Saint Augustine Quotes

What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know.

We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.

The more I see, the less I know.

We cannot understand. The best is perhaps what we understand least.

Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood.

Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.

In order to have wisdom we must have ignorance.

It's very hard to know what wisdom is.

In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.

There are many things that I don't understand.

I don't feel it incumbent on me to make sense of everything.

Whoever believes he knows why everything is as it is has hold of nothing.

I begin to see an object when I cease to understand it.

For only when I err do I get away from what I know and what I understand. If "truth" were what I can understand, it would end up being but a small truth, my-sized. Truth must reside precisely in what I shall never understand.

Answers are a perilous grip on the universe. They can appear sensible yet explain nothing.

The fate of all explanation is to close one door only to have another fly wide open.

What is time? If I am not asked, I know; if I am asked, I don't.

Our ignorance can be divided into problems and mysteries. When we face a problem, we may not know its solution, but we have insight, increasing knowledge, and an inkling of what we are looking for. When we face a mystery, however, we can only stare in wonder and bewilderment, not knowing what an explanation would even look like.

'These things will become clear to you,' said the old man gently, 'at least,' he added with slight doubt in his voice, 'clearer than they are at the moment.'

I scarcely know the meaning of your question; much less can I answer it.

I'm not comfortable with categories, and I distrust most definitions. The word 'definition' is based on the word 'finite,' which would seem to indicate that once we've defined something, we don't need to think about it anymore.

But I still couldn't figure out what it all meant. The more I found out, the less I understood.

When I define polarities in my work, I actually create the space between things. I point to the question I am actually interested in, without naming it.

The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it.