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Who really said it

Knowledge does not keep any better than fish

Written by Alfred North Whitehead 1861–1947 · British mathematician and philosopher
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Alfred North Whitehead wrote these words in Universities and Their Function, collected in the 1929 education volume. The primary transcription and the sourced Wikiquote entry agree on the wording.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Knowledge does not keep any better than fish” — Alfred North Whitehead

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Provenance

The source

Work
Universities and Their Function, collected in The Aims of Education and Other Essays
Publication
1929
Location
Universities and Their Function, collected in the 1929 education volume

Knowledge does not keep any better than fish.

Literal words in the fetched source; line breaks have been joined.

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How we verified this

Public domain

This exact original English wording is documented in the pre-1931 work identified above. It is public domain in the United States; this assessment concerns the historical text, not a website’s additional editorial material.

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Context

Why it mattered

The essay, identified by this transcription as a 1927 address, insists that teaching must make knowledge imaginatively alive.

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Documented sourcela.utexas.edu

Primary text or film-dialogue documentation supporting the quoted wording and identified work.
Specialist sourced collectionen.wikiquote.org

Sourced quotation entry identifying the author and the containing work.

The author

About Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead

1861–1947 · British mathematician and philosopher

British mathematician and philosopher who wrote on mathematical reasoning, nature and the purposes of education.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Alfred North Whitehead. Universities and Their Function, collected in The Aims of Education and Other Essays. 1929. “Universities and Their Function.” University-hosted transcription identifies the address as 1927.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Knowledge does not keep any better than fish’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/knowledge-does-not-keep-any-better-than-fish/

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