Quote by Victor Hugo

Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other.

Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse

Summary

This quote suggests that humanity's understanding and progress are shaped by two primary forces: facts and ideas. It argues against the notion that knowledge is limited to a singular point or perspective. Instead, it likens human knowledge to an ellipse with two focal points, representing the balancing act between empirical truths (facts) and abstract concepts (ideas). Facts provide empirical evidence and concrete foundations, while ideas foster imagination, creativity, and speculation. It implies that both aspects are integral to human development and progress, as they collectively shape our understanding of the world.

Topics

Humanity

By Victor Hugo

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

The will is never free -- it is always attached to an object

The will is never free -- it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car -- it can't steer.

Spend time reflecting on your emotional and physical existen

Spend time reflecting on your emotional and physical existence and how that applies to the voice. You have to apply that wisdom and experience when you sing - it's what comes through.

Wisdom

Well, I suppose I won't see you for a while. So farewell, go

Well, I suppose I won't see you for a while. So farewell, good luck, avoid roasted cabbage, don't eat ear wax, and look on the bright side of life!

Christopher Paolini

Life Luck Farewell

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme s

Much literary criticism comes from people for whom extreme specialization is a cover for either grave cerebral inadequacy or terminal laziness, the latter being a much cherished aspect of academic freedom.

John Kenneth Galbraith

Criticism

Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves i

Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike.

Art

In the long run we are all dead.

In the long run we are all dead.

John Maynard Keynes

Death

To understand life, and love it to its depths in a living be

To understand life, and love it to its depths in a living being, that is the being's task, and that his masterpiece; and each of us can hardly occupy his time so greatly as with one other; we have only one true neighbor down here.

Life Time Love Thetimes

I have always been pushed by the negative. The apparent fail

I have always been pushed by the negative. The apparent failure of a play sends me back to my typewriter that very night, before the reviews are out. I am more compelled to get back to work than if I had a success.

Tennessee Williams

Failure

I bare my nakedness to the world that the world may see who

I bare my nakedness to the world that the world may see who I am; not the mask that hides my flaws, not the mask that hides my beauty. I bask in the light and I take off the mask!

Jocelyn Soriano

Truth Motivational Inspirational Masks

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple the

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, but do not dull thy palm with entertainment of each new-hatched unfledged comrade.

William Shakespeare

The business of America is business.

The business of America is business.

Calvin Coolidge

Business

Linguistic philosophers continue to argue that probably musi

Linguistic philosophers continue to argue that probably music is not a language, that is in the philosophical debate. Another point of view is to say that music is a very profound language.

Music