'There are a few of us -madmen all! -who are in love with knowing, who would sell the last shirt from our backs for one small truth, one tiny star-fire to light up the murk and mystery of what we call our life: We may go blind before we see it, that's the haunting-'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A few passionate seekers are willing to sacrifice everything for a small glimpse of truth despite the risk of blindness.
- In plain terms
- Some people will give up everything just to find a tiny bit of truth.
- What can you take from it?
- True seekers sacrifice comfort for the rare possibility of understanding.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What would you sacrifice for truth?
- Is the search worth the pain?
Another view
It romanticizes suffering for knowledge which may not be worth it.
More from Morris West
'No man -prince, peasant, pope, -has all the light, who says else is a mountebank. I claim no private lien on truth, only a liberty to seek it, prove it in deb…
Permalink to quote #2 'Ever since the Greeks, we have been drunk with language! We have made a cage with words and shoved our God inside!'
Permalink to quote #3 'If God be God and man a creature made in image of the divine intelligence, his noblest function is the search for truth.'
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one.
Philip StanhopePhilip Stanhope quote #1 You will learn nothing of importance from this story except, perhaps, how to die; but then, you were born knowing that and in any case it only has to be done o…
Kyril BonfiglioliKyril Bonfiglioli quote #1 I've burned my own house down, the torch is in my hand. Now I'll burn down the house of anyone who wants to follow me.
KabirKabir quote #1