Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Thought and observation are linked; we see through thought and think through what we see.
In plain terms
Thinking and observing depend on each other.
What can you take from it?
Mind and experience shape one another.

Where it applies

  • philosophy
  • study
  • learning

Putting it to work

  • reflect on biases
  • observe actively

Questions to consider

  • How do you see the world?
  • What shapes your thoughts?

Another view

It may overstate the influence of observation.

More from William Whewell

  1. And so no force however great can stretch a cord however fine into an horizontal line which is accurately straight.

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error. Not onl…

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. According to the technical language of old writers, a thing and its qualities are described as subject and attributes; and thus a man's faculties and acts are …

    Permalink to quote #4

Related quotes

  1. Conclui, como se conclui sempre em Filosofia, que me encontrava diante duma Causa Primaria, portanto impenetravel.

    Jose Maria Eca de QueirozJose Maria Eca de Queiroz quote #3
  2. According to the technical language of old writers, a thing and its qualities are described as subject and attributes; and thus a man's faculties and acts are …

    William WhewellWilliam Whewell quote #4
  3. The observer is the observed.

    Jiddu KrishnamurtiJiddu Krishnamurti quote #1