Quote#Happiness
[T]he sciences always studied with keenest interest are those in a…
Quote bySir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet · 1788–1856
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1860) Vol. 1.
English (original)
[T]he sciences always studied with keenest interest are those in a state of progress and uncertainty: absolute certainty and absolute completion would be the paralysis of any study; and the last worst calamity that could befall man... would be that full and final possession of speculative truth, which he now vainly anticipates as the consummation of his intellectual happiness.
— Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet
More from Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet
The one condition under which all powers, and consequently the intellectual faculties, are developed, is exercise.
The question—Is Truth, or is the Mental Exercise in the pursuit of truth, the superior end?—this is perhaps the most curious theoretical, and certainly the most important practical, problem in the whole compass of philosophy.
Be sober, and to doubt prepense, These are the sinews of good sense.
The primary principle of education is the determination of the pupil to self-activity — the doing nothing for him which he is able to do for himself.
Truth like a torch, the more 'tis shook, it shines.
"Sordet cognita veritas" is a shrewd aphorism of Seneca. A truth, once known, falls into comparative insignificance.