Ryszard Kapuscinski Quotes

One characteristic that I hope I never relinquish is an intense curiosity about the world around me.

Most people choose movies that provide exactly what they expect, and tell them things they already know. Others are more curious. We are put on this planet only once, and to limit ourselves to the familiar is a crime against our minds.

The only reason people do not know much is because they do not care to know. They are incurious. Incuriousity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is.

I realized that, to a large degree, I had kept my rational mind at bay my whole life. I just acted on intuition in terms of how I related to life. At some point, my rational mind started creeping in, and it would not shut up. I finally had to address it and confront it. I think most intelligent people, at a younger age than I have, begin to question some of the fundamental assumptions our society promotes. But me, I just rejected it without even considering it.

Curiosity is the lust of the mind.

I'm considered wise, and sometimes I see myself as knowing. Most of the time, I see myself as wanting to know. And I see myself as a very interested person. I've never been bored in my life.

There are various sorts of curiosity; one is from interest, which makes us desire to know that which may be useful to us; and the other, from pride which comes from the wish to know what others are ignorant of.

Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, and the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well.

Curiosity is one of the lowest of the human faculties. You will have noticed in daily life that when people are inquisitive they nearly always have bad memories and are usually stupid at bottom.

Curiosity is my natural state and has led me headlong into every worthwhile experience (never mind the others) I have ever had.

He who leaves school, knowing little, but with a longing for knowledge, will go farther than one who quits, knowing many things, but not caring to learn more.

All I want is to know things. The black gulph of the infinite is before me.

What I believe is that all clear-minded people should remain two things throughout their lifetimes: Curious and teachable.

People often say that I'm curious about too many things at once... But can you really forbid a man from harbouring a desire to know and embrace everything that surrounds him?

The people that always impress me are the ones that are curious about what they're going to do next.

Basically, I'm a perpetual student. I start by finding a subject I really don't know very much, but that I'm curious about. I learn about it through books in a library, by doing interviews with people who know a lot about the subject, and by going out on my own and seeing for myself what's happening.

My mother's always looking for answers. She's always searching for new information. I think she has a thirst for hunger that very few possess innately.

I'm curious about what makes people do things that they do, unless it's absolutely terrifying to me.

Curious is a good thing to be, it seems to pay some unexpected dividends.

To be fond of learning is near to wisdom.

I think I have terminal curiosity. So I always think that the future will be better and different than the past. As I look back and take inventory of myself, I'm very open-minded and flexible. People say the older you get, you get set in your ways. I don't think so.

I am not more gifted than anybody else. I am just more curious than the average person and I will not give up a problem until I have found the proper solution.

Questioners sooner or later end up in a library... And answers are dangerous; they kill your wonder.

Creative people have an abiding curiosity and an insatiable desire to learn how and why things work. They take nothing for granted. They are interested in things around them and tend to stow away bits and pieces of information in their minds for the future use. And, they have a great ability to mobilize their thinking and experiences for use in solving a new problem.

We will be better men, braver and less idle, if we believe that one must search for the things one does not know, rather than if we believe that it is not possible to find out what we do not know and that we must not look for it.