Q0096
“Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass…” — Hannah Arendt (The Life of the Mind (on…)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: The Life of the Mind (on thinking). Theme: philosophy.
English
Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to The Life of the Mind (on thinking) and files it under Political Phenomenology. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) was a German-Jewish political theorist who fled Nazism and wrote in the United States in English and German. A student of Heidegger and Jaspers, she refused the label “philosopher” yet produced lasting works on totalitarianism, revolution, and the vita activa.
How to read this passage
This passage is indexed under . Those labels identify the concepts it can illuminate; they do not replace the argument surrounding it in The Life of the Mind (on thinking).
How to cite this quotation
APA: Hannah Arendt. (n.d.). Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0096
MLA: Hannah Arendt. “Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0096.
Chicago: Hannah Arendt. “Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0096.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Thinking is the habit of examining whatever happens…”?
The passage is attributed to Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind (on thinking). The archive attributes this English wording to The Life of the Mind (on thinking) and files it under Political Phenomenology. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Hannah Arendt mean by philosophy?
This passage is indexed under . Those labels identify the concepts it can illuminate; they do not replace the argument surrounding it in The Life of the Mind (on thinking).