we can’t see what we aren’t looking for, and don’t notice what we don’t notice.

We notice things that don't work. We don't notice things that do. We notice computers, we don't notice pennies. We notice e-book readers, we don't notice books.

People for the most part pass by the loveliest things in life without paying attention.

In looking out upon the world, we forget that the world is looking at itself.

Ah! as you say, we should slip over many thoughts and act as though we did not perceive them.

The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one’s eyes.) The real foundations of his enquiry do not strike a man at all

We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us.

The things we know when not thinking of them.

It is very natural to overlook that which is near home, and as it were within our reach, especially when the mind looks forward, on discoveries which it reckons more important, in proportion as they are more remote.

People seldom look very hard for things they don’t want to find.

Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye. ... We put off from time to time going and seeing what we know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please.

There are things one prefers not to think about but that doesn't mean one forgets about them.

We always have a tendency to see those things that do not exist and to be blind to the great lessons that are right there before our eyes.

You see, but you do not observe.