"If you hold small objects close to your eyes, you limit your field of vision and shut out the world. And, in the same way, the people or the things which stand nearest, even though they are of the very smallest consequence, are apt to claim an amount of attention much beyond their due, occupying us disagreeably, and leaving no room for serious thoughts and affairs of importance. We ought to work against this tendency."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Arthur Schopenhauer, Councils and Maxims, (1851), T. B. Saunders, trans., § 13.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Attention
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Attention
23 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Attention →
Related Quotes
"Intellectual culture consists, not chiefly, as many are apt to think, in accumulating information, though this is imp…"
"No man is in any degree fit for either business or conversation, who does not command his attention to the present ob…"
"With curious art the brain, too finely wrought, Preys on herself, and is destroy'd by thought: Constant attention wea…"
"We may confer a benefit, not only on ourselves, but on others, by diverting attention from the exciting circumstances…"
"From hence in my opinion arises that common prejudice against metaphysical reasonings of all kinds, even amongst thos…"
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
"I would like to develop a reductionist approach to the problem of attention by focusing on how place cells... create …"
"Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart."
"A teacher comes, they say, when you are ready. And if you ignore its presence, it will speak to you more loudly. But …"
"Wherefore a monk's whole attention should thus be fixed on one point, and the rise and circle of all his thoughts be …"