94 Quotes by George Berkeley

To be is to be perceived (Esse est percipi)." Or, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

To be is to be perceived.

In vain do we extend our view into the heavens, and pry into the entrails of the earth, in vain do we consult the writings of learned men, and trace the dark footsteps of antiquity; we need only draw the curtain of words, to behold the fairest tree of knowledge, whose fruit is excellent, and within the reach of our hand.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

I am old and do not suffer fools gently and if you expect me to review your work, it better meet my stringent standards for logic and science.

I know what I mean by the term I and myself; and I know this immediately, or intuitively, though I do not perceive it as I perceive a triangle, a colour, or a sound.

But the velocities of the velocities – the second, third, fourth, and fifth velocities, etc. – exceed, if I mistake not, all human understanding...

Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day: Time’s noblest offspring is the last.

The fawning courtier and the surly squire often mean the same thing, – each his own interest.