# The Languages of Pao

- Author: [Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md)
- Quotes: 6
- Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-languages-of-pao

## Quotes

> There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is impossible.

p. 133

> “Truth” is contained in the preconceptions of him who seeks to define it. Any organization of ideas whatever presupposes a judgment on the world.

p. 112

> Your thoughts move with the deft precision of worm-tracks in the mud.

p. 149

> Speaking our language, you will understand us—and if you can think as another man thinks, you cannot dislike him.

p. 64

> When you demand the nature of my motives, you reveal the style of your thinking to be callow, captious, superficial, craven, uncertain and impudent.

p. 149

> “I learned a great deal,” said Beran. “And then I lost all heart for further learning.”
>
> Palafox’s eyes glinted. “Education is not achieved through the heart—it is a systematization of the mental processes.”
>
> “But I am something other than a mental process,” said Beran. “I am a man. I must reckon with the whole of myself.”

p. 133