Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that understanding infinity requires recognizing the limitations of human understanding and intellect.
Voltaire's quote highlights the paradoxical relationship between the concept of infinity and the human experience of intelligence. It implies that contemplating infinity exposes the vastness of the unknown, which can be overwhelming when considering the often irrational and foolish behaviors of humanity. In essence, the quote points out that only by acknowledging our own shortcomings can we begin to grasp the deeper, more abstract concepts that defy human comprehension.
Themes
InfinityHuman StupidityUnderstandingPhilosophyComprehension
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture about the nature of mathematical concepts.
More from Voltaire
All quotes βHe was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
VoltaireRead
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
VoltaireRead
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
VoltaireRead
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
VoltaireRead
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
VoltaireRead
Similar quotes
As a Buddhist, I was trained to be tolerant of everything except intolerance
U ThantRead
The soul is innocent and immortal, it should never die ungodly in an armed madhouse.
Allen GinsbergRead
I was born in South Africa during apartheid, a system of laws that made it illegal for people to mix in South Africa. And this was obviously awkward because I grew up in a mixed family. My mother's a black woman, South African Xhosa woman... and my father's Swiss, from Switzerland.
Trevor NoahRead
Men have feverishly conceived a heaven only to find it insipid, and a hell to find it ridiculous.
George SantayanaRead
...the very cannibalism of the counterrevolution will convince the nations that there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.
Karl MarxRead
The most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children.
Jim HensonRead