: idealistic in that it has been designed for works of lofty inspiration; international in that it is awarded after the production of different countries has been minutely studied and the intellectual balance sheet of the whole world has been drawn up. Free from all other c -
“Je dirais qu'il faut agir en homme de pensée et penser en homme d'action.”
I would say act like a man of thought and think like a man of action . Speech at the Descartes Conference in Paris (1937) | Quoted in The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life (1950), p. 442, as " Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. -
“Intuition is a method of feeling one's way intellectually into the inner heart of a thing to locate what is unique and inexpressible in it.”
Quoted in Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887-1986 : Flowers in the Desert (2000) by Britta Benke, p. 28