54 Limitation Quotes

But by far the greatest hindrance and aberration of the human understanding proceeds from the dullness, incompetency, and deceptions of the senses; in that things which strike the sense outweigh things which do not immediately strike it, though they be more important. Hence it is that speculation commonly ceases where sight ceases; insomuch that of things invisible there is little or no observation.

To those who know thee not, no words can paint! And those who know thee, know all words are faint!

There is many a rich stone laid up in the bowels of the earth, many a fair pearl laid up in the bosom of the sea, that never was seen, nor never shall be.

The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is 'What does a woman want?'

Sometimes the knowledge you've been given in school or by an elder - 'this is just the way it is' - keeps you from accomplishing because it traps you in a box in your mind and limits your freedom to deliver.

What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.

'Ever since the Greeks, we have been drunk with language! We have made a cage with words and shoved our God inside!'

Come out into the broad light of day, come out from the little narrow paths, for how can the infinite soul rest content to live and die in small ruts?

Man, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature. Beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.

Love (understood as the desire of good for another) is in fact so unnatural a phenomenon that it can scarcely repeat itself, the soul being unable to become virgin again and not having energy enough to cast itself out again into the ocean of another's soul.

Never acknowledge the limitations of man. Smash all boundaries! Deny whatever your eyes see. Die every moment, but say: 'Death does not exist.'

The orators-and the despots-have the least power in their cities ... since they do nothing that they wish to do, practically speaking, though they do whatever they think to be best.

I was not made for the great light that devours, a dim lamp was all I had been given, and patience without end, to shine it on the empty shadows. I was a solid in the midst of other solids.

Young man-Young man-Your arm's too short to box with God.

Happier of happy though I be, like them I cannot take possession of the sky, Mount with a thoughtless impulse, and wheel there One of a mighty multitude whose way Is a perpetual harmony and dance Magnificent.

Good people can't out-think evil, cause evil think of things good folks can't think of. Can't enter your head what evil do

He stretched his arms to the crystalline, radiant sky. 'I know myself,' he cried, 'but that is all-'

Anthropology is never an exact science; the observer never experiences the same culture as the participant. But there are natural limitations inherent to the science. It is the artificial limitations that hamper us - and, through us, you

His own infinity becomes zero in relation to that of the least fragment of the solid. He hardly exists at all. Trillions multiplies by trillions of trillions of such as he could not cross the frontier even of breadth, the idea which he came to guess at only becuase he felt himself bound by some mysterious power.

To me totality is very important in sparring. Many styles claim this totality. They say that they can cope with all types of attacks; that their structures cover all the possible lines and angles, and are capable of retaliation from all angles and lines. If this is true, then how did all the different styles come about? If they are in totality, why do some use only the straight lines, others the round lines, some only kicks, and why do still others who want to be different just flap and flick their hands? To me a system that clings to one small aspect of combat is actually in bondage.

The one-legged never stumble.

He was the best leader of fast-moving troops but only up to army level. Above that level it was too much for him. Rommel was given too much responsibility. He was a good commander for a corps of army but he was too moody, too changeable. One moment he would be enthusiastic, next moment depressed.

'This shitty guitar never plays the chords I want it to play. It only knows three chords, but let's see what happens. This is for all you lovely, crazy people out there.' - Queen: Live At Wembley Stadium 1986 (intro to 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love')

Among the agonies of these after days is that chief of torments - inarticulateness. What I learned and saw in those hours of impious exploration can never be told - for want of symbols or suggestions in any language. I say this because from first to last our discoveries partook only of the nature of sensations; sensations correlated with no impression which the nervous system of normal humanity is capable of receiving. They were sensations, yet within them lay unbelievable elements of time and space - things which at bottom possess no distinct and definite existence. Human utterance can best convey the general character of our experiences by calling them plungings or soarings...

I found myself projected against an obstacle which I could not penetrate. It was like the others, yet incalculably denser; a sticky clammy mass, if such terms can be applied to analogous qualities in a non-material sphere. I had, I felt, been halted by a barrier which my friend and leader had successfully passed. Struggling anew, I came to the end of the drug-dream...

No worse than a bad cold.

Rosabel believe, Not even eternity Can hold Houdini! 'Rosabel, believe!'

I would fight the world for you, but I'm damned if I can figure out how to save you from yourself.

But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we, Half dust, half deity, alike unfit To sink or soar.

I had to go to the store, I had decided, to bring back some apples - and I went past the store that sold apples and I kept driving, and driving. I was going south, and west, because if I went north or east I would run out of world too soon.

Do what I want. Well, that's great advice. But what if the thing I want most in all the world can't be done?

Life is too complicated to use analogies to describe it.

An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.

You can't push on a string.

Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth.

One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word 'impossible.'

Cuando me dicen que soy demasiado viejo para hacer una cosa, procuro hacerla enseguida.

It is impossible to do anything for anyone.

Mozart's music is constantly escaping from its frame, because it cannot be contained in it.

To define is to limit.