Observation Quotes - Page 3

• The observation of others is coloured by our inability to observe ourselves impartially. We can never be impartial about anything until we can be impartial about our own organism.

  Alfred Richard Orage

  Perspective, Inability, Organisms

  Alfred Richard Orage (1954). “Essays and aphorisms”

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• Pasteboard pies and paper flowers are being banished from the stage by the growth of that power of accurate observation which is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it...

  George Bernard Shaw

  Power, Cynical, Belief

  "Music in London, 1890-94: Criticisms Contributed Week by Week to The World, Volume 27 (The World (18 July 1894))". Book by George Bernard Shaw, 1931.

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• The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.

  Samuel Johnson

  Light, Perception, Body

  Samuel Johnson, William Page (1860). “Life and Writings”, p.120

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• When general observations are drawn from so many particulars as to become certain and indisputable, these are jewels of knowledge.

  Isaac Watts

  Jewels, Certain

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• An eye critically nice can only be formed by observing well-colored pictures with attention.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Nice, Eye, Attention

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1860). “The Life and Writings of Sir Joshua Reynolds: First President of the Royal Academy”

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• Snow. White, white, white, soft and clean, and maddening shapes, with the whole world in them.

  Alfred Stieglitz

  White, Snow, World

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• I keep plastering it until it comes around to what I want, in terms of all I know and think about painting now, as well as in terms of the initial observation.

  Richard Diebenkorn

  Thinking, Want, Painting

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• There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.

  William Osler

  Art, Men, Plain Language

  William Osler (1927). “Aequanimitas”, p.194, Ravenio Books

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• How pathetically scanty my self-knowledge is compared with, say, my knowledge of my room. There is no such thing as observation of the inner world, as there is of the outer world.

  Franz Kafka

  Self, Literature, World

  Franz Kafka (1991). “The Blue Octavo Notebooks”

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• We are very much what others think of us. The reception our observations meet with gives us courage to proceed, or damps our efforts.

  William Hazlitt

  Appreciation, Courage, Thinking

  William Hazlitt (1837). “Characteristics: in the manner of Rochefoucault's Maxims [by W. Hazlitt].”, p.134

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• Self-observation brings man to the realization of the necessity of self-change. And in observing himself a man notices that self-observation itself brings about certain changes in his inner processes. He begins to understand that self-observation is an instrument of self-change, a means of awakening.

  G. I. Gurdjieff

  Spiritual, Mean, Men

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• From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.

  Isaac Asimov

  Funny, Fall, Writing

  Isaac Asimov (1995). “Gold: the final science fiction collection”, Harper Prism

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• To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th' observer's sake.

  Alexander Pope

  Science, Growth, Sake

  'Epistles to Several Persons' 'To Lord Cobham' (1734) l. 11

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• Swift defined observation to be an old man's memory.

  James A. Garfield

  Memories, Men, Old Man

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• I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.

  Edmund Burke

  Understanding, Planning, Plans

  Edmund Burke (1792). “Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London, Relative to that Event: In a Letter Intended to Have Been Sent to a Gentleman in Paris”, p.175

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• Association with human beings lures one into self-observation.

  Franz Kafka

  Self, Literature, Association

  Franz Kafka (1954). “Wedding preparations in the country: and other posthumous prose writings. With notes by Max Brod”

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• A heightened sense of the observation of nature is one of the chief delights that have come to me through trying to paint.

  Winston Churchill

  Trying, Delight, Paint

  Sir Winston Churchill, Andrew Scotland (1965). “Churchill on men and events: a selection from "Thoughts and adventures" and "Great contemporaries"”

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• A paradox is a seeming contradiction, always demanding a change on the side of the observer. If we look at almost all things honestly we see everything has a character of paradox to it. Everything, including ourselves.

  Richard Rohr

  Character, Looks, Sides

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• In the mirror of your mind all kinds of pictures appear and disappear. Knowing that they are entirely your own creations, watch them silently come and go. Be alert, but not perturbed. This attitude of silent observation is the very foundation of yoga. You see the picture, but you are not the picture.

  Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

  Attitude, Yoga, Knowing

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• The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears to hear it.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Morning, Blow, Wind

  Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.55, Cosimo, Inc.

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• You have to have some kind of power of observation, almost like a trained observer.

  Billy West

  Kind, Observers

  "Billy West: The Many (Cartoon) Voices In His Head". "Fresh Air" with Dave Davies, www.npr.org. July 15, 2010.

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• Observation is an old man's memory.

  Jonathan Swift

  Memories, Men, Literature

  Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth (1755). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin: Accurately Revised in Six Volumes, Adorned with Copper-plates : with Some Account of the Author's Life and Notes Historical and Explanatory”

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• Observation made in the cloister or in the desert will generally be as obscure as the one and as barren as the other; but he that would paint with his pencil must study originals, and not be over-fearful of a little dust.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Dust, Desert, Littles

  Charles Caleb Colton (1832). “Lacon: Or Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.6

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• Every man who observes vigilantly, and resolves steadfastly, grows unconsciously into genius.

  Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton

  Motivation, Men, Genius

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• The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration.

  Henry Moore

  Life, Nature, Inspiration

  Henry Moore, Sir Herbert Edward Read (1944). “Henry Moore: sculpture and drawings”

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