TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “I have no satisfaction in formulas unless I feel their arithmetical magnitude.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index E > Category: Earth

Earth Quotes (1076 quotes)

… for it is very probable, that the motion of gravity worketh weakly, both far from the earth, and also within the earth: the former because the appetite of union of dense bodies with the earth, in respect of the distance, is more dull: the latter, because the body hath in part attained its nature when it is some depth in the earth.
[Foreshadowing Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation (1687)]
Sylva Sylvarum; or a Natural History in Ten Centuries (1627), Century 1, Experiment 33. Collected in The Works of Francis Bacon (1826), Vol 1, 255.
Science quotes on:  |  Appetite (20)  |  Attain (126)  |  Body (557)  |  Both (496)  |  Depth (97)  |  Distance (171)  |  Dull (58)  |  Former (138)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Respect (212)  |  Union (52)  |  Universal (198)

... I should think that anyone who considered it more reasonable for the whole universe to move in order to let the Earth remain fixed would be more irrational than one who should climb to the top of your cupola just to get a view of the city and its environs, and then demand that the whole countryside should revolve around him so that he would not have to take the trouble to turn his head.
In Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632).
Science quotes on:  |  City (87)  |  Consider (428)  |  Demand (131)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Order (638)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Think (1122)  |  Top (100)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Turn (454)  |  Universe (900)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)

… the Einsteins were taken to the Mt. Wilson Observatory in California. Mrs. Einstein was particularly impressed by the giant telescope. “What on earth do they use it for?” she asked. Her host explained that one of its chief purposes was to find out the shape of the universe. “Oh,” said Mrs. Einstein, “my husband does that on the back of an envelope.”
In Try and Stop Me (1945).
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Back (395)  |  Chief (99)  |  Do (1905)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Envelope (6)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  Giant (73)  |  Impress (66)  |  Impressed (39)  |  Observatory (18)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Universe (900)  |  Use (771)

... we might say that the earth has a spirit of growth; that its flesh is the soil, its bones the arrangement and connection of the rocks of which the mountains are composed, its cartilage the tufa, and its blood the springs of water.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Blood (144)  |  Bone (101)  |  Cartilage (2)  |  Compose (20)  |  Connection (171)  |  Flesh (28)  |  Growth (200)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Rock (176)  |  Say (989)  |  Soil (98)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spring (140)  |  Water (503)

...[T]he natural history of the rat is tragically similar to that of man ... some of the more obvious qualities in which rats resemble men — ferocity, omnivorousness, and adaptability to all climates ... the irresponsible fecundity with which both species breed at all seasons of the year with a heedlessness of consequences, which subjects them to wholesale disaster on the inevitable, occasional failure of the food supply.... [G]radually, these two have spread across the earth, keeping pace with each other and unable to destroy each other, though continually hostile. They have wandered from East to West, driven by their physical needs, and — unlike any other species of living things — have made war upon their own kind. The gradual, relentless, progressive extermination of the black rat by the brown has no parallel in nature so close as that of the similar extermination of one race of man by another...
Rats, Lice and History(1935)
Science quotes on:  |  Adaptability (7)  |  Both (496)  |  Brown (23)  |  Climate (102)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Disaster (58)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Failure (176)  |  Food (213)  |  History (716)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Kind (564)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Occasional (23)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pace (18)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Physical (518)  |  Race (278)  |  Rat (37)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Season (47)  |  Species (435)  |  Spread (86)  |  Subject (543)  |  Supply (100)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Wander (44)  |  War (233)  |  Year (963)

…I distinguish two parts of it, which I call respectively the brighter and the darker. The brighter seems to surround and pervade the whole hemisphere; but the darker part, like a sort of cloud, discolours the Moon’s surface and makes it appear covered with spots. Now these spots, as they are somewhat dark and of considerable size, are plain to everyone and every age has seen them, wherefore I will call them great or ancient spots, to distinguish them from other spots, smaller in size, but so thickly scattered that they sprinkle the whole surface of the Moon, but especially the brighter portion of it. These spots have never been observed by anyone before me; and from my observations of them, often repeated, I have been led to the opinion which I have expressed, namely, that I feel sure that the surface of the Moon is not perfectly smooth, free from inequalities and exactly spherical… but that, on the contrary, it is full of inequalities, uneven, full of hollows and protuberances, just like the surface of the Earth itself, which is varied everywhere by lofty mountains and deep valleys.
Describing his pioneering telescope observations of the Moon made from Jan 1610. In The Starry Messenger (Mar 1610). Quoted in Patrick Moore, Patrick Moore on the Moon (2006), 56.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Call (781)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Crater (8)  |  Dark (145)  |  Deep (241)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Express (192)  |  Feel (371)  |  Free (239)  |  Great (1610)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Never (1089)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Portion (86)  |  Protuberance (3)  |  Respectively (13)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Two (936)  |  Valley (37)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

…winds are produced by differences of air temperature, and hence density, between two regions of earth.
Lecture to the Accademia della Crusca. Quoted in Archana Srinivasan, Great Inventors (2007), 29.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Density (25)  |  Difference (355)  |  Produced (187)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Two (936)  |  Wind (141)

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…” Whatever our speculations may be in regard to a “beginning,” and when it was, it is written in the rocks that, like the animals and plants upon its surface, the earth itself grew.
In Nature's Miracles: Familiar Talks on Science (1899), Vol. 1, 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Creation (350)  |   Genesis (26)  |  God (776)  |  Growth (200)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Plant (320)  |  Regard (312)  |  Rock (176)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Surface (223)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Writing (192)

“On earth there is nothing great but man; and in man there is nothing great but mind.”
A favorite quote by Phavorinus which Hamilton used as a motto posted in his classroom.
As translated from a reported quote by Phavorinus. Hamilton showed his fondness for this motto by having it painted in gold letters on a green board posted on his classroom wall, behind the chair. However, he did not originate it. He made this clear during a lecture, when he stated, “‘On earth’ says a forgotten philosopher, ‘there is nothing great but man; and in man there is nothing great but mind.’” This was in Lecture II, 'Philosophy—Its Absolute Utility (B) Objective' (1836), part of Hamilton’s Biennial Course while Chair of Logic and Mathematics, University of Edinburgh. The lectures were collected and annotated by editors Henry L. Mansel and John Veitch, in Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1858, 6th ed. 1877), 24. The epigraph following the title page of this book also reads, “On earth, there is nothing great but man, and in man there is nothing great but Mind.” Since the collection was published posthumously, Webmaster speculates this was the choice of the editors, as Hamilton’s motto. In the book, a footnote to the quote identifies the philosopher as “Phavorinus, quoted by Joannes Picus Mirandulanus, In Astrologiam, lib. iii p.351*, Basil, ed.” This information was found by an editor in Hamilton’s Commonplace-Book or fragmentary papers. An editor’s own addition to the footnote gives “For notice of Phavorinus, see Vossius, De Hist. Grœc, lib. ii c. 10.” Thus, although this quote is widely seen attributed to Sir William Hamilton, and although he may have been very fond of repeating it, his own notes reveal the original author was the ancient philosopher, Phavorinus. In the Latin written in Basil’s work, Mirandula stated that Phavorinus said “Nihil magnum in terra praeter hominem, nihil magnum in homine praeter mentem & animum.” A footnote points this out in Lester Frank Ward, Pure Sociology: A Treatise on the Origin and Spontaneous Development of Society (1921), 496. *Ward corrects the page number to 529, not 351, and notes the passage also occurs in an earlier 1498 edition.
Science quotes on:  |  Classroom (11)  |  Favorite (37)  |  Great (1610)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Quote (46)

“They were apes only yesterday. Give them time.”
“Once an ape—always an ape.”…
“No, it will be different. … Come back here in an age or so and you shall see. …”
[The gods, discussing the Earth, in the movie version of Wells’ The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936).]
The Man Who Could Work Miracles: a film by H.G. Wells based on the short story (1936), 105-106. Quoted in Carl Sagan, Broca’s Brain (1979, 1986), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ape (54)  |  Back (395)  |  Different (595)  |  Evolution (635)  |  God (776)  |  Man (2252)  |  Miracle (85)  |  See (1094)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Yesterday (37)

“What place would you advise me to visit now?” he asked. “The planet Earth,” replied the geographer. “It has a good reputation.”
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Advise (7)  |  Ask (420)  |  Geographer (7)  |  Good (906)  |  Place (192)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reply (58)  |  Reputation (33)  |  Visit (27)

[A contemporary study] predicted the loss of two-thirds of all tropical forests by the turn of the century. Hundreds of thousands of species will perish, and this reduction of 10 to 20 percent of the earth’s biota will occur in about half a human life span. … This reduction of the biological diversity of the planet is the most basic issue of our time.
Foreword, written for Michael Soulé and Bruce Wilcox (eds.), papers from the 1978 International Conference on Conservation Biology, collected as Conservation Biology (1980), ix. As quoted and cited in Timothy J. Farnham, Saving Nature's Legacy: Origins of the Idea of Biological Diversity (2007), 208.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biological Diversity (5)  |  Biota (2)  |  Century (319)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Forest (161)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Issue (46)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lifespan (9)  |  Loss (117)  |  Most (1728)  |  Occur (151)  |  Perish (56)  |  Planet (402)  |  Predict (86)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Species (435)  |  Study (701)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)

[An] old Pythagorean prejudice … thought it a crime to eat eggs; because an egg was a microcosm, or universe in little; the shell being the earth; the white, water; fire, the yolk; and the air found between the shell and the white.
Anonymous
'Common Cookery'. Household Words (26 Jan 1856), 13, 43. An English weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Being (1276)  |  Crime (39)  |  Eat (108)  |  Egg (71)  |  Fire (203)  |  Little (717)  |  Microcosm (10)  |  Old (499)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Shell (69)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universe (900)  |  Water (503)  |  White (132)

[Davy's] March of Glory, which he has run for the last six weeks—within which time by the aid and application of his own great discovery, of the identity of electricity and chemical attractions, he has placed all the elements and all their inanimate combinations in the power of man; having decomposed both the Alkalies, and three of the Earths, discovered as the base of the Alkalies a new metal... Davy supposes there is only one power in the world of the senses; which in particles acts as chemical attractions, in specific masses as electricity, & on matter in general, as planetary Gravitation... when this has been proved, it will then only remain to resolve this into some Law of vital Intellect—and all human knowledge will be Science and Metaphysics the only Science.
In November 1807 Davy gave his famous Second Bakerian Lecture at the Royal Society, in which he used Voltaic batteries to “decompose, isolate and name” several new chemical elements, notably sodium and potassium.
Letter to Dorothy Wordsworth, 24 November 1807. In Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), The Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1956), Vol. 3, 38.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Aid (101)  |  Application (257)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Base (120)  |  Both (496)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Combination (150)  |  Sir Humphry Davy (49)  |  Decompose (10)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Element (322)  |  General (521)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Identity (19)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Man (2252)  |  March (48)  |  Matter (821)  |  Metal (88)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  Name (359)  |  New (1273)  |  Particle (200)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Potassium (12)  |  Power (771)  |  Remain (355)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Royal (56)  |  Royal Society (17)  |  Run (158)  |  Sense (785)  |  Society (350)  |  Sodium (15)  |  Specific (98)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vital (89)  |  Voltaic (9)  |  Week (73)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

[Geology] may be looked upon as the history of the earth’s changes during preparation for the reception of organized beings, a history, which has all the character of a great epic.
Paper read to the Linnean Society, 7 Feb 1843. In George Wilson and Archibald Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes F.R.S. (1861), 343.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Change (639)  |  Character (259)  |  Epic (12)  |  Geology (240)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Look (584)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Reception (16)

[Henry Cavendish] fixed the weight of the earth; he established the proportions of the constituents of the air; he occupied himself with the quantitative study of the laws of heat; and lastly, he demonstrated the nature of water and determined its volumetric composition. Earth, air, fire, and water—each and all came within the range of his observations.
Essays in Historical Chemistry (1894), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Henry Cavendish (7)  |  Composition (86)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Density (25)  |  Fire (203)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Heat (180)  |  Himself (461)  |  Law (913)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Range (104)  |  Study (701)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)

[In childhood, to overcome fear, the] need took me back again and again to a sycamore tree rising from the earth at the edge of a ravine. It was a big, old tree that had grown out over the ravine, so that when you climbed it, you looked straight down fifty feet or more. Every time I climbed that tree, I forced myself to climb to the last possible safe limb and then look down. Every time I did it, I told myself I’d never do it again. But I kept going back because it scared me and I had to know I could overcome that.
In John Glenn and Nick Taylor, John Glenn: A Memoir (2000), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Childhood (42)  |  Climb (39)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Edge (51)  |  Fear (212)  |  Force (497)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Limb (9)  |  Look (584)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  Need (320)  |  Never (1089)  |  Old (499)  |  Overcome (40)  |  Possible (560)  |  Ravine (5)  |  Rising (44)  |  Safe (61)  |  Scared (2)  |  Straight (75)  |  Tell (344)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tree (269)

[In geology,] As in history, the material in hand remains silent if no questions are asked. The nature of these questions depends on the “school” to which the geologist belongs and on the objectivity of his investigations. Hans Cloos called this way of interrogation “the dialogue with the earth,” “das Gesprach mit der Erde.”
In 'The Scientific Character of Geology', The Journal of Geology (Jul 1961), 69, No. 4, 456.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Belong (168)  |  Call (781)  |  Hans Cloos (15)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dialogue (10)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Interrogation (5)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Material (366)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Objectivity (17)  |  Question (649)  |  Remain (355)  |  School (227)  |  Silent (31)  |  Way (1214)

[It] is the little causes, long continued, which are considered as bringing about the greatest changes of the earth.
Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations, Vol. 2 (1795), 205.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Consider (428)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Time (1911)

[L]et us not overlook the further great fact, that not only does science underlie sculpture, painting, music, poetry, but that science is itself poetic. The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion. … On the contrary science opens up realms of poetry where to the unscientific all is a blank. Those engaged in scientific researches constantly show us that they realize not less vividly, but more vividly, than others, the poetry of their subjects. Whoever will dip into Hugh Miller’s works on geology, or read Mr. Lewes's “Seaside Studies,” will perceive that science excites poetry rather than extinguishes it. And whoever will contemplate the life of Goethe will see that the poet and the man of science can co-exist in equal activity. Is it not, indeed, an absurd and almost a sacrilegious belief that the more a man studies Nature the less he reveres it? Think you that a drop of water, which to the vulgar eye is but a drop of water, loses anything in the eye of the physicist who knows that its elements are held together by a force which, if suddenly liberated, would produce a flash of lightning? Think you that what is carelessly looked upon by the uninitiated as a mere snow-flake, does not suggest higher associations to one who has seen through a microscope the wondrously varied and elegant forms of snow-crystals? Think you that the rounded rock marked with parallel scratches calls up as much poetry in an ignorant mind as in the mind of a geologist, who knows that over this rock a glacier slid a million years ago? The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded. Whoever has not in youth collected plants and insects, knows not half the halo of interest which lanes and hedge-rows can assume. Whoever has not sought for fossils, has little idea of the poetical associations that surround the places where imbedded treasures were found. Whoever at the seaside has not had a microscope and aquarium, has yet to learn what the highest pleasures of the seaside are. Sad, indeed, is it to see how men occupy themselves with trivialities, and are indifferent to the grandest phenomena—care not to understand the architecture of the Heavens, but are deeply interested in some contemptible controversy about the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots!—are learnedly critical over a Greek ode, and pass by without a glance that grand epic written by the finger of God upon the strata of the Earth!
In Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1889), 82-83.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Absurdity (34)  |  Activity (218)  |  Aquarium (2)  |  Architecture (50)  |  Association (49)  |  Belief (615)  |  Blank (14)  |  Call (781)  |  Care (203)  |  Collection (68)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Critical (73)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Current (122)  |  Delusion (26)  |  Drop (77)  |  Elegant (37)  |  Element (322)  |  Enter (145)  |  Epic (12)  |  Excitation (9)  |  Exist (458)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flash (49)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Glance (36)  |  God (776)  |  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (150)  |  Grandest (10)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greek (109)  |  Halo (7)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hedgerow (2)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Insect (89)  |  Interest (416)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  George Henry Lewes (22)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Lose (165)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marked (55)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Hugh Miller (18)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Music (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ode (3)  |  Open (277)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Painting (46)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Pass (241)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Plant (320)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Read (308)  |  Realize (157)  |  Realm (87)  |  Research (753)  |  Rock (176)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Science And Poetry (17)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Seaside (2)  |  See (1094)  |  Show (353)  |  Snow (39)  |  Snowflake (15)  |  Strata (37)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unscientific (13)  |  Vividly (11)  |  Vulgar (33)  |  Water (503)  |  Whoever (42)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)  |  Youth (109)

[My uncle said to me…] When I read, forty years ago, that shells from Syria were found in the Alps, I say, I admit, with a slightly mocking tone, that these shells were apparently brought by pilgrims who were returning from Jerusalem. M. de Buffon reprimanded me very sharply in his Theory of the Earth, page 281. I did not want to quarrel with him over shells, but I remain of the same opinion, because the impossibility that the sea formed the mountains is evident to me. Some may tell me that porphyry is made of sea urchin spikes, I’ll believe it when I see white marble is made of ostrich feathers.
Voltaire is recounting one of the reasons his uncle (Abbe Ambroise Bazing) had told him, for disputing Buffon’s claim that the sea that made the mountains. Translated by Webmaster from 'La Défense de Mon Oncle: Des montagnes et des Coquilles', collected in Oeuvres complètes: Histoire.- Mélanges historiques (1817), Tome 15, Chap. 19, 133-134. From the original French; “Quand je lus, il y a quarante ans, qu’on avait trouvé dans les Alpes des coquilles de Syrie, je dis, je l’avoue , d’un ton un peu goguenard, que ces coquilles avaient été apparemment apportées par des pélerins qui revenaient de Jérusalem. M. de Buffon m’en reprit très-vertement dans sa Théorie de la terre, page 281. Je n’ai pas voulu me brouiller avec lui pour des coquilles, mais je suis demeuré dans non opinion, parce que l’impossibilité que la mer ait formé les montagnes m’est démontrée. On a beau me dire que le porphyre est fait de pointes d’oursin, je le croirai quand je verrai que le marbre blanc est fait de plumes d’autruche.” [Note: porphyry is a form of igneous rock. Also note, this passage does NOT appear in 'Les Singularités de la Nature', which may be found elsewhere incorrectly cited as the source. —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Alps (9)  |  Comte Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (37)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Find (1014)  |  Formation (100)  |  Friendship (18)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Lose (165)  |  Loss (117)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Peanut (4)  |  Pilgrim (4)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Return (133)  |  Same (166)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sharply (4)  |  Shell (69)  |  Still (614)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Year (963)

[O]ne might ask why, in a galaxy of a few hundred billion stars, the aliens are so intent on coming to Earth at all. It would be as if every vertebrate in North America somehow felt drawn to a particular house in Peoria, Illinois. Are we really that interesting?
Quoted in 'Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way', PBS web page for WGBH Nova, 'Origins.'
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  America (143)  |  Ask (420)  |  Billion (104)  |  Come (4)  |  Coming (114)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Global Warming (29)  |  House (143)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Intention (46)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  North America (5)  |  Particular (80)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Vertebrate (22)  |  Why (491)

[T]he phenomena of animal life correspond to one another, whether we compare their rank as determined by structural complication with the phases of their growth, or with their succession in past geological ages; whether we compare this succession with their relative growth, or all these different relations with each other and with the geographical distribution of animals upon the earth. The same series everywhere!
In Essay on Classification (1851), 196.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Life (21)  |  Compare (76)  |  Complication (30)  |  Correspond (13)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Geographical (6)  |  Geology (240)  |  Growth (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Phase (37)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Rank (69)  |  Relative (42)  |  Series (153)  |  Structural (29)  |  Structure (365)  |  Succession (80)

Oliver Goldsmith quote: [T]here are depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. The only tidings we have fro
Volcano Sunset - Mount Shishaldin, Japan (source)
[T]here are depths of thousands of miles which are hidden from our inquiry. The only tidings we have from those unfathomable regions are by means of volcanoes, those burning mountains that seem to discharge their materials from the lowest abysses of the earth.
In History of the Earth and Animated Nature (1774, 1847), Vol. 1, 92.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Burning (49)  |  Depth (97)  |  Discharge (21)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Material (366)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mile (43)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tiding (2)  |  Unfathomable (11)  |  Volcano (46)

[The body of law] has taxed the deliberative spirit of ages. The great minds of the earth have done it homage. It was the fruit of experience. Under it men prospered, all the arts flourished, and society stood firm. Every right and duty could be understood because the rules regulating each had their foundation in reason, in the nature and fitness of things; were adapted to the wants of our race, were addressed to the mind and to the heart; were like so many scraps of logic articulate with demonstration. Legislation, it is true occasionally lent its aid, but not in the pride of opinion, not by devising schemes inexpedient and untried, but in a deferential spirit, as a subordinate co-worker.
From biographical preface by T. Bigelow to Austin Abbott (ed.), Official Report of the Trial of Henry Ward Beecher (1875), Vol. 1, xii.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Age (509)  |  Aid (101)  |  Art (680)  |  Arts (3)  |  Body (557)  |  Deference (2)  |  Deliberation (5)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Duty (71)  |  Experience (494)  |  Firm (47)  |  Flourish (34)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heart (243)  |  Homage (4)  |  Law (913)  |  Legislation (10)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Pride (84)  |  Prosper (8)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regulate (11)  |  Right (473)  |  Rule (307)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Society (350)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Subordinate (11)  |  Tax (27)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understood (155)  |  Want (504)

[The earth’s rocks] were so arranged, in their formation, that they should best serve Man’s purposes. The strata were subjected to metamorphism, and so crystallized, that he might be provided with the most perfect material for his art, his statues, temples, and dwellings; at the same time, they were filled with veins, in order to supply him with gold and silver and other treasures. The rocks were also made to enclose abundant beds of coal and iron ore, that Man might have fuel for his hearths and iron for his utensils and machinery. Mountains were raised to temper hot climates, to diversify the earth’s productiveness, and, pre-eminently, to gather the clouds into river-channels, thence to moisten the fields for agriculture, afford facilities for travel, and supply the world with springs and fountains.
In 'Concluding Remarks', A Text-book of Geology: Designed for Schools and Academies (1863), 338.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundant (23)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Arrange (33)  |  Art (680)  |  Bed (25)  |  Channel (23)  |  Climate (102)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Coal (64)  |  Crystalline (3)  |  Diversify (3)  |  Dwelling (12)  |  Field (378)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fountain (18)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Gather (76)  |  Gold (101)  |  Hearth (3)  |  Hot (63)  |  Iron (99)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Material (366)  |  Moisten (2)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Ore (14)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Preeminent (6)  |  Productive (37)  |  Provide (79)  |  Purpose (336)  |  River (140)  |  Rock (176)  |  Serve (64)  |  Silver (49)  |  Spring (140)  |  Statue (17)  |  Stratum (11)  |  Subject (543)  |  Supply (100)  |  Temper (12)  |  Temple (45)  |  Travel (125)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Utensil (3)  |  Vein (27)  |  World (1850)

[We are] a fragile species, still new to the earth, … here only a few moments as evolutionary time is measured, … in real danger at the moment of leaving behind only a thin layer of of our fossils, radioactive at that.
The Fragile Species (1992, 1996), 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Behind (139)  |  Danger (127)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fragile (26)  |  Layer (41)  |  Leave (138)  |  Measure (241)  |  Moment (260)  |  New (1273)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Real (159)  |  Species (435)  |  Still (614)  |  Thin (18)  |  Time (1911)

[What verdict would a historian of the year 3000 pass upon our age? Let us hope this will be his judgement:]
“The twentieth century was, without question, the most momentous hundred years in the history of Mankind. It opened with the conquest of the air, and before it had run half its course had presented civilisation with its supreme challenge—the control of atomic energy. Yet even these events, each of which changed the world, were soon to be eclipsed. To us a thousand years later, the whole story of Mankind before the twentieth century seems like the prelude to some great drama, played on the narrow strip of stage before the curtain has risen and revealed the scenery. For countless generations of men, that tiny, crowded stage—the planet Earth—was the whole of creation, and they the only actors. Yet towards the close of that fabulous century, the curtain began slowly, inexorably to rise, and Man realised at last that the Earth was only one of many worlds; the Sun only one among many stars. The coming of the rocket brought to an end a million years of isolation. With the landing of the first spaceship on Mars and Venus, the childhood of our race was over and history as we know it began….”
In Chap. 18, 'Concerning Means and Ends', The Exploration of Space (1951), 195. [Clarke wrote this, not knowing there would be a Moon landing just 18 years later, on 20 Jul 1969. In fact, in an earlier chapter, he wrote “On our present knowledge, there is no likelihood of such spaceships for a very long time to come.” —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  20th Century (40)  |  Actor (9)  |  Air (366)  |  Atomic Energy (25)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Curtain (4)  |  History (716)  |  Isolation (32)  |  Landing (3)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mars (47)  |  Million (124)  |  Momentous (7)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Scenery (9)  |  Spaceship (5)  |  Stage (152)  |  Sun (407)  |  Venus (21)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

[Wolfgang Bolyai] was extremely modest. No monument, said he, should stand over his grave, only an apple-tree, in memory of the three apples: the two of Eve and Paris, which made hell out of earth, and that of Newton, which elevated the earth again into the circle of the heavenly bodies.
In History of Elementary Mathematics (1910), 273.
Science quotes on:  |  Apple (46)  |  Body (557)  |  Circle (117)  |  Elevate (15)  |  Eve (4)  |  Extremely (17)  |  Grave (52)  |  Heavenly (8)  |  Hell (32)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Memory (144)  |  Modest (19)  |  Monument (45)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Paris (11)  |  Say (989)  |  Stand (284)  |  Tree (269)  |  Two (936)

Πάντα ῥεῖ : all things are in flux. It is inevitable that you are indebted to the past. You are fed and formed by it. The old forest is decomposed for the composition of the new forest. The old animals have given their bodies to the earth to furnish through chemistry the forming race, and every individual is only a momentary fixation of what was yesterday another’s, is today his and will belong to a third to-morrow. So it is in thought.
In Lecture, second in a series given at Freeman Place Chapel, Boston (Mar 1859), 'Quotation and Originality', collected in Letters and Social Aims (1875, 1917), 200. The Greek expression, “panta rei” is a quote from Heraclitus.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Composition (86)  |  Debt (15)  |  Decompose (10)  |  Feed (31)  |  Fixation (5)  |  Flux (21)  |  Forest (161)  |  Form (976)  |  Forming (42)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Individual (420)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Momentary (5)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Past (355)  |  Race (278)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Today (321)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Will (2350)  |  Yesterday (37)

γῆς ἔντερα
[Literally] Earth’s entrails
[or, entrails of earth, or earth’s intestine, or earth’s guts: earthworm. Often seen out of context as “Earthworms are the intestines of the soil.”].
Aristotle
Contrary to the widespread quote, Webmaster has not yet found a complete sentence in the original Greek translating as “Earthworms are the intestines of the soil.” Webmaster believes Aristotle did not write such a sentence. As far as Webmaster can figure out, Aristotle had no other word for an earthworm than the descriptive two-word phrase above. The word γῆς translates directly as “earth” and ἔντερα as “intestine.” In the context, Aristotle wrote only this, without any other wording for “earthworm,” in De Generatione Animalium (On the Generation of Animals), Book III, 10, 762b. Identified in Arthur Platt, De Generatione Animalium (1910), unpaginated page 23, end of 762b, footnote 1. The Greek phrase is given in William Keith and Chambers Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy: Aristotle, an Encounter (1981), Vol. 4, 290, footnote 3. The context, from the Platt translation is: “For all of these [animals], though they have but little blood by nature, are nevertheless sanguinea, and have a heart with blood in it as the origin of the parts; and the so-called ‘entrails of earth’, in which comes into being the body of the eel, have the nature of a scolex.” The translator footnotes that: “These ‘entrails of earth’ are earthworms almost certainly. A. thinks they are spontaneously generated, and develop into eels.” An alternate interpretation is given by A.L. Peck in Generation of Animals, With an English Translation (1943), 361. “The ‘earth’s-guts’ as they are called have the nature of a larva; the body of the eels forms within them.” Peck footnotes: “The ‘earth’s-guts’ are apparently the round-worm Gordius. Webmaster note: These are hairlike, very long, and very thin, nematoid worms that are parasites—not earthworms. Webmaster concludes that gardeners saying “Earthworms are the intestines of the soil” are quoting something that Aristotle did not say, per se, and he did not specifically talk about earthworms as gardeners’ friends conditioning the soil.
Science quotes on:  |  Context (31)  |  Earthworm (8)  |  Entrail (2)  |  Entrails (4)  |  Gardening (2)  |  Intestine (16)  |  Literally (30)  |  Soil (98)

δος μοι που στω και κινω την γην — Dos moi pou sto kai kino taen gaen (in epigram form, as given by Pappus, classical Greek).
δος μοι πα στω και τα γαν κινάσω — Dos moi pa sto kai tan gan kinaso (Doric Greek).
Give me a place to stand on and I can move the Earth.
About four centuries before Pappas, but about three centuries after Archimedes lived, Plutarch had written of Archimedes' understanding of the lever:
Archimedes, a kinsman and friend of King Hiero, wrote to him that with a given force, it was possible to move any given weight; and emboldened, as it is said, by the strength of the proof, he asserted that, if there were another world and he could go to it, he would move this one.
A commonly-seen expanded variation of the aphorism is:
Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I can move the earth.
As attributed to Pappus (4th century A.D.) and Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.), in Sherman K. Stein, Archimedes: What Did He Do Besides Cry Eureka? (1999), 5, where it is also stated that Archimedes knew that ropes and pulley exploit “the principle of the lever, where distance is traded for force.” Eduard Jan Dijksterhuis, in his book, Archimedes (1956), Vol. 12., 15. writes that Hiero invited Archimedes to demonstrate his claim on a ship from the royal fleet, drawn up onto land and there loaded with a large crew and freight, and Archimedes easily succeeded. Thomas Little Heath in The Works of Archimedes (1897), xix-xx, states according to Athenaeus, the mechanical contrivance used was not pulleys as given by Plutarch, but a helix., Heath provides cites for Pappus Synagoge, Book VIII, 1060; Plutarch, Marcellus, 14; and Athenaeus v. 207 a-b. What all this boils down to, in the opinion of the Webmaster, is the last-stated aphorism would seem to be not the actual words of Archimedes (c. 287 – 212 B.C.), but restatements of the principle attributed to him, formed by other writers centuries after his lifetime.
Science quotes on:  |  Aphorism (22)  |  Archimedes Lever (3)  |  Assert (69)  |  Classical (49)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enough (341)  |  Expand (56)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Friend (180)  |  Fulcrum (3)  |  Greek (109)  |  Lever (13)  |  Long (778)  |  Move (223)  |  Possible (560)  |  Proof (304)  |  Stand (284)  |  Strength (139)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Variation (93)  |  Weight (140)  |  World (1850)

The Redwoods

Here, sown by the Creator's hand,
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.

The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now—their splendor gone;
But these proud monarchs still live on.

So shall they live, when ends our day,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennials' span.

This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal;

To be like these, straight, true and fine,
To make our world, like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, oh traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.
In The Record: Volumes 60-61 (1938), 39.
Science quotes on:  |  Awe (43)  |  Brief (37)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Citadel (4)  |  Conqueror (8)  |  Creator (97)  |  Crude (32)  |  Decay (59)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Eye (440)  |  Form (976)  |  Glory (66)  |  Goal (155)  |  God (776)  |  Greatest (330)  |  High (370)  |  Honor (57)  |  Infinite (243)  |  King (39)  |  Know (1538)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nation (208)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perennial (9)  |  Poem (104)  |  Proper (150)  |  Rank (69)  |  Redwood (8)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shrine (8)  |  Sink (38)  |  Soul (235)  |  Sow (11)  |  Splendor (20)  |  Stand (284)  |  Still (614)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Straight (75)  |  Tall (11)  |  Temple (45)  |  Through (846)  |  Tongue (44)  |  Traveler (33)  |  Tree (269)  |  Unanswered (8)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)

[In refutation of evolution] They use carbon dating ... to prove that something was millions of years old. Well, we have the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens and the carbon dating test that they used then would have to then prove that these were hundreds of millions of years younger, when what happened was they had the exact same results on the fossils and canyons that they did the tests on that were supposedly 100 millions of years old. And it’s the kind of inconsistent tests like this that they’re basing their “facts” on.
[Citing results from a solitary young-Earth creationist, questioning whether the lava dome at Mount St. Helens is really a million years old.]
From interview by Miles O''Brien on CNN (30 Mar 1996). Reported from transcript, via Nexis, in New York Magazine (15 Sep 2010).
Science quotes on:  |  Canyon (9)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Creationism (8)  |  Creationist (16)  |  Dome (9)  |  Eruption (10)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Kind (564)  |  Lava (12)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount St. Helens (2)  |  Old (499)  |  Prove (261)  |  Result (700)  |  Saint (17)  |  Something (718)  |  Test (221)  |  Use (771)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)  |  Younger (21)

[On the propulsive force of rockets] One part of fire takes up as much space as ten parts of air, and one part of air takes up the space of ten parts of water, and one part of water as much as ten parts of earth. Now powder is earth, consisting of the four elementary principles, and when the sulfur conducts the fire into the dryest part of the powder, fire, and air increase … the other elements also gird themselves for battle with each other and the rage of battle is changed by their heat and moisture into a strong wind.
In De La Pirotechnia (1540). From the 1943 English translation, as given in Willy Ley, Rockets: The Future of Travel Beyond the Stratosphere (1944), 64. Though Birinuccio provided the first insight into what propels a rocket, the “strong wind” blowing downward, he did not explain why that should cause the rocket to rise upward, as Issac Newton would do with his Third Law of Motion, nearly a century and a half later.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Battle (36)  |  Change (639)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Element (322)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Fire (203)  |  Force (497)  |  Heat (180)  |  Increase (225)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Other (2233)  |  Powder (9)  |  Principle (530)  |  Propulsion (10)  |  Rage (10)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Space (523)  |  Strong (182)  |  Sulfur (5)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)

[Students or readers about teachers or authors.] They will listen with both ears to what is said by the men just a step or two ahead of them, who stand nearest to them, and within arm’s reach. A guide ceases to be of any use when he strides so far ahead as to be hidden by the curvature of the earth.
From Lecture (5 Apr 1917) at Hackley School, Tarrytown, N.Y., 'Choosing Books', collected in Canadian Stories (1918), 150.
Science quotes on:  |  Arm (82)  |  Author (175)  |  Both (496)  |  Cease (81)  |  Curvature (8)  |  Ear (69)  |  Far (158)  |  Guide (107)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Listen (81)  |  Nearest (4)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reader (42)  |  Stand (284)  |  Step (234)  |  Stride (15)  |  Student (317)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)  |  Will (2350)

Ante mare, et terras, et quod tegit omnia caelum, unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe, quem dixere chaos: rudis indigestaque moles; nec quicquam, nisi pondus iners; congestaque eodem non bene iunctarum discordia, semina rerum.
Before there was the sea, the earth and the sky canopy, Nature presented the same aspect throughout the world, which men called Chaos: a raw, disorganized bulk; nothing but an inert mass; a jumbled heap of primordial things.
The original Latin text of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 1, lines 5-9, in which he described the Creation of the universe. It is freely translated by Webmaster blending several sources. See, for example, Locke (trans.), The First Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, with a Literal Interlinear Translation (1828), 2, or Mary Innes (trans.), The Metamorphoses of Ovid (1955), 29.
Science quotes on:  |  Chaos (99)  |  Creation (350)  |  Inert (14)  |  Mass (160)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sky (174)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

Copernicus, who rightly did condemn
This eldest systeme, form’d a wiser scheme;
In which he leaves the Sun at Rest, and rolls
The Orb Terrestial on its proper Poles;
Which makes the Night and Day by this Career,
And by its slow and crooked Course the Year.
The famous Dane, who oft the Modern guides,
To Earth and Sun their Provinces divides:
The Earth’s Rotation makes the Night and Day,
The Sun revolving through th’ Eccliptic Way
Effects the various seasons of the Year,
Which in their Turn for happy Ends appear.
This Scheme or that, which pleases best, embrace,
Still we the Fountain of their Motion trace.
Kepler asserts these Wonders may be done
By the Magnetic Vertue of the Sun,
Which he, to gain his End, thinks fit to place
Full in the Center of that mighty Space,
Which does the Spheres, where Planets roll, include,
And leaves him with Attractive Force endu’d.
The Sun, thus seated, by Mechanic Laws,
The Earth, and every distant Planet draws;
By which Attraction all the Planets found
Within his reach, are turn'd in Ether round.
In Creation: A Philosophical Poem in Seven Books (1712), book 2, l. 430-53, p.78-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Assert (69)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Attractive (25)  |  Best (467)  |  Career (86)  |  Condemn (44)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Course (413)  |  Divide (77)  |  Draw (140)  |  Effect (414)  |  Embrace (47)  |  End (603)  |  Ether (37)  |  Fit (139)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Gain (146)  |  Guide (107)  |  Happy (108)  |  Include (93)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Law (913)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Modern (402)  |  Motion (320)  |  Orb (20)  |  Planet (402)  |  Please (68)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Pole (49)  |  Proper (150)  |  Province (37)  |  Reach (286)  |  Rest (287)  |  Roll (41)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Season (47)  |  Slow (108)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Trace (109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Year (963)

Dilbert: You joined the “Flat Earth Society?”
Dogbert: I believe the earth must be flat. There is no good evidence to support the so-called “round earth theory.”
Dilbert: I think Christopher Columbus would disagree.
Dogbert: How convenient that your best witness is dead.
Dilbert comic strip (9 Oct 1989).
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Best (467)  |  Call (781)  |  Christopher Columbus (16)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Death (406)  |  Disagreement (14)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Flat (34)  |  Flat Earth (3)  |  Good (906)  |  Join (32)  |  Must (1525)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Society (350)  |  Support (151)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Witness (57)

Dogbert (advice to Boss): Every credible scientist on earth says your products harm the environment. I recommend paying weasels to write articles casting doubt on the data. Then eat the wrong kind of foods and hope you die before the earth does.
Dilbert cartoon strip (30 Oct 2007).
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Article (22)  |  Casting (10)  |  Consulting (13)  |  Credibility (4)  |  Data (162)  |  Death (406)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Eat (108)  |  Environment (239)  |  Food (213)  |  Harm (43)  |  Hope (321)  |  Kind (564)  |  Product (166)  |  Recommend (27)  |  Recommendation (12)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)  |  Wrong (246)

Dogbert (gazing at night sky) No matter how bad the day is, the stars are always there.
Dilbert Actually, many of them burned out years ago, but their light is just now reaching earth.
DogbertThank you for shattering my comfortable misconception.
DilbertIt's the miracle of science.
Dilbert comic strip (21 Nov 1990).
Science quotes on:  |  Bad (185)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Comfortable (13)  |  Day (43)  |  Light (635)  |  Matter (821)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Misconception (6)  |  Reach (286)  |  Shattering (2)  |  Sky (174)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thank You (8)  |  Year (963)

Dogbert: So, Since Columbus is dead, you have no evidence that the earth is round.
Dilbert: Look. You can Ask Senator John Glenn. He orbited the earth when he was an astronaut.
Dogbert: So, your theory depends on the honesty of politicians.
Dilbert: Yes... no, wait...
Dilbert comic strip (10 Oct 1989).
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Christopher Columbus (16)  |  Death (406)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Flat Earth (3)  |  John Glenn, Jr. (33)  |  Honesty (29)  |  Look (584)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Politician (40)  |  Round (26)  |  Theory (1015)

Galileo head and shoulders on starfield, w/earth in orbit around him with quotes “Eppur si muove” (Italian)+“And yet it moves”
By legend (likely not in fact), Galileo quietly whispered this to himself, after his confession.
Eppur si muove.
And yet it does move.
Referring to the Earth. Apocryphal saying (of doubtful authenticity). By legend, Galileo whispered this to himself as he rose from kneeling after making his abjuration of heliocentricity.
No clear evidence exists that Galileo actually said these words, which may have been invented as stories about Galileo were circulated after his death. Seen in print as early as L’Abbé Irailh, Querelles Littéraires [“Literary quarrels”] (Paris, 1761), Vol. 3, 49. As cited, with great skepticism, in John Joseph Fahie, Galileo, His Life and Work (1903), 325.
Science quotes on:  |  Abjuration (3)  |  Authenticity (5)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Himself (461)  |  Legend (18)  |  Making (300)  |  Move (223)  |  Rose (36)  |  Whisper (11)

Il n'y a qu'un demi-siècle, un orateur chrétien, se défiant des hommes de la science leur disait: 'Arrêtez-vous enfin, et ne creusez pas jusqu'aux enfers.' Aujourd'hui, Messieurs, rassurés sur l'inébranlable constance de notre foi, nous vous disons: creusez, creusez encore; plus vous descendrez, plus vous rapprocherez du grand mystère de l'impuissance de l'homme et de la vérité de la religion. Creusez donc, creusez toujours,mundum tradidit disputationibus eorum; et quand la science aura donné son dernier coup de marteau sur les fondements de la terre, vous pourrez à la lueur du feu qu'il fera jaillir, lire encore l'idée de Dieu et contempler l'empreinte de sa main.
Only a half-century ago, a Christian speaker, mistrustful of men of science told them: 'Stop finally, and do not dig to hell.' Today, gentlemen, reassured about the steadfastness of our unshakeable faith, we say: dig, dig again; the further down you, the closer you come to the great mystery of the impotence of man and truth of religion. So dig, always dig: and when science has stuck its final hammer blow on the bosom of the earth, you will be able to ignite a burst of light, read furthermore the mind of God and contemplate the imprint of His hand.
As Monseigneur Rendu, Bishop of Annecy, Savoy, presiding at the closing session of a meeting of the Geological Society of France at Chambéry, Savoy (27 Aug 1844). In Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France 1843 à 1844, Tome 1, Ser. 2, 857. (1844), li. Google trans., edited by Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Blow (45)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Burst (41)  |  Century (319)  |  Christian (44)  |  Closer (43)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Dig (25)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Faith (209)  |  Final (121)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hammer (26)  |  Hell (32)  |  Impotence (8)  |  Imprint (6)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mistrust (4)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Plus (43)  |  Read (308)  |  Religion (369)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Steadfastness (2)  |  Stop (89)  |  Today (321)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Will (2350)

Newsreader: A huge asteroid could destroy Earth! And by coincidence, that's the subject of tonight's miniseries.
Dogbert: In science, researchers proved that this simple device can keep idiots off your television screen. [TV remote control] Click.
Dilbert cartoon strip (30 Apr 1993).
Science quotes on:  |  Asteroid (19)  |  Click (4)  |  Coincidence (20)  |  Control (182)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Device (71)  |  Idiot (22)  |  News (36)  |  Proof (304)  |  Remote (86)  |  Researcher (36)  |  Screen (8)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Subject (543)  |  Television (33)  |  Tonight (9)

Nos numeros sumus et fruges consumere nati.
We are but ciphers, born to consume earth’s fruits.
[Alternate: We are just statistics, born to consume resources.]
Horace
Epistles bk. 1, no. 2, 1. 27. In Satires, Epistles and Ars Poetica, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (1926), 264-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Consumer (6)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Statistics (170)

Que faisons-nous ici-bas? Nous préparons les floraisons de demain. Nous sommes tous du fumier d'humanité future.
What are we doing on earth? We are preparing the blossoms of tomorrow. We are all the manure of future humanity.
Aphorism dated 28 Nov 1903, in Recueil d'Œuvres de Léo Errera: Botanique Générale (1908), 194. Google translation by Webmaster. You may choose to use “blooms” instead of “blossoms” depending on your context.
Science quotes on:  |  Blossom (22)  |  Doing (277)  |  Flower (112)  |  Future (467)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Life (1870)  |  Manure (8)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Preparing (21)  |  Tomorrow (63)

Quelquefois, par exemple, je me figure que je suis suspendu en l’air, et que j’y demeure sans mouvement, pendant que la Terre tourne sous moi en vingt-quatre heures. Je vois passer sous mes yeux tous ces visages différents, les uns blancs, les autres noirs, les autres basanés, les autres olivâtres. D’abord ce sont des chapeaux et puis des turbans, et puis des têtes chevelues, et puis des têtes rasées; tantôt des villes à clochers, tantôt des villes à longues aiguilles qui ont des croissants, tantôt des villes à tours de porcelaine, tantôt de grands pays qui n’ont que des cabanes; ici de vastes mers, là des déserts épouvantables; enfin, toute cette variété infinie qui est sur la surface de la Terre.
Sometimes, for instance, I imagine that I am suspended in the air, and remain there motionless, while the earth turns under me in four-and-twenty hours. I see pass beneath me all these different countenances, some white, others black, others tawny, others olive-colored. At first they wear hats, and then turbans, then heads with long hair, then heads shaven; sometimes towns with steeples, sometimes towns with long spires, which have crescents, sometimes towns with porcelain towers, sometimes extensive countries that have only huts; here wide seas; there frightful deserts; in short, all this infinite variety on the surface of the earth.
In 'Premier Soir', Entretiens Sur La Pluralité Des Mondes (1686, 1863), 43. French and translation in Craufurd Tait Ramage, Beautiful Thoughts from French and Italian Authors (1866), 117-118.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Black (46)  |  Color (155)  |  Countenance (9)  |  Country (269)  |  Crescent (4)  |  Desert (59)  |  Different (595)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Face (214)  |  Figure (162)  |  First (1302)  |  Hair (25)  |  Hat (9)  |  Hour (192)  |  Hut (2)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Long (778)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Porcelain (4)  |  Remain (355)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Short (200)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Spire (5)  |  Steeple (4)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tawny (3)  |  Tower (45)  |  Turban (2)  |  Turn (454)  |  Variety (138)  |  White (132)  |  Wide (97)

Question: Explain why pipes burst in cold weather.
Answer: People who have not studied acoustics think that Thor bursts the pipes, but we know that is nothing of the kind for Professor Tyndall has burst the mythologies and has taught us that it is the natural behaviour of water (and bismuth) without which all fish would die and the earth be held in an iron grip. (1881)
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1881), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 186-7, Question 10. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.) Webmaster notes that “fish would die” may refer to being taught that water's greatest density is at 4°C, and sinks below a frozen surface, so bodies of water can remain liquid underneath, to the benefit of the fish. The student was likely taught that bismuth, like water, expands when it freezes.
Science quotes on:  |  Acoustics (4)  |  Answer (389)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Bismuth (7)  |  Blunder (21)  |  Burst (41)  |  Cold (115)  |  Death (406)  |  Examination (102)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fish (130)  |  Freezing (16)  |  Grip (10)  |  Ice (58)  |  Iron (99)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mythology (19)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Pipe (7)  |  Professor (133)  |  Question (649)  |  Schoolboy (9)  |  Study (701)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Think (1122)  |  John Tyndall (53)  |  Water (503)  |  Weather (49)  |  Why (491)

Question: On freezing water in a glass tube, the tube sometimes breaks. Why is this? An iceberg floats with 1,000,000 tons of ice above the water line. About how many tons are below the water line?
Answer: The water breaks the tube because of capallarity. The iceberg floats on the top because it is lighter, hence no tons are below the water line. Another reason is that an iceberg cannot exceed 1,000,000 tons in weight: hence if this much is above water, none is below. Ice is exceptional to all other bodies except bismuth. All other bodies have 1090 feet below the surface and 2 feet extra for every degree centigrade. If it were not for this, all fish would die, and the earth be held in an iron grip.
P.S.—When I say 1090 feet, I mean 1090 feet per second.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 179-80, Question 13. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Above (7)  |  Answer (389)  |  Below (26)  |  Bismuth (7)  |  Break (109)  |  Centigrade (2)  |  Death (406)  |  Degree (277)  |  Examination (102)  |  Exception (74)  |  Exceptional (19)  |  Extra (7)  |  Fish (130)  |  Float (31)  |  Freezing (16)  |  Glass (94)  |  Grip (10)  |  Howler (15)  |  Ice (58)  |  Iceberg (4)  |  Iron (99)  |  Lighter (2)  |  Mean (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Say (989)  |  Surface (223)  |  Ton (25)  |  Top (100)  |  Tube (6)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)  |  Why (491)

Steckt keine Poesie in der Lokomotive, die brausend durch die Nacht zieht und über die zitternde Erde hintobt, als wollte sie Raum und Zeit zermalmen, in dem hastigen, aber wohl geregelten Zucken und Zerren ihrer gewaltigen Glieder, in dem stieren, nur auf ein Ziel losstürmenden Blick ihrer roten Augen, in dem emsigen, willenlosen Gefolge der Wagen, die kreischend und klappernd, aber mit unfehlbarer Sicherheit dem verkörperten Willen aus Eisen und Stahl folge leisten?
Is there no poetry in the locomotive roaring through the night and charging over the quivering earth as if it wanted to crush time and space? Is there no poetry in the hasty but regular jerking and tugging of its powerful limbs, in the stare of its red eyes that never lose sight of their goal? Is there no poetry in the bustling, will-less retinue of cars that follow, screeching and clattering with unmistakable surety, the steel and iron embodiment of will?
Max Eyth
From 'Poesie und Technik' (1904) (Poetry and Technology), in Schweizerische Techniker-Zeitung (1907), Vol 4, 306, as translated in Paul A. Youngman, Black Devil and Iron Angel: The Railway in Nineteenth-Century German Realism (2005), 128.
Science quotes on:  |  Car (75)  |  Crush (19)  |  Embodiment (9)  |  Eye (440)  |  Follow (389)  |  Goal (155)  |  Hasty (7)  |  Iron (99)  |  Limb (9)  |  Locomotive (8)  |  Lose (165)  |  Never (1089)  |  Night (133)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Quivering (2)  |  Red (38)  |  Regular (48)  |  Retinue (3)  |  Sight (135)  |  Space (523)  |  Stare (9)  |  Steel (23)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Unmistakable (6)  |  Want (504)  |  Wanted (4)  |  Will (2350)

Wenn sich für ein neues Fossil kein, auf eigenthümliche Eigenschaften desselben hinweisender, Name auffinden lassen Will; als in welchem Falle ich mich bei dem gegenwärtigen zu befinden gestehe; so halte ich es für besser, eine solche Benennung auszuwählen, die an sich gar nichts sagt, und folglich auch zu keinen unrichtigen Begriffen Anlass geben kann. Diesem zufolge will ich den Namen für die gegenwärtige metallische Substanz, gleichergestalt wie bei dem Uranium geschehen, aus der Mythologie, und zwar von den Ursöhnen der Erde, den Titanen, entlehnen, und benenne also dieses neue Metallgeschlecht: Titanium.
Wherefore no name can be found for a new fossil [element] which indicates its peculiar and characteristic properties (in which position I find myself at present), I think it is best to choose such a denomination as means nothing of itself and thus can give no rise to any erroneous ideas. In consequence of this, as I did in the case of Uranium, I shall borrow the name for this metallic substance from mythology, and in particular from the Titans, the first sons of the earth. I therefore call this metallic genus TITANIUM.
Martin Heinrich Klaproth. Original German edition, Beiträge Zur Chemischen Kenntniss Der Mineralkörper (1795), Vol. 1 , 244. English edition, translator not named, Analytical Essays Towards Promoting the Chemical Knowledge of Mineral Substances (1801), Vol. 1, 210. Klaproth's use of the term fossil associates his knowledge of the metal as from ore samples dug out of a mine.
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Borrow (31)  |  Borrowing (4)  |  Call (781)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Choice (114)  |  Choose (116)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Denomination (6)  |  Element (322)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Error (339)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Genus (27)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Metal (88)  |  Myself (211)  |  Mythology (19)  |  Name (359)  |  New (1273)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Particular (80)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Present (630)  |  Property (177)  |  Rise (169)  |  Son (25)  |  Substance (253)  |  Think (1122)  |  Titan (2)  |  Titanium (2)  |  Uranium (21)  |  Will (2350)

~~[Attributed]~~ How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
Referenced in opening paragraph to Chap. 6, 'The Sea', in James E. Lovelock, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979) 84. The origin of the Arthur C. Clarke quote is not footnoted therein, and although found widely quoted without citation, in print and on the web, Webmaster has, as yet, been unable to locate a primary source. Lovelock’s quote is also on this website, beginning, “As Arthur C. Clarke has observed:…”. In 1963, G. Carleton Ray made a similar statement, beginning “We call this planet Earth…” and referring to “sea” rather than “Ocean”.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Inappropriate (5)  |  Name (359)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Planet (402)

~~[Dubious]~~ I demonstrate by means of philosophy that the earth is round, and is inhabited on all sides; that it is insignificantly small, and is borne through the stars.
Included here to add a caution. As quoted in Paul Lyle, The Abyss of Time: A Study in Geological Time and Earth History (2015), 38, citing Astronomia Nova (1609). Webmaster has not yet been able to find in a primary source, so cannot vouch for this quote. Can you help?
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Round (26)  |  Side (236)  |  Small (489)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Through (846)

~~[need primary source]~~ One of the most frightening things in the Western world and in this country in particular is the number of people who believe in things that are scientifically false. If someone tells me that the earth is less than 10000 years old in my opinion he should see a psychiatrist.
As quoted, without citation, in Joan Konner, The Atheist’s Bible: An Illustrious Collection of Irreverent Thought (2007), 46. Webmaster is dubious about authenticity, and as yet, has been unable to find a reliable primary source - can you help?
Science quotes on:  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Belief (615)  |  Country (269)  |  False (105)  |  Fright (11)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Old (499)  |  Opinion (291)  |  People (1031)  |  Primary (82)  |  Psychiatrist (16)  |  Scientific (955)  |  See (1094)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Western (45)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

~~[No known source]~~ Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, there you long return.
Best attributed simply to “Anonymous” because there seems to be no known reliable primary source. Another example of a feral quote that is almost certainly not authentic, yet spreads virally like a lexicographic plague. It must be centuries old, but does not show up in major 19th-century quote collections. It is simply too good to be true. Included here to attach this caution.
Science quotes on:  |  Eye (440)  |  Fly (153)  |  Known (453)  |  Long (778)  |  Return (133)  |  Skyward (2)  |  Turn (454)  |  Walk (138)  |  Will (2350)

A ... hypothesis may be suggested, which supposes the word 'beginning' as applied by Moses in the first of the Book of Genesis, to express an undefined period of time which was antecedent to the last great change that affected the surface of the earth, and to the creation of its present animal and vegetable inhabitants; during which period a long series of operations and revolutions may have been going on, which, as they are wholly unconnected with the history of the human race, are passed over in silence by the sacred historian, whose only concern with them was largely to state, that the matter of the universe is not eternal and self-existent but was originally created by the power of the Almighty.
Vindiciae Geologicae (1820), 31-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Almighty (23)  |  Animal (651)  |  Applied (176)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Book (413)  |  Change (639)  |  Concern (239)  |  Creation (350)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Express (192)  |  First (1302)  |   Genesis (26)  |  Geology (240)  |  Great (1610)  |  Historian (59)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Last (425)  |  Long (778)  |  Matter (821)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Pass (241)  |  Period (200)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Race (278)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Self (268)  |  Series (153)  |  Silence (62)  |  State (505)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unconnected (10)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Word (650)

A Chinese tale tells of some men sent to harm a young girl who, upon seeing her beauty, become her protectors rather than her violators. That’s how I felt seeing the Earth for the first time. "I could not help but love and cherish her.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Become (821)  |  Cherish (25)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  First Time (14)  |  Girl (38)  |  Harm (43)  |  Help (116)  |  Love (328)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Send (23)  |  Tale (17)  |  Tell (344)  |  Time (1911)  |  Young (253)

A complete survey of life on Earth may appear to be a daunting task. But compared with what has been dared and achieved in high-energy physics, molecular genetics, and other branches of “big science,” it is in the second or third rank.
In 'Edward O. Wilson: The Biological Diversity Crisis: A Challenge to Science', Issues in Science and Technology (Fall 1985), 2, No. 1, 26.
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Appear (122)  |  Biology (232)  |  Complete (209)  |  Dare (55)  |  Daunting (3)  |  Energy (373)  |  Genetic (110)  |  High (370)  |  High Energy Physics (3)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Molecular Genetics (3)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Rank (69)  |  Survey (36)  |  Task (152)

A hundred years ago, the electric telegraph made possible—indeed, inevitable—the United States of America. The communications satellite will make equally inevitable a United Nations of Earth; let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody.
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Edwin E. Aldrin et al., First on the Moon (1970), 389.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Communication (101)  |  Electric (76)  |  Equally (129)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Nation (208)  |  Period (200)  |  Possible (560)  |  Satellite (30)  |  State (505)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Transition (28)  |  United Nations (3)  |  United States (31)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

A hundred years ago, there were one-and-a-half billion people on Earth. Now, over six billion crowd our fragile planet. But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity.
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalist’s best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Fragile (26)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Hundred (240)  |  People (1031)  |  Planet (402)  |  Touch (146)  |  Year (963)

A large part of the training of the engineer, civil and military, as far as preparatory studies are concerned; of the builder of every fabric of wood or stone or metal designed to stand upon the earth, or bridge the stream, or resist or float upon the wave; of the surveyor who lays out a building lot in a city, or runs a boundary line between powerful governments across a continent; of the geographer, navigator, hydrographer, and astronomer,—must be derived from the mathematics.
In 'Academical Education', Orations and Speeches on Various Occasions (1870), Vol. 3, 513.
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Bridge (49)  |  Build (211)  |  Builder (16)  |  Building (158)  |  City (87)  |  Civil (26)  |  Civil Engineer (4)  |  Concern (239)  |  Continent (79)  |  Derive (70)  |  Design (203)  |  Education (423)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Fabric (27)  |  Float (31)  |  Geographer (7)  |  Government (116)  |  Hydrographer (3)  |  Large (398)  |  Line (100)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Metal (88)  |  Military (45)  |  Military Engineer (2)  |  Must (1525)  |  Navigator (8)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Preparatory (3)  |  Resist (15)  |  Run (158)  |  Stand (284)  |  Stone (168)  |  Stream (83)  |  Study (701)  |  Surveyor (5)  |  Training (92)  |  Wave (112)  |  Wood (97)

A lot of people ask, “Do you think humans are parasites?” It’s an interesting idea and one worth thinking about. People casually refer to humanity as a virus spreading across the earth. In fact, we do look like some strange kind of bio-film spreading across the landscape. A good metaphor? If the biosphere is our host, we do use it up for our own benefit. We do manipulate it. We alter the flows and fluxes of elements like carbon and nitrogen to benefit ourselves—often at the expense of the biosphere as a whole. If you look at how coral reefs or tropical forests are faring these days, you’ll notice that our host is not doing that well right now. Parasites are very sophisticated; parasites are highly evolved; parasites are very successful, as reflected in their diversity. Humans are not very good parasites. Successful parasites do a very good job of balancing—using up their hosts and keeping them alive. It’s all a question of tuning the adaptation to your particular host. In our case, we have only one host, so we have to be particularly careful.
Talk at Columbia University, 'The Power of Parasites'.
Science quotes on:  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Alive (97)  |  Alter (64)  |  Ask (420)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbon Cycle (5)  |  Coral Reef (15)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Element (322)  |  Environment (239)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flow (89)  |  Forest (161)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Idea (881)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Job (86)  |  Kind (564)  |  Landscape (46)  |  Look (584)  |  Lot (151)  |  Manipulate (11)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Nitrogen Cycle (2)  |  Notice (81)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Parasite (33)  |  People (1031)  |  Question (649)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Right (473)  |  Strange (160)  |  Successful (134)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Use (771)  |  Virus (32)  |  Whole (756)  |  Worth (172)

A man, in his books, may be said to walk the earth a long time after he is gone.
John Muir
Quoted, without citation, in John Muir and Edwin Way Teale (ed.) The Wilderness World of John Muir (1954, 2001), Introduction, xx.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Time (1911)  |  Walk (138)

A million years is a short time—the shortest worth messing with for most problems. You begin tuning your mind to a time scale that is the planet’s time scale. For me, it is almost unconscious now and is a kind of companionship with the earth.
In Basin and Range (1981), 134.
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Companionship (4)  |  Kind (564)  |  Mess (14)  |  Million (124)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Planet (402)  |  Problem (731)  |  Scale (122)  |  Short (200)  |  Shortest (16)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tune (20)  |  Unconscious (24)  |  Worth (172)  |  Year (963)

A noteworthy and often-remarked similarity exists between the facts and methods of geology and those of linguistic study. The science of language is, as it were, the geology of the most modern period, the Age of the Man, having for its task to construct the history of development of the earth and its inhabitants from the time when the proper geological record remains silent … The remains of ancient speech are like strata deposited in bygone ages, telling of the forms of life then existing, and of the circumstances which determined or affected them; while words are as rolled pebbles, relics of yet more ancient formations, or as fossils, whose grade indicates the progress of organic life, and whose resemblances and relations show the correspondence or sequence of the different strata; while, everywhere, extensive denudation has marred the completeness of the record, and rendered impossible a detailed exhibition of the whole course of development.
In Language and the Study of Language (1867), 47.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Bygone (4)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Completeness (19)  |  Construct (129)  |  Construction (114)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Course (413)  |  Denudation (2)  |  Detail (150)  |  Development (441)  |  Different (595)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Exhibition (7)  |  Exist (458)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Language (308)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marred (3)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Organic (161)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Period (200)  |  Progress (492)  |  Proper (150)  |  Record (161)  |  Remain (355)  |  Render (96)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Roll (41)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Show (353)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Speech (66)  |  Strata (37)  |  Stratum (11)  |  Study (701)  |  Task (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whole (756)  |  Word (650)

A person is smart. People are dumb ... Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
Anonymous
Character Agent K in movie Men in Black(1997), screen story and screenplay by Ed Solomon. Quoted in George Aichele, Culture, Entertainment and the Bible (2000), 26. In a footnote, from the post-movie novel by Steve Perry, Men in Black (1997), 66, is added, 'Yeah. A hundred years from now, whoever is here will probably pee themselves laughing at what we believe.'
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Dumb (11)  |  Everybody (72)  |  Flat (34)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Know (1538)  |  Minute (129)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Planet (402)  |  Smart (33)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Universe (900)  |  Year (963)

A plain, reasonable working man supposes, in the old way which is also the common-sense way, that if there are people who spend their lives in study, whom he feeds and keeps while they think for him—then no doubt these men are engaged in studying things men need to know; and he expects of science that it will solve for him the questions on which his welfare, and that of all men, depends. He expects science to tell him how he ought to live: how to treat his family, his neighbours and the men of other tribes, how to restrain his passions, what to believe in and what not to believe in, and much else. And what does our science say to him on these matters?
It triumphantly tells him: how many million miles it is from the earth to the sun; at what rate light travels through space; how many million vibrations of ether per second are caused by light, and how many vibrations of air by sound; it tells of the chemical components of the Milky Way, of a new element—helium—of micro-organisms and their excrements, of the points on the hand at which electricity collects, of X rays, and similar things.
“But I don't want any of those things,” says a plain and reasonable man—“I want to know how to live.”
In 'Modern Science', Essays and Letters (1903), 221-222.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Component (51)  |  Depend (238)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Element (322)  |  Ether (37)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Family (101)  |  Helium (11)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Micro-Organism (3)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Organism (231)  |  Other (2233)  |  Passion (121)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Question (649)  |  Ray (115)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Solve (145)  |  Sound (187)  |  Space (523)  |  Speed Of Light (18)  |  Spend (97)  |  Study (701)  |  Studying (70)  |  Sun (407)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Travel (125)  |  Tribe (26)  |  Vibration (26)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Welfare (30)  |  Will (2350)  |  X-ray (43)

A proposal…to bore a hole in the crust of the Earth and discover the conditions deep down below the surface…may remind us that the most secret places of Nature are, perhaps, not 10 to the n-th miles above our heads, but 10 miles below our feet.
From Presidential address to Section A of the British Association at Cardiff (24 Aug 1920). Published in 'The Internal Constitution of the Stars', The Observatory: A Monthly Review of Astronomy (Oct 1920), 43, No. 557, 341.
Science quotes on:  |  Above (7)  |  Below (26)  |  Condition (362)  |  Crust (43)  |  Deep (241)  |  Discover (571)  |  Foot (65)  |  Head (87)  |  Hole (17)  |  Mile (43)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Place (192)  |  Proposal (21)  |  Secret (216)  |  Surface (223)  |  Universe (900)

A quarter-horse jockey learns to think of a twenty-second race as if it were occurring across twenty minutes—in distinct parts, spaced in his consciousness. Each nuance of the ride comes to him as he builds his race. If you can do the opposite with deep time, living in it and thinking in it until the large numbers settle into place, you can sense how swiftly the initial earth packed itself together, how swiftly continents have assembled and come apart, how far and rapidly continents travel, how quickly mountains rise and how quickly they disintegrate and disappear.
Annals of the Former World
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Assemble (14)  |  Build (211)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Continent (79)  |  Deep (241)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disintegrate (3)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Do (1905)  |  Far (158)  |  Horse (78)  |  Initial (17)  |  Jockey (2)  |  Large (398)  |  Learn (672)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Minute (129)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nuance (4)  |  Number (710)  |  Occur (151)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Pack (6)  |  Part (235)  |  Place (192)  |  Quickly (21)  |  Race (278)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Ride (23)  |  Rise (169)  |  Sense (785)  |  Settle (23)  |  Space (523)  |  Swiftly (5)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Travel (125)

A railroad may have to be carried over a gorge or arroya. Obviously it does not need an Engineer to point out that this may be done by filling the chasm with earth, but only a Bridge Engineer is competent to determine whether it is cheaper to do this or to bridge it, and to design the bridge which will safely and most cheaply serve.
From Address on 'Industrial Engineering' at Purdue University (24 Feb 1905). Reprinted by Yale & Towne Mfg Co of New York and Stamford, Conn. for the use of students in its works.
Science quotes on:  |  Bridge (49)  |  Chasm (9)  |  Cheaper (6)  |  Competent (20)  |  Design (203)  |  Determine (152)  |  Do (1905)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Filling (6)  |  Gorge (3)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obviously (11)  |  Point (584)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Safely (7)  |  Serve (64)  |  Will (2350)

A rock or stone is not a subject that, of itself, may interest a philosopher to study; but, when he comes to see the necessity of those hard bodies, in the constitution of this earth, or for the permanency of the land on which we dwell, and when he finds that there are means wisely provided for the renovation of this necessary decaying part, as well as that of every other, he then, with pleasure, contemplates this manifestation of design, and thus connects the mineral system of this earth with that by which the heavenly bodies are made to move perpetually in their orbits.
Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and l1lustrations, Vol. 1 (1795), 276.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Connect (126)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Decay (59)  |  Design (203)  |  Find (1014)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hard (246)  |  Interest (416)  |  Land (131)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Move (223)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perpetually (20)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Rock (176)  |  See (1094)  |  Stone (168)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  System (545)

A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind.
In Since Cezanne (1922), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Air (366)  |  Art (680)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Infinitude (3)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Product (166)  |  Result (700)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rose (36)  |  Similarly (4)  |  Strange (160)  |  Visible (87)  |  Work (1402)

A sound Physics of the Earth should include all the primary considerations of the earth's atmosphere, of the characteristics and continual changes of the earth's external crust, and finally of the origin and development of living organisms. These considerations naturally divide the physics of the earth into three essential parts, the first being a theory of the atmosphere, or Meteorology, the second, a theory of the earth's external crust, or Hydrogeology, and the third, a theory of living organisms, or Biology.
Hydrogéologie (1802), trans. A. V. Carozzi (1964), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Being (1276)  |  Biology (232)  |  Change (639)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Continual (44)  |  Crust (43)  |  Development (441)  |  Divide (77)  |  Essential (210)  |  First (1302)  |  Geology (240)  |  Include (93)  |  Living (492)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Organism (231)  |  Origin (250)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Primary (82)  |  Sound (187)  |  Theory (1015)

A strange feeling of complete, almost solemn contentment suddenly overcame me when the descent module landed, rocked, and stilled. The weather was foul, but I smelled Earth, unspeakably sweet and intoxicating. And wind. Now utterly delightful; wind after long days in space.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Complete (209)  |  Contentment (11)  |  Delightful (18)  |  Descent (30)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Foul (15)  |  Intoxicating (2)  |  Land (131)  |  Long (778)  |  Module (3)  |  Overcome (40)  |  Rock (176)  |  Smell (29)  |  Solemn (20)  |  Space (523)  |  Still (614)  |  Strange (160)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Unspeakably (3)  |  Utterly (15)  |  Weather (49)  |  Wind (141)

Quote by Hideki Yukawa: A Thousand Paper Cranes. Peace on Earth and in the Heavens.
Background by anngelfra CC BY 2.0 (source)
A Thousand Paper Cranes. Peace on Earth and in the Heavens.
Inscribed, in the handwriting of Yukawa, on the surface of the bell inside the Children’s Peace Monument at Hiroshima, Japan. The crane is a symbol of longevity and happiness in Japan. The monument to mourn all the children whose death was caused by the atomic bomb was inspired by 12-year-old Sadako Sasaki, who believed that if she could fold 1000 paper cranes she would be cured of the leukemia that resulted from her exposure to the radiation of the atomic bomb when two years old. She died before completing them.
Science quotes on:  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Crane (4)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hiroshima (18)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Memorial (4)  |  Paper (192)  |  Paper Crane (2)  |  Peace (116)  |  Sadako Sasaki (3)  |  Thousand (340)

A time will come when men will stretch out their eyes. They should see planets like our Earth.
Inaugural Lecture as Professor of Astronomy, Gresham College. In Stephen Webb, If the Universe is Teeming With Aliens—Where is Everybody? (2002), 150.
Science quotes on:  |  Eye (440)  |  Planet (402)  |  See (1094)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

A time will come when science will transform [our bodies] by means which we cannot conjecture... And then, the earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate planet from planet, and sun from sun. The earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims from all quarters of the universe.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Airless (3)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Cross (20)  |  Holy (35)  |  Land (131)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Pilgrim (4)  |  Planet (402)  |  Quarter (6)  |  Sahara Desert (3)  |  Separate (151)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transform (74)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visit (27)  |  Will (2350)

A tree is beautiful, but what’s more, it has a right to life; like water, the sun and the stars, it is essential. Life on earth is inconceivable without trees. Forests create climate, climate influences peoples’ character, and so on and so forth. There can be neither civilization nor happiness if forests crash down under the axe, if the climate is harsh and severe, if people are also harsh and severe. ... What a terrible future!
In letter to A.S. Suvorin (18 Oct 1888).
Science quotes on:  |  Axe (16)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Character (259)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Climate (102)  |  Crash (9)  |  Create (245)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Down (455)  |  Essential (210)  |  Forest (161)  |  Future (467)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Harsh (9)  |  Inconceivable (13)  |  Influence (231)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Right (473)  |  Severe (17)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Tree (269)  |  Water (503)

About two million years ago, man appeared. He has become the dominant species on the earth. All other living things, animal and plant, live by his sufferance. He is the custodian of life on earth, and in the solar system. It’s a big responsibility.
From speech given at an anti-war teach-in at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (4 Mar 1969) 'A Generation in Search of a Future', as edited by Ron Dorfman for Chicago Journalism Review, (May 1969).
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Become (821)  |  Custodian (3)  |  Dominance (5)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plant (320)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Species (435)  |  Sufferance (2)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Year (963)

Absolute space, of its own nature without reference to anything external, always remains homogenous and immovable. Relative space is any movable measure or dimension of this absolute space; such a measure or dimension is determined by our senses from the situation of the space with respect to bodies and is popularly used for immovable space, as in the case of space under the earth or in the air or in the heavens, where the dimension is determined from the situation of the space with respect to the earth. Absolute and relative space are the same in species and in magnitude, but they do not always remain the same numerically. For example, if the earth moves, the space of our air, which in a relative sense and with respect to the earth always remains the same, will now be one part of the absolute space into which the air passes, now another part of it, and thus will be changing continually in an absolute sense.
The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), 3rd edition (1726), trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman (1999), Definitions, Scholium, 408-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Air (366)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Do (1905)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Immovable (2)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Numerically (2)  |  Relative (42)  |  Remain (355)  |  Respect (212)  |  Sense (785)  |  Situation (117)  |  Space (523)  |  Species (435)  |  Will (2350)

Absolute space, that is to say, the mark to which it would be necessary to refer the earth to know whether it really moves, has no objective existence…. The two propositions: “The earth turns round” and “it is more convenient to suppose the earth turns round” have the same meaning; there is nothing more in the one than in the other.
From La Science et l’Hypothèse (1908), 141, as translated by George Bruce Halsted in Science and Hypothesis (1905), 85-86. From the original French, “L’espace absolu, c’est-à-dire le repère auquel il faudrait rapporter la terre pour savoir si réellement elle tourne, n’a aucune existence objective. … Ces deux propositions: ‘la terre tourne’, et: ‘il est plus commode de supposer que la terre tourne’, ont un seul et même sens; il n’y a rien de plus dans l’une que dans l’autre.”
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Existence (481)  |  Know (1538)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Objective (96)  |  Other (2233)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Really (77)  |  Reference Frame (2)  |  Say (989)  |  Space (523)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)

According to the historian D. B. McIntyre (1963), James Hutton, often known as the father of geology, said in a lecture before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in the 1790s that he thought of the Earth as a superorganism and that its proper study would be by physiology. Hutton went on to make the analogy between the circulation of the blood, discovered by Harvey, and the circulation of the nutrient elements of the Earth and of the way that sunlight distills water from the oceans so that it may later fall as rain and so refresh the earth.
In 'The Earth as a Living Organism', Essay collected in E. O. Wilson and F. M. Peter (eds.), Biodiversity (1988), Chap. 56, 488. [Notes: Donald Bertram McIntyre (1923–2009) was a geologist. Hutton had medical training early in his life. According to Mirriam-Webster’s dictionary, the first known use of the word “superorganism” was “circa 1899”—so Hutton did not use that word. However, McIntyre did adopt that sophisticated word to describe Hutton’s thought, twice, in Philosophy of Geology (1963), 7 & 10. Thus, McIntyre and Lovelock freely embroidered whatever Hutton actually wrote, perhaps over-stepping. Cándido Manuel García Cruz criticizes that these “assertions are merely a misinterpretation” although “Hutton has nevertheless an holistic view which is closer to the Alfred N. Whitehead’s organic mechanicism than the James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis,” as quoted from the abstract of his article 'From James Hutton’s «Theory of the Earth» to James Lovelock’s «Gaia Hypothesis»', Asclepio; Archivo Iberoamericano de Historia de la Medicina y Antropología Médica (Jun 2007), 59, No. 1, 65-100. Thus, it is best to read his own words in James Hutton, Theory of the Earth, which at length describes the “terrestrial system” as a “machine of a peculiar construction.” —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Blood (144)  |  Circulation (27)  |  Discover (571)  |  Distill (3)  |  Element (322)  |  William Harvey (30)  |  James Hutton (22)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Nutrient (8)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Proper (150)  |  Rain (70)  |  Refresh (5)  |  Study (701)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Thought (995)  |  Water (503)

Accountants and second-rate business school jargon are in the ascendant. Costs, which rise rapidly, and are easily ascertained and comprehensible, now weigh more heavily in the scales than the unquantifiable and unpredictable values and future material progress. Perhaps science will only regain its lost primacy as peoples and government begin to recognize that sound scientific work is the only secure basis for the construction of policies to ensure the survival of Mankind without irreversible damage to Planet Earth.
In New Scientist, March 3, 1990.
Science quotes on:  |  Ascertain (41)  |  Basis (180)  |  Begin (275)  |  Business (156)  |  Construction (114)  |  Cost (94)  |  Damage (38)  |  Ensure (27)  |  Future (467)  |  Government (116)  |  Heavily (14)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Jargon (13)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Planet (402)  |  Progress (492)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Rise (169)  |  Scale (122)  |  School (227)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sound (187)  |  Survival (105)  |  Unpredictable (18)  |  Value (393)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

Across the road from my cabin was a huge clear-cut—hundreds of acres of massive spruce stumps interspersed with tiny Douglas firs—products of what they call “Reforestation,” which I guess makes the spindly firs en masse a “Reforest,” which makes an individual spindly fir a “Refir,” which means you could say that Weyerhauser, who owns the joint, has Refir Madness, since they think that sawing down 200-foot-tall spruces and replacing them with puling 2-foot Refirs is no different from farming beans or corn or alfalfa. They even call the towering spires they wipe from the Earth’s face forever a “crop”--as if they’d planted the virgin forest! But I'm just a fisherman and may be missing some deeper significance in their nomenclature and stranger treatment of primordial trees.
In David James Duncan, The River Why (1983), 71.
Science quotes on:  |  Acre (13)  |  Bean (3)  |  Cabin (5)  |  Call (781)  |  Clear-Cut (10)  |  Corn (20)  |  Crop (26)  |  Cut (116)  |  Deeper (4)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Douglas Fir (2)  |  Down (455)  |  Face (214)  |  Farming (8)  |  Fisherman (9)  |  Forest (161)  |  Forever (111)  |  Guess (67)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Individual (420)  |  Joint (31)  |  Madness (33)  |  Massive (9)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Miss (51)  |  Missing (21)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Plant (320)  |  Primordial (14)  |  Product (166)  |  Reforestation (6)  |  Replacement (13)  |  Road (71)  |  Sawing (3)  |  Say (989)  |  Significance (114)  |  Spire (5)  |  Stranger (16)  |  Stump (3)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Towering (11)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Tree (269)  |  Virgin (11)

Add to this the pride of achievement; the desire to rank among the successful souls on earth, and we have the factors which have brought some of the ablest of human beings into the limelight that revealed them to an admiring world, as leaders and examples.
Quoted, without citation, in front matter to T. A. Edison Foundation, Lewis Howard Latimer: A Black Inventor: a Biography and Related Experiments You Can Do (1973). If you know the primary source, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Admiration (61)  |  Being (1276)  |  Desire (212)  |  Example (98)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Leader (51)  |  Limelight (2)  |  Pride (84)  |  Rank (69)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Soul (235)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  World (1850)

After a duration of a thousand years, the power of astrology broke down when, with Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, the progress of astronomy overthrew the false hypothesis upon which the entire structure rested, namely the geocentric system of the universe. The fact that the earth revolves in space intervened to upset the complicated play of planetary influences, and the silent stars, related to the unfathomable depths of the sky, no longer made their prophetic voices audible to mankind. Celestial mechanics and spectrum analysis finally robbed them of their mysterious prestige.
Franz Cumont, translated by J.B. Baker, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans (1912, 2007), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Astrology (46)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Celestial Mechanics (4)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Depth (97)  |  Down (455)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Geocentric (6)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Influence (231)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Power (771)  |  Prestige (16)  |  Progress (492)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Sky (174)  |  Space (523)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Structure (365)  |  System (545)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Unfathomable (11)  |  Universe (900)  |  Upset (18)  |  Year (963)

After a tremendous task has been begun in our time, first by Copernicus and then by many very learned mathematicians, and when the assertion that the earth moves can no longer be considered something new, would it not be much better to pull the wagon to its goal by our joint efforts, now that we have got it underway, and gradually, with powerful voices, to shout down the common herd, which really does not weigh arguments very carefully?
Letter to Galileo (13 Oct 1597). In James Bruce Ross (ed.) and Mary Martin (ed., trans.), 'Comrades in the Pursuit of Truth', The Portable Renaissance Reader (1953, 1981), 599. As quoted and cited in Merry E. Wiesner, Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789 (2013), 377.
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Assertion (35)  |  Better (493)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Common (447)  |  Consider (428)  |  Copernicus_Nicolaud (2)  |  Down (455)  |  Effort (243)  |  First (1302)  |  Goal (155)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Herd (17)  |  Joint (31)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Move (223)  |  New (1273)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Pull (43)  |  Shout (25)  |  Something (718)  |  Task (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tremendous (29)  |  Voice (54)  |  Wagon (10)  |  Weigh (51)

After death, life reappears in a different form and with different laws. It is inscribed in the laws of the permanence of life on the surface of the earth and everything that has been a plant and an animal will be destroyed and transformed into a gaseous, volatile and mineral substance.
Quoted in Patrice Debré, Louis Pasteur, trans. Elborg Forster (1994), 110.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Death (406)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Everything (489)  |  Form (976)  |  Gas (89)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Plant (320)  |  Reappearance (2)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Transform (74)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Volatility (3)  |  Will (2350)

After I had addressed myself to this very difficult and almost insoluble problem, the suggestion at length came to me how it could be solved with fewer and much simpler constructions than were formerly used, if some assumptions (which are called axioms) were granted me. They follow in this order.
There is no one center of all the celestial circles or spheres.
The center of the earth is not the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere.
All the spheres revolve about the sun as their mid-point, and therefore the sun is the center of the universe.
The ratio of the earth’s distance from the sun to the height of the firmament is so much smaller than the ratio of the earth’s radius to its distance from the sun that the distance from the earth to the sun is imperceptible in comparison with the height of the firmament.
Whatever motion appears in the firmament arises not from any motion of the firmament, but from the earth’s motion. The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and highest heaven abide unchanged.
What appears to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion.
The apparent retrograde and direct motion of the planets arises not from their motion but from the earth’s. The motion of the earth alone, therefore, suffices to explain so many apparent inequalities in the heavens.
'The Commentariolus', in Three Copernican Treatises (c.1510), trans. E. Rosen (1939), 58-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Arise (162)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Call (781)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Circle (117)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Complete (209)  |  Construction (114)  |  Daily (91)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direct (228)  |  Distance (171)  |  Element (322)  |  Explain (334)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Follow (389)  |  Grant (76)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Myself (211)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perform (123)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Pole (49)  |  Problem (731)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Retrograde (8)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Suggestion (49)  |  Sun (407)  |  Together (392)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whatever (234)

Agreeing that plants and animals were produced by Omnipotent fiat does not exclude the idea of natural order and what we call secondary causes. The record of the fiat—“Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,” etc., “and it was so;” “let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind” — seems even to imply them.
Asa Gray
In Darwiniana: Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism (1877), 131.
Science quotes on:  |  Agree (31)  |  Animal (651)  |  Bring Forth (2)  |  Call (781)  |  Cause (561)  |  Creature (242)  |  Exclude (8)  |  Fiat (7)  |  Grass (49)  |  Herb (6)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imply (20)  |  Kind (564)  |  Let (64)  |  Live (650)  |  Natural Order (6)  |  Omnipotent (13)  |  Plant (320)  |  Produce (117)  |  Record (161)  |  Secondary (15)  |  Seed (97)  |  Seem (150)  |  Yield (86)

Ah! You seen one Earth, you’ve seen them all.
Joking, while on the surface of the moon, with Eugene Cernan, who pointed out the view of the Earth: “Oh, man. Hey, Jack, just stop. You owe yourself 30 seconds to look up over the South Massif and look at the Earth.” While loading the Rover, on the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (12 Dec 1972). From transcript on nasa.gov website, which notes that later the quote was used on an environmental poster.
Science quotes on:  |  See (1094)

Alexander the king of the Macedonians, began like a wretch to learn geometry, that he might know how little the earth was, whereof he had possessed very little. Thus, I say, like a wretch for this, because he was to understand that he did bear a false surname. For who can be great in so small a thing? Those things that were delivered were subtile, and to be learned by diligent attention: not which that mad man could perceive, who sent his thoughts beyond the ocean sea. Teach me, saith he, easy things. To whom his master said: These things be the same, and alike difficult unto all. Think thou that the nature of things saith this. These things whereof thou complainest, they are the same unto all: more easy things can be given unto none; but whosoever will, shall make those things more easy unto himself. How? With uprightness of mind.
In Thomas Lodge (trans.), 'Epistle 91', The Workes of Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Both Morrall and Naturall (1614), 383. Also in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica (1914), 135.
Science quotes on:  |  Alexander the Great (4)  |  Alike (60)  |  Attention (196)  |  Bear (162)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Complain (10)  |  Deliver (30)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Easy (213)  |  False (105)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Great (1610)  |  Himself (461)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Little (717)  |  Mad (54)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Things (30)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Possess (157)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Small (489)  |  Subtile (3)  |  Teach (299)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understand (648)  |  Upright (2)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wretch (5)

All admit that the mountains of the globe are situated mostly along the border regions of the continents (taking these regions as 300 to 1000 miles or more in width), and that over these same areas the sedimentary deposits have, as a general thing, their greatest thickness. At first thought, it would seem almost incredible that the upliftings of mountains, whatever their mode of origin, should have taken place just where the earth’s crust, through these sedimentary accumulations, was the thickest, and where, therefore, there was the greatest weight to be lifted. … Earthquakes show that even now, in this last of the geological ages, the same border regions of the continents, although daily thickening from the sediments borne to the ocean by rivers, are the areas of the greatest and most frequent movements of the earth’s crust. (1866)
[Thus, the facts were known long ago; the explanation by tectonic activity came many decades later.]
In 'Observations on the Origin of Some of the Earth’s Features', The American Journal of Science (Sep 1866), Second Series, 42, No. 125, 210-211.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulation (51)  |  Activity (218)  |  Age (509)  |  Border (10)  |  Continent (79)  |  Crust (43)  |  Daily (91)  |  Decade (66)  |  Deposit (12)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  General (521)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Known (453)  |  Last (425)  |  Lift (57)  |  Long (778)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Movement (162)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Origin (250)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  River (140)  |  Sediment (9)  |  Show (353)  |  Thickness (5)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Uplift (6)  |  Weight (140)  |  Whatever (234)

All change is relative. The universe is expanding relatively to our common material standards; our material standards are shrinking relatively to the size of the universe. The theory of the “expanding universe” might also be called the theory of the “shrinking atom”. …
:Let us then take the whole universe as our standard of constancy, and adopt the view of a cosmic being whose body is composed of intergalactic spaces and swells as they swell. Or rather we must now say it keeps the same size, for he will not admit that it is he who has changed. Watching us for a few thousand million years, he sees us shrinking; atoms, animals, planets, even the galaxies, all shrink alike; only the intergalactic spaces remain the same. The earth spirals round the sun in an ever-decreasing orbit. It would be absurd to treat its changing revolution as a constant unit of time. The cosmic being will naturally relate his units of length and time so that the velocity of light remains constant. Our years will then decrease in geometrical progression in the cosmic scale of time. On that scale man’s life is becoming briefer; his threescore years and ten are an ever-decreasing allowance. Owing to the property of geometrical progressions an infinite number of our years will add up to a finite cosmic time; so that what we should call the end of eternity is an ordinary finite date in the cosmic calendar. But on that date the universe has expanded to infinity in our reckoning, and we have shrunk to nothing in the reckoning of the cosmic being.
We walk the stage of life, performers of a drama for the benefit of the cosmic spectator. As the scenes proceed he notices that the actors are growing smaller and the action quicker. When the last act opens the curtain rises on midget actors rushing through their parts at frantic speed. Smaller and smaller. Faster and faster. One last microscopic blurr of intense agitation. And then nothing.
In The Expanding Universe (1933) , 90-92.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Agitation (10)  |  Alike (60)  |  Allowance (6)  |  Animal (651)  |  Atom (381)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Body (557)  |  Calendar (9)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Common (447)  |  Constancy (12)  |  Constant (148)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Drama (24)  |  End (603)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Expand (56)  |  Faster (50)  |  Finite (60)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Growing (99)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notice (81)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Owing (39)  |  Planet (402)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Progression (23)  |  Property (177)  |  Reckoning (19)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Rise (169)  |  Say (989)  |  Scale (122)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Shrink (23)  |  Space (523)  |  Speed (66)  |  Spiral (19)  |  Stage (152)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Velocity (51)  |  View (496)  |  Walk (138)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

All creation is a mine, and every man a miner.
The whole earth, and all within it, upon it, and round about it, including himself … are the infinitely various “leads” from which, man, from the first, was to dig out his destiny.
Opening sentences of lecture 'Discoveries and Inventions', (1860) in Discoveries and Inventions (1915).
Science quotes on:  |  Creation (350)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Dig (25)  |  Discovery (837)  |  First (1302)  |  Himself (461)  |  Invention (400)  |  Lead (391)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mine (78)  |  Various (205)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

All in all, the total amount of power conceivably available from the uranium and thorium supplies of the earth is about twenty times that available from the coal and oil we have left.
In The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science: The physical sciences (1960), 371.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Available (80)  |  Coal (64)  |  Conceivable (28)  |  Left (15)  |  Oil (67)  |  Power (771)  |  Supply (100)  |  Thorium (5)  |  Time (1911)  |  Total (95)  |  Uranium (21)

All of today’s DNA, strung through all the cells of the earth, is simply an extension and elaboration of [the] first molecule.
In The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974, 1979), 27.
Science quotes on:  |  Cell (146)  |  DNA (81)  |  Elaboration (11)  |  Extension (60)  |  First (1302)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  String (22)  |  Through (846)  |  Today (321)

All over the world there lingers on the memory of a giant tree, the primal tree, rising up from the centre of the Earth to the heavens and ordering the universe around it. It united the three worlds: its roots plunged down into subterranean abysses, Its loftiest branches touched the empyrean. Thanks to the Tree, it became possible to breathe the air; to all the creatures that then appeared on Earth it dispensed its fruit, ripened by the sun and nourished by the water which it drew from the soil. From the sky it attracted the lightning from which man made fire and, beckoning skyward, where clouds gathered around its fall. The Tree was the source of all life, and of all regeneration. Small wonder then that tree-worship was so prevalent in ancient times.
From 'L'Arbre Sacre' ('The Sacred Tree'), UNESCO Courier (Jan 1989), 4. Epigraph to Chap 1, in Kenton Miller and Laura Tangley, Trees of Life: Saving Tropical Forests and Their Biological Wealt (1991), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Air (366)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Appeared (4)  |  Attracted (3)  |  Beckoning (4)  |  Branch (155)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Centre (31)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Creature (242)  |  Dispense (10)  |  Down (455)  |  Empyrean (3)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fire (203)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Gather (76)  |  Giant (73)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Linger (14)  |  Man (2252)  |  Memory (144)  |  Nourished (2)  |  Possible (560)  |  Prevalent (4)  |  Primal (5)  |  Regeneration (5)  |  Rising (44)  |  Root (121)  |  Sky (174)  |  Skyward (2)  |  Small (489)  |  Soil (98)  |  Source (101)  |  Subterranean (2)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thanks (26)  |  Three (10)  |  Time (1911)  |  Touch (146)  |  Tree (269)  |  United (15)  |  Universe (900)  |  Water (503)  |  Wonder (251)  |  World (1850)  |  Worship (32)

All sorts of dung and compost contain some matter which, when mixed with the soil, ferments therein; and by such ferment dissolves, crumbles, and divides the earth very much. This is the chief and almost only use of dung. … This proves, that its (manure) use is not to nourish, but to dissolve, i.e., divide the terrestrial matter, which affords nourishment to the Mouths of vegetable roots.
His underestimate of the value of manure. In The Horse-Hoeing Husbandry (1733), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Chief (99)  |  Dissolve (22)  |  Divide (77)  |  Dung (10)  |  Fertilizer (13)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Nourishment (26)  |  Prove (261)  |  Root (121)  |  Soil (98)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Underestimate (7)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Vegetable (49)

All that comes above that surface [of the globe] lies within the province of Geography. All that comes below that surface lies inside the realm of Geology. The surface of the earth is that which, so to speak, divides them and at the same time “binds them together in indissoluble union.” We may, perhaps, put the case metaphorically. The relationships of the two are rather like that of man and wife. Geography, like a prudent woman, has followed the sage advice of Shakespeare and taken unto her “an elder than herself;” but she does not trespass on the domain of her consort, nor could she possibly maintain the respect of her children were she to flaunt before the world the assertion that she is “a woman with a past.”
From Anniversary Address to Geological Society of London (20 Feb 1903), 'The Relations of Geology', published in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London (22 May 1903), 59, Part 2, lxxviii. As reprinted in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1904), 373.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Children (201)  |  Divide (77)  |  Domain (72)  |  Elder (9)  |  Follow (389)  |  Geography (39)  |  Geology (240)  |  Lie (370)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Man (2252)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Past (355)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Province (37)  |  Realm (87)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Respect (212)  |  Sage (25)  |  William Shakespeare (109)  |  Speak (240)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Trespass (5)  |  Two (936)  |  Union (52)  |  Wife (41)  |  Woman (160)  |  World (1850)

All the different classes of beings which taken together make up the universe are, in the ideas of God who knows distinctly their essential gradations, only so many ordinates of a single curve so closely united that it would be impossible to place others between any two of them, since that would imply disorder and imperfection. Thus men are linked with the animals, these with the plants and these with the fossils which in turn merge with those bodies which our senses and our imagination represent to us as absolutely inanimate. And, since the law of continuity requires that when the essential attributes of one being approximate those of another all the properties of the one must likewise gradually approximate those of the other, it is necessary that all the orders of natural beings form but a single chain, in which the various classes, like so many rings, are so closely linked one to another that it is impossible for the senses or the imagination to determine precisely the point at which one ends and the next begins?all the species which, so to say, lie near the borderlands being equivocal, at endowed with characters which might equally well be assigned to either of the neighboring species. Thus there is nothing monstrous in the existence zoophytes, or plant-animals, as Budaeus calls them; on the contrary, it is wholly in keeping with the order of nature that they should exist. And so great is the force of the principle of continuity, to my thinking, that not only should I not be surprised to hear that such beings had been discovered?creatures which in some of their properties, such as nutrition or reproduction, might pass equally well for animals or for plants, and which thus overturn the current laws based upon the supposition of a perfect and absolute separation of the different orders of coexistent beings which fill the universe;?not only, I say, should I not be surprised to hear that they had been discovered, but, in fact, I am convinced that there must be such creatures, and that natural history will perhaps some day become acquainted with them, when it has further studied that infinity of living things whose small size conceals them for ordinary observation and which are hidden in the bowels of the earth and the depth of the sea.
Lettre Prétendue de M. De Leibnitz, à M. Hermann dont M. Koenig a Cité le Fragment (1753), cxi-cxii, trans. in A. O. Lovejoy, Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea (1936), 144-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Animal (651)  |  Approximate (25)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Become (821)  |  Begin (275)  |  Being (1276)  |  Borderland (6)  |  Bowel (17)  |  Call (781)  |  Character (259)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Creature (242)  |  Current (122)  |  Curve (49)  |  Depth (97)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Disorder (45)  |  End (603)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Equally (129)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  God (776)  |  Gradation (17)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hear (144)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imperfection (32)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Know (1538)  |  Law (913)  |  Lie (370)  |  Living (492)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Next (238)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Nutrition (25)  |  Observation (593)  |  Order (638)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Plant (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Principle (530)  |  Represent (157)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Require (229)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sense (785)  |  Separation (60)  |  Single (365)  |  Small (489)  |  Species (435)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Together (392)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Will (2350)

All the earths are burnt metals.
In 'Perpetual Forces', North American Review (1877), No. 125. Collected in Ralph Waldo Emerson and James Elliot Cabot (ed.), Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883), 60.
Science quotes on:  |  Burnt (2)  |  Geology (240)  |  Metal (88)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Ore (14)

All the events which occur upon the earth result from Law: even those actions which are entirely dependent on the caprices of the memory, or the impulse of the passions, are shown by statistics to be, when taken in the gross, entirely independent of the human will. As a single atom, man is an enigma; as a whole, he is a mathematical problem. As an individual, he is a free agent; as a species, the offspring of necessity.
In The Martyrdom of Man (1876), 185-186.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Agent (73)  |  Atom (381)  |  Caprice (10)  |  Dependent (26)  |  Enigma (16)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Event (222)  |  Free (239)  |  Gross (7)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Independent (74)  |  Individual (420)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Memory (144)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Occur (151)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Passion (121)  |  Problem (731)  |  Result (700)  |  Single (365)  |  Species (435)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

All the human culture, all the results of art, science and technology that we see before us today, are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan. This very fact admits of the not unfounded inference that he alone was the founder of all higher humanity, therefore representing the prototype of all that we understand by the word 'man.' He is the Prometheus of mankind from whose shining brow the divine spark of genius has sprung at all times, forever kindling anew that fire of knowledge which illuminated the night of silent mysteries and thus caused man to climb the path to mastery over the other beings of the earth ... It was he who laid the foundations and erected the walls of every great structure in human culture.
Mein Kampf (1925-26), American Edition (1943), 290. In William Lawrence Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1990), 86-87.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Anew (19)  |  Art (680)  |  Being (1276)  |  Creative (144)  |  Culture (157)  |  Divine (112)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fire (203)  |  Forever (111)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Founder (26)  |  Genius (301)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Culture (10)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Inference (45)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mastery (36)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Other (2233)  |  Path (159)  |  Product (166)  |  Prototype (9)  |  Result (700)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  See (1094)  |  Shining (35)  |  Spark (32)  |  Structure (365)  |  Technology (281)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Understand (648)  |  Wall (71)  |  Word (650)

All things on the earth are the result of chemical combination. The operation by which the commingling of molecules and the interchange of atoms take place we can imitate in our laboratories; but in nature they proceed by slow degrees, and, in general, in our hands they are distinguished by suddenness of action. In nature chemical power is distributed over a long period of time, and the process of change is scarcely to be observed. By acts we concentrate chemical force, and expend it in producing a change which occupies but a few hours at most.
In chapter 'Chemical Forces', The Poetry of Science: Or, Studies of the Physical Phenomena of Nature (1848), 235-236. Charles Dicken used this quote, with his own sub-head of 'Relative Importance Of Time To Man And Nature', to conclude his review of the book, published in The Examiner (1848).
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Atom (381)  |  Change (639)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Combination (150)  |  Concentrate (28)  |  Concentration (29)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Distinguishing (14)  |  Force (497)  |  General (521)  |  Hour (192)  |  Imitate (18)  |  Interchange (4)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Long (778)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observed (149)  |  Operation (221)  |  Period (200)  |  Place (192)  |  Power (771)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Proceeding (38)  |  Process (439)  |  Producing (6)  |  Result (700)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Slow (108)  |  Suddenness (6)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)

All things that come into being and grow are earth and water.
Quoted in Arthur Fairbanks (ed. And trans.), The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 69, fragment 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Grow (247)  |  Matter (821)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Water (503)

All those who think it paradoxical that so great a weight as the earth should not waver or move anywhere seem to me to go astray by making their judgment with an eye to their own affects and not to the property of the whole. For it would not still appear so extraordinary to them, I believe, if they stopped to think that the earth’s magnitude compared to the whole body surrounding it is in the ratio of a point to it. For thus it seems possible for that which is relatively least to be supported and pressed against from all sides equally and at the same angle by that which is absolutely greatest and homogeneous.
Ptolemy
'The Almagest 1', in Ptolemy: the Almagest; Nicolaus Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres; Johannes Kepler: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy: IV - V The Harmonies of the World: V, trans. R. Catesby Taliaferro (1952), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Astray (13)  |  Body (557)  |  Equally (129)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Eye (440)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Homogeneous (17)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Making (300)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Property (177)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Side (236)  |  Still (614)  |  Support (151)  |  Think (1122)  |  Waver (2)  |  Weight (140)  |  Whole (756)

Almost all of the space program’s important advances in scientific knowledge have been accomplished by hundreds of robotic spacecraft in orbit about Earth and on missions to the distant planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Robotic exploration of the planets and their satellites as well as of comets and asteroids has truly revolutionized our knowledge of the solar system.
In 'Is Human Spaceflight Obsolete?', Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2004).
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Advance (298)  |  Asteroid (19)  |  Comet (65)  |  Distant (33)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Important (229)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mars (47)  |  Mercury (54)  |  Mission (23)  |  Neptune (13)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Planet (402)  |  Revolutionize (8)  |  Robot (14)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Saturn (15)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Knowledge (11)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Program (9)  |  Spacecraft (6)  |  System (545)  |  Truly (118)  |  Uranus (6)  |  Venus (21)

Also the earth is not spherical, as some have said, although it tends toward sphericity, for the shape of the universe is limited in its parts as well as its movement… . The movement which is more perfect than others is, therefore, circular, and the corporeal form which is the most perfect is the sphere.
Science quotes on:  |  Circular (19)  |  Corporeal (5)  |  Form (976)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Shape (77)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Sphericity (2)  |  Tend (124)  |  Universe (900)

Aluminum has … a kind of “glamor” associated with it, due to two facts, the first being that it is really useful, durable and beautiful, combined with the other fact, which has little to do with its commercial importance, that its ores are more abundant than of any other metal and constitute a large portion of the earth’s crust.
In article by Chas. M. Hall, 'The Properties of Aluminum', Western Electrician (30 May 1891), 8, No. 22, 312.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Aluminum (15)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Crust (43)  |  Durability (2)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Large (398)  |  Metal (88)  |  Ore (14)  |  Portion (86)  |  Usefulness (92)

America forms the longest and straightest bone in the earth's skeleton.
The Red Man's Continent: A Chronicle of Aboriginal America (1919), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Bone (101)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Skeleton (25)

America, so far as her physical history is concerned, has been falsely denominated the New World. Hers was the first dry land lifted out of the waters, hers the first shore washed by the ocean that enveloped all the earth beside; and while Europe was represented only by islands rising here and there above the sea, America already stretched an unbroken line of land from Nova Scotia to the Far West.
Geological Sketches (1866), I.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  America (143)  |  Concern (239)  |  Dry (65)  |  First (1302)  |  History (716)  |  Island (49)  |  Lift (57)  |  New (1273)  |  Nova (7)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Physical (518)  |  Represent (157)  |  Rising (44)  |  Sea (326)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Wash (23)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

Amidst the vicissitudes of the earth’s surface, species cannot be immortal, but must perish, one after another, like the individuals which compose them. There is no possibility of escaping from this conclusion.
Principles of Geology (1837), Vol. 2, 202.
Science quotes on:  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Individual (420)  |  Must (1525)  |  Perish (56)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Species (435)  |  Surface (223)  |  Vicissitude (6)

Among all the occurrences possible in the universe the a priori probability of any particular one of them verges upon zero. Yet the universe exists; particular events must take place in it, the probability of which (before the event) was infinitesimal. At the present time we have no legitimate grounds for either asserting or denying that life got off to but a single start on earth, and that, as a consequence, before it appeared its chances of occurring were next to nil. ... Destiny is written concurrently with the event, not prior to it.
In Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1971), 145.
Science quotes on:  |  A Priori (26)  |  Appear (122)  |  Assert (69)  |  Chance (244)  |  Concurrent (2)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Deny (71)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Event (222)  |  Exist (458)  |  Ground (222)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  Next (238)  |  Occur (151)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Particular (80)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Prior (6)  |  Probability (135)  |  Single (365)  |  Start (237)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Verge (10)  |  Write (250)  |  Zero (38)

Among the authorities it is generally agreed that the Earth is at rest in the middle of the universe, and they regard it as inconceivable and even ridiculous to hold the opposite opinion. However, if we consider it more closely the question will be seen to be still unsettled, and so decidedly not to be despised. For every apparent change in respect of position is due to motion of the object observed, or of the observer, or indeed to an unequal change of both.
'Book One. Chapter V. Whether Circular Motion is Proper to the Earth, and of its Place', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Both (496)  |  Change (639)  |  Consider (428)  |  Due (143)  |  Indeed (323)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Object (438)  |  Observed (149)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Question (649)  |  Regard (312)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rest (287)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Still (614)  |  Unequal (12)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unsettled (3)  |  Will (2350)

An astronomer must be the wisest of men; his mind must be duly disciplined in youth; especially is mathematical study necessary; both an acquaintance with the doctrine of number, and also with that other branch of mathematics, which, closely connected as it is with the science of the heavens, we very absurdly call geometry, the measurement of the earth.
Plato
From the 'Epilogue to the Laws' (Epinomis), 988-990. As quoted in William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences from the Earliest to the Present Time (1837), Vol. 1, 161. (Although referenced to Plato’s Laws, the Epinomis is regarded as a later addition, not by Plato himself.)
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Both (496)  |  Branch (155)  |  Call (781)  |  Connect (126)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Number (710)  |  Other (2233)  |  Study (701)  |  Wise (143)  |  Youth (109)

An evolutionary perspective of our place in the history of the earth reminds us that Homo sapiens sapiens has occupied the planet for the tiniest fraction of that planet's four and a half thousand million years of existence. In many ways we are a biological accident, the product of countless propitious circumstances. As we peer back through the fossil record, through layer upon layer of long-extinct species, many of which thrived far longer than the human species is ever likely to do, we are reminded of our mortality as a species. There is no law that declares the human animal to be different, as seen in this broad biological perspective, from any other animal. There is no law that declares the human species to be immortal.
Co-author with American science writer Roger Amos Lewin (1946), Origins: What New Discoveries Reveal about the Emergence of our Species and its Possible Future (1977), 256.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Animal (651)  |  Back (395)  |  Biological (137)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Countless (39)  |  Declare (48)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fossil Record (12)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Earth (2)  |  Homo Sapiens (23)  |  Human (1512)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Law (913)  |  Layer (41)  |  Long (778)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Planet (402)  |  Product (166)  |  Record (161)  |  Species (435)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Way (1214)  |  Year (963)

An example of such emergent phenomena is the origin of life from non-living chemical compounds in the oldest, lifeless oceans of the earth. Here, aided by the radiation energy received from the sun, countless chemical materials were synthesized and accumulated in such a way that they constituted, as it were, a primeval “soup.” In this primeval soup, by infinite variations of lifeless growth and decay of substances during some billions of years, the way of life was ultimately reached, with its metabolism characterized by selective assimilation and dissimilation as end stations of a sluiced and canalized flow of free chemical energy.
In 'The Scientific Character of Geology', The Journal of Geology (Jul 1961), 69, No. 4, 458.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulate (30)  |  Aid (101)  |  Assimilation (13)  |  Billion (104)  |  Canal (18)  |  Characterize (22)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Energy (3)  |  Compound (117)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Countless (39)  |  Decay (59)  |  Emergent (3)  |  End (603)  |  Energy (373)  |  Flow (89)  |  Free (239)  |  Growth (200)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Living (492)  |  Material (366)  |  Metabolism (15)  |  Non-Living (3)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Primeval (15)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Reach (286)  |  Selective (21)  |  Sluice (2)  |  Soup (10)  |  Station (30)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sun (407)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Ultimately (56)  |  Variation (93)  |  Way (1214)  |  Way Of Life (15)  |  Year (963)

An extra-terrestrial philosopher, who had watched a single youth up to the age of twenty-one and had never come across any other human being, might conclude that it is the nature of human beings to grow continually taller and wiser in an indefinite progress towards perfection; and this generalization would be just as well founded as the generalization which evolutionists base upon the previous history of this planet.
Scientific Method in Philosophy (1914), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indefinite (21)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Planet (402)  |  Progress (492)  |  Single (365)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Watch (118)  |  Youth (109)

An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books - might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity and consumerism.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Arrive (40)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Comic (5)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Credulity (16)  |  Cruelty (24)  |  Easily (36)  |  Extraterrestrial (6)  |  Intent (9)  |   Magazine (26)  |  Mainly (10)  |  Movie (21)  |  Murder (16)  |  Newly (4)  |  Newspaper (39)  |  Present (630)  |  Radio (60)  |  Scrutinize (7)  |  Superstition (70)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Television (33)

An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going. But this should not be taken to imply that there are good reasons to believe that it could not have started on the earth by a perfectly reasonable sequence of fairly ordinary chemical reactions. The plain fact is that the time available was too long, the many microenvironments on the earth’s surface too diverse, the various chemical possibilities too numerous and our own knowledge and imagination too feeble to allow us to be able to unravel exactly how it might or might not have happened such a long time ago, especially as we have no experimental evidence from that era to check our ideas against.
In Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature (1981), 88.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Arm (82)  |  Available (80)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Reaction (17)  |  Chemical Reactions (13)  |  Condition (362)  |  Era (51)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Good (906)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Honest (53)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Moment (260)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Start (237)  |  State (505)  |  Surface (223)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unravel (16)  |  Various (205)

An iron rod being placed on the outside of a building from the highest part continued down into the moist earth, in any direction strait or crooked, following the form of the roof or other parts of the building, will receive the lightning at its upper end, attracting it so as to prevent it's striking any other part; and, affording it a good conveyance into the earth, will prevent its damaging any part of the building.
Of Lightning, and the Method (now used in America) of securing Buildings and Persons from its mischievous Effects', Paris 1767. In I. Bernard Cohen (ed.), Benjamin Franklin's Experiments (1941), 390.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Building (158)  |  Direction (185)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Form (976)  |  Good (906)  |  Invention (400)  |  Iron (99)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Moist (13)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Receive (117)  |  Striking (48)  |  Will (2350)

An unelectrified atom is so elusive that unless more than a million million are present we have no means sufficiently sensitive to detect them, or, to put it another way, unless we had a better test for a man than for an unelectrified molecule, we should be unable to find out that the earth was inhabited. … A billion unelectrified atoms may escape our observation, whereas a dozen or so electrified ones are detected without difficulty.
From the Romanes Lecture (10 Jun 1914) delivered in the Sheldonian Theatre, published as The Atomic Theory (1914), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Better (493)  |  Billion (104)  |  Detect (45)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Dozen (10)  |  Electrified (2)  |  Elusive (8)  |  Escape (85)  |  Find (1014)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Ion (21)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Million (124)  |  Molecule (185)  |  More (2558)  |  Observation (593)  |  Present (630)  |  Sensitive (15)  |  Sufficiently (9)  |  Test (221)  |  Way (1214)

Anaximander son of Praxiades, of Miletus: he said that the principle and element is the Indefinite, not distinguishing air or water or anything else. … he was the first to discover a gnomon, and he set one up on the Sundials (?) in Sparta, according to Favorinus in his Universal History, to mark solstices and equinoxes; and he also constructed hour indicators. He was the first to draw an outline of earth and sea, but also constructed a [celestial] globe. Of his opinions he made a summary exposition, which I suppose Apollodorus the Athenian also encountered. Apollodorus says in his Chronicles that Anaximander was sixty-four years old in the year of the fifty-eighth Olympiad [547/6 B.C.], and that he died shortly afterwards (having been near his prime approximately during the time of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos).
Diogenes Laërtius II, 1-2. In G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven and M. Schofield (eds), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1957), 99. The editors of this translation note that Anaximander may have introduced the gnomon into Greece, but he did not discover it—the Babylonians used it earlier, and the celestial sphere, and the twelve parts of the day.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Air (366)  |  Anaximander (5)  |  Cartography (3)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Construct (129)  |  Discover (571)  |  Draw (140)  |  Element (322)  |  First (1302)  |  History (716)  |  Hour (192)  |  Indefinite (21)  |  Old (499)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Principle (530)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Set (400)  |  Summary (11)  |  Sundial (6)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universal (198)  |  Water (503)  |  Year (963)

Anaximenes ... also says that the underlying nature is one and infinite ... but not undefined as Anaximander said but definite, for he identifies it as air; and it differs in its substantial nature by rarity and density. Being made finer it becomes fire; being made thicker it becomes wind, then cloud, then (when thickened still more) water, then earth, then stones; and the rest come into being from these.
Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics, 24, 26-31, quoting Theophrastus on Anaximenes. In G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M.Schofield (eds), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1983), p. 145.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Anaximenes (5)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Definite (114)  |  Density (25)  |  Differ (88)  |  Fire (203)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Rarity (11)  |  Rest (287)  |  Say (989)  |  Still (614)  |  Stone (168)  |  Substantial (24)  |  Underlying (33)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)

Anaximenes ... said that infinite air was the principle, from which the things that are becoming, and that are, and that shall be, and gods and things divine, all come into being, and the rest from its products. The form of air is of this kind: whenever it is most equable it is invisible to sight, but is revealed by the cold and the hot and the damp and by movement. It is always in motion; for things that change do not change unless there be movement. Through becoming denser or finer it has different appearances; for when it is dissolved into what is finer it becomes fire, while winds, again, are air that is becoming condensed, and cloud is produced from air by felting. When it is condensed still more, water is produced; with a further degree of condensation earth is produced, and when condensed as far as possible, stones. The result is that the most influential components of the generation are opposites, hot and cold.
Hippolytus, Refutation, 1.7.1. In G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M. Schofield (eds.), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1983), p. 145.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Anaximander (5)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Change (639)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Cold (115)  |  Component (51)  |  Condensation (12)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Divine (112)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fire (203)  |  Form (976)  |  Generation (256)  |  God (776)  |  Hot (63)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Kind (564)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Movement (162)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Possible (560)  |  Principle (530)  |  Produced (187)  |  Product (166)  |  Rest (287)  |  Result (700)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Sight (135)  |  Still (614)  |  Stone (168)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Water (503)  |  Whenever (81)  |  Wind (141)

Anaximenes and Anaxagoras and Democritus say that its [the earth’s] flatness is responsible for it staying still: for it does not cut the air beneath but covers it like a lid, which flat bodies evidently do: for they are hard to move even for the winds, on account of their resistance.
Aristotle
Aristotle, On the Heavens, 294b, 13. In G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M.Schofield (eds), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1983), p. 153.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Air (366)  |  Anaxagoras (11)  |  Anaximenes (5)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Cut (116)  |  Democritus of Abdera (17)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evidently (26)  |  Flat (34)  |  Hard (246)  |  Move (223)  |  Resistance (41)  |  Say (989)  |  Still (614)  |  Wind (141)

Anaximenes son of Eurystratus, of Miletus, was a pupil of Anaximander; some say he was also a pupil of Parmenides. He said that the material principle was air and the infinite; and that the stars move, not under the earth, but round it. He used simple and economical Ionic speech. He was active, according to what Apollodorus says, around the time of the capture of Sardis, and died in the 63rd Olympiad.
Diogenes Laertius 2.3. In G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M. Schofield (eds), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts(1983), p. 143.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Active (80)  |  Air (366)  |  Anaximenes (5)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Material (366)  |  Move (223)  |  Principle (530)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Say (989)  |  Simple (426)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Speech (66)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Time (1911)

And genius hath electric power,
Which earth can never tame;
Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower,
Its flash is still the same.
Louis Klopsch, Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1896), 106.
Science quotes on:  |  Bright (81)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Dark (145)  |  Electric (76)  |  Flash (49)  |  Genius (301)  |  Low (86)  |  Never (1089)  |  Power (771)  |  Same (166)  |  Scorch (2)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Tame (4)

And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.” And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Bible
(circa 725 B.C.)
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Creation (350)  |  Day (43)  |  Evening (12)  |  Fruit (108)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Kind (564)  |  Morning (98)  |  Plant (320)  |  Saw (160)  |  Seed (97)  |  Tree (269)  |  Vegetation (24)

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Bible
From Genesis, I, 24, in The Holy Bible (1756), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Beast (58)  |  Cattle (18)  |  Creature (242)  |  Creeping (4)  |  Evolution (635)  |  God (776)  |  Kind (564)  |  Living (492)  |  Thing (1914)

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
Bible
(circa 725 B.C.)
Science quotes on:  |  Firmament (18)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Let There Be Light (4)  |  Light (635)  |  Night (133)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rule (307)  |  Season (47)  |  Separate (151)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Two (936)  |  Year (963)

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
Bible
Amos 8:9. As in The Holy Bible, Or Divine Treasury (1804), 75.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Dark (145)  |  Day (43)  |  Down (455)  |  Eclipse (25)  |  God (776)  |  Lord (97)  |  Noon (14)  |  Pass (241)  |  Sun (407)  |  Will (2350)

And new philosophy calls all in doubt,
The Element of fire is quite put out;
The Sun is lost, and th’earth, and no mans wit
Can well direct him where to look for it.
And freely men confesse that this world’s spent,
When in the Planets, and the Firmament
They seeke so many new; and then see that this
Is crumbled out againe to his Atomies.
’Tis all in pieces, all cohaerence gone;
All just supply, and all Relation;
Prince, Subject, Father, Sonne, are things forgot,
For every man alone thinkes he hath got
To be a phoenix, and that then can bee
None of that kinde, of which he is, but hee.
An Anatomie of the World, I. 205-18. The Works of John Donne (Wordsworth edition 1994), 177.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Atom (381)  |  Bee (44)  |  Call (781)  |  Direct (228)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Element (322)  |  Father (113)  |  Fire (203)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  New (1273)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Planet (402)  |  Poem (104)  |  See (1094)  |  Spent (85)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supply (100)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wit (61)  |  World (1850)

And part of the soil is called to wash away
In storms and streams shave close and gnaw the rocks.
Besides, whatever the earth feeds and grows
Is restored to earth. And since she surely is
The womb of all things and their common grave,
Earth must dwindle, you see and take on growth again.
On the Nature of Things, trans. Anthony M. Esolen (1995), Book 5, lines 255-60, 166.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Common (447)  |  Dwindle (6)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Grave (52)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Must (1525)  |  Rock (176)  |  See (1094)  |  Soil (98)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Stream (83)  |  Surely (101)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wash (23)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Womb (25)

And so many think incorrectly that everything was created by the Creator in the beginning as it is seen, that not only the mountains, valleys, and waters, but also various types of minerals occurred together with the rest of the world, and therefore it is said that it is unnecessary to investigate the reasons why they differ in their internal properties and their locations. Such considerations are very dangerous for the growth of all the sciences, and hence for natural knowledge of the Earth, particularly the art of mining, though it is very easy for those clever people to be philosophers, having learnt by heart the three words 'God so created' and to give them in reply in place of all reasons.
About the Layers of the Earth and other Works on Geology (1757), trans. A. P. Lapov (1949), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Clever (41)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creator (97)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Differ (88)  |  Easy (213)  |  Everything (489)  |  Geology (240)  |  God (776)  |  Growth (200)  |  Heart (243)  |  Internal (69)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Location (15)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Mining (22)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Natural (810)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reply (58)  |  Rest (287)  |  Think (1122)  |  Together (392)  |  Type (171)  |  Unnecessary (23)  |  Valley (37)  |  Various (205)  |  Water (503)  |  Why (491)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

And when statesmen or others worry him [the scientist] too much, then he should leave with his possessions. With a firm and steadfast mind one should hold under all conditions, that everywhere the earth is below and the sky above and to the energetic man, every region is his fatherland.
Attributed (1597). As quoted, without citation, in Morris Herbert Goran, Science and Anti-science, (1974), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Condition (362)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Firm (47)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Other (2233)  |  Persistence (25)  |  Possession (68)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sky (174)

Anyone who has examined into the history of the theories of earth evolution must have been astounded to observe the manner in which the unique and the difficultly explainable has been made to take the place of the common and the natural in deriving the framework of these theories.
Earth Evolution and Facial Expression (1921), 174.
Science quotes on:  |  Astound (9)  |  Common (447)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Framework (33)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Observe (179)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unique (72)

Archaeology is the science of digging in the earth to try and find a civilization worse than ours.
Anonymous
In Evan Esar, 20,000 Quips & Quotes (1968, 1995), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Archaeology (51)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Digging (11)  |  Find (1014)  |  Try (296)  |  Worse (25)

Archimedes … had stated that given the force, any given weight might be moved, and even boasted, we are told, relying on the strength of demonstration, that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this. Hiero being struck with amazement at this, and entreating him to make good this problem by actual experiment, and show some great weight moved by a small engine, he fixed accordingly upon a ship of burden out of the king’s arsenal, which could not be drawn out of the dock without great labor and many men; and, loading her with many passengers and a full freight, sitting himself the while far off with no great endeavor, but only holding the head of the pulley in his hand and drawing the cords by degrees, he drew the ship in a straight line, as smoothly and evenly, as if she had been in the sea. The king, astonished at this, and convinced of the power of the art, prevailed upon Archimedes to make him engines accommodated to all the purposes, offensive and defensive, of a siege. … the apparatus was, in most opportune time, ready at hand for the Syracusans, and with it also the engineer himself.
Plutarch
In John Dryden (trans.), Life of Marcellus.
Science quotes on:  |  Accommodate (17)  |  According (236)  |  Actual (118)  |  Amazement (19)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Arsenal (5)  |  Art (680)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Astonished (10)  |  At Hand (7)  |  Being (1276)  |  Boast (22)  |  Burden (30)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Cord (3)  |  Defensive (2)  |  Degree (277)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Draw (140)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Engine (99)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Far (158)  |  Fix (34)  |  Force (497)  |  Freight (3)  |  Full (68)  |  Give (208)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hand (149)  |  Head (87)  |  Hiero (2)  |  Himself (461)  |  Hold (96)  |  King (39)  |  Labor (200)  |  Load (12)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Most (1728)  |  Move (223)  |  Offensive (4)  |  Passenger (10)  |  Power (771)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pulley (2)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Ready (43)  |  Rely (12)  |  Remove (50)  |  Sea (326)  |  Ship (69)  |  Show (353)  |  Siege (2)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Small (489)  |  Smoothly (2)  |  State (505)  |  Straight (75)  |  Straight Line (34)  |  Strength (139)  |  Strike (72)  |  Syracuse (5)  |  Tell (344)  |  Time (1911)  |  Weight (140)

Archimedes [indicates] that there can be no true levelling by means of water, because he holds that water has not a level surface, but is of a spherical form, having its centre at the centre of the earth.
Vitruvius
In De Architectura, Book 8, Chap 5, Sec. 3. As translated in Morris Hicky Morgan (trans.), Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (1914), 243.
Science quotes on:  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Center (35)  |  Form (976)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Level (69)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Surface (223)  |  Water (503)

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
From The Art of Living, Day by Day 91972), 77. Frequently misattributed to Henry David Thoreau.
Science quotes on:  |  Deep (241)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Footstep (5)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Path (159)  |  Pathway (15)  |  Physical (518)  |  Single (365)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Walk (138)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)

As an antiquary of a new order, I have been obliged to learn the art of deciphering and restoring these remains, of discovering and bringing together, in their primitive arrangement, the scattered and mutilated fragments of which they are composed, of reproducing in all their original proportions and characters, the animals to which these fragments formerly belonged, and then of comparing them with those animals which still live on the surface of the earth; an art which is almost unknown, and which presupposes, what had scarcely been obtained before, an acquaintance with those laws which regulate the coexistence of the forms by which the different parts of organized being are distinguished.
'Preliminary discourse', to Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles (1812), trans. R. Kerr Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813), 1-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Animal (651)  |  Antiquary (4)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Art (680)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belong (168)  |  Character (259)  |  Classification (102)  |  Different (595)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Live (650)  |  New (1273)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Order (638)  |  Presuppose (15)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Remain (355)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Still (614)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Together (392)  |  Unknown (195)

As Arthur C. Clarke has observed: “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.” Nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface is sea, which is why those magnificent photographs taken from space show our planet as a sapphire blue globe, flecked with soft wisps of cloud and capped by brilliant white fields of polar ice.
From opening paragraph to Chap. 6, 'The Sea', in James E. Lovelock, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979) 84. The origin of the Arthur C. Clarke quote is not cited therein, and Webmaster has, as yet, been unable to locate a primary source, although found widely quoted without citation, in print and on the web. Note that G. Carleton Ray made a similar quote in 1963, naming “sea” rather than “Ocean”. See the web page for Ray on this site for his quote, beginning, “We call this planet Earth…”.
Science quotes on:  |  Blue (63)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Call (781)  |  Cap (2)  |  Arthur C. Clarke (49)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Field (378)  |  Fleck (2)  |  Globe (51)  |  Ice (58)  |  Inappropriate (5)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Observe (179)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Planet (402)  |  Polar (13)  |  Sapphire (4)  |  Sea (326)  |  Space (523)  |  Surface (223)  |  Three-Quarters (3)  |  White (132)

As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1861), 119.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Branch (155)  |  Branching (10)  |  Broken (56)  |  Crust (43)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Generation (256)  |  Great (1610)  |  Growth (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Origin Of Species (42)  |  Ramification (8)  |  Rise (169)  |  Side (236)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tree (269)  |  Tree Of Life (10)

As far as the meaning of life in general, or in the abstract, as far as I can see, there is none. If all of life were suddenly to disappear from earth and anywhere else it may exist, or if none had ever formed in the first place, I think the Universe would continue to exist without perceptible change. However, it is always possible for an individual to invest his own life with meaning that he can find significant. He can so order his life that he may find as much beauty and wisdom in it as he can, and spread as much of that to others as possible.
In a book proposal for The Meaning of Life edited by Hugh S. Moorhead, 1989.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Change (639)  |  Continue (179)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Exist (458)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Individual (420)  |  Invest (20)  |  Life (1870)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possible (560)  |  See (1094)  |  Significant (78)  |  Spread (86)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Think (1122)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wisdom (235)

As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.
Bible
Bible: English Standard Version, Job Chap 28, verses 5-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Bread (42)  |  Dust (68)  |  Fire (203)  |  Geology (240)  |  Gold (101)  |  Mineralogy (24)  |  Place (192)  |  Sapphire (4)  |  Stone (168)  |  Turn (454)  |  Underneath (4)

As he sat alone in a garden, he [Isaac Newton in 1666, age 24] fell into a speculation on the power of gravity; that as this power is not found sensibly diminished at the remotest distance from the centre of the earth to which we can rise, neither at the tops of the loftiest buildings, nor even on the summits of the highest mountains, it appeared to him reasonable to conclude that this power must extend much further than was usually thought: why not as high as the moon? said he to himself; and if so, her motion must be influenced by it; perhaps she is retained in her orbit thereby.
View of Newton's Philosophy (1728), preface. In William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences (1847), Vol. 2, 166. Pemberton's narrative is based on firsthand conversations with Newton himself.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Building (158)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Distance (171)  |  Extend (129)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gravity (140)  |  High (370)  |  Himself (461)  |  Moon (252)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Power (771)  |  Retain (57)  |  Rise (169)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Summit (27)  |  Thought (995)  |  Top (100)  |  Usually (176)  |  Why (491)

As Herschel ruminated long ago, particles moving in mutual gravitational interaction are, as we human investigators see it forever solving differential equations which, if written out in full, might circle the earth.
In Forbidden Knowledge: And Other Essays on the Philosophy of Cognition (2012), 55.John Herschel. Rescher was not quoting, but restating from John Herschel, 'On Atoms', Familiar Lectures on Scientific Subjects (1867, 1872), 458. (Previously published in Fortnightly Review)
Science quotes on:  |  Circle (117)  |  Differential Equation (18)  |  Equation (138)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Sir John Herschel (24)  |  Human (1512)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Long (778)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Particle (200)  |  See (1094)  |  Solve (145)

As I am writing, another illustration of ye generation of hills proposed above comes into my mind. Milk is as uniform a liquor as ye chaos was. If beer be poured into it & ye mixture let stand till it be dry, the surface of ye curdled substance will appear as rugged & mountanous as the Earth in any place.
Letter to Thomas Burnet (Jan 1680/1. In H. W. Turnbull (ed.), The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, 1676-1687 (1960), Vol. 2, 334.
Science quotes on:  |  Beer (10)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Dry (65)  |  Generation (256)  |  Hill (23)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Milk (23)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Rugged (7)  |  Stand (284)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surface (223)  |  Will (2350)  |  Writing (192)

As much as we’ve enjoyed it up here, we’re also starting to look forward to seeing all the people back on Earth that we miss and love so much.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Forward (104)  |  Look (584)  |  Love (328)  |  Miss (51)  |  People (1031)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Start (237)

As one penetrates from seam to seam, from stratum to stratum and discovers, under the quarries of Montmartre or in the schists of the Urals, those animals whose fossilized remains belong to antediluvian civilizations, the mind is startled to catch a vista of the milliards of years and the millions of peoples which the feeble memory of man and an indestructible divine tradition have forgotten and whose ashes heaped on the surface of our globe, form the two feet of earth which furnish us with bread and flowers.
From 'La Peau de Chagrin' (1831). As translated as The Wild Ass’s Skin (1906) trans. Herbert J. Hunt, The Wild Ass's Skin (1977), 40-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Antediluvian (5)  |  Ash (21)  |  Belong (168)  |  Bread (42)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Discover (571)  |  Divine (112)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Flower (112)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Globe (51)  |  Heap (15)  |  Indestructible (12)  |  Man (2252)  |  Memory (144)  |  Million (124)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Montmartre (3)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  People (1031)  |  Quarry (14)  |  Remain (355)  |  Schist (4)  |  Seam (3)  |  Stratum (11)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Two (936)  |  Under (7)  |  Urals (2)  |  Vista (12)  |  Year (963)

As the skies appear to a man, so is his mind. Some see only clouds there; some, prodigies and portents; some rarely look up at all; their heads, like the brutes, are directed toward Earth. Some behold there serenity, purity, beauty ineffable. The world runs to see the panorama, when there is a panorama in the sky which few go to see.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Behold (19)  |  Brute (30)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Direct (228)  |  Head (87)  |  Ineffable (4)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Panorama (5)  |  Portent (2)  |  Prodigy (5)  |  Purity (15)  |  Rarely (21)  |  Run (158)  |  See (1094)  |  Serenity (11)  |  Sky (174)  |  Toward (45)  |  World (1850)

As to the position of the earth, then, this is the view which some advance, and the views advanced concerning its rest or motion are similar. For here too there is no general agreement. All who deny that the earth lies at the centre think that it revolves about the centre, and not the earth only but, as we said before, the counter-earth as well. Some of them even consider it possible that there are several bodies so moving, which are invisible to us owing to the interposition of the earth. This, they say, accounts for the fact that eclipses of the moon are more frequent than eclipses of the sun; for in addition to the earth each of these moving bodies can obstruct it.
Aristotle
On the Heavens, 293b, 15-25. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. 1, 483.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Addition (70)  |  Advance (298)  |  Agreement (55)  |  Consider (428)  |  Deny (71)  |  Eclipse (25)  |  Fact (1257)  |  General (521)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Lie (370)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Owing (39)  |  Possible (560)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Say (989)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  View (496)

As true as steel, as plantage to the moon,
As sun to day, at turtle to her mate,
As iron to adamant, as earth to centre.
Character Troilus speaking to Cressida, in play Troilus and Cressida (c.1601), Act 3, lines 352-354. In Troilus and Cressida (1811), 72.
Science quotes on:  |  Adamant (3)  |  Centre (31)  |  Day (43)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Iron (99)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  Mate (7)  |  Moon (252)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Steel (23)  |  Sun (407)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turtle (8)

As we consider the manifold materials that keep us going between breakfast and bedtime, our welfare is served by the wild species that make up the planetary ecosystem with us. To date, scientists have conducted intensive screening of less than 1 percent of all species with a view to determining their economic potential. Yet these preliminary investigations have thrown up thousands of products of everyday use.
A Wealth Of Wild Species: Storehouse For Human Welfare (1983), Prologue, 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Breakfast (10)  |  Consider (428)  |  Economic (84)  |  Ecosystem (33)  |  Evaluate (7)  |  Intensive (9)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Make Up (2)  |  Manifold (23)  |  Material (366)  |  Potential (75)  |  Preliminary (6)  |  Product (166)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Screen (8)  |  Species (435)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Welfare (30)  |  Wild (96)

As we push ever more deeply into the universe, probing its secrets, discovering its way, we must also constantly try to learn to cooperate across the frontiers that really divide earth’s surface.
In 'The President’s News Conference at the LBJ Ranch' (29 Aug 1965). Collected in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson: 1965 (1966), 945.
Science quotes on:  |  Cooperate (4)  |  Discover (571)  |  Divide (77)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Learn (672)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Probe (12)  |  Push (66)  |  Really (77)  |  Secret (216)  |  Surface (223)  |  Try (296)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)

Ask a follower of Bacon what [science] the new philosophy, as it was called in the time of Charles the Second, has effected for mankind, and his answer is ready; “It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; it has extinguished diseases; it has increased the fertility of the soil; it has given new securities to the mariner; it has furnished new arms to the warrior; it has spanned great rivers and estuaries with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the thunderbolt innocuously from heaven to earth; it has lighted up the night with the splendour of the day; it has extended the range of the human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human muscles; it has accelerated motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse, correspondence, all friendly offices, all dispatch of business; it has enabled man to descend to the depths of the sea, to soar into the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the earth, to traverse the land in cars which whirl along without horses, to cross the ocean in ships which run ten knots an hour against the wind. These are but a part of its fruits, and of its first-fruits; for it is a philosophy which never rests, which has never attained, which is never perfect. Its law is progress. A point which yesterday was invisible is its goal to-day, and will be its starting-point to-morrow.”
From essay (Jul 1837) on 'Francis Bacon' in Edinburgh Review. In Baron Thomas Babington Macaulay and Lady Trevelyan (ed.) The Works of Lord Macaulay Complete (1871), Vol. 6, 222.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceleration (12)  |  Aeronautics (15)  |  Against (332)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Air (366)  |  Answer (389)  |  Arm (82)  |  Arms (37)  |  Ask (420)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Automobile (23)  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Bridge (49)  |  Bridge Engineering (8)  |  Business (156)  |  Call (781)  |  Car (75)  |  Cave (17)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Depth (97)  |  Descend (49)  |  Disease (340)  |  Distance (171)  |  Effect (414)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Estuary (3)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Extend (129)  |  Father (113)  |  Fertility (23)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Goal (155)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Horse (78)  |  Hour (192)  |  Human (1512)  |  Invisibility (5)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Knot (11)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Lighting (5)  |  Machine (271)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mariner (12)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Mining (22)  |  Motion (320)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Noxious (8)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Oceanography (17)  |  Office (71)  |  Pain (144)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Progress (492)  |  Range (104)  |  Rest (287)  |  River (140)  |  Run (158)  |  Sea (326)  |  Ship (69)  |  Soar (23)  |  Soil (98)  |  Splendour (8)  |  Steam Engine (47)  |  Strength (139)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Thunderbolt (7)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Vision (127)  |  Warrior (6)  |  Whirl (10)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  Yesterday (37)

Astronomy affords the most extensive example of the connection of physical sciences. In it are combined the sciences of number and quantity, or rest and motion. In it we perceive the operation of a force which is mixed up with everything that exists in the heavens or on earth; which pervades every atom, rules the motion of animate and inanimate beings, and is a sensible in the descent of the rain-drop as in the falls of Niagara; in the weight of the air, as in the periods of the moon.
On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1858), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Animate (8)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Combination (150)  |  Connection (171)  |  Descent (30)  |  Drop (77)  |  Everything (489)  |  Example (98)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Fall (243)  |  Force (497)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Inanimate (18)  |  Mix (24)  |  Moon (252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Niagara (8)  |  Number (710)  |  Operation (221)  |  Perception (97)  |  Period (200)  |  Pervade (10)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Rain (70)  |  Raindrop (4)  |  Rest (287)  |  Rule (307)  |  Sensible (28)  |  Weight (140)

Astronomy concerns itself with the whole of the visible universe, of which our earth forms but a relatively insignificant part; while Geology deals with that earth regarded as an individual. Astronomy is the oldest of the sciences, while Geology is one of the newest. But the two sciences have this in common, that to both are granted a magnificence of outlook, and an immensity of grasp denied to all the rest.
Proceedings of the Geological Society of London (1903), 59, lxviii.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Both (496)  |  Common (447)  |  Concern (239)  |  Deal (192)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grant (76)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Magnificence (14)  |  Outlook (32)  |  Regard (312)  |  Rest (287)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Whole (756)

Astronomy is older than physics. In fact, it got physics started by showing the beautiful simplicity of the motion of the stars and planets, the understanding of which was the beginning of physics. But the most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth.
In 'Astronomy', The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961), Vol. 1, 3-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Atom (381)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Kind (564)  |  Made (14)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Older (7)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Planet (402)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  Same (166)  |  Showing (6)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Start (237)  |  Understanding (527)

At first men try with magic charms
To fertilize the earth,
To keep their flocks and herds from harm
And bring new young to birth.

Then to capricious gods they turn
To save from fire or flood;
Their smoking sacrifices burn
On altars red with blood.

Next bold philosopher and sage
A settled plan decree
And prove by thought or sacred page
What Nature ought to be.

But Nature smiles—a Sphinx-like smile
Watching their little day
She waits in patience for a while—
Their plans dissolve away.

Then come those humbler men of heart
With no completed scheme,
Content to play a modest part,
To test, observe, and dream.

Till out of chaos come in sight
Clear fragments of a Whole;
Man, learning Nature’s ways aright
Obeying, can control.
Epigraph in A History of Science and Its Relation with Philosophy & Religion (1968), vi.
Science quotes on:  |  Altar (11)  |  Birth (154)  |  Blood (144)  |  Burn (99)  |  Capricious (9)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Clear (111)  |  Complete (209)  |  Content (75)  |  Control (182)  |  Decree (9)  |  Dissolve (22)  |  Dream (222)  |  Fertilize (4)  |  Fire (203)  |  Flock (4)  |  Flood (52)  |  Fragment (58)  |  God (776)  |  Harm (43)  |  Heart (243)  |  Humble (54)  |  Learn (672)  |  Magic (92)  |  Modest (19)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Obey (46)  |  Observe (179)  |  Page (35)  |  Patience (58)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Plan (122)  |  Poem (104)  |  Prove (261)  |  Red (38)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Sage (25)  |  Save (126)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Settle (23)  |  Sight (135)  |  Smile (34)  |  Smoke (32)  |  Sphinx (2)  |  Test (221)  |  Thought (995)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wait (66)  |  Watch (118)  |  Whole (756)  |  Young (253)

At first, the sea, the earth, and the heaven, which covers all things, were the only face of nature throughout the whole universe, which men have named Chaos; a rude and undigested mass, and nothing more than an inert weight, and the discordant atoms of things not harmonizing, heaped together in the same spot.
Describing the creation of the universe from chaos, at the beginning of Book I of Metamorphoses, lines 5-9. As translated by Henry T. Riley, The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Vol I: Books I-VII (1858), 1-2. Riley footnoted: “A rude and undigested mass.—Ver. 7. This is very similar to the words of the Scriptures, ‘And the earth was without form and void,’ Genesis, ch. i. ver. 2.”
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Creation (350)  |  Discord (10)  |  Face (214)  |  First (1302)  |  Harmonize (4)  |  Heap (15)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Inert (14)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Rude (6)  |  Sea (326)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Together (392)  |  Undigested (2)  |  Universe (900)  |  Weight (140)  |  Whole (756)

At the end of 1854 … the aggregate length of railways opened in Great Britain and Ireland at that time measured about 8,054 miles,—about the diameter of the globe, and nearly 500 miles more than the united lengths of the Thames, the Seine, the Rhone, the Ebro, the Tagus, the Rhine, the Elbe, the Vistula, the Dnieper, and the Danube, or the ten chief rivers of Europe. … the work of only twenty-five years.
From 'Railway System and its Results' (Jan 1856) read to the Institution of Civil Engineers, reprinted in Samuel Smiles, Life of George Stephenson (1857), 511-512.
Science quotes on:  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Britain (26)  |  Chief (99)  |  Danube (2)  |  Diameter (28)  |  End (603)  |  Europe (50)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ireland (8)  |  Length (24)  |  More (2558)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Open (277)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Railway (19)  |  Rhine (2)  |  River (140)  |  Thames (6)  |  Time (1911)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

At the origin, the [space travel] pioneers of the greatest adventure of all times were motivated by the drive to explore, by the pure spirit of conquest, by the lofty desire to open up new fields to human genius. … From their exceptional journeys, they all came back with the revelation of beauty. Beauty of the black sky, beauty and variety of our planet, beauty of the Earth seen from the Moon, girdled by a scintillating belt of equatorial thunderstorms. They all emphasize that our planet is one, that borderlines are artificial, that humankind is one single community on board spaceship Earth. They all insist that this fragile gem is at our mercy and that we must all endeavor to protect it.
Written for 'Foreword' to Kevin W. Kelley (ed.), The Home Planet (1988), paragraphs 6-7 (unpaginated).
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Belt (4)  |  Black (46)  |  Board (13)  |  Borderline (2)  |  Community (111)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Desire (212)  |  Drive (61)  |  Emphasize (25)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Equatorial (3)  |  Exceptional (19)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Field (378)  |  Fragile (26)  |  Gem (17)  |  Genius (301)  |  Girdle (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humankind (15)  |  Insist (22)  |  Journey (48)  |  Lofty (16)  |  Moon (252)  |  Motivate (8)  |  New (1273)  |  Open Up (2)  |  Origin (250)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Planet (402)  |  Protect (65)  |  Pure (299)  |  Revelation (51)  |  See (1094)  |  Single (365)  |  Sky (174)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Spaceship Earth (3)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Thunderstorm (7)  |  Variety (138)  |  Vulnerable (7)

At the planet’s very heart lies a solid rocky core, at least five times larger than Earth, seething with the appalling heat generated by the inexorable contraction of the stupendous mass of material pressing down to its centre. For more than four billion years Jupiter’s immense gravitational power has been squeezing the planet slowly, relentlessly, steadily, converting gravitational energy into heat, raising the temperature of that rocky core to thirty thousand degrees, spawning the heat flow that warms the planet from within. That hot, rocky core is the original protoplanet seed from the solar system’s primeval time, the nucleus around which those awesome layers of hydrogen and helium and ammonia, methane, sulphur compounds and water have wrapped themselves.
Ben Bova
Jupiter
Science quotes on:  |  Ammonia (15)  |  Appalling (10)  |  Awesome (15)  |  Billion (104)  |  Centre (31)  |  Compound (117)  |  Contraction (18)  |  Convert (22)  |  Core (20)  |  Degree (277)  |  Down (455)  |  Energy (373)  |  Five (16)  |  Flow (89)  |  Generate (16)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Heart (243)  |  Heat (180)  |  Helium (11)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inexorable (10)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Large (398)  |  Layer (41)  |  Least (75)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mass (160)  |  Material (366)  |  Methane (9)  |  More (2558)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Original (61)  |  Planet (402)  |  Power (771)  |  Press (21)  |  Primeval (15)  |  Raise (38)  |  Relentlessly (2)  |  Rocky (3)  |  Seed (97)  |  Seething (3)  |  Slowly (19)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Solar Systems (5)  |  Solid (119)  |  Spawn (2)  |  Squeeze (7)  |  Steadily (7)  |  Stupendous (13)  |  Sulphur (19)  |  System (545)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thirty (6)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Warm (74)  |  Water (503)  |  Wrap (7)  |  Year (963)

At this very minute, with almost absolute certainty, radio waves sent forth by other intelligent civilizations are falling on the earth. A telescope can be built that, pointed in the right place, and tuned to the right frequency, could discover these waves. Someday, from somewhere out among the stars, will come the answers to many of the oldest, most important, and most exciting questions mankind has asked.
In Intelligent Life in Space (1962), 111.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Discover (571)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Fall (243)  |  Frequency (25)  |  Important (229)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Minute (129)  |  Most (1728)  |  Oldest (9)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Question (649)  |  Radio (60)  |  Right (473)  |  Someday (15)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Tune (20)  |  Wave (112)  |  Will (2350)

Atoms for peace. Man is still the greatest miracle and the greatest problem on earth. [Message tapped out by Sarnoff using a telegraph key in a tabletop circuit demonstrating an RCA atomic battery as a power source.]
The Wisdom of Sarnoff and the World of RCA (1967), 251.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Power (9)  |  Battery (12)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Man (2252)  |  Message (53)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Peace (116)  |  Power (771)  |  Problem (731)  |  Still (614)  |  Telegraph (45)

Bacteria represent the world’s greatest success story. They are today and have always been the modal organisms on earth; they cannot be nuked to oblivion and will outlive us all. This time is their time, not the ‘age of mammals’ as our textbooks chauvinistically proclaim. But their price for such success is permanent relegation to a microworld, and they cannot know the joy and pain of consciousness. We live in a universe of trade-offs; complexity and persistence do not work well as partners.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Bacterium (6)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Do (1905)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Joy (117)  |  Know (1538)  |  Live (650)  |  Mammal (41)  |  Microworld (2)  |  Oblivion (10)  |  Organism (231)  |  Outlive (4)  |  Pain (144)  |  Partner (5)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Persistence (25)  |  Price (57)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Relegation (3)  |  Represent (157)  |  Story (122)  |  Success (327)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Be fruitful and multiply, and then fill the earth and subdue it.
Bible
(circa 725 B.C.)
Science quotes on:  |  Fill (67)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Subdue (7)

Beneath the soil and waters of the earth’s surface there is everywhere a basement of rocks.
First sentence of 'Introduction', A Text-book of Geology: Designed for Schools and Academies (1863), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Basement (4)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Rock (176)  |  Soil (98)  |  Surface (223)  |  Water (503)

Between this body [the earth] and the heavens there are suspended, in this aerial spirit, seven stars, separated by determinate spaces, which, on account of their motion, we call wandering.
In The Natural History of Pliny (1855), Vol. 1, 19-20.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Aerial (11)  |  Body (557)  |  Call (781)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Motion (320)  |  Planet (402)  |  Separate (151)  |  Space (523)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Suspended (5)  |  Wander (44)

BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Etna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911), Vol. 7, The Devil's Dictionary,  38.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Cavern (9)  |  Century (319)  |  Disaster (58)  |  Egg (71)  |  Etna (5)  |  First (1302)  |  Ground (222)  |  Holy (35)  |  Humour (116)  |  Known (453)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Etna (2)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Priest (29)  |  Stone (168)  |  Stroke (19)  |  Uniformity (38)  |  Water (503)  |  Wine (39)

Blessings on Science! When the earth seem’d old,
When Faith grew doting, and the Reason cold,
Twas she discover’d that the world was young,
And taught a language to its lisping tongue:
’Twas she disclosed a future to its view,
And made old knowledge pale before the new.
From poem, 'Railways' (1846), collected in The Poetical Works of Charles Mackay: Now for the First Time Collected Complete in One Volume (1876), 214.
Science quotes on:  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Cold (115)  |  Disclose (19)  |  Discover (571)  |  Dote (2)  |  Faith (209)  |  Future (467)  |  Grow (247)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Language (308)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Pale (9)  |  Reason (766)  |  Seemed (3)  |  Teach (299)  |  Tongue (44)  |  View (496)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)

Built up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, together with traces of a few other elements, yet of a complexity of structure that has hitherto resisted all attempts at complete analysis, protoplasm is at once the most enduring and the most easily destroyed of substances; its molecules are constantly breaking down to furnish the power for the manifestations of vital phenomena, and yet, through its remarkable property of assimilation, a power possessed by nothing else upon earth, it constantly builds up its substance anew from the surrounding medium.
In History of the Human Body (1919), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Anew (19)  |  Assimilation (13)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Build (211)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Complete (209)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Down (455)  |  Element (322)  |  Enduring (6)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Medium (15)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Possess (157)  |  Power (771)  |  Property (177)  |  Protoplasm (13)  |  Resistance (41)  |  Structure (365)  |  Substance (253)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Trace (109)  |  Vital (89)

But come, hear my words, for truly learning causes the mind to grow. For as I said before in declaring the ends of my words … at one time there grew to be the one alone out of many, and at another time it separated so that there were many out of the one; fire and water and earth and boundless height of air, and baneful Strife apart from these, balancing each of them, and Love among them, their equal in length and breadth.
From The Fragments, Bk. 1, line 74. In Arthur Fairbanks (ed., trans.), Quotations from The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 167-168.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Alone (324)  |  Balance (82)  |  Baneful (2)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Breadth (15)  |  Cause (561)  |  Declare (48)  |  End (603)  |  Equal (88)  |  Fire (203)  |  Grow (247)  |  Hear (144)  |  Height (33)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Length (24)  |  Love (328)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Separate (151)  |  Strife (9)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truly (118)  |  Water (503)  |  Word (650)

But having considered everything which has been said, one could by this believe that the earth and not the heavens is so moved, and there is no evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, this seems prima facie as much, or more, against natural reason as are all or several articles of our faith. Thus, that which I have said by way of diversion (esbatement) in this manner can be valuable to refute and check those who would impugn our faith by argument.
On the Book of the Heavens and the World of Aristotle [1377], bk. II, ch. 25, sect. 10, trans. A. D. Menut and A. J. Denomy, quoted in Marshall Clagett, The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages (1959), 606.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Argument (145)  |  Check (26)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Diversion (10)  |  Everything (489)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Faith (209)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Impugn (2)  |  Manner (62)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Prima Facie (2)  |  Reason (766)  |  Refutation (13)  |  Value (393)  |  Way (1214)

But here it may be objected, that the present Earth looks like a heap of Rubbish and Ruines; And that there are no greater examples of confusion in Nature than Mountains singly or jointly considered; and that there appear not the least footsteps of any Art or Counsel either in the Figure and Shape, or Order and Disposition of Mountains and Rocks. Wherefore it is not likely they came so out of God's hands ... To which I answer, That the present face of the Earth with all its Mountains and Hills, its Promontaries and Rocks, as rude and deformed as they appear, seems to me a very beautiful and pleasant object, and with all the variety of Hills, and Valleys, and Inequalities far more grateful to behold, than a perfectly level Countrey without any rising or protuberancy, to terminate the sight: As anyone that hath but seen the Isle of Ely, or any the like Countrey must need acknowledge.
John Ray
Miscellaneous Discourses Concerning the Dissolution and Changes of the World (1692), 165-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Acknowledge (33)  |  Acknowledgment (13)  |  Answer (389)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Art (680)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Counsel (11)  |  Country (269)  |  Deformation (3)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Example (98)  |  Face (214)  |  Figure (162)  |  Footstep (5)  |  God (776)  |  Gratitude (14)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hand (149)  |  Heap (15)  |  Hill (23)  |  Inequality (9)  |  Isle (6)  |  Look (584)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Objection (34)  |  Order (638)  |  Pleasantness (3)  |  Present (630)  |  Promontory (3)  |  Protuberance (3)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rising (44)  |  Rock (176)  |  Rubbish (12)  |  Rudeness (5)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Shape (77)  |  Sight (135)  |  Termination (4)  |  Valley (37)  |  Variety (138)

But I think that in the repeated and almost entire changes of organic types in the successive formations of the earth—in the absence of mammalia in the older, and their very rare appearance (and then in forms entirely. unknown to us) in the newer secondary groups—in the diffusion of warm-blooded quadrupeds (frequently of unknown genera) through the older tertiary systems—in their great abundance (and frequently of known genera) in the upper portions of the same series—and, lastly, in the recent appearance of man on the surface of the earth (now universally admitted—in one word, from all these facts combined, we have a series of proofs the most emphatic and convincing,—that the existing order of nature is not the last of an uninterrupted succession of mere physical events derived from laws now in daily operation: but on the contrary, that the approach to the present system of things has been gradual, and that there has been a progressive development of organic structure subservient to the purposes of life.
'Address to the Geological Society, delivered on the Evening of the 18th of February 1831', Proceedings of the Geological Society (1834), 1, 305-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Absence (21)  |  Abundance (26)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Approach (112)  |  Blood (144)  |  Change (639)  |  Combination (150)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Convincing (9)  |  Daily (91)  |  Development (441)  |  Diffusion (13)  |  Emphasis (18)  |  Event (222)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Genus (27)  |  Gradual (30)  |  Great (1610)  |  Known (453)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mammal (41)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Operation (221)  |  Order (638)  |  Organic (161)  |  Physical (518)  |  Portion (86)  |  Present (630)  |  Progression (23)  |  Proof (304)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Quadruped (4)  |  Rare (94)  |  Recent (78)  |  Repeat (44)  |  Secondary (15)  |  Series (153)  |  Structure (365)  |  Subservience (4)  |  Succession (80)  |  Successive (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  System (545)  |  Tertiary (4)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Type (171)  |  Uninterrupted (7)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Warm (74)  |  Warm-Blooded (3)  |  Word (650)

But if you have seen the soil of India with your own eyes and meditate on its nature - if you consider the rounded stones found in the earth however deeply you dig, stones that are huge near the mountains and where the rivers have a violent current; stones that are of smaller size at greater distance from the mountains, and where the streams flow more slowly; stones that appear pulverised in the shape of sand where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea - if you consider all this, you could scarcely help thinking that India has once been a sea which by degrees has been filled up by the alluvium of the streams.
Alberuni's India, trans. E. C. Sachau (1888), Vol. 1, 198.
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Consider (428)  |  Current (122)  |  Degree (277)  |  Dig (25)  |  Distance (171)  |  Eye (440)  |  Flow (89)  |  Greater (288)  |  India (23)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Nature (2017)  |  River (140)  |  Sand (63)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Sea (326)  |  Soil (98)  |  Stone (168)  |  Stream (83)  |  Thinking (425)

But in the heavens we discover by their light, and by their light alone, stars so distant from each other that no material thing can ever have passed from one to another; and yet this light, which is to us the sole evidence of the existence of these distant worlds, tells us also that each of them is built up of molecules of the same kinds as those which we find on earth. A molecule of hydrogen, for example, whether in Sirius or in Arcturus, executes its vibrations in precisely the same time. Each molecule, therefore, throughout the universe, bears impressed on it the stamp of a metric system as distinctly as does the metre of the Archives at Paris, or the double royal cubit of the Temple of Karnac ... the exact quantity of each molecule to all others of same kind gives it, as Sir John Herschel has well said, the essential character of a manufactured article and precludes the idea of its being external and self-existent.
'Molecules', 1873. In W. D. Niven (ed.), The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (1890), Vol. 2, 375-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Arcturus (4)  |  Bear (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Character (259)  |  Discover (571)  |  Distance (171)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Execute (7)  |  Existence (481)  |  Find (1014)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Sir John Herschel (24)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Idea (881)  |  Impress (66)  |  Impressed (39)  |  Kind (564)  |  Light (635)  |  Material (366)  |  Metric System (6)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Royal (56)  |  Self (268)  |  Sole (50)  |  Stamp (36)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  System (545)  |  Tell (344)  |  Temple (45)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vibration (26)  |  World (1850)

But the Presidence of that mighty Power … its particular Agency and Concern therein: and its Purpose and Design … will more evidently appear, when I shall have proved … That the said Earth, though not indifferently and alike fertil in all parts of it, was yet generally much more fertil than ours is … That its Soil was more luxuriant, and teemed forth its Productions in far greater plenty and abundance than the present Earth does … That when Man was fallen, and had abandoned his primitive Innocence, the Case was much altered: and a far different Scene of Things presented; that generous Vertue, masculine Bravery, and prudent Circumspection which he was before Master of, now deserting him … and a strange imbecility immediately seized and laid hold of him: he became pusillanimous, and was easily ruffled with every little Passion within: supine, and as openly exposed to any Temptation or Assault from without. And now these exuberant Productions of the Earth became a continued Decoy and Snare unto him.
In An Essay Toward A Natural History of the Earth (1695), 84-86.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Abundance (26)  |  Alike (60)  |  Alter (64)  |  Altered (32)  |  Circumspection (5)  |  Concern (239)  |  Design (203)  |  Different (595)  |  Evidently (26)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Fertility (23)  |  Generous (17)  |  Greater (288)  |  Imbecility (5)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Innocence (13)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Masculine (4)  |  Master (182)  |  More (2558)  |  Passion (121)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Production (190)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Scene (36)  |  Soil (98)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)

But the strong base and building of my love
Is as the very centre of the earth,
Drawing all things to 't.
Character Cressidus to Pandarus in play Troilus and Cressida (c.1601), Act 4, lines 200-202. In Troilus and Cressida (1811), 92.
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Building (158)  |  Centre (31)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  Love (328)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Strength (139)  |  Strong (182)  |  Thing (1914)

But the whole vital process of the earth takes place so gradually and in periods of time which are so immense compared with the length of our life, that these changes are not observed, and before their course can be recorded from beginning to end whole nations perish and are destroyed.
Aristotle
Meteorology, 351b, 8-13. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. I, 573.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Change (639)  |  Course (413)  |  Destroy (189)  |  End (603)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Immense (89)  |  Life (1870)  |  Nation (208)  |  Observed (149)  |  Period (200)  |  Perish (56)  |  Process (439)  |  Record (161)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vital (89)  |  Whole (756)

By blending water and minerals from below with sunlight and CO2 from above, green plants link the earth to the sky. We tend to believe that plants grow out of the soil, but in fact most of their substance comes from the air. The bulk of the cellulose and the other organic compounds produced through photosynthesis consists of heavy carbon and oxygen atoms, which plants take directly from the air in the form of CO2. Thus the weight of a wooden log comes almost entirely from the air. When we burn a log in a fireplace, oxygen and carbon combine once more into CO2, and in the light and heat of the fire we recover part of the solar energy that went into making the wood.
The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems (1997), 178.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atom (381)  |  Bulk (24)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbon Dioxide (25)  |  Cellulose (3)  |  Combine (58)  |  Compound (117)  |  Consist (223)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fire (203)  |  Fireplace (3)  |  Form (976)  |  Green (65)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heat (180)  |  Light (635)  |  Link (48)  |  Log (7)  |  Making (300)  |  Mineral (66)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Compound (3)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Produced (187)  |  Respiration (14)  |  Sky (174)  |  Soil (98)  |  Solar Energy (21)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Tend (124)  |  Through (846)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wood (97)

Can we separate object and subject? Myself is nothing but a part of my body, my body is nothing but a part of my food, my food is nothing but a part of the earth, the earth is nothing but a part of the solar system.
In Sir William Withey Gull and Theodore Dyke Acland (ed.), A Collection of the Published Writings of William Withey Gull (1896), lii.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Food (213)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Object (438)  |  Part (235)  |  Separate (151)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Subject (543)  |  System (545)

Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
'Essays or Counsels: Civil and Moral. I. Of Truth'. In Francis Bacon, James Spedding, The Works of Francis Bacon (1864), Vol. 6, 378.
Science quotes on:  |  Certainly (185)  |  Charity (13)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Move (223)  |  Pole (49)  |  Providence (19)  |  Rest (287)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)

Certainly, speaking for the United States of America, I pledge that, as we sign this treaty in an era of negotiation, we consider it only one step toward a greater goal: the control of nuclear weapons on earth and the reduction of the danger that hangs over all nations as long as those weapons are not controlled.
'Remarks at the Signing Ceremony of the Seabed Arms Control Treaty' (11 Feb 1971), Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon (1972), 150.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Consider (428)  |  Control (182)  |  Danger (127)  |  Era (51)  |  Goal (155)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hang (46)  |  Long (778)  |  Nation (208)  |  Negotiation (3)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Weapon (17)  |  Pledge (4)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Sign (63)  |  Speaking (118)  |  State (505)  |  Step (234)  |  Treaty (3)  |  United States (31)  |  Weapon (98)  |  Weapons (57)

Changes That Have Occurred in the Globe: When we have seen with our own eyes a mountain progressing into a plain; that is to say, an immense boulder separating from this mountain and covering the fields; an entire castle broken into pieces over the ground; a river swallowed up which then bursts out from its abyss; clear marks of a vast amount of water having once flooded regions now inhabited, and a hundred vestiges of other transformations, then we are much more willing to believe that great changes altered the face of the earth, than a Parisian lady who knows only that the place where her house was built was once a cultivated field. However, a lady from Naples who has seen the buried ruins of Herculaneum, is much less subject to the bias which leads us to believe that everything has always been as it is today.
From article 'Changements arrivées dans le globe', in Dictionnaire philosophique (1764), collected in Œuvres Complètes de Voltaire (1878), Vol. 2, 427-428. Translated by Ian Ellis, from the original French: “Changements arrivées dans le globe: Quand on a vu de ses yeux une montagne s’avancer dans une plaine, c’est-à-dire un immense rocher de cette montagne se détacher et couvrir des champs, un château tout entier enfoncé dans la terre, un fleuve englouti qui sort ensuite de son abîme, des marques indubitables qu’un vaste amas d’eau inondait autrefois un pays habité aujourd’hui, et cent vestiges d’autres révolutions, on est alors plus disposé à croire les grands changements qui ont altéré la face du monde, que ne l’est une dame de Paris qui sait seulement que la place où est bâtie sa maison était autrefois un champ labourable. Mais une dame de Naples, qui a vu sous terre les ruines d’Herculanum, est encore moins asservie au préjugé qui nous fait croire que tout a toujours été comme il est aujourd’hui.”
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Altered (32)  |  Amount (153)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bias (22)  |  Boulder (8)  |  Breaking (3)  |  Broken (56)  |  Built (7)  |  Buried (2)  |  Burst (41)  |  Castle (5)  |  Change (639)  |  Country (269)  |  Cover (40)  |  Covering (14)  |  Dire (6)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Entire (50)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Everything (489)  |  Eye (440)  |  Face (214)  |  Field (378)  |  Flood (52)  |  Geologic History (2)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Herculaneum (4)  |  House (143)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inhabitation (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lady (12)  |  Land (131)  |  Lead (391)  |  Mark (47)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Move (223)  |  Naples (2)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paris (11)  |  Place (192)  |  Plain (34)  |  Plus (43)  |  River (140)  |  Rock (176)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Say (989)  |  Sinking (6)  |  Subject (543)  |  Swallow (32)  |  Today (321)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vestige (11)  |  Water (503)  |  Willing (44)

Chemistry teaches us to regard under one aspect, as various types of combustion or oxidation, the burning of a candle, the rusting of metals, the physiological process of respiration, and the explosion of gunpowder. In each process there is the one common fact that oxygen enters into new chemical combinations. Similarly to the physicist, the fall of the traditional apple of Newton, the revolution of the earth and planets round the sun, the apparitions of comets, and the ebb and flow of the tides are all phases of the universal law of gravitation. A race ignorant of the nature of combustion or of the law of gravitation, and ignorant of the need of such generalisations, could not be considered to have advanced far along the paths of scientific discovery.
In 'The Discovery of Radioactivity: Radioactivity, a New Science', The Interpretation of Radium and the Structure of the Atom (4th ed., 1920), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Apple (46)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Burn (99)  |  Candle (32)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Combination (150)  |  Combustion (22)  |  Comet (65)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Ebb (4)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fall (243)  |  Flow (89)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Gunpowder (18)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  Metal (88)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Need (320)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Oxidation (8)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Path (159)  |  Phase (37)  |  Physics (564)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Planet (402)  |  Process (439)  |  Race (278)  |  Respiration (14)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Rust (9)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sun (407)  |  Teach (299)  |  Tide (37)  |  Type (171)  |  Various (205)

Civilization has so cluttered this elemental man-earth relationship with gadgets and middlemen that awareness of it is growing dim. We fancy that industry supports us, forgetting what supports industry.
In 'Wildlife in American Culture', A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There (1949, 1987), 178.
Science quotes on:  |  Awareness (42)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Clutter (6)  |  Dim (11)  |  Elemental (4)  |  Forget (125)  |  Gadget (3)  |  Industry (159)  |  Middleman (2)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Support (151)

Coal and iron are the kings of the earth, because they make and unmake the kings of the earth.
Anonymous
Stated without naming the source as “A great writer has said,” by Daniel Bedinger Lucas in Nicaragua: War of the Filibusters (1896), 151. Please contact Webmaster if you can cite the writer.
Science quotes on:  |  Coal (64)  |  Iron (99)  |  King (39)  |  Make (25)

Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men.
In Breaking New Ground (1947, 1998), 505.
Science quotes on:  |  Conservation (187)  |  Good (906)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Resource (74)  |  Use (771)  |  Wise (143)

Considered as a mere question of physics, (and keeping all moral considerations entirely out of sight,) the appearance of man is a geological phenomenon of vast importance, indirectly modifying the whole surface of the earth, breaking in upon any supposition of zoological continuity, and utterly unaccounted for by what we have any right to call the laws of nature.
'Address to the Geological Society, delivered on the Evening of the 18th of February 1831', Proceedings of the Geological Society (1834), 1, 306.
Science quotes on:  |  Appearance (145)  |  Call (781)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Continuation (20)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Geology (240)  |  Importance (299)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Nature (80)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Modification (57)  |  Moral (203)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Question (649)  |  Right (473)  |  Sight (135)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Unaccounted (2)  |  Vast (188)  |  Whole (756)  |  Zoology (38)

Contrary to popular parlance, Darwin didn't discover evolution. He uncovered one (most would say the) essential mechanism by which it operates: natural selection. Even then, his brainstorm was incomplete until the Modern Synthesis of the early/mid-20th century when (among other things) the complementary role of genetic heredity was fully realized. Thousands upon thousands of studies have followed, providing millions of data points that support this understanding of how life on Earth has come to be as it is.
In online article, 'The Day That Botany Took on Bobby Jindal by Just Being Itself', Huffington Post (5 Aug 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  20th Century (40)  |  Brainstorm (2)  |  Century (319)  |  Complementary (15)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Data (162)  |  Discover (571)  |  Early (196)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Follow (389)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Incomplete (31)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Modern (402)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parlance (2)  |  Point (584)  |  Popular (34)  |  Role (86)  |  Say (989)  |  Selection (130)  |  Study (701)  |  Support (151)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Uncover (20)  |  Understanding (527)

Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn off so as to expose to view this great seagash which separates continents, and extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic, it would present a scene the most rugged, grand and imposing. The very ribs of the solid earth, with the foundations of the sea, would be brought to light.
(1860)
Science quotes on:  |  Antarctic (7)  |  Arctic (10)  |  Atlantic (8)  |  Bring (95)  |  Continent (79)  |  Draw (140)  |  Expose (28)  |  Extend (129)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Grand (29)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impose (22)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Present (630)  |  Rib (6)  |  Rugged (7)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sea (326)  |  Separate (151)  |  Solid (119)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)

Culture is activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty and humane feeling. Scraps of information have nothing to do with it. A merely well informed man is the most useless bore on God’s earth. What we should aim at producing is men who possess both culture and expert knowledge in some special direction.
Opening sentences of Chapter 1,'The Aims of Education', in Aims of Education and Other Essays (1917), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Aim (175)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Both (496)  |  Culture (157)  |  Direction (185)  |  Do (1905)  |  Expert (67)  |  Feeling (259)  |  God (776)  |  Humane (19)  |  Inform (50)  |  Information (173)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Merely (315)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Possess (157)  |  Special (188)  |  Thought (995)

Daily it is forced home on the mind of the geologist that nothing, not even the wind that blows, is so unstable as the level of the crust of this Earth.
Science quotes on:  |  Blow (45)  |  Crust (43)  |  Daily (91)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Home (184)  |  Level (69)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Unstable (9)  |  Wind (141)

Deep beneath the surface of the Sun, enormous forces were gathering. At any moment, the energies of a million hydrogen bombs might burst forth in the awesome explosion…. Climbing at millions of miles per hour, an invisible fireball many times the size of Earth would leap from the Sun and head out across space.
From 'Sunjammer', collected in Harry Harrison (ed.), Worlds of Wonder: Sixteen Tales of Science Fiction (1969), 32-33. Originally published in Boys’ Life (Mar 1964).
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Awesome (15)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Burst (41)  |  Climb (39)  |  Deep (241)  |  Energy (373)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Fireball (3)  |  Force (497)  |  Forth (14)  |  Gather (76)  |  Gathering (23)  |  Head (87)  |  Hour (192)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Hydrogen Bomb (16)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Leap (57)  |  Mile (43)  |  Million (124)  |  Millions (17)  |  Moment (260)  |  Size (62)  |  Space (523)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Time (1911)

Despite the high long-term probability of extinction, every organism alive today, including every person reading this paper, is a link in an unbroken chain of parent-offspring relationships that extends back unbroken to the beginning of life on earth. Every living organism is a part of an enormously long success story—each of its direct ancestors has been sufficiently well adapted to its physical and biological environments to allow it to mature and reproduce successfully. Viewed thus, adaptation is not a trivial facet of natural history, but a biological attribute so central as to be inseparable from life itself.
In 'Integrative Biology: An Organismic Biologist’s Point of View', Integrative and Comparative Biology (2005), 45, 330.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Alive (97)  |  Allow (51)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Back (395)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Biological (137)  |  Central (81)  |  Chain (51)  |  Despite (7)  |  Direct (228)  |  Enormously (4)  |  Environment (239)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Facet (9)  |  High (370)  |  History (716)  |  Include (93)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Link (48)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Long-Term (11)  |  Mature (17)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Organism (231)  |  Paper (192)  |  Parent (80)  |  Part (235)  |  Person (366)  |  Physical (518)  |  Probability (135)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Reproduce (12)  |  Story (122)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  Sufficiently (9)  |  Term (357)  |  Today (321)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Unbroken (10)  |  View (496)

Direct observation of the testimony of the earth … is a matter of the laboratory, of the field naturalist, of indefatigable digging among the ancient archives of the earth’s history. If Mr. Bryan, with an open heart and mind, would drop all his books and all the disputations among the doctors and study first hand the simple archives of Nature, all his doubts would disappear; he would not lose his religion; he would become an evolutionist.
'Evolution and Religion', New York Times (5 Mar 1922), 91. Written in response to an article a few days earlier in which William Jennings Bryan challenged the theory of evolution as lacking proof.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Archive (5)  |  Become (821)  |  Book (413)  |  William Jennings Bryan (20)  |  Digging (11)  |  Direct (228)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Drop (77)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Evolutionist (8)  |  Field (378)  |  Field Naturalist (3)  |  First (1302)  |  First Hand (2)  |  Heart (243)  |  History (716)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Lose (165)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Open (277)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Proof (304)  |  Religion (369)  |  Research (753)  |  Simple (426)  |  Study (701)  |  Testimony (21)

Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth
In strange eruptions: oft the teeming earth
Is with a kind of colic pinch’d and vex’d
By the imprisoning of unruly wind
Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving,
Shakes the old beldam earth, and topples down
Steeples and moss-grown towers.
Dialogue by Hotspur to Glendower, in King Henry IV, Part I (c. 1597), Act III, Scene 1. Reprinted in The Works of Shakespeare: The First Part of King Henry IV (1790), 47.
Science quotes on:  |  Break (109)  |  Colic (3)  |  Disease (340)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Enlargement (8)  |  Eruption (10)  |  Forth (14)  |  Imprison (11)  |  Kind (564)  |  Moss (14)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Often (109)  |  Old (499)  |  Pinch (6)  |  Shake (43)  |  Steeple (4)  |  Strange (160)  |  Strive (53)  |  Teem (2)  |  Topple (2)  |  Tower (45)  |  Unruly (4)  |  Vex (10)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Wind (141)  |  Womb (25)

During the eight days I spent in space, I realized that mankind needs height primarily to better know our long-suffering Earth, to see what cannot be seen close up. Not just to love her beauty, but also to ensure that we do not bring even the slightest harm to the natural world
In Jack Hassard and Julie Weisberg , Environmental Science on the Net: The Global Thinking Project (1999), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Better (493)  |  Bring (95)  |  Close (77)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ensure (27)  |  Harm (43)  |  Height (33)  |  Know (1538)  |  Long (778)  |  Love (328)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural World (33)  |  Need (320)  |  Primarily (12)  |  Realize (157)  |  See (1094)  |  Slight (32)  |  Space (523)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spent (85)  |  Suffering (68)  |  World (1850)

During the time of the Deluge, whilst the Water was out upon, and covered the Terrestrial Globe, … all Fossils whatever that had before obtained any Solidity, were totally dissolved, and their constituent Corpuscles all disjoyned, their Cohesion perfectly ceasing … [A]nd, to be short, all Bodies whatsoever that were either upon the Earth, or that constituted the Mass of it, if not quite down to the Abyss, yet at least to the greatest depth we ever dig: I say all these were assumed up promiscuously into the Water, and sustained in it, in such a manner that the Water, and Bodies in it, together made up one common confused Mass. That at length all the Mass that was thus borne up in the Water, was again precipitated and subsided towards the bottom. That this subsidence happened generally, and as near as possibly could be expected in so great a Confusion, according to the laws of Gravity.
In An Essay Toward A Natural History of the Earth (1695), 74-75.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  According (236)  |  Cohesion (7)  |  Common (447)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Corpuscle (14)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Depth (97)  |  Dig (25)  |  Down (455)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Law (913)  |  Mass (160)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Say (989)  |  Short (200)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Water (503)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Whatsoever (41)

Each generation of humanity takes the earth as trustees… We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.
From address (22 Apr 1885), as reported in 'An Address by J. Sterling Morton on Arbor Day 1885', Nebraska City News. Also appears in J. Sterling Morton, 'Arbor Day', Proceedings of the American Forestry Congress at its Meeting Held in Boston, September 1885 (1886), 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Arbor Day (4)  |  Bequeath (2)  |  Exhausted (3)  |  Forest (161)  |  Generation (256)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Orchard (4)  |  Posterity (29)  |  Trustee (3)

Each pregnant Oak ten thousand acorns forms
Profusely scatter’d by autumnal storms;
Ten thousand seeds each pregnant poppy sheds
Profusely scatter’d from its waving heads;
The countless Aphides, prolific tribe,
With greedy trunks the honey’d sap imbibe;
Swarm on each leaf with eggs or embryons big,
And pendent nations tenant every twig ...
—All these, increasing by successive birth,
Would each o’erpeople ocean, air, and earth.
So human progenies, if unrestrain’d,
By climate friended, and by food sustain’d,
O’er seas and soils, prolific hordes! would spread
Erelong, and deluge their terraqueous bed;
But war, and pestilence, disease, and dearth,
Sweep the superfluous myriads from the earth...
The births and deaths contend with equal strife,
And every pore of Nature teems with Life;
Which buds or breathes from Indus to the Poles,
And Earth’s vast surface kindles, as it rolls!
The Temple of Nature (1803), canto 4, lines 347-54, 367-74, 379-82, pages 156-60.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Birth (154)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Climate (102)  |  Countless (39)  |  Death (406)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Disease (340)  |  Egg (71)  |  Food (213)  |  Form (976)  |  Friend (180)  |  Honey (15)  |  Human (1512)  |  Kindle (9)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Life (1870)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Oak (16)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Poem (104)  |  Pole (49)  |  Roll (41)  |  Sea (326)  |  Seed (97)  |  Soil (98)  |  Spread (86)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Successive (73)  |  Superfluous (21)  |  Surface (223)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Sweep (22)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tribe (26)  |  Trunk (23)  |  Twig (15)  |  Vast (188)  |  War (233)

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
The Use of Life (1895), 70 or (2005), 66.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Education (423)  |  Field (378)  |  Lake (36)  |  Learn (672)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nature (2017)  |  River (140)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sky (174)  |  Teach (299)  |  Wood (97)

Earth bound history has ended. Universal history has begun.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Bind (26)  |  Bound (120)  |  End (603)  |  History (716)  |  Universal (198)

Earth has few secrets from the birds.
In The Bird: Its Form and Function (1906), Vol. 1, 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Bird (163)  |  Secret (216)

Earth laughs in flowers.
From poem, 'Hamareya', collected in Poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1847), 39.
Science quotes on:  |  Flower (112)  |  Laugh (50)

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.
As quoted, without source, in E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics as If People Mattered (1973), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Enough (341)  |  Greed (17)  |  Man (2252)  |  Need (320)  |  Providing (5)  |  Satisfying (5)

Earth, Skinned Alive.
[Headline for deforestation book review.]
Newspaper
Headline to book review by Stephen J. Pyne in New York Times (21 Apr 1991), BR19. (The book being reviewed was Kenton Miller and Laura Tangley, Trees of Life: Saving Tropical Forests and Their Biological Wealth.)
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Book (413)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Headline (8)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Review (27)

Earth’s history, which it is the object of Geology to teach, is the true introduction to human history.
In 'Concluding Remarks', A Text-book of Geology: Designed for Schools and Academies (1863), 339.
Science quotes on:  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Human History (7)  |  Introduction (37)  |  Object (438)  |  Teach (299)

Earth’s sweat, the sea.
Fragment 55. In The Fragments of Empedocles, translated by William Ellery Leonard, (1908), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Sea (326)  |  Sweat (17)

Earthquakes may be brought about because wind is caught up in the earth, so the earth is dislocated in small masses and is continually shaken, and that causes it to sway.
Epicurus
Letter to Pythocles, in Epicurus: The Extant Remains (1926), trans. C. Bailey, 71.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Small (489)  |  Wind (141)

Emission of lava … during geological time … would produce more contraction than any reasonable amount of cooling of the Earth. It has been shown that contraction could lead to fracturing of a kind which might show many of the principal features observed in existing and past mountains. A vast amount remains to be done, but no other theory can explain so much. Continental drift is without a cause or a physical theory. It has never been applied to any but the last part of geological time.
In Sigma XI National Lecture (1957-58), published in 'Geophysics and Continental Growth', American Scientist (Mar 1959), 47, No. 1, 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Apply (170)  |  Cause (561)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Contraction (18)  |  Cool (15)  |  Emission (20)  |  Exist (458)  |  Explain (334)  |  Feature (49)  |  Fracture (7)  |  Lava (12)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Observe (179)  |  Part (235)  |  Past (355)  |  Physical (518)  |  Principal (69)  |  Reasonable (29)  |  Remain (355)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Vast (188)

Engineers apply the theories and principles of science and mathematics to research and develop economical solutions to practical technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and commercial applications. Engineers design products, the machinery to build those products, the factories in which those products are made, and the systems that ensure the quality of the product and efficiency of the workforce and manufacturing process. They design, plan, and supervise the construction of buildings, highways, and transit systems. They develop and implement improved ways to extract, process, and use raw materials, such as petroleum and natural gas. They develop new materials that both improve the performance of products, and make implementing advances in technology possible. They harness the power of the sun, the earth, atoms, and electricity for use in supplying the Nation’s power needs, and create millions of products using power. Their knowledge is applied to improving many things, including the quality of health care, the safety of food products, and the efficient operation of financial systems.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (2000) as quoted in Charles R. Lord. Guide to Information Sources in Engineering (2000), 5. This definition has been revised and expanded over time in different issues of the Handbook.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Application (257)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Atom (381)  |  Both (496)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Care (203)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Construction (114)  |  Create (245)  |  Design (203)  |  Develop (278)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Economical (11)  |  Efficiency (46)  |  Efficient (34)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Ensure (27)  |  Extract (40)  |  Factory (20)  |  Finance (4)  |  Food (213)  |  Gas (89)  |  Harness (25)  |  Health (210)  |  Health Care (10)  |  Highway (15)  |  Implement (13)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Manufacturing (29)  |  Material (366)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Million (124)  |  Nation (208)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Gas (2)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Operation (221)  |  Performance (51)  |  Petroleum (8)  |  Plan (122)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Practical (225)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Product (166)  |  Quality (139)  |  Raw (28)  |  Research (753)  |  Safety (58)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supervise (2)  |  System (545)  |  Technical (53)  |  Technology (281)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transit (2)  |  Use (771)  |  Using (6)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

Eratosthenes of Cyrene, employing mathematical theories and geometrical methods, discovered from the course of the sun, the shadows cast by an equinoctial gnomon, and the inclination of the heaven that the circumference of the earth is two hundred and fifty-two thousand stadia, that is, thirty-one million five hundred thousand paces.
Vitruvius
In De Architectura, Book 1, Chap 6, Sec. 9. As translated in Morris Hicky Morgan (trans.), Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (1914), 27-28.
Science quotes on:  |  Cast (69)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Course (413)  |  Discover (571)  |  Eratosthenes (6)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Pace (18)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Two (936)

Ere long intelligence—transmitted without wires—will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism. The wonder is that, with the present state of knowledge and the experiences gained, no attempt is being made to disturb the electrostatic or magnetic condition of the earth, and transmit, if nothing else, intelligence.
Electrical Engineer (24 Jun 1892), 11, 609.
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Being (1276)  |  Condition (362)  |  Disturb (31)  |  Electrical Engineering (12)  |  Electrostatic (7)  |  Experience (494)  |  Gain (146)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Organism (231)  |  Present (630)  |  Pulse (22)  |  Radio (60)  |  State (505)  |  Throb (6)  |  Through (846)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wire (36)  |  Wonder (251)

Etna presents us not merely with an image of the power of subterranean heat, but a record also of the vast period of time during which that power has been exerted. A majestic mountain has been produced by volcanic action, yet the time of which the volcanic forms the register, however vast, is found by the geologist to be of inconsiderable amount, even in the modern annals of the earth’s history. In like manner, the Falls of Niagara teach us not merely to appreciate the power of moving water, but furnish us at the same time with data for estimating the enormous lapse of ages during which that force has operated. A deep and long ravine has been excavated, and the river has required ages to accomplish the task, yet the same region affords evidence that the sum of these ages is as nothing, and as the work of yesterday, when compared to the antecedent periods, of which there are monuments in the same district.
Travels in North America (1845), Vol. 1, 28-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Age (509)  |  Amount (153)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Data (162)  |  Deep (241)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Etna (5)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Exert (40)  |  Fall (243)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Heat (180)  |  History (716)  |  Image (97)  |  Lava (12)  |  Long (778)  |  Merely (315)  |  Modern (402)  |  Monument (45)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Niagara (8)  |  Niagara Falls (4)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Period (200)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Produced (187)  |  Ravine (5)  |  Record (161)  |  Register (22)  |  Required (108)  |  River (140)  |  Sum (103)  |  Task (152)  |  Teach (299)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vast (188)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Water (503)  |  Work (1402)  |  Yesterday (37)

Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere
In shapes of shifting lineage; let geese
Gabble and hiss, but heroes seek release
From dusty bondage into luminous air.
O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day,
When first the shaft into his vision shone
Of light anatomized! Euclid alone
Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they
Who, though once only and then but far away,
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.
Poem, 'Euclid Alone Has Looked on Beauty Bare", collected in Wallace Warner Douglas and Hallett Darius Smith (eds.), The Critical Reader: Poems, Stories, Essays (1949), 110.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Alone (324)  |  Bare (33)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Blind (98)  |  Bondage (6)  |  Cease (81)  |  Draw (140)  |  Dusty (8)  |  Euclid (60)  |  First (1302)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Goose (13)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hero (45)  |  Hold (96)  |  Holy (35)  |  Hour (192)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Let (64)  |  Light (635)  |  Lineage (3)  |  Look (584)  |  Luminous (19)  |  Massive (9)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Peace (116)  |  Ponder (15)  |  Prone (7)  |  Release (31)  |  Sandal (3)  |  Seek (218)  |  Set (400)  |  Shaft (5)  |  Shape (77)  |  Shift (45)  |  Shine (49)  |  Stare (9)  |  Stone (168)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Vision (127)

Even more difficult to explain, than the breaking-up of a single mass into fragments, and the drifting apart of these blocks to form the foundations of the present-day continents, is the explanation of the original production of the single mass, or PANGAEA, by the concentration of the former holosphere of granitic sial into a hemisphere of compressed and crushed gneisses and schists. Creep and the effects of compression, due to shrinking or other causes, have been appealed to but this is hardly a satisfactory explanation. The earth could no more shrug itself out of its outer rock-shell unaided, than an animal could shrug itself out of its hide, or a man wriggle out of his skin, or even out of his closely buttoned coat, without assistance either of his own hands or those of others.
The Rhythm of Ages (1940), 9-10.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Assistance (23)  |  Cause (561)  |  Compression (7)  |  Concentration (29)  |  Continent (79)  |  Creep (15)  |  Crush (19)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Due (143)  |  Effect (414)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Form (976)  |  Former (138)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Hide (70)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Present (630)  |  Production (190)  |  Rock (176)  |  Shell (69)  |  Single (365)  |  Skin (48)

Every bird which flies has the thread of the infinite in its claw. Germination includes the hatching of a meteor and the tap of a swallow's bill breaking the egg, and it leads forward the birth of an earth-worm and the advent of Socrates.
Victor Hugo and Charles E. Wilbour (trans.), Les Misérables (1862), 41.
Science quotes on:  |  Bill (14)  |  Bird (163)  |  Birth (154)  |  Break (109)  |  Claw (8)  |  Comet (65)  |  Earthworm (8)  |  Egg (71)  |  Flight (101)  |  Forward (104)  |  Germination (3)  |  Include (93)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Lead (391)  |  Meteor (19)  |   Socrates, (17)  |  Swallow (32)  |  Tap (10)  |  Thread (36)  |  Worm (47)

Every breath you draw, every accelerated beat of your heart in the emotional periods of your oratory depend upon highly elaborated physical and chemical reactions and mechanisms which nature has been building up through a million centuries. If one of these mechanisms, which you owe entirely to your animal ancestry, were to be stopped for a single instant, you would fall lifeless on the stage. Not only this, but some of your highest ideals of human fellowship and comradeship were not created in a moment, but represent the work of ages.
Quoted in Closing Address by Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, president of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, at the Memorial Service for Osborn at St. Bartholomew's Church, N.Y. (18 Dec 1935). In 'Henry Fairfield Osborn', Supplement to Natural History (Feb 1936), 37:2, 133-34. Bound in Kofoid Collection of Pamphlets on Biography, University of California.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ancestry (13)  |  Animal (651)  |  Beat (42)  |  Breath (61)  |  William Jennings Bryan (20)  |  Building (158)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Reaction (17)  |  Chemical Reactions (13)  |  Deaf (4)  |  Depend (238)  |  Draw (140)  |  Drowning (2)  |  Elaborated (7)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fall (243)  |  Heart (243)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Instant (46)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Moment (260)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Owe (71)  |  Period (200)  |  Physical (518)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Represent (157)  |  Single (365)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Speech (66)  |  Stage (152)  |  Through (846)  |  Voice (54)  |  Work (1402)

Every creature alive on the earth today represents an unbroken line of life that stretches back to the first primitive organism to appear on this planet; and that is about three billion years.
In talk, 'Origin of Death' (1970).
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Back (395)  |  Billion (104)  |  Creature (242)  |  First (1302)  |  Life (1870)  |  Line (100)  |  Organism (231)  |  Planet (402)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Represent (157)  |  Today (321)  |  Unbroken (10)  |  Year (963)

Every movement in the skies or upon the earth proclaims to us that the universe is under government.
In A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe (1864), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Government (116)  |  Movement (162)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Sky (174)  |  Universe (900)

Every physical fact, every expression of nature, every feature of the earth, the work of any and all of those agents which make the face of the world what it is, and as we see it, is interesting and instructive. Until we get hold of a group of physical facts, we do not know what practical bearings they may have, though right-minded men know that they contain many precious jewels, which science, or the expert hand of philosophy will not fail top bring out, polished, and bright, and beautifully adapted to man's purposes.
In The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), 209-210. Maury was in particular referring to the potential use of deep-sea soundings.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Agent (73)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Bright (81)  |  Do (1905)  |  Expert (67)  |  Expression (181)  |  Face (214)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fail (191)  |  Feature (49)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Jewel (10)  |  Know (1538)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Polish (17)  |  Practical (225)  |  Precious (43)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Top (100)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Every scientist, through personal study and research, completes himself and his own humanity. ... Scientific research constitutes for you, as it does for many, the way for the personal encounter with truth, and perhaps the privileged place for the encounter itself with God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Science shines forth in all its value as a good capable of motivating our existence, as a great experience of freedom for truth, as a fundamental work of service. Through research each scientist grows as a human being and helps others to do likewise.
Address to the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (13 Nov 2000). In L’Osservatore Romano (29 Nov 2000), translated in English edition, 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Capable (174)  |  Complete (209)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Creator (97)  |  Do (1905)  |  Encounter (23)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experience (494)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Motivation (28)  |  Other (2233)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Service (110)  |  Study (701)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Value (393)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

Every son of science feels a strong & disinterested desire of promoting it in every part of the earth.
In letter (3 Feb 1803) from Jefferson in Washington to Marc Auguste Pictet.
Science quotes on:  |  Desire (212)  |  Disinterest (8)  |  Feel (371)  |  Promoting (7)  |  Son (25)  |  Strong (182)

Everything on this earth iz bought and sold, except air and water, and they would be if a kind Creator had not made the supply too grate for the demand.
In The Complete Works of Josh Billings (1876), 277.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Buy (21)  |  Creator (97)  |  Demand (131)  |  Everything (489)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hydrology (10)  |  Kind (564)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Sell (15)  |  Supply (100)  |  Water (503)

Evolution: At the Mind's Cinema
I turn the handle and the story starts:
Reel after reel is all astronomy,
Till life, enkindled in a niche of sky,
Leaps on the stage to play a million parts.
Life leaves the slime and through all ocean darts;
She conquers earth, and raises wings to fly;
Then spirit blooms, and learns how not to die,-
Nesting beyond the grave in others' hearts.
I turn the handle: other men like me
Have made the film: and now I sit and look
In quiet, privileged like Divinity
To read the roaring world as in a book.
If this thy past, where shall they future climb,
O Spirit, built of Elements and Time?
'Evolution: At the Mind's Cinema' (1922), in The Captive Shrew and Other Poems of a Biologist (1932), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Book (413)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Death (406)  |  Divinity (23)  |  Element (322)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Film (12)  |  Fly (153)  |  Future (467)  |  Grave (52)  |  Handle (29)  |  Heart (243)  |  Leap (57)  |  Learn (672)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Niche (9)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Poem (104)  |  Quiet (37)  |  Read (308)  |  Sky (174)  |  Slime (6)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Stage (152)  |  Start (237)  |  Story (122)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wing (79)  |  World (1850)

Evolution… is the most powerful and the most comprehensive idea that has ever arisen on Earth.
'Education and Humanism', in Essays of a Humanist (1964), 125.
Science quotes on:  |  Comprehensive (29)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Idea (881)  |  Most (1728)  |  Powerful (145)

Experiments in geology are far more difficult than in physics and chemistry because of the greater size of the objects, commonly outside our laboratories, up to the earth itself, and also because of the fact that the geologic time scale exceeds the human time scale by a million and more times. This difference in time allows only direct observations of the actual geologic processes, the mind having to imagine what could possibly have happened in the past.
In 'The Scientific Character of Geology', The Journal of Geology (Jul 1961), 69, No. 4, 455-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Difference (355)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direct (228)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Geology (240)  |  Greater (288)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Million (124)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Outside (141)  |  Past (355)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Process (439)  |  Scale (122)  |  Size (62)  |  Time (1911)

Extinction has only separated groups: it has by no means made them; for if every form which has ever lived on this earth were suddenly to reappear, though it would be quite impossible to give definitions by which each group could be distinguished from other groups, as all would blend together by steps as fine as those between the finest existing varieties, nevertheless a natural classification, or at least a natural arrangement, would be possible.
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1860), 431.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Blend (9)  |  Classification (102)  |  Definition (238)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Existing (10)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Fine (37)  |  Form (976)  |  Group (83)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Live (650)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possible (560)  |  Reappear (4)  |  Separate (151)  |  Step (234)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Together (392)  |  Tree Of Life (10)  |  Variety (138)

Faced with the widespread destruction of the environment, people everywhere are coming to understand that we cannot continue to use the goods of the earth as we have in the past … [A] new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge which rather than being downplayed, ought to be encouraged to develop into concrete programs and initiatives. (8 Dec 1989)
The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility. Quoted in Al Gore, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit (2000), 262.
Science quotes on:  |  Awareness (42)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Coming (114)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Continue (179)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Develop (278)  |  Environment (239)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Good (906)  |  Initiative (17)  |  New (1273)  |  Past (355)  |  People (1031)  |  Understand (648)  |  Use (771)  |  Widespread (23)

Famine seems to be the last, the most dreadful resource of nature. The power of population is so superior to the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. The vices of mankind are active and able ministers of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of destruction; and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should they fail in this war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague, advance in terrific array, and sweep off their thousands and ten thousands. Should success be still incomplete, gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and with one mighty blow, levels the population with the food of the world.
In An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), 140, and in new enlarged edition (1803), 350.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Active (80)  |  Advance (298)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Army (35)  |  Array (5)  |  Blow (45)  |  Death (406)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Dreadful (16)  |  Epidemic (8)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Famine (18)  |  Finish (62)  |  Food (213)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Incomplete (31)  |  Inevitability (10)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Last (425)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Minister (10)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Plague (42)  |  Population (115)  |  Power (771)  |  Precursor (5)  |  Premature (22)  |  Production (190)  |  Race (278)  |  Resource (74)  |  Season (47)  |  Sickness (26)  |  Stalk (6)  |  Still (614)  |  Subsistence (9)  |  Success (327)  |  Superior (88)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Sweep (22)  |  Terrific (4)  |  Themself (4)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Vice (42)  |  War (233)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Felling a tree was possibly the original deed of appropriation of the natural earth by early mankind in Europe. Thousands of years ago,… man lifted a heavy flint tool and struck at the base of a tree. He may have wanted the tree for shelter and fuel, or possibly to make a bridge over a river or a path through a bog…. [E]ventually the tree crashed to the floor, and the first act in the slow possession of the land by its people was complete.
In The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees: The Ash in Human Culture and History (2015), Chap. 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Appropriation (5)  |  Axe (16)  |  Base (120)  |  Bog (5)  |  Bridge (49)  |  Complete (209)  |  Deed (34)  |  Early (196)  |  Europe (50)  |  Felling (2)  |  First (1302)  |  Flint (7)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Land (131)  |  Lift (57)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Natural (810)  |  Original (61)  |  Path (159)  |  People (1031)  |  Possession (68)  |  Possibly (111)  |  River (140)  |  Shelter (23)  |  Slow (108)  |  Strike (72)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Tool (129)  |  Tree (269)  |  Want (504)  |  Year (963)

Few problems are less recognized, but more important than, the accelerating disappearance of the earth’s biological resources. In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it is perched.
In Ashton Applewhite, William R. Evans and Andrew Frothingham, And I Quote (2003)
Science quotes on:  |  Biological (137)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Mankind (356)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perch (7)  |  Problem (731)  |  Species (435)

Firefly meteorites blazed against a dark background, and sometimes the lightning was frighteningly brilliant. Like a boy, I gazed open-mouthed at the fireworks, and suddenly, before my eyes, something magical occurred. A greenish radiance poured from Earth directly up to the station, a radiance resembling gigantic phosphorescent organ pipes, whose ends were glowing crimson, and overlapped by waves of swirling green mist.
“Consider yourself very lucky, Vladimir,” I said to myself, “to have watched the northern lights.”
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Background (44)  |  Blaze (14)  |  Boy (100)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crimson (4)  |  Dark (145)  |  Directly (25)  |  End (603)  |  Eye (440)  |  Firefly (8)  |  Firework (2)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Glow (15)  |  Green (65)  |  Light (635)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Lucky (13)  |  Magic (92)  |  Meteorite (9)  |  Mist (17)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Myself (211)  |  Northern Lights (2)  |  Occur (151)  |  Open (277)  |  Organ (118)  |  Overlap (9)  |  Phosphorescent (3)  |  Pipe (7)  |  Pour (9)  |  Radiance (7)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Say (989)  |  Something (718)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Station (30)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Swirl (10)  |  Watch (118)  |  Wave (112)

Fires from beneath, and meteors from above,
Portentous, unexampled, unexplain'd,
Have kindled beacons in the skies; and th' old
And crazy earth has had her shaking fits
More frequent, and foregone her usual rest.
Is it a time to wrangle, when the props
And pillars of our planet seem to fail,
And nature, with a dim and sickly eye,
To wait the close of all?
Alluding the meteors of 17 Aug 1883.
'The Time-Piece,' Task, Book ii, lines 58-66. In William Cowper, Henry Francis Cary, The Poetical Works of William Cowper (1863), 52-53.
Science quotes on:  |  Beacon (8)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Crazy (27)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fire (203)  |  Fit (139)  |  Meteor (19)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Old (499)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rest (287)  |  Time (1911)

For a billion years the patient earth amassed documents and inscribed them with signs and pictures which lay unnoticed and unused. Today, at last, they are waking up, because man has come to rouse them. Stones have begun to speak, because an ear is there to hear them. Layers become history and, released from the enchanted sleep of eternity, life’s motley, never-ending dance rises out of the black depths of the past into the light of the present.
In 'Prologue', Conversation with the Earth (1954), 4. As translated by E.B. Garside from Gespräch mit der Erde (1947).
Science quotes on:  |  Amass (6)  |  Become (821)  |  Billion (104)  |  Dance (35)  |  Depth (97)  |  Ear (69)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hear (144)  |  History (716)  |  Last (425)  |  Layer (41)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Never (1089)  |  Past (355)  |  Patient (209)  |  Picture (148)  |  Present (630)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Speak (240)  |  Stone (168)  |  Today (321)  |  Waking (17)  |  Year (963)

For all these years you were merely
A smear of light through our telescopes
On the clearest, coldest night; a hint
Of a glint, just a few pixels wide
On even your most perfectly-framed portraits.
But now, now we see you!
Swimming out of the dark - a great
Stone shark, your star-tanned skin pitted
And pocked, scarred after eons of drifting
Silently through the endless ocean of space.
Here on Earth our faces lit up as we saw
You clearly for the first time; eyes wide
With wonder we traced the strangely familiar
Grooves raked across your sides,
Wondering if Rosetta had doubled back to Mars
And raced past Phobos by mistake –
Then you were gone, falling back into the black,
Not to be seen by human eyes again for a thousand
Blue Moons or more. But we know you now,
We know you; you’ll never be just a speck of light again.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Back (395)  |  Black (46)  |  Blue (63)  |  Clear (111)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Cold (115)  |  Dark (145)  |  Double (18)  |  Drift (14)  |  Endless (60)  |  Eon (12)  |  Eye (440)  |  Face (214)  |  Fall (243)  |  Familiar (47)  |  First (1302)  |  First Time (14)  |  Glint (2)  |  Great (1610)  |  Groove (3)  |  Hint (21)  |  Human (1512)  |  Know (1538)  |  Light (635)  |  Mars (47)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  Night (133)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Past (355)  |  Pit (20)  |  Pixel (2)  |  Portrait (5)  |  Race (278)  |  Saw (160)  |  Scar (8)  |  See (1094)  |  Shark (11)  |  Side (236)  |  Silently (4)  |  Skin (48)  |  Smear (3)  |  Space (523)  |  Speck (25)  |  Star (460)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strangely (5)  |  Swim (32)  |  Swimming (19)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Wide (97)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Year (963)

For all things come from earth, and all things end by becoming earth.
Quoted in Arthur Fairbanks (ed. And trans.), The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 69, fragment 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Becoming (96)  |  End (603)  |  Matter (821)  |  Thing (1914)

For centuries we have dreamt of flying; recently we made that come true: we have always hankered for speed; now we have speeds greater than we can stand: we wanted to speak to far parts of the Earth; we can: we wanted to explore the sea bottom; we have: and so on, and so on. And, too, we wanted the power to smash our enemies utterly; we have it. If we had truly wanted peace, we should have had that as well. But true peace has never been one of the genuine dreams—we have got little further than preaching against war in order to appease out consciences.
The Outward Urge (1959)
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Appease (6)  |  Conscience (52)  |  Dream (222)  |  Flying (74)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Greater (288)  |  Little (717)  |  Never (1089)  |  Order (638)  |  Peace (116)  |  Power (771)  |  Sea (326)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speed (66)  |  Stand (284)  |  Truly (118)  |  Want (504)  |  War (233)

For forty-nine months between 1968 and 1972, two dozen Americans had the great good fortune to briefly visit the Moon. Half of us became the first emissaries from Earth to tread its dusty surface. We who did so were privileged to represent the hopes and dreams of all humanity. For mankind it was a giant leap for a species that evolved from the Stone Age to create sophisticated rockets and spacecraft that made a Moon landing possible. For one crowning moment, we were creatures of the cosmic ocean, an epoch that a thousand years hence may be seen as the signature of our century.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  American (56)  |  Become (821)  |  Briefly (5)  |  Century (319)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Create (245)  |  Creature (242)  |  Crown (39)  |  Dozen (10)  |  Dream (222)  |  Dusty (8)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Evolution (635)  |  First (1302)  |  Fortune (50)  |  Forty-Nine (2)  |  Giant (73)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Half (63)  |  Hope (321)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Leap (57)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Moment (260)  |  Month (91)  |  Moon (252)  |  Moon Landing (9)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Possible (560)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Represent (157)  |  Rocket (52)  |  See (1094)  |  Signature (4)  |  Sophisticated (16)  |  Spacecraft (6)  |  Species (435)  |  Stone (168)  |  Stone Age (14)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tread (17)  |  Two (936)  |  Visit (27)  |  Year (963)

For I am yearning to visit the limits of the all-nurturing Earth, and Oceans, from whom the gods are sprung.
Homer
Hera to Aphrodite in the Iliad, 14.201. As given in Norman K. Glendenning, Our Place in the Universe (2007), 126.
Science quotes on:  |  God (776)  |  Limit (294)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Origin (250)  |  Yearning (13)

For I took an Earthen Vessel, in which I put 200 pounds of Earth that had been dried in a Furnace, which I moystened with Rain-water, and I implanted therein the Trunk or Stem of a Willow Tree, weighing five pounds: and about three ounces: But I moystened the Earthen Vessel with Rain-water, or distilled water (alwayes when there was need) and it was large, and implanted into the Earth, and leaft of the Vessel, with an Iron-Plate covered with Tin, and easily passable with many holes. I computed not the weight of the leaves that fell off in the four Autumnes. At length, I again dried the Earth of the Vessel, and there were found the same 200 pounds, wanting about two ounces. Therefore 164 pounds of Wood, Barks, and Roots, arose out of water onely.
Oriatrike: Or, Physick Refined, trans. john Chandler (1662), 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Bark (19)  |  Growth (200)  |  Iron (99)  |  Large (398)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Rain (70)  |  Root (121)  |  Stem (31)  |  Tin (18)  |  Tree (269)  |  Trunk (23)  |  Two (936)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wood (97)

For it is the same whether you take it that the Earth is in motion or the Sky. For, in both the cases, it does not affect the Astronomical Science. It is just for the Physicist to see if it is possible to refute it.
In Syed Hasan Barani, 'Al-Biruni's Scientific Achievements', Indo-Iranica, 1952, S (4), 47.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Both (496)  |  Motion (320)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possible (560)  |  See (1094)  |  Sky (174)

For many planet hunters, though, the ultimate goal is still greater (or actually, smaller) prey: terrestrial planets, like Earth, circling a star like the Sun. Astronomers already know that three such planets orbit at least one pulsar. But planet hunters will not rest until they are in sight of a small blue world, warm and wet, in whose azure skies and upon whose wind-whipped oceans shines a bright yellow star like our own.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Actually (27)  |  Already (226)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Azure (2)  |  Blue (63)  |  Bright (81)  |  Circle (117)  |  Goal (155)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hunter (28)  |  Know (1538)  |  Least (75)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Planet (402)  |  Prey (13)  |  Pulsar (3)  |  Rest (287)  |  Shine (49)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sky (174)  |  Small (489)  |  Star (460)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Warm (74)  |  Wet (6)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  World (1850)  |  Yellow (31)

For me, a rocket is only a means--only a method of reaching the depths of space—and not an end in itself… There’s no doubt that it’s very important to have rocket ships since they will help mankind to settle elsewhere in the universe. But what I’m working for is this resettling… The whole idea is to move away from the Earth to settlements in space.
Science quotes on:  |  Depth (97)  |  Doubt (314)  |  End (603)  |  Idea (881)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Method (531)  |  Migration (12)  |  Move (223)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Settle (23)  |  Ship (69)  |  Space (523)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

For mining I cannot say much good except that its operations are generally short-lived. The extractable wealth is taken and the shafts, the tailings, and the ruins left, and in a dry country such as the American West the wounds men make in the earth do not quickly heal.
Letter (3 Dec 1960) written to David E. Pesonen of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. Collected in 'Coda: Wilderness Letter', The Sound of Mountain Water: The Changing American West (1969), 151.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Country (269)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dry (65)  |  Extraction (10)  |  Good (906)  |  Heal (7)  |  Leave (138)  |  Mining (22)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Quickly (21)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Say (989)  |  Shaft (5)  |  Short (200)  |  Wealth (100)  |  West (21)  |  Wound (26)

For nature is a perpetuall circulatory worker, generating fluids out of solids, and solids out of fluids, fixed things out of volatile, & volatile out of fixed, subtile out of gross, & gross out of subtile, Some things to ascend & make the upper terrestriall juices, Rivers and the Atmosphere; & by consequence others to descend for a Requitall to the former. And as the Earth, so perhaps may the Sun imbibe this spirit copiously to conserve his Shineing, & keep the Planets from recedeing further from him. And they that will, may also suppose, that this Spirit affords or carryes with it thither the solary fewell & materiall Principle of Light; And that the vast aethereall Spaces between us, & the stars are for a sufficient repository for this food of the Sunn and Planets.
Letter to Oldenburg (7 Dec 1675). In H. W. Turnbull (ed.), The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, 1661-1675 (1959), Vol. 1, 366.
Science quotes on:  |  Aether (13)  |  Ascend (30)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Circulatory (2)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Descend (49)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Food (213)  |  Former (138)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Imbibed (3)  |  Light (635)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Principle (530)  |  River (140)  |  Solid (119)  |  Space (523)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Sun (407)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vast (188)  |  Will (2350)

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Cease (81)  |  Change (639)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Cling (6)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fix (34)  |  Forever (111)  |  Generation (256)  |  Grind (11)  |  Hold (96)  |  Light (635)  |  Lover (11)  |  Moment (260)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Responsible (19)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shift (45)  |  Witness (57)

For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.
As quoted, without citation, in Jeffrey O. Bennett, The Cosmic Perspective (1999), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Certainly (185)  |  Change (639)  |  Divide (77)  |  Experience (494)  |  Hundred (240)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Perspective (28)  |  See (1094)  |  Share (82)  |  Space (523)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

For three days now this angel, almost too heavenly for earth has been my fiancée … Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant colours. Upon his engagement to Johanne Osthof of Brunswick; they married 9 Oct 1805.
Letter to Farkas Wolfgang Bolyai (1804). Quoted in Stephen Hawking, God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs (2005), 567.
Science quotes on:  |  Angel (47)  |  Biography (254)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Engagement (9)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Life (1870)  |  Marriage (39)  |  New (1273)  |  Spring (140)  |  Stand (284)

For we are all sprung from earth and water
Quoted in Arthur Fairbanks (ed. And trans.), The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 69, fragment 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Matter (821)  |  Water (503)

For we are dwelling in a hollow of the earth, and fancy that we are on the surface… . But the fact is, that owing to our feebleness and sluggishness we are prevented from reaching the surface of the air.
Plato
In Plato and B. Jowett (trans.), The Dialogues of Plato: Republic (2nd ed., 1875), Vol. 1, 490.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Dwelling (12)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Hollow (6)  |  Owing (39)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Reach (286)  |  Surface (223)

Forests … are in fact the world’s air-conditioning system—the very lungs of the planet—and help to store the largest body of freshwater on the planet … essential to produce food for our planet’s growing population. The rainforests of the world also provide the livelihoods of more than a billion of the poorest people on this Earth… In simple terms, the rainforests, which encircle the world, are our very life-support system—and we are on the verge of switching it off.
Presidential Lecture (3 Nov 2008) at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Indonesia. On the Prince of Wales website.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Billion (104)  |  Body (557)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Essential (210)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Food (213)  |  Forest (161)  |  Freshwater (3)  |  Growing (99)  |  Largest (39)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life-Support (2)  |  Livelihood (13)  |  Lung (37)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Planet (402)  |  Population (115)  |  Population Growth (9)  |  Poverty (40)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Simple (426)  |  Storage (6)  |  Store (49)  |  Support (151)  |  Switch (10)  |  System (545)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Verge (10)  |  World (1850)

Four elements, hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, also provide an example of the astonishing togetherness of our universe. They make up the “organic” molecules that constitute living organisms on a planet, and the nuclei of these same elements interact to generate the light of its star. Then the organisms on the planet come to depend wholly on that starlight, as they must if life is to persist. So it is that all life on the Earth runs on sunlight. [Referring to photosynthesis]
In lecture, 'Life and Mind in the Universe', versions of which George Wald delivered throughout the 1980s. On the website of his son, Elijah Wald, who states it was the last of his father’s major lectures.
Science quotes on:  |  Astonishing (29)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Element (322)  |  Fusion (16)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Living (492)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organism (231)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Planet (402)  |  Run (158)  |  Star (460)  |  Starlight (5)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wholly (88)

Fourier’s Theorem … is not only one of the most beautiful results of modern analysis, but it may be said to furnish an indispensable instrument in the treatment of nearly every recondite question in modern physics. To mention only sonorous vibrations, the propagation of electric signals along a telegraph wire, and the conduction of heat by the earth’s crust, as subjects in their generality intractable without it, is to give but a feeble idea of its importance.
In William Thomson and Peter Guthrie Tait, Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1867), Vol. 1, 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Conduction (8)  |  Crust (43)  |  Electric (76)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Baron Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier (17)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Generality (45)  |  Heat (180)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Intractable (3)  |  Mention (84)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Physics (23)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Propagation (15)  |  Question (649)  |  Recondite (8)  |  Result (700)  |  Signal (29)  |  Sound (187)  |  Subject (543)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Vibration (26)  |  Wire (36)

Frequently on the lunar surface I said to myself, “This is the Moon, that is the Earth. I’m really here, I’m really here!”
Apollo 12
Science quotes on:  |  Frequently (21)  |  Lunar (9)  |  Moon (252)  |  Myself (211)  |  Really (77)  |  Say (989)  |  Surface (223)

From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.
Quoted in 'Sport: Poet of the Depths', Time (28 Mar 1960)
Science quotes on:  |  Beneath (68)  |  Birth (154)  |  Bolt (11)  |  Free (239)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shoulder (33)  |  Sink (38)  |  Sinking (6)  |  Surface (223)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)

From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances and strive to imagine the sort of world into which we were born. Today, we have reached far into space. Our immediate neighborhood we know rather intimately. But with increasing distance our knowledge fades … The search will continue. The urge is older than history. It is not satisfied and will not be suppressed.
In 'From Our Home On The Earth', The Land (1946), 5, 145. As cited on the webpage of the Edwin Powell Hubble Papers.
Science quotes on:  |  Continue (179)  |  Distance (171)  |  Fade (12)  |  History (716)  |  Home (184)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Increase (225)  |  Intimately (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Look (584)  |  Neighborhood (12)  |  Old (499)  |  Reach (286)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  Search (175)  |  Space (523)  |  Today (321)  |  Urge (17)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

From space I saw Earth—indescribably beautiful with the scars of national boundaries gone.
In Jack Hassard and Julie Weisberg , Environmental Science on the Net: The Global Thinking Project (1999), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Boundary (55)  |  National (29)  |  Saw (160)  |  Scar (8)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)

From the rocket we can see the huge sphere of the planet in one or another phase of the Moon. We can see how the sphere rotates, and how within a few hours it shows all its sides successively ... and we shall observe various points on the surface of the Earth for several minutes and from different sides very closely. This picture is so majestic, attractive and infinitely varied that I wish with all my soul that you and I could see it. (1911)
As translated in William E. Burrows, The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth (2007), 147. From Tsiolkovsky's 'The Investigation of Universal Space by Means of Reactive Devices', translated in K.E. Tsiolkovsky, Works on Rocket Technology (NASA, NASATT F-243, n.d.), 76-77.
Science quotes on:  |  Attractive (25)  |  Different (595)  |  Hour (192)  |  Infinitely (13)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Minute (129)  |  Moon (252)  |  Observe (179)  |  Phase (37)  |  Picture (148)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Rotate (8)  |  See (1094)  |  Show (353)  |  Side (236)  |  Soul (235)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Varied (6)  |  Various (205)  |  Wish (216)

From thus meditating on the great similarity of the structure of the warm-blooded animals, and at the same time of the great changes they undergo both before and after their nativity; and by considering in how minute a portion of time many of the changes of animals above described have been produced; would it be too bold to imagine that, in the great length of time since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind would it be too bold to imagine that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions and associations, and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down these improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end!
Zoonomia, Or, The Laws of Organic Life, in three parts (1803), Vol. 1, 397.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Age (509)  |  Animal (651)  |  Association (49)  |  Attend (67)  |  Blood (144)  |  Bold (22)  |  Both (496)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Commencement (14)  |  Direct (228)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exist (458)  |  Filament (4)  |  First (1302)  |  Generation (256)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Mankind (15)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Inherent (43)  |  Living (492)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Minute (129)  |  New (1273)  |  Portion (86)  |  Posterity (29)  |  Power (771)  |  Produced (187)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Small (489)  |  Structure (365)  |  Time (1911)  |  Volition (3)  |  Warm (74)  |  Warm-Blooded (3)  |  World (1850)

From whatever I have been able to observe up to this time the series of strata which form the visible crust of the earth appear to me classified in four general and successive orders. These four orders can be conceived to be four very large strata, as they really are, so that wherever they are exposed, they are disposed one above the other, always in the same order.
Quoted in Francesco Rodolico, 'Arduino', In Charles Coulston Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1970), Vol. 1, 234.
Science quotes on:  |  Classification (102)  |  Crust (43)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  Large (398)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Series (153)  |  Strata (37)  |  Successive (73)  |  Time (1911)  |  Visible (87)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wherever (51)

Frost is but slender weeks away,
Tonight the sunset glow will stay,
Swing to the north and burn up higher
And Northern Lights wall earth with fire.
Nothing is lost yet, nothing broken,
And yet the cold blue word is spoken:
Say goodbye to the sun.
The days of love and leaves are done.
Apples by Ocean (1950), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Blue (63)  |  Broken (56)  |  Burn (99)  |  Cold (115)  |  Day (43)  |  Done (2)  |  Fire (203)  |  Frost (15)  |  Glow (15)  |  Goodbye (3)  |  Higher (37)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Light (635)  |  Lost (34)  |  Love (328)  |  North (12)  |  Northern Lights (2)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Say (989)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Swing (12)  |  Tonight (9)  |  Wall (71)  |  Week (73)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

Gaia is a thin spherical shell of matter that surrounds the incandescent interior; it begins where the crustal rocks meet the magma of the Earth’s hot interior, about 100 miles below the surface, and proceeds another 100 miles outwards through the ocean and air to the even hotter thermosphere at the edge of space. It includes the biosphere and is a dynamic physiological system that has kept our planet fit for life for over three billion years. I call Gaia a physiological system because it appears to have the unconscious goal of regulating the climate and the chemistry at a comfortable state for life. Its goals are not set points but adjustable for whatever is the current environment and adaptable to whatever forms of life it carries.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Adaptable (2)  |  Adjustable (2)  |  Air (366)  |  Appear (122)  |  Begin (275)  |  Below (26)  |  Billion (104)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Call (781)  |  Carry (130)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Climate (102)  |  Comfortable (13)  |  Crust (43)  |  Current (122)  |  Dynamic (16)  |  Edge (51)  |  Environment (239)  |  Fit (139)  |  Form (976)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Goal (155)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Incandescent (7)  |  Include (93)  |  Interior (35)  |  Keep (104)  |  Life (1870)  |  Magma (4)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mile (43)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Regulate (11)  |  Rock (176)  |  Set (400)  |  Shell (69)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  State (505)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surround (33)  |  System (545)  |  Thin (18)  |  Unconscious (24)  |  Year (963)

Gather, ye nations, gather!
From forge, and mine, and mill!
Come, Science and Invention;
Come, Industry and Skill!…

Gather, ye nations, gather!
Let ancient discord cease,
And Earth, with myriad voices,
Awake the song of Peace!
From poem, 'The Festival of Labour' (1851), collected in The Poetical Works of Charles Mackay: Now for the First Time Collected Complete in One Volume (1876), 539. Written for the opening of the Great Exhibition.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Awake (19)  |  Cease (81)  |  Discord (10)  |  Festival (2)  |  Forge (10)  |  Gather (76)  |  Industry (159)  |  Invention (400)  |  Labor (200)  |  Mill (16)  |  Mine (78)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nation (208)  |  Peace (116)  |  Skill (116)  |  Song (41)  |  Voice (54)

Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Blood (144)  |  Flesh (28)  |  Generation (256)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Walk (138)  |  Will (2350)

Geologists have not been slow to admit that they were in error in assuming that they had an eternity of past time for the evolution of the earth’s history. They have frankly acknowledged the validity of the physical arguments which go to place more or less definite limits to the antiquity of the earth. They were, on the whole, disposed to acquiesce in the allowance of 100 millions of years granted to them by Lord Kelvin, for the transaction of the whole of the long cycles of geological history. But the physicists have been insatiable and inexorable. As remorseless as Lear’s daughters, they have cut down their grant of years by successive slices, until some of them have brought the number to something less than ten millions. In vain have the geologists protested that there must somewhere be a flaw in a line of argument which tends to results so entirely at variance with the strong evidence for a higher antiquity, furnished not only by the geological record, but by the existing races of plants and animals. They have insisted that this evidence is not mere theory or imagination, but is drawn from a multitude of facts which become hopelessly unintelligible unless sufficient time is admitted for the evolution of geological history. They have not been able to disapprove the arguments of the physicists, but they have contended that the physicists have simply ignored the geological arguments as of no account in the discussion.
'Twenty-five years of Geological Progress in Britain', Nature, 1895, 51, 369.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Allowance (6)  |  Animal (651)  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Argument (145)  |  Become (821)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Cut (116)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Daughter (30)  |  Definite (114)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Down (455)  |  Error (339)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Flaw (18)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Grant (76)  |  History (716)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inexorable (10)  |  Insatiable (7)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Limit (294)  |  Long (778)  |  Lord (97)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Must (1525)  |  Number (710)  |  Past (355)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Plant (320)  |  Protest (9)  |  Race (278)  |  Record (161)  |  Result (700)  |  Slow (108)  |  Something (718)  |  Strong (182)  |  Successive (73)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Tend (124)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transaction (13)  |  Unintelligible (17)  |  Vain (86)  |  Validity (50)  |  Variance (12)  |  Whole (756)  |  Year (963)

Geologists have usually had recourse for the explanation of these changes to the supposition of sundry violent and extraordinary catastrophes, cataclysms, or general revolutions having occurred in the physical state of the earth's surface.
As the idea imparted by the term Cataclysm, Catastrophe, or Revolution, is extremely vague, and may comprehend any thing you choose to imagine, it answers for the time very well as an explanation; that is, it stops further inquiry. But it also has had the disadvantage of effectually stopping the advance of science, by involving it in obscurity and confusion.
Considerations on Volcanoes (1825), iv.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Answer (389)  |  Cataclysm (2)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Change (639)  |  Choose (116)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Disadvantage (10)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  General (521)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Impart (24)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Obscurity (28)  |  Physical (518)  |  Recourse (12)  |  Revolution (133)  |  State (505)  |  Stop (89)  |  Sundry (4)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Surface (223)  |  Term (357)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Usually (176)  |  Vague (50)  |  Vagueness (15)  |  Violence (37)

Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrane.
Annals of the Former World
Science quotes on:  |  Arch (12)  |  Driver (5)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inconsistent (9)  |  Lead (391)  |  Portal (9)  |  Present (630)  |  Roadcut (2)  |  Story (122)  |  Surround (33)  |  Tend (124)  |  Through (846)  |  Weave (21)  |  Whole (756)

Geology depends on impressions made by floods, earthquakes, volcanoes. The mountains tell the story of their oppressions and rebellions. The outstanding data of this science of Mother Earth are those furnished by the most violent impressions that mark an epoch in evolution
In I Am an Impure Thinker (1970), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Data (162)  |  Depend (238)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Flood (52)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Geology (240)  |  Impression (118)  |  Mark (47)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mother (116)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Oppression (6)  |  Outstanding (16)  |  Rebellion (3)  |  Story (122)  |  Tell (344)  |  Violent (17)  |  Volcano (46)

GEOLOGY, n. The science of the earth's crust —to which, doubtless, will be added that of its interior whenever a man shall come up garrulous out of a well. The geological formations of the globe already noted are catalogued thus: The Primary, or lower one, consists of rocks, bones of mired mules, gas-pipes, miners' tools, antique statues minus the nose, Spanish doubloons and ancestors. The Secondary is largely made up of red worms and moles. The Tertiary comprises railway tracks, patent pavements, grass, snakes, mouldy boots, beer bottles, tomato cans, intoxicated citizens, garbage, anarchists, snap-dogs and fools.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911), Vol. 7, The Devil's Dictionary,  115.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Beer (10)  |  Bone (101)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Consist (223)  |  Crust (43)  |  Dog (70)  |  Fool (121)  |  Formation (100)  |  Garbage (10)  |  Gas (89)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grass (49)  |  Humour (116)  |  Interior (35)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mole (5)  |  Patent (34)  |  Primary (82)  |  Railway (19)  |  Rock (176)  |  Snake (29)  |  Snap (7)  |  Statue (17)  |  Strata (37)  |  Tool (129)  |  Track (42)  |  Whenever (81)  |  Will (2350)  |  Worm (47)

Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.
F. Hultsch (ed.) Pappus Alexandrinus: Collectio (1876-8), Vol. 3, book 8, section 10, ix.
Science quotes on:  |  Archimedes Lever (3)  |  Lever (13)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Move (223)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Stand (284)  |  Will (2350)

Go, wondrous creature, mount where science guides.
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the sun;
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule,
Then drop into thyself and be a fool.
Quoted in James Wood Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 125.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Creature (242)  |  Drop (77)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Fool (121)  |  Guide (107)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mount (43)  |  Old (499)  |  Orb (20)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rule (307)  |  Run (158)  |  State (505)  |  Sun (407)  |  Teach (299)  |  Tide (37)  |  Time (1911)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wondrous (22)

Go, wondrous creature! mount where Science guides,
Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides;
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun.
In An Essay on Man (1736), Epistle II, lines 19-22, 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Correct (95)  |  Creature (242)  |  Guide (107)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mount (43)  |  Old (499)  |  Orb (20)  |  Planet (402)  |  Regulate (11)  |  Run (158)  |  State (505)  |  Sun (407)  |  Tide (37)  |  Time (1911)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wondrous (22)

God is infinite, so His universe must be too. Thus is the excellence of God magnified and the greatness of His kingdom made manifest; He is glorified not in one, but in countless suns; not in a single earth, a single world, but in a thousand thousand, I say in an infinity of worlds.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Countless (39)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Glorify (6)  |  God (776)  |  Greatness (55)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Magnify (4)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Must (1525)  |  Say (989)  |  Single (365)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation… . Let the earth produce every kind of living creature. …” God said, “Let us make man in our image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts, and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth. “
Bible
(circa 725 B.C.)
Science quotes on:  |  Beast (58)  |  Bird (163)  |  Cattle (18)  |  Crawl (9)  |  Creature (242)  |  Fish (130)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Image (97)  |  Kind (564)  |  Likeness (18)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Reptile (33)  |  Sea (326)  |  Vegetation (24)  |  Wild (96)

Gold is found in our own part of the world; not to mention the gold extracted from the earth in India by the ants, and in Scythia by the Griffins. Among us it is procured in three different ways; the first of which is in the shape of dust, found in running streams. … A second mode of obtaining gold is by sinking shafts or seeking among the debris of mountains …. The third method of obtaining gold surpasses the labors of the giants even: by the aid of galleries driven to a long distance, mountains are excavated by the light of torches, the duration of which forms the set times for work, the workmen never seeing the light of day for many months together.
In Pliny and John Bostock (trans.), The Natural History of Pliny (1857), Vol. 6, 99-101.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Ant (34)  |  Debris (7)  |  Different (595)  |  Distance (171)  |  Dust (68)  |  Excavate (4)  |  Extract (40)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Gallery (7)  |  Giant (73)  |  Gold (101)  |  India (23)  |  Labor (200)  |  Light (635)  |  Long (778)  |  Mention (84)  |  Method (531)  |  Month (91)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Never (1089)  |  Procure (6)  |  Run (158)  |  Running (61)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Seek (218)  |  Set (400)  |  Shaft (5)  |  Stream (83)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Torch (13)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)  |  Workman (13)  |  World (1850)

Gold once out of the earth is no more due unto it; what was unreasonably committed to the ground, is reasonably resumed from it; let monuments and rich fabrics, not riches, adorn men’s ashes.
Science quotes on:  |  Archaeology (51)  |  Ash (21)  |  Due (143)  |  Fabric (27)  |  Gold (101)  |  Ground (222)  |  Monument (45)  |  More (2558)  |  Rich (66)

Gradually the sunken land begins to rise again, and falls perhaps again, and rises again after that, more and more gently each time, till as it were the panting earth, worn out with the fierce passions of her fiery youth, has sobbed herself to sleep once more, and this new world of man is made.
'Thoughts in a Gravel Pit', a lecture delivered at the Mechanics' Institute, Odiham (1857). The Works of Charles Kingsley (1880), 282.
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Fall (243)  |  Geology (240)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  New (1273)  |  Passion (121)  |  Rise (169)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Time (1911)  |  World (1850)  |  Youth (109)

Half a century ago Oswald (1910) distinguished classicists and romanticists among the scientific investigators: the former being inclined to design schemes and to use consistently the deductions from working hypotheses; the latter being more fit for intuitive discoveries of functional relations between phenomena and therefore more able to open up new fields of study. Examples of both character types are Werner and Hutton. Werner was a real classicist. At the end of the eighteenth century he postulated the theory of “neptunism,” according to which all rocks including granites, were deposited in primeval seas. It was an artificial scheme, but, as a classification system, it worked quite satisfactorily at the time. Hutton, his contemporary and opponent, was more a romanticist. His concept of “plutonism” supposed continually recurrent circuits of matter, which like gigantic paddle wheels raise material from various depths of the earth and carry it off again. This is a very flexible system which opens the mind to accept the possible occurrence in the course of time of a great variety of interrelated plutonic and tectonic processes.
In 'The Scientific Character of Geology', The Journal of Geology (Jul 1961), 69, No. 4, 456-7.
Science quotes on:  |  18th Century (21)  |  Accept (198)  |  According (236)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Carry (130)  |  Century (319)  |  Character (259)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Classicist (2)  |  Classification (102)  |  Concept (242)  |  Consistently (8)  |  Contemporary (33)  |  Course (413)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Deposit (12)  |  Depth (97)  |  Design (203)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  End (603)  |  Field (378)  |  Fit (139)  |  Flexible (7)  |  Former (138)  |  Functional (10)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Granite (8)  |  Great (1610)  |  James Hutton (22)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Material (366)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Open (277)  |  Opponent (23)  |  Wilhelm Ostwald (5)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Possible (560)  |  Primeval (15)  |  Process (439)  |  Raise (38)  |  Recurrent (2)  |  Relation (166)  |  Rock (176)  |  Romanticist (2)  |  Satisfactory (19)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sea (326)  |  Study (701)  |  Suppose (158)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Type (171)  |  Use (771)  |  Variety (138)  |  Various (205)  |  Abraham Werner (5)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Work (1402)  |  Working (23)

He [Lord Bacon] appears to have been utterly ignorant of the discoveries which had just been made by Kepler’s calculations … he does not say a word about Napier’s Logarithms, which had been published only nine years before and reprinted more than once in the interval. He complained that no considerable advance had been made in Geometry beyond Euclid, without taking any notice of what had been done by Archimedes and Apollonius. He saw the importance of determining accurately the specific gravities of different substances, and himself attempted to form a table of them by a rude process of his own, without knowing of the more scientific though still imperfect methods previously employed by Archimedes, Ghetaldus and Porta. He speaks of the εὕρηκα of Archimedes in a manner which implies that he did not clearly appreciate either the problem to be solved or the principles upon which the solution depended. In reviewing the progress of Mechanics, he makes no mention either of Archimedes, or Stevinus, Galileo, Guldinus, or Ghetaldus. He makes no allusion to the theory of Equilibrium. He observes that a ball of one pound weight will fall nearly as fast through the air as a ball of two, without alluding to the theory of acceleration of falling bodies, which had been made known by Galileo more than thirty years before. He proposed an inquiry with regard to the lever,—namely, whether in a balance with arms of different length but equal weight the distance from the fulcrum has any effect upon the inclination—though the theory of the lever was as well understood in his own time as it is now. … He speaks of the poles of the earth as fixed, in a manner which seems to imply that he was not acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes; and in another place, of the north pole being above and the south pole below, as a reason why in our hemisphere the north winds predominate over the south.
From Spedding’s 'Preface' to De Interpretations Naturae Proœmium, in The Works of Francis Bacon (1857), Vol. 3, 511-512. [Note: the Greek word “εὕρηκα” is “Eureka” —Webmaster.]
Science quotes on:  |  Acceleration (12)  |  Accurate (88)  |  Advance (298)  |  Air (366)  |  Apollonius (6)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Arm (82)  |  Arms (37)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Balance (82)  |  Ball (64)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Body (557)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Complain (10)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Depend (238)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distance (171)  |  Effect (414)  |  Employ (115)  |  Equal (88)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Equinox (5)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Eureka (13)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fast (49)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Form (976)  |  Fulcrum (3)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Hemisphere (5)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Importance (299)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Known (453)  |  Length (24)  |  Lever (13)  |  Logarithm (12)  |  Lord (97)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Mention (84)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  John Napier (4)  |  Nearly (137)  |  North Pole (5)  |  North Wind (2)  |  Notice (81)  |  Observe (179)  |  Pole (49)  |  Pound (15)  |  Precession (4)  |  Predominate (7)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regard (312)  |  Saw (160)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  South (39)  |  South Pole (3)  |  Speak (240)  |  Specific (98)  |  Specific Gravity (2)  |  Still (614)  |  Substance (253)  |  Table (105)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understood (155)  |  Weight (140)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)

He who ascribes the movement of the seas to the movement of the earth assumes a purely forced movement; but he who lets the seas follow the moon makes this movement in a certain way a natural one.
As quoted in James Bruce Ross and Mary Martin McLaughlin, The Portable Renaissance Reader (1968), 603.
Science quotes on:  |  Ascribe (18)  |  Certain (557)  |  Follow (389)  |  Force (497)  |  Moon (252)  |  Movement (162)  |  Natural (810)  |  Purely (111)  |  Sea (326)  |  Way (1214)

Here are a few things to keep in mind the next time ants show up in the potato salad. The 8,800 known species of the family Formicidae make up from 10% to 15% of the world's animal biomass, the total weight of all fauna. They are the most dominant social insect in the world, found almost everywhere except in the polar regions. Ants turn more soil than earthworms; they prune, weed and police most of the earth’s carrion. Among the most gregarious of creatures, they are equipped with a sophisticated chemical communications system. To appreciate the strength and speed of this pesky invertebrate, consider that a leaf cutter the size of a man could run repeated four-minute miles while carrying 750 lbs. of potato salad.
From book review, 'Nature: Splendor in The Grass', Time (3 Sep 1990).
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Ant (34)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Carrion (5)  |  Carry (130)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Communication (101)  |  Consider (428)  |  Creature (242)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Earthworm (8)  |  Equipment (45)  |  Equipped (17)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Family (101)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Gregarious (3)  |  Insect (89)  |  Invertebrate (6)  |  Known (453)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mile (43)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minute (129)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Next (238)  |  Polar (13)  |  Police (5)  |  Potato (11)  |  Prune (7)  |  Run (158)  |  Show (353)  |  Social (261)  |  Soil (98)  |  Sophistication (12)  |  Species (435)  |  Speed (66)  |  Strength (139)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Total (95)  |  Turn (454)  |  Weed (19)  |  Weight (140)  |  World (1850)

Here is no final grieving,
but an abiding hope
The moving waters renew the earth.
It is spring.
Two verses from 'Sketch For a Modern Oratorio', collected in Michael Tippett and ‎Meirion Bowen (ed.), Tippett on Music (1995), 175.
Science quotes on:  |  Abiding (3)  |  Hope (321)  |  Renew (20)  |  Spring (140)  |  Water (503)

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.
Plaque left on the moon, 20 Jul 1969.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronaut (34)  |  First (1302)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Moon (252)  |  Peace (116)  |  Planet (402)  |  Set (400)

Hidden within the vast spaces of the Milky Way are over a billion targets for the search for intelligent life. … A decision has to be made as to which stars should be the first objects of this search, … [But] only stars not much different from the sun are likely to support intelligent creatures. So the search should concentrate on … the nearest of these stars first, since the inverse square law indicates that signals from the closest stars would be the strongest received on the earth.
In Intelligent Life in Space (1962), 99-100.
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Close (77)  |  Concentrate (28)  |  Creature (242)  |  Decision (98)  |  Different (595)  |  First (1302)  |  Hide (70)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Inverse Square Law (5)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Receive (117)  |  Search (175)  |  Signal (29)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Strong (182)  |  Sun (407)  |  Support (151)  |  Target (13)  |  Vast (188)

Historical chronology, human or geological, depends... upon comparable impersonal principles. If one scribes with a stylus on a plate of wet clay two marks, the second crossing the first, another person on examining these marks can tell unambiguously which was made first and which second, because the latter event irreversibly disturbs its predecessor. In virtue of the fact that most of the rocks of the earth contain imprints of a succession of such irreversible events, an unambiguous working out of the chronological sequence of these events becomes possible.
'Critique of the Principle of Uniformity', in C. C. Albritton (ed.), Uniformity and Simplicity (1967), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Chronology (9)  |  Depend (238)  |  Disturb (31)  |  Event (222)  |  Fact (1257)  |  First (1302)  |  Historical (70)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Most (1728)  |  Person (366)  |  Possible (560)  |  Predecessor (29)  |  Principle (530)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Succession (80)  |  Tell (344)  |  Two (936)  |  Virtue (117)

Historically, science has pursued a premise that Nature can be understood fully, its future predicted precisely, and its behavior controlled at will. However, emerging knowledge indicates that the nature of Earth and biological systems transcends the limits of science, questioning the premise of knowing, prediction, and control. This knowledge has led to the recognition that, for civilized human survival, technological society has to adapt to the constraints of these systems.
As quoted in Chris Maser, Decision-Making for a Sustainable Environment: A Systemic Approach (2012), 4, citing N. Narasimhan, 'Limitations of Science and Adapting to Nature', Environmental Research Letters (Jul-Sep 2007), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Constraint (13)  |  Control (182)  |  Future (467)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Limit (294)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Predict (86)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Premise (40)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Society (350)  |  Survival (105)  |  System (545)  |  Technological (62)  |  Technology (281)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Understood (155)  |  Will (2350)

Houses were knocked down... enormous heaps of earth and clay thrown up; buildings that were undermined and shaking, propped up by great beams of wood... The yet unfinished and unopened Railway was in progress.
In Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation (1847), Vol. 1, 78.
Science quotes on:  |  Beam (26)  |  Building (158)  |  Clay (11)  |  Demolition (4)  |  Down (455)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heap (15)  |  House (143)  |  Progress (492)  |  Prop (6)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Railway (19)  |  Shake (43)  |  Undetermined (3)  |  Unfinished (4)  |  Unopened (3)  |  Wood (97)

How can a man sit down and quietly pare his nails, while the earth goes gyrating ahead amid such a din of sphere music, whirling him along about her axis some twenty-four thousand miles between sun and sun, but mainly in a circle some two millions of miles actual progress? And then such a hurly-burly on the surface …. Can man do less than get up and shake himself?
(6 Mar 1838). In Henry David Thoreau and Bradford Torrey (ed.), The Writings of Henry Thoreau: Journal: I: 1837-1846 (1906), 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Circle (117)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Himself (461)  |  Man (2252)  |  Music (133)  |  Planet (402)  |  Progress (492)  |  Shake (43)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Two (936)  |  Whirl (10)

How could science be any enemy of religion when God commanded man to be a scientist the day He told him to rule the earth and subject it?
In The Life of All Living: the philosophy of life (1929, 1942), 212.
Science quotes on:  |  Command (60)  |  Enemy (86)  |  God (776)  |  Man (2252)  |  Religion (369)  |  Rule (307)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Subject (543)

How many times did the sun shine, how many times did the wind howl over the desolate tundras, over the bleak immensity of the Siberian taigas, over the brown deserts where the Earth’s salt shines, over the high peaks capped with silver, over the shivering jungles, over the undulating forests of the tropics! Day after day, through infinite time, the scenery has changed in imperceptible features. Let us smile at the illusion of eternity that appears in these things, and while so many temporary aspects fade away, let us listen to the ancient hymn, the spectacular song of the seas, that has saluted so many chains rising to the light.
In Tectonics of Asia (1924, 1977), 165, trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Brown (23)  |  Climate (102)  |  Desert (59)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Forest (161)  |  High (370)  |  Hymn (6)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Jungle (24)  |  Light (635)  |  Listen (81)  |  Research (753)  |  Rising (44)  |  Salt (48)  |  Sea (326)  |  Silver (49)  |  Smile (34)  |  Song (41)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Sun (407)  |  Temporary (24)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wind (141)

How to start on my adventure—how to become a forester—was not so simple. There were no schools of Forestry in America. … Whoever turned his mind toward Forestry in those days thought little about the forest itself and more about its influences, and about its influence on rainfall first of all. So I took a course in meteorology, which has to do with weather and climate. and another in botany, which has to do with the vegetable kingdom—trees are unquestionably vegetable. And another in geology, for forests grow out of the earth. Also I took a course in astronomy, for it is the sun which makes trees grow. All of which is as it should be, because science underlies the forester’s knowledge of the woods. So far I was headed right. But as for Forestry itself, there wasn’t even a suspicion of it at Yale. The time for teaching Forestry as a profession was years away.
In Breaking New Ground (1947, 1998), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  America (143)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Become (821)  |  Biography (254)  |  Botany (63)  |  Climate (102)  |  Course (413)  |  Do (1905)  |  First (1302)  |  Forest (161)  |  Forester (4)  |  Forestry (17)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Influence (231)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Profession (108)  |  Right (473)  |  School (227)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Start (237)  |  Sun (407)  |  Suspicion (36)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tree (269)  |  Turn (454)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Weather (49)  |  Whoever (42)  |  Wood (97)  |  Year (963)

How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are transacted, is when compared to them. A very fit consideration, and matter of Reflection, for those Kings and Princes who sacrifice the Lives of so many People, only to flatter their Ambition in being Masters of some pitiful corner of this small Spot.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Ambition (46)  |  Being (1276)  |  Compare (76)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Corner (59)  |  Design (203)  |  Fit (139)  |  Flat (34)  |  Inconsiderable (2)  |  King (39)  |  Live (650)  |  Master (182)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mighty (13)  |  Must (1525)  |  Navigation (26)  |  Orb (20)  |  People (1031)  |  Pitiful (5)  |  Prince (13)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Small (489)  |  Spot (19)  |  Theatre (5)  |  Transact (2)  |  Vast (188)  |  War (233)

However dangerous might be the shock of a comet, it might be so slight, that it would only do damage at the part of the Earth where it actually struck; perhaps even we might cry quits if while one kingdom were devastated, the rest of the Earth were to enjoy the rarities which a body which came from so far might bring it. Perhaps we should be very surprised to find that the debris of these masses that we despised were formed of gold and diamonds; but who would be the most astonished, we, or the comet-dwellers, who would be cast on our Earth? What strange being each would find the other!
From 'Lettre sur la comète', Œuvres de M. Maupertuis (1752), 203. As quoted in Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1979), 95-96.
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Cast (69)  |  Comet (65)  |  Cry (30)  |  Damage (38)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Debris (7)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Do (1905)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  Gold (101)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Rest (287)  |  Shock (38)  |  Strange (160)

However much we may enlarge our ideas of the time which has elapsed since the Niagara first began to drain the waters of the upper lakes, we have seen that this period was one only of a series, all belonging to the present zoological epoch; or that in which the living testaceous fauna, whether freshwater or marine, had already come into being. If such events can take place while the zoology of the earth remains almost stationary and unaltered, what ages may not be comprehended in those successive tertiary periods during which the Flora and Fauna of the globe have been almost entirely changed. Yet how subordinate a place in the long calendar of geological chronology do the successive tertiary periods themselves occupy! How much more enormous a duration must we assign to many antecedent revolutions of the earth and its inhabitants! No analogy can be found in the natural world to the immense scale of these divisions of past time, unless we contemplate the celestial spaces which have been measured by the astronomer.
Travels in North America (1845), Vol. 1, 51-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Already (226)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Calendar (9)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Chronology (9)  |  Division (67)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drain (12)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Event (222)  |  First (1302)  |  Freshwater (3)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Lake (36)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Marine Geology (2)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Niagara (8)  |  Niagara Falls (4)  |  Past (355)  |  Period (200)  |  Present (630)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Scale (122)  |  Series (153)  |  Space (523)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Successive (73)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)  |  Zoology (38)

However, the small probability of a similar encounter [of the earth with a comet], can become very great in adding up over a huge sequence of centuries. It is easy to picture to oneself the effects of this impact upon the Earth. The axis and the motion of rotation changed; the seas abandoning their old position to throw themselves toward the new equator; a large part of men and animals drowned in this universal deluge, or destroyed by the violent tremor imparted to the terrestrial globe.
Exposition du Système du Monde, 2nd edition (1799), 208, trans. Ivor Grattan-Guinness.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Axis (9)  |  Become (821)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  Comet (65)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Drown (14)  |  Easy (213)  |  Effect (414)  |  Encounter (23)  |  Equator (6)  |  Globe (51)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impact (45)  |  Impart (24)  |  Large (398)  |  Man (2252)  |  Motion (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Oneself (33)  |  Picture (148)  |  Probability (135)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Small (489)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Tremor (3)  |  Universal (198)

Human beings can easily destroy every elephant on earth, but we are helpless against the mosquito.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 80.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Being (1276)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Elephant (35)  |  Entomology (9)  |  Helpless (14)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Mosquito (16)

Humanity is about to learn that a lunatic (touched by the moon) is not a crazy man but one so sane, well-informed, well-coordinated, self-disciplined, cooperative and fearless as to be the first earthian human to have been ferried to a physical landing upon the moon, and thereafter to have been returned safely to reboard his mother space vehicle earth.
In 'Reactions to Man’s Landing on the Moon Show Broad Variations in Opinions', The New York Times (21 Jul 1969), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Cooperative (4)  |  Crazy (27)  |  Fearless (7)  |  Ferry (4)  |  First (1302)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Inform (50)  |  Informed (5)  |  Land (131)  |  Learn (672)  |  Lunatic (9)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mother (116)  |  Physical (518)  |  Return (133)  |  Safely (7)  |  Sane (5)  |  Self (268)  |  Space (523)  |  Touch (146)  |  Vehicle (11)  |  Well-Informed (7)

Humanity, in the course of time, had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages against its naive self-love. The first was when humanity discovered that our earth was not the center of the universe…. The second occurred when biological research robbed man of his apparent superiority under special creation, and rebuked him with his descent from the animal kingdom, and his ineradicable animal nature.
From a series of 28 lectures for laymen, Part Three, 'General Theory of the Neurons', Lecture 18, 'Traumatic Fixation—the Unconscious' collected in Sigmund Freud and G. Stanley Hall (trans.), A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1920), 246-247.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Kingdom (21)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Center (35)  |  Course (413)  |  Creation (350)  |  Descent (30)  |  Discover (571)  |  Endure (21)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hand (149)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Ingrained (5)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Naive (13)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Outrage (3)  |  Research (753)  |  Rob (6)  |  Science And Society (25)  |  Self (268)  |  Special (188)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)

Humans everywhere share the same goals when the context is large enough. And the study of the Cosmos provides the largest possible context … . If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another … . If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.
Cosmos
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Broaden (3)  |  Community (111)  |  Context (31)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Disagree (14)  |  Enough (341)  |  Entire (50)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Far (158)  |  Find (1014)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Goal (155)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Include (93)  |  Large (398)  |  Largest (39)  |  Let (64)  |  Live (650)  |  Loyalty (10)  |  Must (1525)  |  Planet (402)  |  Possible (560)  |  Provide (79)  |  Same (166)  |  Share (82)  |  Study (701)  |  Survive (87)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

I always feel like our descendants—they're going to be upset with us for wrecking the planet anyway—but they're really going to be mad that we didn't even bother to take a good picture. [On the importance of thorough research of even a little ant species.]
Quoted from NPR radio interview, also published on NPR web page by Christopher Joyce, Morning Edition (1 Aug 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Ant (34)  |  Bother (8)  |  Descendant (18)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Feel (371)  |  Good (906)  |  Importance (299)  |  Little (717)  |  Mad (54)  |  Picture (148)  |  Planet (402)  |  Research (753)  |  Species (435)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Upset (18)  |  Wreck (10)

I am among the most durable and passionate participants in the scientific exploration of the solar system, and I am a long-time advocate of the application of space technology to civil and military purposes of direct benefit to life on Earth and to our national security.
In 'Is Human Spaceflight Obsolete?' Quoted in Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2004).
Science quotes on:  |  Advocate (20)  |  Application (257)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Civil (26)  |  Direct (228)  |  Durable (7)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Long (778)  |  Military (45)  |  Most (1728)  |  National Security (3)  |  Participant (6)  |  Passionate (22)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Security (51)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  System (545)  |  Technology (281)  |  Time (1911)

I am aware of some of the tragic repercussions of the chemical fight against insects taking place in France and elsewhere, and I deplore them. Modern man no longer knows how to foresee or to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth from which he and other living creatures draw their food. Poor bees, poor birds, poor men...
In Ann Cottrell Free (ed.), Animals, Nature and Albert Schweitzer (1982). Rachel Carson dedicated her book Silent Spring (1962) to Albert Schweitzer, with his words, “Modern man no longer knows how to foresee or to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.”
Science quotes on:  |  Bee (44)  |  Bird (163)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Food (213)  |  Foresee (22)  |  France (29)  |  Insecticide (5)  |  Life (1870)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Repercussion (5)  |  Tragic (19)

I am concerned about the air we breathe and the water we drink. If overfishing continues, if pollution continues, many of these species will disappear off the face of the earth.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Air Pollution (13)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Continue (179)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Drink (56)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Face (214)  |  Face Of The Earth (5)  |  Fish (130)  |  Ocean Pollution (10)  |  Overfishing (27)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Species (435)  |  Water (503)  |  Water Pollution (17)  |  Will (2350)

I am here tracing the History of the Earth itself, from its own Monuments.
'Geological Letters Addressed to Professor Blumenbach, Letter 3', The British Critic, 1794, 598.
Science quotes on:  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Monument (45)

I am not insensible to natural beauty, but my emotional joys center on the improbable yet sometimes wondrous works of that tiny and accidental evolutionary twig called Homo sapiens. And I find, among these works, nothing more noble than the history of our struggle to understand nature—a majestic entity of such vast spatial and temporal scope that she cannot care much for a little mammalian afterthought with a curious evolutionary invention, even if that invention has, for the first time in so me four billion years of life on earth, produced recursion as a creature reflects back upon its own production and evolution. Thus, I love nature primarily for the puzzles and intellectual delights that she offers to the first organ capable of such curious contemplation.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accidental (31)  |  Afterthought (6)  |  Back (395)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Billion (104)  |  Call (781)  |  Capable (174)  |  Care (203)  |  Center (35)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Creature (242)  |  Curious (95)  |  Delight (111)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Entity (37)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Evolutionary (23)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  First Time (14)  |  History (716)  |  Homo Sapiens (23)  |  Improbable (15)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Invention (400)  |  Joy (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Little (717)  |  Love (328)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Mammalian (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Beauty (5)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Noble (93)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Offer (142)  |  Organ (118)  |  Primarily (12)  |  Produce (117)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Scope (44)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Spatial (10)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Temporal (4)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Twig (15)  |  Understand (648)  |  Vast (188)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

I am not yet so lost in lexicography, as to forget that words are the daughters of the earth, and that things are the sons of heaven. Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, that the instrument might be less apt to decay, and that signs might be permanent, like the things which they denote.
'Preface', A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Vol. 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Daughter (30)  |  Decay (59)  |  Forget (125)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Idea (881)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Language (308)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wish (216)  |  Word (650)

I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.
From Speech (11 Dec 1959) at Washington, D.C., 'Disarmament', printed in President John F. Kennedy, A Grand and Global Alliance (1968), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Advancement (63)  |  Cause (561)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sorry (31)

I am the daughter of earth and water, And the nursling of the sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain,
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams,
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.
The Cloud (1820). In K. Raine (ed.), Shelley (1974), 289.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Arise (162)  |  Bare (33)  |  Build (211)  |  Cavern (9)  |  Cenotaph (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Child (333)  |  Convex (6)  |  Daughter (30)  |  Die (94)  |  Dome (9)  |  Ghost (36)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Pass (241)  |  Pore (7)  |  Rain (70)  |  Shore (25)  |  Sky (174)  |  Stain (10)  |  Through (846)  |  Tomb (15)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)  |  Womb (25)

I believe natural beauty has a necessary place in the spiritual development of any individual or any society. I believe that whenever we substitute something man-made and artificial for a natural feature of the earth, we have retarded some part of man’s spiritual growth.
As quoted in Linda Lear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature (1997), 259.
Science quotes on:  |  Artificial (38)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Belief (615)  |  Development (441)  |  Feature (49)  |  Growth (200)  |  Individual (420)  |  Man (2252)  |  Man-Made (10)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Beauty (5)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Retarded (5)  |  Society (350)  |  Something (718)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Substitute (47)  |  Whenever (81)

I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.
Address to Joint Session of Congress, on Urgent National Needs (25 May 1961). On web site of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Also in Vital Speeches of the Day (15 Jun 1961), Vol. 27, No. 17, 518-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Commit (43)  |  Decade (66)  |  Goal (155)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nation (208)  |  Space Exploration (15)  |  Technology (281)

I came into the room, which was half dark, and presently spotted Lord Kelvin in the audience and realised that I was in for trouble at the last part of my speech dealing with the age of the earth, where my views conflicted with his. To my relief, Kelvin fell fast asleep, but as I came to the important point, I saw the old bird sit up, open an eye and cock a baleful glance at me! Then a sudden inspiration came, and I said Lord Kelvin had limited the age of the earth, provided no new source was discovered. That prophetic utterance refers to what we are now considering tonight, radium! Behold! the old boy beamed upon me.
The italicized phrase refers to “no new source” of energy. Concerning a Lecture by Rutherford, at the Royal Institution, dealing with the energy of subterranean radium, which had an effect prolonging the heat of the Earth. Arthur S. Eve wrote that Rutherford “used to tell humorous stories about this lecture long afterwards:” — followed by the subject quote above, as its own paragraph. As given in Arthur S. Eve, Rutherford: Being the Life and Letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, O.M. (1939), 107. The story lacks quotation marks, and thus should be regarded as perhaps Eve’s own words giving a faithful recollection, rather than Rutherford’s verbatim words. (However, note that the style used throughout the book is to omit quotation marks from their own separate paragraph.)
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Audience (28)  |  Beam (26)  |  Bird (163)  |  Boy (100)  |  Cock (6)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Dark (145)  |  Discover (571)  |  Energy (373)  |  Eye (440)  |  Glance (36)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Last (425)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Lord (97)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Open (277)  |  Point (584)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Radium (29)  |  Relief (30)  |  Saw (160)  |  Speech (66)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Tonight (9)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Utterance (11)  |  View (496)

I can well appreciate, Holy Father, that as soon as certain people realise that in these books which I have written about the Revolutions of the spheres of the universe I attribute certain motions to the globe of the Earth, they will at once clamour for me to be hooted off the stage with such an opinion.
'To His Holiness Pope Paul III', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A.M. Duncan (1976), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Book (413)  |  Certain (557)  |  Father (113)  |  Holy (35)  |  Motion (320)  |  Opinion (291)  |  People (1031)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Soon (187)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Stage (152)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)

I do ... humbly conceive (tho' some possibly may think there is too much notice taken of such a trivial thing as a rotten Shell, yet) that Men do generally rally too much slight and pass over without regard these Records of Antiquity which Nature have left as Monuments and Hieroglyphick Characters of preceding Transactions in the like duration or Transactions of the Body of the Earth, which are infinitely more evident and certain tokens than any thing of Antiquity that can be fetched out of Coins or Medals, or any other way yet known, since the best of those ways may be counterfeited or made by Art and Design, as may also Books, Manuscripts and Inscriptions, as all the Learned are now sufficiently satisfied, has often been actually practised; but those Characters are not to be Counterfeited by all the Craft in the World, nor can they be doubted to be, what they appear, by anyone that will impartially examine the true appearances of them: And tho' it must be granted, that it is very difficult to read them, and to raise a Chronology out of them, and to state the intervalls of the Times wherein such, or such Catastrophies and Mutations have happened; yet 'tis not impossible, but that, by the help of those joined to ' other means and assistances of Information, much may be done even in that part of Information also.
Lectures and Discourses of Earthquakes (1668). In The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke, containing his Cutlerian Lectures and other Discourses read at the Meetings of the Illustrious Royal Society (1705), 411.
Science quotes on:  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Art (680)  |  Assistance (23)  |  Best (467)  |  Body (557)  |  Book (413)  |  Certain (557)  |  Character (259)  |  Chronology (9)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Design (203)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Evident (92)  |  Examine (84)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grant (76)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Humbly (8)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Information (173)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Known (453)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Monument (45)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Notice (81)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Read (308)  |  Record (161)  |  Regard (312)  |  Shell (69)  |  State (505)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Token (10)  |  Transaction (13)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

I do not find that any one has doubted that there are four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars. The next is that spirit, which both the Greeks and ourselves call by the same name, air. It is by the force of this vital principle, pervading all things and mingling with all, that the earth, together with the fourth element, water, is balanced in the middle of space.
In The Natural History of Pliny (1855), Vol. 1, 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Balance (82)  |  Both (496)  |  Call (781)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Element (322)  |  Eye (440)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fire (203)  |  Force (497)  |  Fourth (8)  |  Glittering (2)  |  Greek (109)  |  Middle (19)  |  Mingle (9)  |  Name (359)  |  Next (238)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Pervade (10)  |  Pervading (7)  |  Principle (530)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Space (523)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Vital (89)  |  Water (503)

I do not personally want to believe that we already know the equations that determine the evolution and fate of the universe; it would make life too dull for me as a scientist. … I hope, and believe, that the Space Telescope might make the Big Bang cosmology appear incorrect to future generations, perhaps somewhat analogous to the way that Galileo’s telescope showed that the earth-centered, Ptolemaic system was inadequate.
From 'The Space Telescope (the Hubble Space Telescope): Out Where the Stars Do Not Twinkle', in NASA Authorization for Fiscal Year 1978: Hearings before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, United States Senate, 95th Congress, first session on S.365 (1977), 124. This was testimony to support of authorization for NASA beginning the construction of the Space Telescope, which later became known as the Hubble Space Telescope.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Analogous (7)  |  Bang (29)  |  Belief (615)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Determination (80)  |  Determine (152)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dull (58)  |  Equation (138)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fate (76)  |  Future (467)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Generation (256)  |  Geocentric (6)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hubble Space Telescope (9)  |  Inadequate (20)  |  Incorrect (6)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Show (353)  |  Space (523)  |  System (545)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Universe (900)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)

I don’t think many people remember what life was like in those days. This was the era when the Russians were claiming superiority, and they could make a pretty good case—they put up Sputnik in ’57; they had already sent men into space to orbit the earth. There was this fear that perhaps communism was the wave of the future. The astronauts, all of us, really believed we were locked in a battle of democracy versus communism, where the winner would dominate the world.
As reported by Howard Wilkinson in 'John Glenn Had the Stuff U.S. Heroes are Made of', The Cincinnati Enquirer (20 Feb 2002).
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Battle (36)  |  Belief (615)  |  Claim (154)  |  Claiming (8)  |  Communism (11)  |  Democracy (36)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Era (51)  |  Fear (212)  |  Future (467)  |  Good (906)  |  Life (1870)  |  Orbit (85)  |  People (1031)  |  Remember (189)  |  Russia (14)  |  Space (523)  |  Sputnik (5)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Think (1122)  |  Wave (112)  |  Winner (4)  |  World (1850)

I feel the development of space should continue. It is of tremendous importance. … Along with this development of space, which is really a flowering of civilization toward the stars, you might say, we must protect the surface of the earth. That’s even more important. Our environment on the surface is where man lives.
In 'Reactions to Man’s Landing on the Moon Show Broad Variations in Opinions', The New York Times (21 Jul 1969), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Civilization (220)  |  Continue (179)  |  Development (441)  |  Environment (239)  |  Feel (371)  |  Flower (112)  |  Importance (299)  |  Important (229)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Protect (65)  |  Say (989)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tremendous (29)

I finally saw that the blood, forced by the action of the left ventricle into the arteries, was distributed to the body at large, and its several parts, in the same manner as it is sent through the lungs, impelled by the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery, and that it then passed through the veins and along the vena cava, and so round to the left ventricle in the manner already indicated. Which motion we may be allowed to call circular, in the same way as Aristotle says that the air and the rain emulate the circular motion of the superior bodies; for the moist earth, warmed by the sun, evaporates; the vapours drawn upwards are condensed, and descending in the form of rain, moisten the earth again; and by this arrangement are generations of living things produced.
From William Harvey and Robert Willis (trans.), The Works of William Harvey, M.D. (1847), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Air (366)  |  Already (226)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Artery (10)  |  Blood (144)  |  Body (557)  |  Call (781)  |  Circular (19)  |  Circular Motion (7)  |  Emulate (2)  |  Evaporate (5)  |  Form (976)  |  Generation (256)  |  Impelled (2)  |  Large (398)  |  Living (492)  |  Lung (37)  |  Moist (13)  |  Moisten (2)  |  Motion (320)  |  Pass (241)  |  Produced (187)  |  Pulmonary (3)  |  Rain (70)  |  Right (473)  |  Saw (160)  |  Say (989)  |  Sun (407)  |  Superior (88)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Upward (44)  |  Upwards (6)  |  Vapour (16)  |  Vein (27)  |  Ventricle (7)  |  Warm (74)  |  Way (1214)

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came, and went—and came, and brought no day.
Darkness (1816), lines 1-6. In Jerome J. McGann (ed.), Lord Byron: The Complete Poetical Works (1986), Vol. 4, 40-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Blind (98)  |  Bright (81)  |  Dream (222)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Wander (44)

I had no books as a child. I had real machines, and I went out to work in the fields. I was driving farm machinery at five, and fixing it at age seven or eight. It’s no accident that I worked on Hubble 50 to 60 years later. My books were nature; it was very important to how I related to the Earth, and the Earth from space. No doubt when I go into space, I go back into the cool soil of Earth. I’m always thinking of it. Nature was my book. Other people come from that tradition - Emerson, Thoreau, and especially Whitman. Look at what they said in their philosophy - go out and have a direct relationship with nature.
When asked by Discover magazine what books helped inspire his passion as an astronaut.
'The 1998 Discover Science Gift Guide: Fantastic Voyages Children's Books That Mattered', Discover (Dec 1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Age (509)  |  Ask (420)  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Back (395)  |  Biography (254)  |  Book (413)  |  Child (333)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discover (571)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Driving (28)  |  Farm (28)  |  Field (378)  |  Look (584)  |  Machine (271)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Passion (121)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Soil (98)  |  Space (523)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two million years to reach the earth.
Having identified Uranus (1781), the first planet discovered since antiquity. Quoted in Constance Anne Lubbock, The Herschel Chronicle: the Life-story of William Herschel and his Sister, Caroline Herschel (1933), 336.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Being (1276)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observed (149)  |  Reach (286)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Two (936)  |  Year (963)

I have decided today that the United States should proceed at once with the development of an entirely new type of space transportation system designed to help transform the space frontier of the 1970s into familiar territory, easily accessible for human endeavor in the 1980s and ’90s. This system will center on a space vehicle that can shuttle repeatedly from Earth to orbit and back. It will revolutionize transportation into near space, by routinizing it. It will take the astronomical costs out of astronautics. In short, it will go a long way toward delivering the rich benefits of practical space utilization and the valuable spin-offs from space efforts into the daily lives of Americans and all people.
Statement by President Nixon (5 Jan 1972).
Science quotes on:  |  Accessible (27)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Back (395)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Cost (94)  |  Daily (91)  |  Daily Life (18)  |  Decide (50)  |  Deliver (30)  |  Design (203)  |  Development (441)  |  Easily (36)  |  Effort (243)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Familiar (47)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Human (1512)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  New (1273)  |  Orbit (85)  |  People (1031)  |  Practical (225)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Repeat (44)  |  Revolutionize (8)  |  Routine (26)  |  Short (200)  |  Shuttle (3)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Shuttle (12)  |  Spin (26)  |  Spin-Off (2)  |  State (505)  |  System (545)  |  Territory (25)  |  Today (321)  |  Transform (74)  |  Transportation (19)  |  Type (171)  |  United States (31)  |  Utilization (16)  |  Utilize (10)  |  Value (393)  |  Vehicle (11)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

I have declared infinite worlds to exist beside this our earth. It would not be worthy of God to manifest Himself in less than an infinite universe.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Declare (48)  |  Declared (24)  |  Exist (458)  |  God (776)  |  Himself (461)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Less (105)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)  |  Worthy (35)

I have no doubt that certain learned men, now that the novelty of the hypotheses in this work has been widely reported—for it establishes that the Earth moves, and indeed that the Sun is motionless in the middle of the universe—are extremely shocked, and think that the scholarly disciplines, rightly established once and for all, should not be upset. But if they are willing to judge the matter thoroughly, they will find that the author of this work has committed nothing which deserves censure. For it is proper for an astronomer to establish a record of the motions of the heavens with diligent and skilful observations, and then to think out and construct laws for them, or rather hypotheses, whatever their nature may be, since the true laws cannot be reached by the use of reason; and from those assumptions the motions can be correctly calculated, both for the future and for the past. Our author has shown himself outstandingly skilful in both these respects. Nor is it necessary that these hypotheses should be true, nor indeed even probable, but it is sufficient if they merely produce calculations which agree with the observations. … For it is clear enough that this subject is completely and simply ignorant of the laws which produce apparently irregular motions. And if it does work out any laws—as certainly it does work out very many—it does not do so in any way with the aim of persuading anyone that they are valid, but only to provide a correct basis for calculation. Since different hypotheses are sometimes available to explain one and the same motion (for instance eccentricity or an epicycle for the motion of the Sun) an astronomer will prefer to seize on the one which is easiest to grasp; a philosopher will perhaps look more for probability; but neither will grasp or convey anything certain, unless it has been divinely revealed to him. Let us therefore allow these new hypotheses also to become known beside the older, which are no more probable, especially since they are remarkable and easy; and let them bring with them the vast treasury of highly learned observations. And let no one expect from astronomy, as far as hypotheses are concerned, anything certain, since it cannot produce any such thing, in case if he seizes on things constructed for another other purpose as true, he departs from this discipline more foolish than he came to it.
Although this preface would have been assumed by contemporary readers to be written by Copernicus, it was unsigned. It is now believed to have been written and added at press time by Andreas Osiander (who was then overseeing the printing of the book). It suggests the earth’s motion as described was merely a mathematical device, and not to be taken as absolute reality. Text as given in 'To the Reader on the Hypotheses in this Work', Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), translated by ‎Alistair Matheson Duncan (1976), 22-3. By adding this preface, Osiander wished to stave off criticism by theologians. See also the Andreas Osiander Quotes page of this website.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Author (175)  |  Available (80)  |  Basis (180)  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Censure (5)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Completely (137)  |  Concern (239)  |  Construct (129)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Different (595)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Easy (213)  |  Enough (341)  |  Expect (203)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Future (467)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Judge (114)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Look (584)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proper (150)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Record (161)  |  Respect (212)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Shock (38)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Universe (900)  |  Upset (18)  |  Use (771)  |  Vast (188)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)  |  Willing (44)  |  Work (1402)

I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that this delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it. I remember, in the winter of our first experiments, just seven years ago, looking on snow with new eyes. There the snow lay around my doorstep—great heaps of protons quietly precessing in the earth’s magnetic field. To see the world for a moment as something rich and strange is the private reward of many a discovery.
Opening remark, Nobel Lecture (11 Dec 1952).
Science quotes on:  |  Delicate (45)  |  Delight (111)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Magnetic Field (7)  |  Moment (260)  |  Motion (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Private (29)  |  Proton (23)  |  Remember (189)  |  Reside (25)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Reward (72)  |  Rich (66)  |  See (1094)  |  Snow (39)  |  Something (718)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Winter (46)  |  Wonder (251)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

I have seen the astrolabe called Zuraqi invented by Abu Sa’id Sijzi. I liked it very much and praised him a great deal, as it is based on the idea entertained by some to the effect that the motion we see is due to the Earth’s movement and not to that of the sky. By my life, it is a problem difficult of solution and refutation. … For it is the same whether you take it that the Earth is in motion or the sky. For, in both cases, it does not affect the Astronomical Science. It is just for the physicist to see if it is possible to refute it.
As quoted in 'Pioneer of Scientific Observation', The UNESCO Courier (1974), 27, xlix.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Motion (320)  |  Sky (174)

I have slipped the bonds of Earth to dance with dolphins.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bond (46)  |  Dance (35)  |  Dolphin (9)  |  Slip (6)

I have tried to show why I believe that the biologist is the most romantic figure on earth at the present day. At first sight he seems to be just a poor little scrubby underpaid man, groping blindly amid the mazes of the ultra-microscopic, engaging in bitter and lifelong quarrels over the nephridia of flatworms, waking perhaps one morning to find that someone whose name he has never heard has demolished by a few crucial experiments the work which he had hoped would render him immortal.
Daedalus or Science and the Future (1924), 77.
Science quotes on:  |  Biologist (70)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Demolish (8)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Lifelong (10)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Morning (98)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Never (1089)  |  Poor (139)  |  Present (630)  |  Render (96)  |  Research (753)  |  Romantic (13)  |  Show (353)  |  Sight (135)  |  Waking (17)  |  Why (491)  |  Work (1402)

I hear beyond the range of sound,
I see beyond the range of sight,
New earths and skies and seas around,
And in my day the sun doth pale his light.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Hear (144)  |  Light (635)  |  New (1273)  |  Pale (9)  |  Range (104)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sky (174)  |  Sound (187)  |  Sun (407)

I imagine that when we reach the boundaries of things set for us, or even before we reach them, we can see into the infinite, just as on the surface of the earth we gaze out into immeasurable space.
Aphorism 52 in Notebook D (1773-1775), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Boundary (55)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Immeasurable (4)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Reach (286)  |  See (1094)  |  Set (400)  |  Space (523)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Thing (1914)

 Ptolemy quote When I trace at my pleasure the windings
Conjunction of the moon, Venus and Jupiter (source)
I know that I am mortal by nature, and ephemeral; but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies I no longer touch earth with my feet: I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia, food of the gods.
Ptolemy
Epigram. Almagest. In Owen Gingerich, The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler (1993), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Food (213)  |  God (776)  |  Himself (461)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Presence (63)  |  Stand (284)  |  Touch (146)  |  Trace (109)  |  Winding (8)  |  Zeus (6)

I know that to personalize the Earth System as Gaia, as I have often done and continue to do in this book, irritates the scientifically correct, but I am unrepentant because metaphors are more than ever needed for a widespread comprehension of the true nature of the Earth and an understanding of the lethal dangers that lie ahead.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 188.
Science quotes on:  |  Ahead (21)  |  Book (413)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Correct (95)  |  Danger (127)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Irritate (4)  |  Lethal (4)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Need (320)  |  Personalize (2)  |  Scientist (881)  |  System (545)  |  True (239)  |  Understand (648)  |  Widespread (23)

I myself consider that gravity is merely a certain natural inclination with which parts are imbued by the architect of all things for gathering themselves together into a unity and completeness by assembling into the form of a globe. It is easy to believe that the Sun, Moon and other luminaries among the wandering stars have this tendency also, so that by its agency they retain the rounded shape in which they reveal themselves, but nevertheless go round their orbits in various ways. If then the Earth also performs other motions, as for example the one about the centre, they must necessarily be like those which are similarly apparent in many external bodies in which we find an annual orbit.
'Book One. Chapter IX. Whether several motions can be attributed to the Earth, and on the centre of the universe', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Architect (32)  |  Certain (557)  |  Completeness (19)  |  Consider (428)  |  Easy (213)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  Gathering (23)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Merely (315)  |  Moon (252)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Myself (211)  |  Natural (810)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perform (123)  |  Retain (57)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Unity (81)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)

I need scarcely say that the beginning and maintenance of life on earth is absolutely and infinitely beyond the range of sound speculation in dynamical science.
In lecture, 'The Sun's Heat' delivered to the Friday Evening Discourse in Physical Science at the Royal Institution in London. Collected in Popular Lectures and Addresses (1889), Vol. 1, 415.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Dynamical (15)  |  Infinitely (13)  |  Life (1870)  |  Maintenance (21)  |  Range (104)  |  Say (989)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Sound (187)  |  Speculation (137)

I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist. I do not think the existence of the Christian God any more probable than the existence of the Gods of Olympus or Valhalla. To take another illustration: nobody can prove that there is not between the Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptical orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice. I think the Christian God just as unlikely.
Letter (1958) to Mr Major. Collected in Dear Bertrand Russell: A Selection of his Correspondence with the General Public, 1950 - 1968 (1969), 41-42.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Agnostic (10)  |  Atheist (16)  |  Call (781)  |  China (27)  |  Christian (44)  |  Do (1905)  |  Existence (481)  |  God (776)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Mar (2)  |  Mars (47)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Practical (225)  |  Practice (212)  |  Probable (24)  |  Prove (261)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Teapot (3)  |  Think (1122)  |  Unlikely (15)  |  Valhalla (2)

I pray every day and I think everybody should. I don’t think you can be up here and look out the window as I did the first day and look out at the Earth from this vantage point. We’re not so high compared to people who went to the moon and back. But to look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is, to me, impossible. It just strengthens my faith.
From NASA transcript of News Conference by downlink from Space Shuttle Discovery during its STS-95 Mission in Earth orbit (5 Nov 1998). In response to question from Paul Hoveston of USA Today asking John Glenn about how the space flight strengthened his faith and if he had any time to pray in orbit.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Belief (615)  |  Creation (350)  |  Everybody (72)  |  Faith (209)  |  First (1302)  |  God (776)  |  High (370)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Kind (564)  |  Look (584)  |  Moon (252)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Pray (19)  |  Strengthen (25)  |  Think (1122)  |  Window (59)

I realize that Galen called an earth which contained metallic particles a mixed earth when actually it is a composite earth. But it behooves one who teaches others to give exact names to everything.
As translated by Mark Chance Bandy and Jean A. Bandy from the first Latin Edition of 1546 in De Natura Fossilium: (Textbook of Mineralogy) (2004), 19. Originally published by Geological Society of America as a Special Paper (1955). There are other translations with different wording.
Science quotes on:  |  Behoove (6)  |  Call (781)  |  Composite (4)  |  Contain (68)  |  Everything (489)  |  Galen (20)  |  Metal (88)  |  Mix (24)  |  Name (359)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particle (200)  |  Realize (157)  |  Teach (299)

I recognize that to view the Earth as if it were alive is just a convenient, but different, way of organizing the facts of the Earth. I am, of course, prejudiced in favour of Gaia and have filled my life for the past 25 years with the thought that the Earth might be in certain ways be alive—not as the ancients saw her, a sentient goddess with purpose and foresight—more like a tree. A tree that exists, never moving except to sway in the wind, yet endlessly conversing with the sunlight and the soil. Using sunlight and water and nutrients to grow and change. But all done so imperceptibly that, to me, the old oak tree on the green is the same as it was when I was a child.
In Healing Gaia: Practical Medicine for the Planet (1991), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Child (333)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Converse (9)  |  Different (595)  |  Endlessly (4)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Favor (69)  |  Fill (67)  |  Foresight (8)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Goddess (9)  |  Green (65)  |  Grow (247)  |  Imperceptibly (2)  |  Life (1870)  |  Move (223)  |  Nutrient (8)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Old (499)  |  Organize (33)  |  Past (355)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Same (166)  |  See (1094)  |  Sentient (8)  |  Soil (98)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Sway (5)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tree (269)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)  |  Year (963)

I return to the newborn world, and the soft-soil fields,
What their first birthing lifted to the shores
Of light, and trusted to the wayward winds.
First the Earth gave the shimmer of greenery
And grasses to deck the hills; then over the meadows
The flowering fields are bright with the color of springtime,
And for all the trees that shoot into the air.
On the Nature of Things, trans. Anthony M. Esolen (1995) Book 5, lines 777-84, 181.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Bright (81)  |  Color (155)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Grass (49)  |  Lift (57)  |  Light (635)  |  Meadow (21)  |  Newborn (5)  |  Return (133)  |  Soft (30)  |  Soil (98)  |  Springtime (5)  |  Tree (269)  |  Trust (72)  |  Wind (141)  |  World (1850)

I shall consider this paper an essay in geopoetry. In order not to travel any further into the realm of fantasy than is absolutely necessary I shall hold as closely as possibly to a uniformitarian approach; even so, at least one great catastrophe will be required early in the Earth's history.
'History of Ocean Basins', in A. E. J. Engel, H. L. James and B. F. Leonard (eds.), Petrologic Studies: A Volume to Honour F. Buddington (1962), 599-600.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Consider (428)  |  Early (196)  |  Essay (27)  |  Fantasy (15)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Order (638)  |  Paper (192)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Realm (87)  |  Required (108)  |  Travel (125)  |  Uniformitarian (4)  |  Will (2350)

I shall devote only a few lines to the expression of my belief in the importance of science for mankind…. … [I]t is by…daily striving after knowledge that man has raised himself to the unique position he occupies on earth, and that his power and well-being have continually increased.
In opening paragraph of 'Memorandum by Madame Curie, Member of the Committee, on the Question of International Scolarships for the Advancement of the Sciences and the Development of Laboratories' published by the League of Nations, Committee on Intellectual Co-operation, Geneva (16 Jun 1926)
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Continually (17)  |  Daily (91)  |  Devote (45)  |  Expression (181)  |  Himself (461)  |  Importance (299)  |  Importance Of Science (2)  |  Increase (225)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Line (100)  |  Man (2252)  |  Occupy (27)  |  Position (83)  |  Power (771)  |  Raise (38)  |  Strive (53)  |  Unique (72)  |  Well-Being (5)

I shall explain a System of the World differing in many particulars from any yet known, answering in all things to the common Rules of Mechanical Motions: This depends upon three Suppositions. First, That all Cœlestial Bodies whatsoever, have an attraction or gravitating power towards their own Centers, whereby they attract not only their own parts, and keep them from flying from them, as we may observe the Earth to do, but that they do also attract all the other Cœlestial bodies that are within the sphere of their activity; and consequently that not only the Sun and Moon have an influence upon the body and motion the Earth, and the Earth upon them, but that Mercury also Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter by their attractive powers, have a considerable influence upon its motion in the same manner the corresponding attractive power of the Earth hath a considerable influence upon every one of their motions also. The second supposition is this, That all bodies whatsoever that are put into a direct and simple motion, will continue to move forward in a streight line, till they are by some other effectual powers deflected and bent into a Motion, describing a Circle, Ellipse, or some other more compounded Curve Line. The third supposition is, That these attractive powers are so much the more powerful in operating, by how much the nearer the body wrought upon is to their own Centers. Now what these several degrees are I have not yet experimentally verified; but it is a notion, which if fully prosecuted as it ought to be, will mightily assist the Astronomer to reduce all the Cœlestial Motions to a certain rule, which I doubt will never be done true without it. He that understands the nature of the Circular Pendulum and Circular Motion, will easily understand the whole ground of this Principle, and will know where to find direction in Nature for the true stating thereof. This I only hint at present to such as have ability and opportunity of prosecuting this Inquiry, and are not wanting of Industry for observing and calculating, wishing heartily such may be found, having myself many other things in hand which I would first compleat and therefore cannot so well attend it. But this I durst promise the Undertaker, that he will find all the Great Motions of the World to be influenced by this Principle, and that the true understanding thereof will be the true perfection of Astronomy.
An Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth from Observations (1674), 27-8. Based on a Cutlerian Lecture delivered by Hooke at the Royal Society four years earlier.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Activity (218)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Attend (67)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Attractive (25)  |  Body (557)  |  Certain (557)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circular (19)  |  Circular Motion (7)  |  Common (447)  |  Compound (117)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Continue (179)  |  Curve (49)  |  Degree (277)  |  Depend (238)  |  Direct (228)  |  Direction (185)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Ellipse (8)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Flying (74)  |  Forward (104)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hint (21)  |  Industry (159)  |  Inertia (17)  |  Influence (231)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Mars (47)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mercury (54)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Never (1089)  |  Notion (120)  |  Observe (179)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pendulum (17)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Planet (402)  |  Power (771)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Present (630)  |  Principle (530)  |  Promise (72)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Rule (307)  |  Saturn (15)  |  Simple (426)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supposition (50)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Venus (21)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

I shall take as a starting point for our flight into space two contrasted statements about geography. The first is that of a boy who said that the earth is a ball filled inside with dirt and worms and covered all over on the outside with geography.
'Genetic Geography: The Development of the Geographic Sense and Concept', Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1920, 10, 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Ball (64)  |  Boy (100)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Dirt (17)  |  First (1302)  |  Flight (101)  |  Geography (39)  |  Outside (141)  |  Point (584)  |  Space (523)  |  Statement (148)  |  Two (936)  |  Worm (47)

I sort of kept my hand in writing and went to work for the Sierra Club in ‘52, walked the plank there in ‘69, founded Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters after that.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Conservation (187)  |  Founded (22)  |  Friend (180)  |  Hand (149)  |  Keep (104)  |  League (2)  |  Plank (4)  |  Sierra Club (2)  |  Sort (50)  |  Voter (3)  |  Walk (138)  |  Work (1402)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)

I speak as a planetary physician whose patient, the living Earth, complains of fever; I see the Earth’s declining health as our most important concern, our very lives depending upon a healthy Earth. Our concern for it must come first, because the welfare of the burgeoning mass of humanity demands a healthy planet.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Burgeoning (2)  |  Complain (10)  |  Concern (239)  |  Decline (28)  |  Demand (131)  |  Depend (238)  |  Fever (34)  |  First (1302)  |  Health (210)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Important (229)  |  Live (650)  |  Living Earth (5)  |  Mass (160)  |  Patient (209)  |  Physician (284)  |  Planet (402)  |  Welfare (30)

I suppose the body to be just a statue or a machine made of earth.
The World and Other Writings (1633), trans. and ed. Stephen Gaukroger (1998), 99.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Human Body (34)  |  Machine (271)  |  Statue (17)  |  Suppose (158)

I tell [medical students] that they are the luckiest persons on earth to be in medical school, and to forget all this worry about H.M.O.’s and keep your eye on helping the patient. It’s the best time ever to be a doctor because you can heal and treat conditions that were untreatable even a couple of years ago.
From Cornelia Dean, 'A Conversation with Joseph E. Murray', New York Times (25 Sep 2001), F5.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Best (467)  |  Condition (362)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Eye (440)  |  Forget (125)  |  Heal (7)  |  Help (116)  |  Luck (44)  |  Medical School (3)  |  Patient (209)  |  Person (366)  |  School (227)  |  Student (317)  |  Tell (344)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treat (38)  |  Worry (34)  |  Year (963)

I tell my students, with a feeling of pride that I hope they will share, that the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen that make up ninety-nine per cent of our living substance were cooked in the deep interiors of earlier generations of dying stars. Gathered up from the ends of the universe, over billions of years, eventually they came to form, in part, the substance of our sun, its planets, and ourselves. Three billion years ago, life arose upon the earth. It is the only life in the solar system.
From speech given at an anti-war teach-in at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (4 Mar 1969) 'A Generation in Search of a Future', as edited by Ron Dorfman for Chicago Journalism Review, (May 1969).
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Cooking (12)  |  Death (406)  |  Deep (241)  |  End (603)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Gather (76)  |  Generation (256)  |  Hope (321)  |  Interior (35)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pride (84)  |  Share (82)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Student (317)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Tell (344)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

I therefore took this opportunity and also began to consider the possibility that the Earth moved. Although it seemed an absurd opinion, nevertheless, because I knew that others before me had been granted the liberty of imagining whatever circles they wished to represent the phenomena of the stars, I thought that I likewise would readily be allowed to test whether, by assuming some motion of the Earth's, more dependable representations than theirs could be found for the revolutions of the heavenly spheres.
'To His Holiness Pope Paul III', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 26.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Circle (117)  |  Consider (428)  |  Grant (76)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Represent (157)  |  Representation (55)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Test (221)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wish (216)

I think it [my ideal birthday present] would be a commitment in the policy of the United States and internationally to go for the exploration and identification and protection of every species on Earth, with the same vigor that is building toward stabilizing earth’s climate, because the two are intimately linked.
From interview with National Geographic, in Andrew Revkin, 'Conservation Legend Has Big Plans For Future', on nationalgeographic.com website.
Science quotes on:  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Identification (20)  |  International (40)  |  Link (48)  |  Policy (27)  |  Protection (41)  |  Species (435)  |  Stabilize (2)  |  U.S.A. (7)  |  Vigor (12)

I think it would be a very rash presumption to think that nowhere else in the cosmos has nature repeated the strange experiment which she has performed on earth—that the whole purpose of creation has been staked on this one planet alone. It is probable that dotted through the cosmos there are other suns which provide the energy for life to attendant planets. It is apparent, however, that planets with just the right conditions of temperature, oxygen, water and atmosphere necessary for life are found rarely.
But uncommon as a habitable planet may be, non-terrestrial life exists, has existed and will continue to exist. In the absence of information, we can only surmise that the chance that it surpasses our own is as good as that it falls below our level.
As quoted by H. Gordon Garbedian in 'Ten Great Riddles That Call For Solution by Scientists', New York Times (5 Oct 1930), XX4. Garbedian gave no citation to a source for Shapley’s words. However, part of this quote is very similar to that of Sir Arthur Eddington: “It would indeed be rash to assume that nowhere else has Nature repeated the strange experiment which she has performed on the earth,” from 'Man’s Place in the Universe', Harper’s Magazine (Oct 1928), 157 573.
Science quotes on:  |  Absence (21)  |  Alone (324)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Chance (244)  |  Condition (362)  |  Continue (179)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Creation (350)  |  Energy (373)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Fall (243)  |  Good (906)  |  Habitable (3)  |  Information (173)  |  Life (1870)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Perform (123)  |  Performing (3)  |  Planet (402)  |  Presumption (15)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rare (94)  |  Rash (15)  |  Repeat (44)  |  Right (473)  |  Stake (20)  |  Strange (160)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surmise (7)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Uncommon (14)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

I think it’s time we recognized the Dark Ages are over. Galileo and Copernicus have been proven right. The world is in fact round; the Earth does revolve around the sun. I believe God gave us intellect to differentiate between imprisoning dogma and sound ethical science, which is what we must do here today.
Debating federal funding for stem cell research as Republican Representative (CT).
In Eve Herold, George Daley, Stem Cell Wars (2007), 57.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Dark (145)  |  Dark Ages (10)  |  Differentiate (19)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dogma (49)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Funding (20)  |  God (776)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Must (1525)  |  Proof (304)  |  Research (753)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Right (473)  |  Sound (187)  |  Stem (31)  |  Stem Cell (11)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  World (1850)

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Trees and Other Poems (1914), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Arm (82)  |  Arms (37)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Branch (155)  |  Fool (121)  |  God (776)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Lift (57)  |  Live (650)  |  Look (584)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Nest (26)  |  Never (1089)  |  Poem (104)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Rain (70)  |  Robin (4)  |  See (1094)  |  Snow (39)  |  Summer (56)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tree (269)

I think that the two things that almost any astronaut would describe [as most fun about being in space] are the weightlessness and the view of Earth. Weightlessness is just a lot of fun!
Interview conducted on Scholastic website (20 Nov 1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Being (1276)  |  Describe (132)  |  Fun (42)  |  Lot (151)  |  Most (1728)  |  Space (523)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Two (936)  |  View (496)  |  Weightlessness (2)

I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.
In The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation (1976, 1987), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Real (159)  |  Thin (18)  |  Think (1122)  |  Walk (138)  |  Water (503)

I undertake my scientific research with the confident assumption that the earth follows the laws of nature which God established at creation. … My studies are performed with the confidence that God will not capriciously confound scientific results by “slipping in” a miracle.
Quoted in Lenny Flank, Deception by Design: The Intelligent Design Movement in America (2007), 81. Also seen as cited from Arthur Newell Strahler, Science and Earth History: the Evolution/Creation Controversy (1987), 40-41.
Science quotes on:  |  Assumption (96)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Confident (25)  |  Confound (21)  |  Confounding (8)  |  Creation (350)  |  Establish (63)  |  Follow (389)  |  Following (16)  |  God (776)  |  Law (913)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Perform (123)  |  Performance (51)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Slip (6)  |  Study (701)  |  Undertake (35)  |  Undertaking (17)  |  Will (2350)

I used to measure the Heavens, now I measure the shadows of Earth. The mind belonged to Heaven, the body’s shadow lies here.
Epitaph that Kepler wrote for himself, a few months before he died. As translated from the original Latin, “Mensus eram coelos, nunc Terrae metior umbras. Mens coelestis erat, corporis umbra jacet.” In M. Caspar et al. (eds.), Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke (1937), 19, 393.
Science quotes on:  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |   Epitaph (19)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Himself (461)  |  Lie (370)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Shadow (73)

I wasn’t aware of Chargaff’s rules when he said them, but the effect on me was quite electric because I realized immediately that if you had this sort of scheme that John Griffith was proposing, of adenine being paired with thymine, and guanine being paired with cytosine, then you should get Chargaff’s rules.
I was very excited, but I didn’t actually tell Chargaff because it was something I was doing with John Griffith. There was a sort of musical comedy effect where I forgot what the bases were and I had to go to the library to check, and I went back to John Griffith to find out which places he said. Low and behold, it turned out that John Griffith’s ideas fitted in with Chargaff’s rules!
This was very exciting, and we thought “ah ha!” and we realized—I mean what anyone who is familiar with the history of science ought to realize—that when you have one-to-one ratios, it means things go to together. And how on Earth no one pointed out this simple fact in those years, I don’t know.
From Transcript of documentary by VSM Productions, The DNA Story (1973). As excerpted on web page 'Chargaff’s Rules', Linus Pauling and the Race for DNA on website scarc.library.oregonstate.edu
Science quotes on:  |  Adenine (6)  |  Back (395)  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Comedy (4)  |  Cytosine (6)  |  Doing (277)  |  Effect (414)  |  Electric (76)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  Guanine (5)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Know (1538)  |  Library (53)  |  Low (86)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Pair (10)  |  Point (584)  |  Propose (24)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Realize (157)  |  Rule (307)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Simple (426)  |  Something (718)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thymine (6)  |  Together (392)  |  Turn (454)  |  Year (963)

I will not now discuss the Controversie betwixt some of the Modern Atomists, and the Cartesians; the former of whom think, that betwixt the Earth and the Stars, and betwixt these themselves there are vast Tracts of Space that are empty, save where the beams of Light do pass through them; and the later of whom tell us, that the Intervals betwixt the Stars and Planets (among which the Earth may perhaps be reckon'd) are perfectly fill'd, but by a Matter far subtiler than our Air, which some call Celestial, and others Æther. I shall not, I say, engage in this controversie, but thus much seems evident, That If there be such a Celestial Matter, it must ' make up far the Greatest part of the Universe known to us. For the Interstellar part of the world (If I may so stile it) bears so very great a proportion to the Globes, and their Atmospheres too, (If other Stars have any as well as the Earth,) that It Is almost incomparably Greater in respect of them, than all our Atmosphere is in respect of the Clouds, not to make the comparison between the Sea and the Fishes that swim in it.
A Continuation of New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air, and their Effects (1669), 127.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Beam (26)  |  Bear (162)  |  Call (781)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Dark Matter (4)  |  Do (1905)  |  Empty (82)  |  Engage (41)  |  Ether (37)  |  Evident (92)  |  Former (138)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Interstellar (8)  |  Known (453)  |  Light (635)  |  Matter (821)  |  Modern (402)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Planet (402)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Respect (212)  |  Save (126)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Swim (32)  |  Tell (344)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

I would request that my body in death be buried, not cremated so that the energy content contained within in gets returned to the earth, so that flora and fauna can dine upon it just as I’ve dined upon flora and fauna throughout my life.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Bury (19)  |  Contain (68)  |  Content (75)  |  Death (406)  |  Dine (5)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Flora (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Request (7)  |  Return (133)  |  Throughout (98)

I, Galileo Galilei, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei, of Florence, aged seventy years, being brought personally to judgment, and kneeling before your Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lords Cardinals, General Inquisitors of the universal Christian republic against heretical depravity, having before my eyes the Holy Gospels, which I touch with my own hands, swear that I have always believed, and now believe, and with the help of God will in future believe, every article which the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome holds, teaches, and preaches. But because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office altogether to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the sun is the centre and immovable, and forbidden to hold, defend, or teach the said false doctrine in any manner, and after it hath been signified to me that the said doctrine is repugnant with the Holy Scripture, I have written and printed a book, in which I treat of the same doctrine now condemned, and adduce reasons with great force in support of the same, without giving any solution, and therefore have been judged grievously suspected of heresy; that is to say, that I held and believed that the sun is the centre of the universe and is immovable, and that the earth is not the centre and is movable; willing, therefore, to remove from the minds of your Eminences, and of every Catholic Christian, this vehement suspicion rightfully entertained toward me, with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally every other error and sect contrary to Holy Church; and I swear that I will never more in future say or assert anything verbally, or in writing, which may give rise to a similar suspicion of me; but if I shall know any heretic, or anyone suspected of heresy, that I will denounce him to this Holy Office, or to the Inquisitor or Ordinary of the place where I may be; I swear, moreover, and promise, that I will fulfil and observe fully, all the penances which have been or shall be laid on me by this Holy Office. But if it shall happen that I violate any of my said promises, oaths, and protestations (which God avert!), I subject myself to all the pains and punishments which have been decreed and promulgated by the sacred canons, and other general and particular constitutions, against delinquents of this description. So may God help me, and his Holy Gospels which I touch with my own hands. I, the above-named Galileo Galilei, have abjured, sworn, promised, and bound myself as above, and in witness thereof with my own hand have subscribed this present writing of my abjuration, which I have recited word for word. At Rome, in the Convent of Minerva, June 22, 1633. I, Galileo Galilei, have abjured as above with my own hand.
Abjuration, 22 Jun 1633. In J.J. Fahie, Galileo, His Life and Work (1903), 319-321.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Abjuration (3)  |  Against (332)  |  Assert (69)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Bound (120)  |  Cardinal (9)  |  Catholic (18)  |  Christian (44)  |  Church (64)  |  Condemn (44)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Curse (20)  |  Denounce (6)  |  Eminence (25)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Error (339)  |  Eye (440)  |  Faith (209)  |  Forbidden (18)  |  Force (497)  |  Future (467)  |  General (521)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happen (282)  |  Heart (243)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Heretic (8)  |  Holy (35)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Late (119)  |  Lord (97)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Myself (211)  |  Never (1089)  |  Oath (10)  |  Observe (179)  |  Office (71)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pain (144)  |  Present (630)  |  Promise (72)  |  Punishment (14)  |  Reason (766)  |  Religion (369)  |  Remove (50)  |  Republic (16)  |  Repugnant (8)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rome (19)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Say (989)  |  Solution (282)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sun (407)  |  Support (151)  |  Suspicion (36)  |  Swear (7)  |  Teach (299)  |  Touch (146)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Willing (44)  |  Witness (57)  |  Word (650)  |  Writing (192)  |  Year (963)

I’d sooner expect a goat to succeed as a gardener than expect humans to become stewards of the earth.
Expressing pessimism about the profound hubris in proposing large-scale geoengineering efforts. As told to and quoted in Jeff Goodell, How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate (2010), 92.
Science quotes on:  |  Expect (203)  |  Gardener (6)  |  Goat (9)  |  Human (1512)  |  Steward (4)  |  Succeed (114)

I’m just a speck, standing on this big planet. … The Earth is orbiting the Sun, and the Sun is a huge star. And our star may be a big deal to us, but, my friends, our star is just another speck. … It’s not really in downtown Milky Way, it’s way out on the side. … I'm a speck, living on a speck, orbiting a speck in the middle of specklessness. But … I have this brain … to think about all of this. To think about the vast emptiness of space. I can reason that I'm a speck on a speck in the middle of specklessness. And that’s cool. That’s worthy of respect.
Bill Nye
From narration to PBS TV program, 'Astrobiology', The Eyes of Nye (2005), Ep. 1, Introduction before titles. Also seen quoted as: “We are just a speck, on a speck, orbiting a speck, in the corner of a speck, in the middle of nowhere.”
Science quotes on:  |  Brain (281)  |  Deal (192)  |  Downtown (3)  |  Emptiness (13)  |  Friend (180)  |  Living (492)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reason (766)  |  Respect (212)  |  Side (236)  |  Space (523)  |  Speck (25)  |  Star (460)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  Vast (188)  |  Way (1214)  |  Worthy (35)

I’m trying to assemble pieces of this great jigsaw puzzle of the origin of the solar system, to see if we can illuminate our own processes on the Earth more fundamentally.
In interview, Rushworth M. Kidder, 'Grounded in Space Science', Christian Science Monitor (22 Dec 1989).
Science quotes on:  |  Assemble (14)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Great (1610)  |  Illuminate (26)  |  Jigsaw (4)  |  More (2558)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of The Solar System (2)  |  Piece (39)  |  Process (439)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  See (1094)  |  Solar System (81)  |  System (545)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)

If … the motion of the earth were circular, it would be violent and contrary to nature, and could not be eternal since … nothing violent is eternal. ... It follows, therefore, that the earth is not moved with a circular motion.
In Commentaria in Libros Aristotelis de Caelo et Mundo (c. 1270).
Science quotes on:  |  Circular (19)  |  Circular Motion (7)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Follow (389)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)

If a man walked in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer, but if he spends his whole day as a speculator shearing of those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is estimated as an industrious and enterprising citizen—as if a town had no interest in forests but to cut them down.
Walden. Quoted in Dr. N Sreedharan, Quotations of Wit and Wisdom (2007), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Cut (116)  |  Danger (127)  |  Down (455)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Forest (161)  |  Forestry (17)  |  Industrious (12)  |  Industry (159)  |  Interest (416)  |  Love (328)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  Regard (312)  |  Spend (97)  |  Time (1911)  |  Walk (138)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wood (97)

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.
In unpublished manuscript, 'Is There a God', (5 Mar 1952) written for the magazine, Illustrated. Collected in Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater (ed.) and Peter Köllner (ed.) The Collected Papers of Bertran Russell: Volume II: Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68 (1997), 547-548.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Attention (196)  |  Become (821)  |  Book (413)  |  Children (201)  |  China (27)  |  Disprove (25)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Existence (481)  |  Hesitation (19)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inquisitor (6)  |  Mars (47)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Presumption (15)  |  Psychiatrist (16)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Say (989)  |  School (227)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Small (489)  |  Sun (407)  |  Talking (76)  |  Teapot (3)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)

If I’d been born in space, I would desire to visit the beautiful Earth more than to visit space. It’s a wonderful planet.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Desire (212)  |  More (2558)  |  Planet (402)  |  Space (523)  |  Visit (27)  |  Wonderful (155)

If in our withered leaves you see
Hint of your own mortality:—
Think how, when they have turned to earth,
New loveliness from their rich worth
Shall spring to greet the light; then see
Death as the keeper of eternity,
And dying Life’s perpetual re-birth !
Anonymous
Poem attributed with initials W.L., epigraph for chapter on 'The Nitrogen Cycle', in Arthur E. Shipley, Life: A Book for Elementary Students (1925, 2013), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Death (406)  |  Decay (59)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Greet (7)  |  Hint (21)  |  Keeper (4)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Loveliness (6)  |  Mortality (16)  |  New (1273)  |  Nitrogen Cycle (2)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  See (1094)  |  Spring (140)  |  Think (1122)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wither (9)  |  Worth (172)

If indeed the Earth is, in its own slow way, a very dynamic body and we have regarded it as essentially static, we need to discard most of our old theories and books and start again with a new viewpoint and a new science.
In 'Reply to Beloussov', Geotimes (1968), 13, No. 12, 22. The public disagreement on seafloor spreading between Wilson and V.V. Beloussov is collected in Brainerd Mears, The Nature of Geology: Contemporary Readings (1970).
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Book (413)  |  Discard (32)  |  Dynamic (16)  |  Essential (210)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Regard (312)  |  Slow (108)  |  Start (237)  |  Static (9)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Viewpoint (13)

If it is possible to have a linear unit that depends on no other quantity, it would seem natural to prefer it. Moreover, a mensural unit taken from the earth itself offers another advantage, that of being perfectly analogous to all the real measurements that in ordinary usage are also made upon the earth, such as the distance between two places or the area of some tract, for example. It is far more natural in practice to refer geographical distances to a quadrant of a great circle than to the length of a pendulum.
'Histoire'. Histoire et Memoires de l’Academie Royale des Science de Paris (1788/1791), 9-10. In Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace, 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (2nd Ed., 2000), 151.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Circle (117)  |  Definition (238)  |  Depend (238)  |  Distance (171)  |  Great (1610)  |  Length (24)  |  Linear (13)  |  Measurement (178)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Offer (142)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pendulum (17)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practice (212)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Two (936)  |  Unit (36)

If Nicolaus Copernicus, the distinguished and incomparable master, in this work had not been deprived of exquisite and faultless instruments, he would have left us this science far more well-established. For he, if anybody, was outstanding and had the most perfect understanding of the geometrical and arithmetical requisites for building up this discipline. Nor was he in any respect inferior to Ptolemy; on the contrary, he surpassed him greatly in certain fields, particularly as far as the device of fitness and compendious harmony in hypotheses is concerned. And his apparently absurd opinion that the Earth revolves does not obstruct this estimate, because a circular motion designed to go on uniformly about another point than the very center of the circle, as actually found in the Ptolemaic hypotheses of all the planets except that of the Sun, offends against the very basic principles of our discipline in a far more absurd and intolerable way than does the attributing to the Earth one motion or another which, being a natural motion, turns out to be imperceptible. There does not at all arise from this assumption so many unsuitable consequences as most people think.
From Letter (20 Jan 1587) to Christopher Rothman, chief astronomer of the Landgrave of Hesse. Webmaster seeks more information to better cite this source — please contact if you can furnish more. Webmaster originally found this quote introduced by an uncredited anonymous commentary explaining the context: “It was not just the Church that resisted the heliocentrism of Copernicus. Many prominent figures, in the decades following the 1543 publication of De Revolutionibus, regarded the Copernican model of the universe as a mathematical artifice which, though it yielded astronomical predictions of superior accuracy, could not be considered a true representation of physical reality.”
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Against (332)  |  Anybody (42)  |  Arise (162)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Basic (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Building (158)  |  Certain (557)  |  Church (64)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circular (19)  |  Circular Motion (7)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Decade (66)  |  Design (203)  |  Device (71)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Field (378)  |  Figure (162)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Inferior (37)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Master (182)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Natural (810)  |  Offend (7)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Outstanding (16)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Physical (518)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Principle (530)  |  Ptolemy (19)  |  Publication (102)  |  Reality (274)  |  Regard (312)  |  Representation (55)  |  Respect (212)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sun (407)  |  Superior (88)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Think (1122)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Well-Established (6)  |  Work (1402)  |  Yield (86)

If one might wish for impossibilities, I might then wish that my children might be well versed in physical science, but in due subordination to the fulness and freshness of their knowledge on moral subjects. ... Rather than have it the principal thing in my son's mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth, and that the stars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament.
Letter to Dr. Greenhill (9 May 1836). In Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold (2nd Ed., 1846), 277.
Science quotes on:  |  Bright (81)  |  Children (201)  |  Due (143)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Freshness (8)  |  Geocentric (6)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Principal (69)  |  Set (400)  |  Son (25)  |  Spangle (2)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Wish (216)

If our intention had been merely to bring back a handful of soil and rocks from the lunar gravel pit and then forget the whole thing, we would certainly be history's biggest fools. But that is not our intention now—it never will be. What we are seeking in tomorrow's [Apollo 11] trip is indeed that key to our future on earth. We are expanding the mind of man. We are extending this God-given brain and these God-given hands to their outermost limits and in so doing all mankind will benefit. All mankind will reap the harvest…. What we will have attained when Neil Armstrong steps down upon the moon is a completely new step in the evolution of man.
Banquet speech on the eve of the Apollo 11 launch, Royal Oaks Country Club, Titusville (15 Jul 1969). In "Of a Fire on the Moon", Life (29 Aug 1969), 67, No. 9, 34.
Science quotes on:  |  Apollo 11 (7)  |  Neil Armstrong (17)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Back (395)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Brain (281)  |  Bringing (10)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Completely (137)  |  Doing (277)  |  Down (455)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Fool (121)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgetting (13)  |  Future (467)  |  God (776)  |  Handful (14)  |  Harvest (28)  |  History (716)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Intention (46)  |  Key (56)  |  Limit (294)  |  Lunar (9)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Pit (20)  |  Reap (19)  |  Reaping (4)  |  Rock (176)  |  Seeking (31)  |  Soil (98)  |  Step (234)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Trip (11)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

If seeds in the black Earth can turn into such beautiful roses what might not the heart of man become in its long journey towards the stars?
As quoted in Maisie Ward, Return to Chesterton (1952), 161.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Become (821)  |  Black (46)  |  Heart (243)  |  Journey (48)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Rose (36)  |  Seed (97)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Turn (454)

If somebody’d said before the flight, “Are you going to get carried away looking at the earth from the moon?” I would have say, “No, no way.” But yet when I first looked back at the earth, standing on the moon, I cried.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Carry (130)  |  Cry (30)  |  First (1302)  |  Flight (101)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Moon (252)  |  Say (989)  |  Somebody (8)  |  Stand (284)  |  Way (1214)

If the average man in the street were asked to name the benefits derived from sunshine, he would probably say “light and warmth” and there he would stop. But, if we analyse the matter a little more deeply, we will soon realize that sunshine is the one great source of all forms of life and activity on this old planet of ours. … [M]athematics underlies present-day civilization in much the same far-reaching manner as sunshine underlies all forms of life, and that we unconsciously share the benefits conferred by the mathematical achievements of the race just as we unconsciously enjoy the blessings of the sunshine.
From Address (25 Feb 1928) to National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Boston. Abstract published in 'Mathematics and Sunshine', The Mathematics Teacher (May 1928), 21, No. 5, 245.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Activity (218)  |  Ask (420)  |  Average (89)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Confer (11)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Far-Reaching (9)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Man In The Street (2)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Name (359)  |  Old (499)  |  Planet (402)  |  Present (630)  |  Race (278)  |  Realize (157)  |  Say (989)  |  Share (82)  |  Soon (187)  |  Source (101)  |  Stop (89)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunshine (12)  |  Unconsciously (9)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Warmth (21)  |  Will (2350)

If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.
This is regarded as probably NOT a quote by Einstein.
This is something Einstein most probably did NOT say! Since scholarly search for this quote has thus far found no reliable source for it, it must at least be classed as undetermined. Furthermore, since its first appearance is 40 years after his death, in dubious context for authenticity, it deserves to be regarded as spurious. See snopes.com article. It is added here to serve as a caution to the reader.
Science quotes on:  |  Bee (44)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Face (214)  |  Face Of The Earth (5)  |  Four (6)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Only (2)  |  Quote (46)  |  Regard (312)  |  Year (963)  |  Years (5)

If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; but if he kills, the earth hides it.
In John Wade, Select Proverbs of all Nations (1824), 124.
Science quotes on:  |  Cure (124)  |  Death (406)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Hide (70)  |  Kill (100)  |  Killing (14)  |  See (1094)  |  Sun (407)

If the earth’s population continues to double every 50 years (as it is now doing) then by 2550 A.D. it will have increased 3,000-fold. … by 2800 A.D., it would reach 630,000 billion! Our planet would have standing room only, for there would be only two-and-a-half square feet per person on the entire land surface, including Greenland and Antarctica. In fact, if the human species could be imagined as continuing to multiply further at the same rate, by 4200 A.D. the total mass of human tissue would be equal to the mass of the earth.
In The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science: The Biological Sciences (1960), 117. Also in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 237.
Science quotes on:  |  Antarctica (8)  |  Billion (104)  |  Continue (179)  |  Doing (277)  |  Double (18)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Greenland (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Increase (225)  |  Land (131)  |  Mass (160)  |  Multiple (19)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Person (366)  |  Planet (402)  |  Population (115)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Species (435)  |  Square (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Total (95)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

If the laws of physics and chemistry are universal, we can extrapolate the events of Earth’s chemical evolution to other planets and other stars and thus argue for the possibility of life beyond Earth.
In 'Cosmochemistry The Earliest Evolution', The Science Teacher (Oct 1983), 50, No. 7, 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Chemical Evolution (2)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Extrapolate (3)  |  Extraterrestrial (6)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Physics (564)  |  Planet (402)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Star (460)  |  Universal (198)

If the observation of the amount of heat the sun sends the earth is among the most important and difficult in astronomical physics, it may also be termed the fundamental problem of meteorology, nearly all whose phenomena would become predictable, if we knew both the original quantity and kind of this heat.
In Report of the Mount Whitney Expedition, quoted in Charles Greeley Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science (1958), 17. Also quoted and cited in David H. Devorkin, 'Charles Greeley Abbot', Biographical Memoirs (1998), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Astrophysics (15)  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Heat (180)  |  Important (229)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Observation (593)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Predictable (10)  |  Problem (731)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Sun (407)  |  Term (357)

If the resident zoologist of Galaxy X had visited the earth 5 million years ago while making his inventory of inhabited planets in the universe, he would surely have corrected his earlier report that apes showed more promise than Old World monkeys and noted that monkeys had overcome an original disadvantage to gain domination among primates. (He will confirm this statement after his visit next year–but also add a footnote that one species from the ape bush has enjoyed an unusual and unexpected flowering, thus demanding closer monitoring.)
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Add (42)  |  Ape (54)  |  Bush (11)  |  Close (77)  |  Closer (43)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Correct (95)  |  Demand (131)  |  Disadvantage (10)  |  Domination (12)  |  Early (196)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Flower (112)  |  Footnote (5)  |  Gain (146)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Inventory (7)  |  Making (300)  |  Million (124)  |  Monitor (10)  |  Monkey (57)  |  More (2558)  |  Next (238)  |  Note (39)  |  Old (499)  |  Old World (9)  |  Original (61)  |  Overcome (40)  |  Planet (402)  |  Primate (11)  |  Promise (72)  |  Report (42)  |  Show (353)  |  Species (435)  |  Statement (148)  |  Surely (101)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unusual (37)  |  Visit (27)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)  |  Zoologist (12)

If there had been a computer in 1872 it would have predicted that by now there would be so many horse-drawn vehicles that the entire surface of the earth would be ten feet deep in horse manure.
Karl Kapp
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Computer (131)  |  Deep (241)  |  Entire (50)  |  Foot (65)  |  Horse (78)  |  Manure (8)  |  Predict (86)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Vehicle (11)

If there is anything that can bind the heavenly mind of man to this dreary exile of our earthly home and can reconcile us with our fate so that one can enjoy living,—then it is verily the enjoyment of the mathematical sciences and astronomy.
In a letter to his son-in-law, Jakob Bartsch. Quoted in Norman Davidson, Sky Phenomena (2004), 131. Also see Johannes Kepler and Carola Baumgardt (ed.), Johannes Kepler: Life and Letters (1951), 190.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Bind (26)  |  Dreary (6)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Exile (6)  |  Fate (76)  |  Home (184)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Reconcile (19)

If there is life elsewhere in the universe, chemically speaking, it would be very similar to what we have on earth.
Speaking at a 1986 Fall Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Anaheim, California, as quoted and cited in J. Raloff, 'Is There a Cosmic Chemistry of Life?', Science News (20 Sep 1986), 130, No. 12, 182.
Science quotes on:  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Life (1870)  |  Similar (36)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Universe (900)

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.
From essay 'The Flow of the River', collected in The Immense Journey: An Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature (1957, 1959), 15. The author is commenting on a rain pond on a flat roof seen from his office window, commenting on its “spatter of green algae” and a submarining water beetle representing how life can spring from even this puddle of water.
Science quotes on:  |  Magic (92)  |  Planet (402)  |  Water (503)

If there were a billion people living on the planet, we could do whatever we please. But there are nearly seven billion. At this scale, life as we know it today is not sustainable.
As told to and quoted in Jeff Goodell, How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate (2010), 91.
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Life (1870)  |  People (1031)

If they drive God from the earth, we shall shelter Him underground.
The Brothers Karamazov. Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 16
Science quotes on:  |  Drive (61)  |  God (776)  |  Shelter (23)  |  Underground (12)

If we consider our earth as a spaceship and the earthly astronauts as the crew of that spaceship, I would say wars can be analogous to mutinies aboard the ship.
From Testimony to Third Plenary Session (28 Jan 1971). In Panel on Science and Technology, Twelfth Meeting, International Science Policy, Proceedings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Jan. 26, 27, and 28, 1971. No. 1 (1971), 330.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crew (10)  |  Mutiny (3)  |  Say (989)  |  Ship (69)  |  Spaceship (5)  |  War (233)

If we imagine an observer to approach our planet from outer space, and, pushing aside the belts of red-brown clouds which obscure our atmosphere, to gaze for a whole day on the surface of the earth as it rotates beneath him, the feature, beyond all others most likely to arrest his attention would be the wedge-like outlines of the continents as they narrow away to the South.
The Face of the Earth (1904), Vol. 1, 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Arrest (9)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Attention (196)  |  Belt (4)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Brown (23)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Continent (79)  |  Day (43)  |  Feature (49)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Most (1728)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Observer (48)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outer Space (6)  |  Outline (13)  |  Planet (402)  |  Push (66)  |  Rotate (8)  |  Rotation (13)  |  South (39)  |  Space (523)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Wedge (3)  |  Whole (756)

If we make a couple of discoveries here and there we need not believe things will go like this for ever. An acrobat can leap higher than a farm-hand, and one acrobat higher than another, yet the height no man can overleap is still very low. Just as we hit water when we dig in the earth, so we discover the incomprehensible sooner or later.
Aphorisms, trans. R. J. Hollingdale (1990), 92.
Science quotes on:  |  Acrobat (2)  |  Belief (615)  |  Dig (25)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Farm (28)  |  Farmer (35)  |  Height (33)  |  Incomprehensible (31)  |  Leap (57)  |  Low (86)  |  Man (2252)  |  Still (614)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)

If we take a survey of our own world … our portion in the immense system of creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air that surround it, filled, and as it were crouded with life, down from the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects the naked eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and totally invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every tree, every plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a world to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for thousands.
In The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology (27 Jan O.S. 1794), 60. The word “crouded” is as it appears in the original.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Assistance (23)  |  Become (821)  |  Behold (19)  |  Blade (11)  |  Creation (350)  |  Down (455)  |  Effluvium (2)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Existence (481)  |  Eye (440)  |  Filled (3)  |  Find (1014)  |  Food (213)  |  Grass (49)  |  Habitation (7)  |  Immense (89)  |  Insect (89)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Largest (39)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Life (1870)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Naked Eye (12)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Plant (320)  |  Portion (86)  |  Race (278)  |  Refined (8)  |  Smaller (4)  |  Smallest (9)  |  Still (614)  |  Surround (33)  |  Survey (36)  |  System (545)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Totally (6)  |  Tree (269)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

If You Build Your House on a Crack in the Earth, It’s Your Own Fault.
Anonymous
Purported title of a scientific paper on earthquakes, in Laurence J. Peter, Peter’s People (1979), 168. Webmaster has found no evidence that this paper actually exists. Can you help?
Science quotes on:  |  Build (211)  |  Fault (58)  |  House (143)

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.
In 'If', Rewards and Fairies (1910), 182.
Science quotes on:  |  Distance (171)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fill (67)  |  Man (2252)  |  Minute (129)  |  More (2558)  |  Run (158)  |  Second (66)  |  Son (25)  |  Worth (172)

If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; Every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.
'Elegiac Verse' XI, In the Harbor: Ultima Thule—Part II (1882), 57.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Arrow (22)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Mark (47)

If, again with the light of science, we trace forward into the future the condition of our globe, we are compelled to admit that it cannot always remain in its present condition; that in time, the store of potential energy which now exists in the sun and in the bodies of celestial space which may fall into it will be dissipated in radiant heat, and consequently the earth, from being the theatre of life, intelligence, of moral emotions, must become a barren waste.
Address (Jul 1874) at the grave of Joseph Priestley, in Joseph Henry and Arthur P. Molella, et al. (eds.), A Scientist in American Life: Essays and Lectures of Joseph Henry (1980), 120.
Science quotes on:  |  Barren (33)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Condition (362)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Energy (373)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fall (243)  |  Forward (104)  |  Future (467)  |  Globe (51)  |  Heat (180)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Moral (203)  |  Must (1525)  |  Planet (402)  |  Potential (75)  |  Potential Energy (5)  |  Present (630)  |  Radiant (15)  |  Remain (355)  |  Space (523)  |  Store (49)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Waste (109)  |  Will (2350)

In a dispassionate comparison of the relative values of human and robotic spaceflight, the only surviving motivation for continuing human spaceflight is the ideology of adventure. But only a tiny number of Earth’s six billion inhabitants are direct participants. For the rest of us, the adventure is vicarious and akin to that of watching a science fiction movie.
In 'Is Human Spaceflight Obsolete?', Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2004). [Note: published one year after the loss of seven lives in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  Billion (104)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Continue (179)  |  Direct (228)  |  Dispassionate (9)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ideology (15)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Motivation (28)  |  Movie (21)  |  Number (710)  |  Participant (6)  |  Relative (42)  |  Rest (287)  |  Robot (14)  |  Science Fiction (35)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Survive (87)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Value (393)  |  Vicarious (2)  |  Watch (118)

In a great number of the cosmogonic myths the world is said to have developed from a great water, which was the prime matter. In many cases, as for instance in an Indian myth, this prime matter is indicated as a solution, out of which the solid earth crystallized out.
In Theories of Solutions (1912), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Cosmogony (3)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Great (1610)  |  Indian (32)  |  Matter (821)  |  Myth (58)  |  Number (710)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Prime (11)  |  Solid (119)  |  Solution (282)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

In a sense human flesh is made of stardust. Every atom in the human body, excluding only the primordial hydrogen atoms, was fashioned in stars that formed, grew old and exploded most violently before the Sun and Earth came into being.
In The Key to the Universe: Report on the New Physics (1977), 32-33.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Explode (15)  |  Flesh (28)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Primordial (14)  |  Star (460)  |  Stardust (5)  |  Sun (407)

In attempting to explain geological phenomena, the bias has always been on the wrong side; there has always been a disposition to reason á priori on the extraordinary violence and suddenness of changes, both in the inorganic crust of the earth, and in organic types, instead of attempting strenuously to frame theories in accordance with the ordinary operations of nature.
Letter to Rev. W. Whewell (7 Mar 1837). Quoted in Mrs Lyell (ed.), Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart (1881), Vol. 2, 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Bias (22)  |  Both (496)  |  Change (639)  |  Crust (43)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Explain (334)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Organic (161)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Reason (766)  |  Side (236)  |  Suddenness (6)  |  Type (171)  |  Violence (37)  |  Wrong (246)

In Cairo, I secured a few grains of wheat that had slumbered for more than thirty centuries in an Egyptian tomb. As I looked at them this thought came into my mind: If one of those grains had been planted on the banks of the Nile the year after it grew, and all its lineal descendants had been planted and replanted from that time until now, its progeny would to-day be sufficiently numerous to feed the teeming millions of the world. An unbroken chain of life connects the earliest grains of wheat with the grains that we sow and reap. There is in the grain of wheat an invisible something which has power to discard the body that we see, and from earth and air fashion a new body so much like the old one that we cannot tell the one from the other.…This invisible germ of life can thus pass through three thousand resurrections.
In In His Image (1922), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Bank (31)  |  Body (557)  |  Century (319)  |  Chain (51)  |  Connect (126)  |  Descendant (18)  |  Discard (32)  |  DNA (81)  |  Egypt (31)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Feeding (7)  |  Germ (54)  |  Grain (50)  |  Growth (200)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Million (124)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Nile (5)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Plant (320)  |  Planting (4)  |  Power (771)  |  Progeny (16)  |  Reap (19)  |  Resurrection (4)  |  Secured (18)  |  See (1094)  |  Slumber (6)  |  Something (718)  |  Sow (11)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Teeming (5)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Tomb (15)  |  Unbroken (10)  |  Wheat (10)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

In comparison with the great size of the earth the protrusion of mountains is not sufficient to deprive it of its spherical shape or to invalidate measurements based on its spherical shape. For Eratosthenes shows that the perpendicular distance from the highest mountain tops to the lowest regions is ten stades [c.5,000-5,500 feet]. This he shows with the help of dioptras which measure magnitudes at a distance.
Simplicius, Commentary On Aristotle's De Caelo, pp. 549.32-550.4 (Heiberg). Quoted in Morris R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin, A Sourcebook in Greek Science (1948), 160 n.2.
Science quotes on:  |  Comparison (108)  |  Distance (171)  |  Great (1610)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Show (353)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Top (100)

In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is a story of the earth.
In 'Our Ever-Changing Shore', Holiday (Jul 1958). Collected in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (2011), 114.
Science quotes on:  |  Beach (23)  |  Coast (13)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grain (50)  |  Headland (2)  |  Sand (63)  |  Story (122)

In fact, the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere, compared with the size of the Earth, is in about the same ratio as the thickness of a coat of shellac on a schoolroom globe is to the diameter of the globe. That's the air that nurtures us and almost all other life on Earth, that protects us from deadly ultraviolet light from the sun, that through the greenhouse effect brings the surface temperature above the freezing point. (Without the greenhouse effect, the entire Earth would plunge below the freezing point of water and we'd all be dead.) Now that atmosphere, so thin and fragile, is under assault by our technology. We are pumping all kinds of stuff into it. You know about the concern that chlorofluorocarbons are depleting the ozone layer; and that carbon dioxide and methane and other greenhouse gases are producing global warming, a steady trend amidst fluctuations produced by volcanic eruptions and other sources. Who knows what other challenges we are posing to this vulnerable layer of air that we haven't been wise enough to foresee?
In 'Wonder and Skepticism', Skeptical Enquirer (Jan-Feb 1995), 19, No. 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Assault (12)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbon Dioxide (25)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Concern (239)  |  Deadly (21)  |  Death (406)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eruption (10)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fluctuation (15)  |  Foresee (22)  |  Fragile (26)  |  Freezing (16)  |  Freezing Point (3)  |  Global (39)  |  Global Warming (29)  |  Globe (51)  |  Greenhouse Effect (5)  |  Greenhouse Gas (4)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Layer (41)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Methane (9)  |  Nurture (17)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ozone (7)  |  Plunge (11)  |  Point (584)  |  Produced (187)  |  Protect (65)  |  Pump (9)  |  Ratio (41)  |  School (227)  |  Source (101)  |  Steady (45)  |  Stuff (24)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Technology (281)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Thickness (5)  |  Thin (18)  |  Through (846)  |  Trend (23)  |  Ultraviolet (2)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Vulnerability (5)  |  Warming (24)  |  Water (503)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)

In general I would be cautious against … plays of fancy and would not make way for their reception into scientific astronomy, which must have quite a different character. Laplace’s cosmogenic hypotheses belong in that class. Indeed, I do not deny that I sometimes amuse myself in a similar manner, only I would never publish the stuff. My thoughts about the inhabitants of celestial bodies, for example, belong in that category. For my part, I am (contrary to the usual opinion) convinced … that the larger the cosmic body, the smaller are the inhabitants and other products. For example, on the sun trees, which in the same ratio would be larger than ours, as the sun exceeds the earth in magnitude, would not be able to exist, for on account of the much greater weight on the surface of the sun, all branches would break themselves off, in so far as the materials are not of a sort entirely heterogeneous with those on earth.
Letter to Heinrich Schumacher (7 Nov 1847). Quoted in G. Waldo Dunnington, Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science (2004), 411.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Against (332)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |  Break (109)  |  Category (19)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Character (259)  |  Class (168)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Deny (71)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fancy (50)  |  General (521)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greater (288)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Pierre-Simon Laplace (63)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Material (366)  |  Must (1525)  |  Myself (211)  |  Never (1089)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Product (166)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Reception (16)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tree (269)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weight (140)

In general, the bigger a mountain the older it is. The biggest mountains were built before any others, because when they were built there was incomparably more flammable material within the Earth. Over the many thousands of years that have passed, the quantity of flammable material has doubtless decreased.
On the Strata of the Earth (1763), paragraph 119.
Science quotes on:  |  General (521)  |  Magma (4)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Year (963)

In like manner, the loadstone has from nature its two poles, a northern and a southern; fixed, definite points in the stone, which are the primary termini of the movements and effects, and the limits and regulators of the several actions and properties. It is to be understood, however, that not from a mathematical point does the force of the stone emanate, but from the parts themselves; and all these parts in the whole—while they belong to the whole—the nearer they are to the poles of the stone the stronger virtues do they acquire and pour out on other bodies. These poles look toward the poles of the earth, and move toward them, and are subject to them. The magnetic poles may be found in very loadstone, whether strong and powerful (male, as the term was in antiquity) or faint, weak, and female; whether its shape is due to design or to chance, and whether it be long, or flat, or four-square, or three-cornered or polished; whether it be rough, broken-off, or unpolished: the loadstone ever has and ever shows its poles.
On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies and on the Great Magnet the Earth: A New Physiology, Demonstrated with many Arguments and Experiments (1600), trans. P. Fleury Mottelay (1893), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Belong (168)  |  Broken (56)  |  Chance (244)  |  Corner (59)  |  Definite (114)  |  Design (203)  |  Do (1905)  |  Due (143)  |  Effect (414)  |  Female (50)  |  Flat (34)  |  Force (497)  |  Limit (294)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Move (223)  |  Movement (162)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Pole (49)  |  Polish (17)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Primary (82)  |  Show (353)  |  Square (73)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strong (182)  |  Stronger (36)  |  Subject (543)  |  Term (357)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Two (936)  |  Understood (155)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Weak (73)  |  Whole (756)

In my studies of astronomy and philosophy I hold this opinion about the universe, that the Sun remains fixed in the centre of the circle of heavenly bodies, without changing its place; and the Earth, turning upon itself, moves round the Sun.
Letter to Cristina di Lorena, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (the mother of his patron Cosmo), 1615. Quoted in Sedley Taylor, 'Galileo and Papal Infallibility' (Dec 1873), in Macmillan's Magazine: November 1873 to April 1874 (1874) Vol 29, 93.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Circle (117)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Move (223)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Remain (355)  |  Sun (407)  |  Universe (900)

In my work on Fossil Bones, I set myself the task of recognizing to which animals the fossilized remains which fill the surface strata of the earth belong. ... As a new sort of antiquarian, I had to learn to restore these memorials to past upheavals and, at the same time, to decipher their meaning. I had to collect and put together in their original order the fragments which made up these animals, to reconstruct the ancient creatures to which these fragments belonged, to create them once more with their proportions and characteristics, and finally to compare them to those alive today on the surface of the earth. This was an almost unknown art, which assumed a science hardly touched upon up until now, that of the laws which govern the coexistence of forms of the various parts in organic beings.
Discours sur les révolutions du globe, (Discourse on the Revolutions of the Surface of the Globe), originally the introduction to Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles des quadrupèdes (1812). Translated by Ian Johnston from the 1825 edition. Online at Vancouver Island University website.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Animal (651)  |  Antiquarian (2)  |  Art (680)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belong (168)  |  Bone (101)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Compare (76)  |  Create (245)  |  Creature (242)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Govern (66)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  New (1273)  |  Order (638)  |  Organic (161)  |  Past (355)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Remain (355)  |  Set (400)  |  Strata (37)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Task (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Together (392)  |  Touch (146)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Various (205)  |  Work (1402)

In my youth scarcely anyone mentioned Wegener’s ideas of a mobile earth and moving continents. … The great impediment was that geologists only studied that one quarter of the earth’s surface not covered by ice or water; at that time no one had any means for exploring the great interior or the ocean floors.
In 'Early Days in University Geophysics', Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (1982), 10, 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Anyone (38)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Cover (40)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ice (58)  |  Idea (881)  |  Impediment (12)  |  Interior (35)  |  Means (587)  |  Mention (84)  |  Mobile (4)  |  Ocean Floor (6)  |  Quarter (6)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Study (701)  |  Surface (223)  |  Water (503)  |  Alfred L. Wegener (12)  |  Youth (109)

In our daily lives, we enjoy the pervasive benefits of long-lived robotic spacecraft that provide high-capacity worldwide telecommunications; reconnaissance of Earth’s solid surface and oceans, with far-reaching cultural and environmental implications; much-improved weather and climatic forecasts; improved knowledge about the terrestrial effects of the Sun’s radiations; a revolutionary new global navigational system for all manner of aircraft and many other uses both civil and military; and the science of Earth itself as a sustainable abode of life.
In 'Is Human Spaceflight Obsolete?', Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2004).
Science quotes on:  |  Abode (2)  |  Aircraft (9)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Both (496)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Civil (26)  |  Climate (102)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Daily (91)  |  Daily Life (18)  |  Effect (414)  |  Environment (239)  |  Forecast (15)  |  Global (39)  |  Global Positioning System (2)  |  GPS (2)  |  High (370)  |  Implication (25)  |  Improve (64)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Manner (62)  |  Military (45)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pervasive (6)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Revolutionary (31)  |  Robot (14)  |  Solid (119)  |  Spacecraft (6)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Sustainable (14)  |  System (545)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Use (771)  |  Weather (49)  |  Worldwide (19)

In our way of life … with every decision we make, we always keep in mind the seventh generation of children to come. … When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully, because we know that the faces of future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.
Earth Day Pledge (1993)
Science quotes on:  |  Beneath (68)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Decision (98)  |  Face (214)  |  Foot (65)  |  Forget (125)  |  Future (467)  |  Generation (256)  |  Ground (222)  |  Keep (104)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mother (116)  |  Never (1089)  |  Plant (320)  |  Walk (138)  |  Way (1214)  |  Way Of Life (15)

In size the electron bears the same relation to an atom that a baseball bears to the earth. Or, as Sir Oliver Lodge puts it, if a hydrogen atom were magnified to the size of a church, an electron would be a speck of dust in that church.
Quoted in 'Science Entering New Epoch', New York Times (5 Apr 1908), Sunday Magazine, 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Baseball (3)  |  Bear (162)  |  Church (64)  |  Dust (68)  |  Electron (96)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (13)  |  Magnification (10)  |  Speck (25)

In space there are countless constellations, suns and planets; we see only the suns because they give light; the planets remain invisible, for they are small and dark. There are also numberless earths circling around their suns, no worse and no less than this globe of ours. For no reasonable mind can assume that heavenly bodies that may be far more magnificent than ours would not bear upon them creatures similar or even superior to those upon our human earth.
As quoted in Dave Goldberg, The Universe in the Rearview Mirror: How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality (2013), 74.
Science quotes on:  |  Assume (43)  |  Bear (162)  |  Body (557)  |  Circling (2)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Countless (39)  |  Creature (242)  |  Dark (145)  |  Globe (51)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Human (1512)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Light (635)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Numberless (3)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reasonable (29)  |  Remain (355)  |  See (1094)  |  Similar (36)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Sun (407)  |  Superior (88)

In the alternation between inhaling and exhaling, between heaven and earth, between Yin and Yang, holiness is forever being created.
From Das Glasperlemspeil (1943) translated as The Glass Bead Game (1969, 1990), 119.
Science quotes on:  |  Alternation (5)  |  Being (1276)  |  Create (245)  |  Exhale (2)  |  Forever (111)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Holiness (7)  |  Inhale (3)

In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth … Which beginning of time, according to our Cronologie, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of Octob. in the year of the Julian Calendar, 710 [or 4004 B.C.]. Upon the first day therefore of the world, or Octob. 23. being our Sunday, God, together with the highest Heaven, created the Angels. Then having finished, as it were, the roofe of this building, he fell in hand with the foundation of this wonderfull Fabrick of the World, he fashioned this lowermost Globe, consisting of the Deep, and of the Earth; all the Quire of Angels singing together and magnifying his name therefore … And when the Earth was void and without forme, and darknesse covered the face of the Deepe, on the very middle of the first day, the light was created; which God severing from the darknesses, called the one day, and the other night.
In 'Annals of the Old Testament', The Annals of the World (1658), excerpted in Louis A. Ruprecht, God Gardened East: A Gardener's Meditation on the Dynamics of Genesis (2008), 53-54.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Angel (47)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Building (158)  |  Calendar (9)  |  Call (781)  |  Creation (350)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Day (43)  |  Deep (241)  |  Entrance (16)  |  Fabric (27)  |  Face (214)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Finish (62)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Globe (51)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Light (635)  |  Magnifying (2)  |  Name (359)  |  Night (133)  |  October (5)  |  Other (2233)  |  Roof (14)  |  Singing (19)  |  Sunday (8)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Void (31)  |  Wonder (251)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

In the beginning God created the heaven and earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. … God said, “Let there be a vault in the waters to divide the waters in two.” And so it was. God made the vault, and it divided the waters above the vault from the waters under the vault. God called the vault “heaven.”
Bible
Genesis 1:1 in The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated Out of the Original Tongues. Printed for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (1895), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Call (781)  |  Creation (350)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Deep (241)  |  Divide (77)  |  Divided (50)  |  Face (214)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Two (936)  |  Void (31)  |  Waste (109)  |  Water (503)

In the beginning of the year 1665 I found the Method of approximating series & the Rule for reducing any dignity of any Bionomial into such a series. The same year in May I found the method of Tangents of Gregory & Slusius, & in November had the direct method of fluxions & the next year in January had the Theory of Colours & in May following I had entrance into ye inverse method of fluxions. And the same year I began to think of gravity extending to ye orb of the Moon & (having found out how to estimate the force with wch [a] globe revolving within a sphere presses the surface of the sphere) from Keplers rule of the periodic times of the Planets being in sesquialterate proportion of their distances from the center of their Orbs, I deduced that the forces wch keep the Planets in their Orbs must [be] reciprocally as the squares of their distances from the centers about wch they revolve: & thereby compared the force requisite to keep the Moon in her Orb with the force of gravity at the surface of the earth, & found them answer pretty nearly. All this was in the two plague years of 1665-1666. For in those days I was in the prime of my age for invention & minded Mathematicks & Philosophy more then than at any time since.
Quoted in Richard Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1980), 143.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Answer (389)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Binomial (6)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Color (155)  |  Differentiation (28)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Direct (228)  |  Distance (171)  |  Entrance (16)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Fluxion (7)  |  Force (497)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Invention (400)  |  Inverse Square Law (5)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Law Of Gravity (16)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Next (238)  |  Orb (20)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plague (42)  |  Planet (402)  |  Prime (11)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Rule (307)  |  Series (153)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Square (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tangent (6)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Year (963)

In the beginning there was an explosion. Not an explosion like those familiar on earth, starting from a definite center and spreading out to engulf more and more of the circumambient air, but an explosion which occurred simultaneously everywhere, filling all space from the beginning, with every particle of matter rushing apart from every other particle. ‘All space’ in this context may mean either all of an infinite universe, or all of a finite universe which curves back on itself like the surface of a sphere. Neither possibility is easy to comprehend, but this will not get in our way; it matters hardly at all in the early universe whether space is finite or infinite. At about one-hundredth of a second, the earliest time about which we can speak with any confidence, the temperature of the universe was about a hundred thousand million (1011) degrees Centigrade. This is much hotter than in the center of even the hottest star, so hot, in fact, that none of the components of ordinary matter, molecules, or atoms, or even the nuclei of atoms, could have held together. Instead, the matter rushing apart in this explosion consisted of various types of the so-called elementary particles, which are the subject of modern high­energy nuclear physics.
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe (1977), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Back (395)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Call (781)  |  Component (51)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Consist (223)  |  Context (31)  |  Curve (49)  |  Definite (114)  |  Degree (277)  |  Early (196)  |  Easy (213)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Energy (373)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Finite (60)  |  High (370)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hottest (2)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Million (124)  |  Modern (402)  |  Molecule (185)  |  More (2558)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Physics (6)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particle (200)  |  Particle Physics (13)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possibility (172)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Space (523)  |  Speak (240)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Subject (543)  |  Surface (223)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Type (171)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

In the beginning was the book of Nature. For eon after eon, the pages of the book turned with no human to read them. No eye wondered at the ignition of the sun, the coagulation of the earth, the birth of the moon, the solidification of a terrestrial continent, or the filling of the seas. Yet when the first primitive algae evolved to float on the waters of this ocean, a promise was born—a hope that someday all the richness and variety of the phenomena of the universe would be read with appreciative eyes.
Opening paragraph in Gary G. Tibbetts, How the Great Scientists Reasoned: The Scientific Method in Action (2012), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Algae (7)  |  Appreciative (2)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Birth (154)  |  Book (413)  |  Book Of Nature (12)  |  Born (37)  |  Coagulation (5)  |  Continent (79)  |  Eon (12)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Eye (440)  |  Filling (6)  |  First (1302)  |  Float (31)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignition (3)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Page (35)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Promise (72)  |  Read (308)  |  Richness (15)  |  Sea (326)  |  Solidification (2)  |  Someday (15)  |  Sun (407)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Turn (454)  |  Universe (900)  |  Variety (138)  |  Water (503)  |  Wonder (251)

In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bleak (2)  |  Fall (243)  |  Frosty (3)  |  Hard (246)  |  Iron (99)  |  Long (778)  |  Long Ago (12)  |  Moan (2)  |  Snow (39)  |  Stand (284)  |  Stone (168)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)

In the case of the Sun, we have a new understanding of the cosmological meaning of sacrifice. The Sun is, with each second, transforming four million tons of itself into light—giving itself over to become energy that we, with every meal, partake of. The Sun converts itself into a flow of energy that photosynthesis changes into plants that are consumed by animals. Humans have been feasting on the Sun’s energy stored in the form of wheat or maize or reindeer as each day the Sun dies as Sun and is reborn as the vitality of Earth. These solar flares are in fact the very power of the vast human enterprise. Every child of ours needs to learn the simple truth: she is the energy of the Sun. And we adults should organize things so her face shines with the same radiant joy.
In The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story (1996), 40-41.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Become (821)  |  Change (639)  |  Child (333)  |  Consume (13)  |  Cosmological (11)  |  Die (94)  |  Energy (373)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Face (214)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flow (89)  |  Form (976)  |  Human (1512)  |  Joy (117)  |  Learn (672)  |  Light (635)  |  Maize (4)  |  Meal (19)  |  Meaning (244)  |  New (1273)  |  Organize (33)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Power (771)  |  Radiant (15)  |  Reborn (2)  |  Reindeer (2)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Same (166)  |  Shine (49)  |  Simple (426)  |  Solar Flare (2)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Ton (25)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vitality (24)  |  Wheat (10)

In the case of those solids, whether of earth, or rock, which enclose on all sides and contain crystals, selenites, marcasites, plants and their parts, bones and the shells of animals, and other bodies of this kind which are possessed of a smooth surface, these same bodies had already become hard at the time when the matter of the earth and rock containing them was still fluid. And not only did the earth and rock not produce the bodies contained in them, but they did not even exist as such when those bodies were produced in them.
The Prodromus of Nicolaus Steno's Dissertation Concerning a Solid Body enclosed by Process of Nature within a Solid (1669), trans. J. G. Winter (1916), 218.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Animal (651)  |  Become (821)  |  Bone (101)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Enclosure (4)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hardness (4)  |  Kind (564)  |  Matter (821)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Plant (320)  |  Possess (157)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Rock (176)  |  Shell (69)  |  Side (236)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Solid (119)  |  Still (614)  |  Surface (223)  |  Time (1911)

In the celestial spaces above the Earth’s atmosphere; in which spaces, where there is no air to resist their motions, all bodies will move with the greatest freedom; and the Planets and Comets will constantly pursue their revolutions in orbits … by the mere laws of gravity.
In 'General Scholium' from The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1729), Vol. 2, Book 3, 388.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Air Resistance (2)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Comet (65)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravity (16)  |  Mere (86)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pursue (63)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Space (523)  |  Will (2350)

In the course of centuries the naïve self-love of men has had to submit to two major blows at the hands of science. The first was when they learnt that our earth was not the centre of the universe but only a tiny fragment of a cosmic system of scarcely imaginable vastness… the second blow fell when biological research destroyed man’s supposedly privileged place in creation and proved his descent from the animal kingdom and his ineradicable animal nature… But human megalomania will have suffered its third and most wounding blow from the psychological research of the present time which seeks to prove to the ego that it is not even master in its own house, but must content itself with scanty information of what is going on unconsciously in its mind.
Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalyis (1916), in James Strachey (ed.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (1963), Vol. 16, 284-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Kingdom (21)  |  Biological (137)  |  Blow (45)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Course (413)  |  Creation (350)  |  Descent (30)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Ego (17)  |  First (1302)  |  Fragment (58)  |  House (143)  |  Human (1512)  |  Information (173)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Love (328)  |  Major (88)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Present (630)  |  Prove (261)  |  Psychoanalysis (37)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Research (753)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Seek (218)  |  Self (268)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vastness (15)  |  Will (2350)

In the course of the history of the earth innumerable events have occurred one after another, causing changes of states, all with certain lasting consequences. This is the basis of our developmental law, which, in a nutshell, claims that the diversity of phenomena is a necessary consequence of the accumulation of the results of all individual occurrences happening one after another... The current state of the earth, thus, constitutes the as yet most diverse final result, which of course represents not a real but only a momentary end-point.
Ober das Entwicklung der Erde, (1867), 5-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulation (51)  |  Basis (180)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Claim (154)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Course (413)  |  Current (122)  |  Diversity (75)  |  End (603)  |  Event (222)  |  Final (121)  |  Happening (59)  |  History (716)  |  Individual (420)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Law (913)  |  Most (1728)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Point (584)  |  Represent (157)  |  Result (700)  |  State (505)

In the course of this short tour, I became convinced that we must turn to the New World if we wish to see in perfection the oldest monuments of the earth’s history, so far at least as relates to its earliest inhabitants.
Travels in North America (1845), Vol. 1, 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Course (413)  |  History (716)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Monument (45)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  North America (5)  |  Perfection (131)  |  See (1094)  |  Short (200)  |  Tour (2)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wish (216)  |  World (1850)

In the days when geology was young, now some two hundred years ago, it found a careful foster-mother in theology, who watched over its early growth with anxious solicitude, and stored its receptive mind with the most beautiful stories, which the young science never tired of transforming into curious fancies of its own, which it usually styled “theories of the earth.”
In British Association Address to Workingmen, 'Geology and Deluges', published in Nature (1984), 50, 505-510. Also printed in Popular Science Monthly (Dec 1894), 46 245.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Curious (95)  |  Early (196)  |  Foster (12)  |  Geology (240)  |  Growth (200)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mother (116)  |  Never (1089)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Receptive (5)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Story (122)  |  Theology (54)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Two (936)  |  Usually (176)  |  Watch (118)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)

In the first book I shall describe all the positions of the spheres, along with the motions which I attribute to the Earth, so that the book will contain as it were the general structure of the universe. In the remaining books I relate the motions of the remaining stars, and all the spheres, to the mobility of the Earth, so that it can be thence established how far the motions and appearances of the remaining stars and spheres can be saved, if they are referred to the motions of the Earth.
'To His Holiness Pope Paul III', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans, A. M. Duncan (1976), 26.
Science quotes on:  |  Appearance (145)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Book (413)  |  Describe (132)  |  First (1302)  |  General (521)  |  Mobility (11)  |  Motion (320)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Structure (365)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)

In the heavens we discover [stars] by their light, and by their light alone ... the sole evidence of the existence of these distant worlds ... that each of them is built up of molecules of the same kinds we find on earth. A molecule of hydrogen, for example, whether in Sirius or in Arcturus, executes its vibrations in precisely the same time. Each molecule therefore throughout the universe bears impressed upon it the stamp of a metric system as distinctly as does the metre of the Archives at Paris, or the royal cubit of the Temple of Karnac.
[Footnote: Where Maxwell uses the term “molecule” we now use the term “atom.”]
Lecture to the British Association at Bradford (1873), 'Atoms and Molecules'. Quoted by Ernest Rutherford, in 'The Constitution of Matter and the Evolution of the Elements', The Popular Science Monthly (Aug 1915), 112.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Arcturus (4)  |  Atom (381)  |  Bear (162)  |  Cubit (2)  |  Discover (571)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Execute (7)  |  Existence (481)  |  Find (1014)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Impress (66)  |  Impressed (39)  |  Kind (564)  |  Light (635)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Metric System (6)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Royal (56)  |  Small (489)  |  Sole (50)  |  Spectroscopy (11)  |  Stamp (36)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  System (545)  |  Temple (45)  |  Term (357)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Use (771)  |  Vibration (26)  |  Wavelength (10)  |  World (1850)

In the history of physics, there have been three great revolutions in thought that first seemed absurd yet proved to be true. The first proposed that the earth, instead of being stationary, was moving around at a great and variable speed in a universe that is much bigger than it appears to our immediate perception. That proposal, I believe, was first made by Aristarchos two millenia ago ... Remarkably enough, the name Aristarchos in Greek means best beginning.
[The next two revolutions occurred ... in the early part of the twentieth century: the theory of relativity and the science of quantum mechanics...]
Edward Teller with Judith L. Shoolery, Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics (2001), 562.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Century (319)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Early (196)  |  Enough (341)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greek (109)  |  History (716)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Name (359)  |  Next (238)  |  Perception (97)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Proposal (21)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Speed (66)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Variable (37)

In the infancy of physical science, it was hoped that some discovery might be made that would enable us to emancipate ourselves from the bondage of gravity, and, at least, pay a visit to our neighbour the moon. The poor attempts of the aeronaut have shewn the hopelessness of the enterprise. The success of his achievement depends on the buoyant power of the atmosphere, but the atmosphere extends only a few miles above the earth, and its action cannot reach beyond its own limits. The only machine, independent of the atmosphere, we can conceive of, would be one on the principle of the rocket. The rocket rises in the air, not from the resistance offered by the atmosphere to its fiery stream, but from the internal reaction. The velocity would, indeed, be greater in a vacuum than in the atmosphere, and could we dispense with the comfort of breathing air, we might, with such a machine, transcend the boundaries of our globe, and visit other orbs.
God's Glory in the Heavens (1862, 3rd Ed. 1867) 3-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Action (342)  |  Air (366)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bondage (6)  |  Breathing (23)  |  Buoyancy (7)  |  Buoyant (6)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Depend (238)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Emancipate (2)  |  Enable (122)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Extend (129)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hopelessness (6)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Internal (69)  |  Limit (294)  |  Machine (271)  |  Moon (252)  |  Offer (142)  |  Orb (20)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Poor (139)  |  Power (771)  |  Principle (530)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Resistance (41)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Stream (83)  |  Success (327)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Vacuum (41)  |  Velocity (51)

In the long course of cell life on this earth it remained, for our age for our generation, to receive the full ownership of our inheritance. We have entered the cell, the Mansion of our birth, and started the inventory of our acquired wealth.
Talking about the new information revealed by electron microscopy Nobel Lecture, The Coming Age of the Cell, 12 Dec 1974
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Age (509)  |  Birth (154)  |  Cell (146)  |  Course (413)  |  Enter (145)  |  Generation (256)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Receive (117)  |  Remain (355)  |  Start (237)  |  Wealth (100)

In the next twenty centuries … humanity may begin to understand its most baffling mystery—where are we going? The earth is, in fact, traveling many thousands of miles per hour in the direction of the constellation Hercules—to some unknown destination in the cosmos. Man must understand his universe in order to understand his destiny. Mystery, however, is a very necessary ingredient in our lives. Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis for man’s desire to understand. Who knows what mysteries will be solved in our lifetime, and what new riddles will become the challenge of the new generation? Science has not mastered prophesy. We predict too much for the next year yet far too little for the next ten. Responding to challenges is one of democracy’s great strengths. Our successes in space can be used in the next decade in the solution of many of our planet’s problems.
In a speech to a Joint Meeting of the Two Houses of Congress to Receive the Apollo 11 Astronauts (16 Sep 1969), in the Congressional Record.
Science quotes on:  |  Baffling (5)  |  Basis (180)  |  Become (821)  |  Begin (275)  |  Century (319)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Create (245)  |  Decade (66)  |  Democracy (36)  |  Desire (212)  |  Destination (16)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Direction (185)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Generation (256)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hercules (9)  |  Hour (192)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Ingredient (16)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lifetime (40)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Next (238)  |  Order (638)  |  Planet (402)  |  Predict (86)  |  Problem (731)  |  Prophesy (11)  |  Respond (14)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  Space (523)  |  Strength (139)  |  Success (327)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Travel (125)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Year (963)

In the vast cosmical changes, the universal life comes and goes in unknown quantities ... sowing an animalcule here, crumbling a star there, oscillating and winding, ... entangling, from the highest to the lowest, all activities in the obscurity of a dizzying mechanism, hanging the flight of an insect upon the movement of the earth... Enormous gearing, whose first motor is the gnat, and whose last wheel is the zodiac.
Victor Hugo and Charles E. Wilbour (trans.), Les Misérables (1862), 41.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Animalcule (12)  |  Change (639)  |  Come (4)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Crumbling (2)  |  Dizzy (4)  |  Enormity (4)  |  First (1302)  |  Flight (101)  |  Gear (5)  |  Gnat (7)  |  Go (6)  |  Insect (89)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Motor (23)  |  Movement (162)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Sowing (9)  |  Star (460)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Vast (188)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Winding (8)

In the year 1456 ... a Comet was seen passing Retrograde between the Earth and the sun... Hence I dare venture to foretell, that it will return again in the year 1758.
A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets (1705),22.
Science quotes on:  |  Comet (65)  |  Dare (55)  |  Foretell (12)  |  Passing (76)  |  Retrograde (8)  |  Return (133)  |  Sun (407)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge... to his mother in Lincolnshire & whilst he was musing in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (wch brought an apple from the tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from the earth but that this power must extend much farther than was usually thought. Why not as high as the moon said he to himself & if so that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a calculating what would be the effect of that supposition but being absent from books & taking the common estimate in use among Geographers & our seamen before Norwood had measured the earth, that 60 English miles were contained in one degree of latitude on the surface of the Earth his computation did not agree with his theory & inclined him then to entertain a notion that together with the force of gravity there might be a mixture of that force wch the moon would have if it was carried along in a vortex.
[The earliest account of Newton, gravity and an apple.]
Memorandum of a conversation with Newton in August 1726. Quoted in Richard Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1980), 154.
Science quotes on:  |  Absent (3)  |  Account (195)  |  Apple (46)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Certain (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Computation (28)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distance (171)  |  Effect (414)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Extend (129)  |  Farther (51)  |  Force (497)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  Himself (461)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Influence (231)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mother (116)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Notion (120)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Power (771)  |  Retain (57)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Tree (269)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Vortex (10)  |  Why (491)  |  Year (963)

In theory one is aware that the earth revolves but in practice one does not perceive it, the ground on which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one's life. (1918)
'À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs', À la recherche du temps perdu (1913-27).
Science quotes on:  |  Ground (222)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Move (223)  |  Perceive (46)  |  Practice (212)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tread (17)

In theory, whole islands of antimatter could be floating in the universe, cut off from matter by the empty void of space. If a large chunk of antimatter fell to Earth, the planet would be vaporized in a blinding flash of energy.
Science quotes on:  |  Antimatter (4)  |  Cut (116)  |  Empty (82)  |  Energy (373)  |  Flash (49)  |  Island (49)  |  Large (398)  |  Matter (821)  |  Planet (402)  |  Space (523)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)  |  Void (31)  |  Whole (756)

In this great celestial creation, the catastrophy of a world, such as ours, or even the total dissolution of a system of worlds, may possibly be no more to the great Author of Nature, than the most common accident in life with us, and in all probability such final and general Doomsdays may be as frequent there, as even Birthdays or mortality with us upon the earth. This idea has something so cheerful in it, that I know I can never look upon the stars without wondering why the whole world does not become astronomers; and that men endowed with sense and reason should neglect a science they are naturally so much interested in, and so capable of enlarging their understanding, as next to a demonstration must convince them of their immortality, and reconcile them to all those little difficulties incident to human nature, without the least anxiety. All this the vast apparent provision in the starry mansions seem to promise: What ought we then not to do, to preserve our natural birthright to it and to merit such inheritance, which alas we think created all to gratify alone a race of vain-glorious gigantic beings, while they are confined to this world, chained like so many atoms to a grain of sand.
In The Universe and the Stars: Being an Original Theory on the Visible Creation, Founded on the Laws of Nature (1750, 1837), 132.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Alone (324)  |  Anxiety (30)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Atom (381)  |  Author (175)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Birthday (9)  |  Birthright (5)  |  Capable (174)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Cheerful (10)  |  Common (447)  |  Convince (43)  |  Creation (350)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Dissolution (11)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doomsday (5)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Final (121)  |  General (521)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Grain (50)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Idea (881)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Interest (416)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Merit (51)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Never (1089)  |  Next (238)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Probability (135)  |  Promise (72)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reconcile (19)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sense (785)  |  Something (718)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  System (545)  |  Think (1122)  |  Total (95)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vain (86)  |  Vast (188)  |  Whole (756)  |  Whole World (29)  |  Why (491)  |  World (1850)

In this model, the sun is a very tiny speck of dust indeed—a speck less than a three-thousandth of an inch in diameter ... Think of the sun as something less than a speck of dust in a vast city, of the earth as less than a millionth part of such a speck of dust, and we have perhaps as vivid a picture as the mind can really grasp of the relation of our home in space to the rest of the universe.
In The Universe Around Us (1953), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  City (87)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Dust (68)  |  Grasping (2)  |  Home (184)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Model (106)  |  Picture (148)  |  Relation (166)  |  Rest (287)  |  Something (718)  |  Space (523)  |  Speck (25)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vivid (25)

In truth, we know causes only by their effects; and in order to learn the nature of the causes which modify the earth, we must study them through all ages of their action, and not select arbitrarily the period in which we live as the standard for all other epochs.
In History of the Inductive Sciences (1857), Vol. 3, 514.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Age (509)  |  Cause (561)  |  Effect (414)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  Live (650)  |  Modification (57)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Select (45)  |  Standard (64)  |  Study (701)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)

In war, science has proven itself an evil genius; it has made war more terrible than it ever was before. Man used to be content to slaughter his fellowmen on a single plane—the earth’s surface. Science has taught him to go down into the water and shoot up from below and to go up into the clouds and shoot down from above, thus making the battlefield three times as bloody as it was before; but science does not teach brotherly love. Science has made war so hellish that civilization was about to commit suicide; and now we are told that newly discovered instruments of destruction will make the cruelties of the late war seem trivial in comparison with the cruelties of wars that may come in the future.
Proposed summation written for the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925), in Genevieve Forbes Herrick and John Origen Herrick, The Life of William Jennings Bryan (1925), 405. This speech was prepared for delivery at the trial, but was never heard there, as both sides mutually agreed to forego arguments to the jury.
Science quotes on:  |  Aircraft (9)  |  Battlefield (9)  |  Brother (47)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Commit (43)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Contentment (11)  |  Cruelty (24)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Down (455)  |  Evil (122)  |  Future (467)  |  Genius (301)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Late (119)  |  Love (328)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Proof (304)  |  Single (365)  |  Slaughter (8)  |  Submarine (12)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Surface (223)  |  Teach (299)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trivial (59)  |  War (233)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)  |  World War I (3)

Louis Agassiz quote: In-depth studies have an influence on general ideas, whereas theories, in turn, in order to maintain themse
In-depth studies have an influence on general ideas, whereas theories, in turn, in order to maintain themselves, push their spectators to search for new evidence. The mind’s activity that is maintained by the debates about these works, is probably the source of the greatest joys given to man to experience on Earth.
La théorie des glaciers et ses progrès les plus récents. Bibl. universelle de Geneve, (3), Vol. 41, p. 139. Trans. Karin Verrecchia.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Debate (40)  |  Depth (97)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Experience (494)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Idea (881)  |  Influence (231)  |  Joy (117)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  New (1273)  |  Order (638)  |  Push (66)  |  Search (175)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Turn (454)  |  Work (1402)

Is evolution a theory, a system or a hypothesis? It is much more: it is a general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must bow and which they must satisfy henceforth if they are to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow. ... The consciousness of each of us is evolution looking at itself and reflecting upon itself....Man is not the center of the universe as once we thought in our simplicity, but something much more wonderful—the arrow pointing the way to the final unification of the world in terms of life. Man alone constitutes the last-born, the freshest, the most complicated, the most subtle of all the successive layers of life. ... The universe has always been in motion and at this moment continues to be in motion. But will it still be in motion tomorrow? ... What makes the world in which we live specifically modern is our discovery in it and around it of evolution. ... Thus in all probability, between our modern earth and the ultimate earth, there stretches an immense period, characterized not by a slowing-down but a speeding up and by the definitive florescence of the forces of evolution along the line of the human shoot.
In The Phenomenon of Man (1975), pp 218, 220, 223, 227, 228, 277.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Arrow (22)  |  Bow (15)  |  Center (35)  |  Characterize (22)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Continue (179)  |  Curve (49)  |  Definitive (3)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Down (455)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Final (121)  |  Follow (389)  |  Force (497)  |  General (521)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Illuminating (12)  |  Immense (89)  |  Last (425)  |  Layer (41)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Line (100)  |  Live (650)  |  Looking (191)  |  Man (2252)  |  Modern (402)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Period (200)  |  Pointing (4)  |  Probability (135)  |  Reflecting (3)  |  Satisfy (29)  |  Shoot (21)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Something (718)  |  Still (614)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Successive (73)  |  System (545)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thinkable (5)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  True (239)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Unification (11)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  World (1850)

It [the earth] alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it.
History, 2, 11. Trans. H. Rackham, Pliny: Natural History, corrected edition (1949), Vol. 1, 177.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Around (7)  |  Geocentric (6)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Thing (1914)

It goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging, this majestic roof fretted with golden fire—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man. How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving, how express and admirable, in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god—the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me—no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.
Hamlet (1601), II, ii.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Admirable (20)  |  Air (366)  |  Angel (47)  |  Animal (651)  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Brave (16)  |  Canopy (8)  |  Congregation (3)  |  Delight (111)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Dust (68)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Express (192)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Fire (203)  |  Form (976)  |  Foul (15)  |  Frame (26)  |  God (776)  |  Golden (47)  |  Heavily (14)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nobility (5)  |  Noble (93)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paragon (4)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Promontory (3)  |  Quintessence (4)  |  Reason (766)  |  Roof (14)  |  Say (989)  |  Sterile (24)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vapor (12)  |  Vapour (16)  |  Why (491)  |  Woman (160)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

It has been long considered possible to explain the more ancient revolutions on... [the Earth's] surface by means of these still existing causes; in the same manner as it is found easy to explain past events in political history, by an acquaintance with the passions and intrigues of the present day. But we shall presently see that unfortunately this is not the case in physical history:—the thread of operation is here broken, the march of nature is changed, and none of the agents that she now employs were sufficient for the production of her ancient works.
'Preliminary discourse', to Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles (1812), trans. R. Kerr Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Agent (73)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Broken (56)  |  Cause (561)  |  Consider (428)  |  Easy (213)  |  Employ (115)  |  Event (222)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fossil (143)  |  History (716)  |  Long (778)  |  March (48)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Operation (221)  |  Passion (121)  |  Past (355)  |  Physical (518)  |  Political (124)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Production (190)  |  Revolution (133)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thread (36)  |  Unfortunately (40)  |  Work (1402)

It is a happy world after all. The air, the earth, the water teem with delighted existence. In a spring noon, or a summer evening, on whichever side I turn my eyes, myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view. “The insect youth are on the wing.” Swarms of new-born flies are trying their pinions in the air. Their sportive motions, their wanton mazes, their gratuitous activity testify their joy and the exultation they feel in their lately discovered faculties … The whole winged insect tribe, it is probable, are equally intent upon their proper employments, and under every variety of constitution, gratified, and perhaps equally gratified, by the offices which the author of their nature has assigned to them.
Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of The Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature (1802), 490-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Air (366)  |  Assignment (12)  |  Author (175)  |  Being (1276)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Delight (111)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Employment (34)  |  Equality (34)  |  Equally (129)  |  Evening (12)  |  Existence (481)  |  Exultation (4)  |  Eye (440)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fly (153)  |  Gratification (22)  |  Happy (108)  |  Insect (89)  |  Intent (9)  |  Joy (117)  |  Lateness (4)  |  Maze (11)  |  Motion (320)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  New-born (2)  |  Noon (14)  |  Office (71)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proper (150)  |  Properness (2)  |  Side (236)  |  Sport (23)  |  Spring (140)  |  Summer (56)  |  Swarm (15)  |  Teeming (5)  |  Testament (4)  |  Tribe (26)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Turn (454)  |  Variety (138)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wing (79)  |  World (1850)  |  Youth (109)

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.
In 'The Exceeding Beauty of the Earth', This Week Magazine (1952). As cited in Karen F. Stein, Rachel Carson: Challenging Authors (2013), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Humility (31)  |  Know (1538)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Sense (785)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wholesome (12)  |  Wonder (251)

It is admitted, on all hands, that the Scriptures are not intended to resolve physical questions, or to explain matters in no way related to the morality of human actions; and if, in consequence of this principle, a considerable latitude of interpretation were not allowed, we should continue at this moment to believe, that the earth is flat; that the sun moves round the earth; and that the circumference of a circle is no more than three times its diameter.
In The Works of John Playfair: Vol. 1: Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1822), 137.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Belief (615)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Continue (179)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Explain (334)  |  Flat (34)  |  Human (1512)  |  Intend (18)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Matter (821)  |  Moment (260)  |  Morality (55)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Physical (518)  |  Principle (530)  |  Question (649)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scripture (14)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Way (1214)

It is believed that contraction of the Earth due to its emission of lava and volcanic gases provides a tentative theory for the building of mountains and continents which is capable of explaining more of the details of these features than any other theory yet proposed.
In Sigma XI National Lecture (1957-58), published in 'Geophysics and Continental Growth', American Scientist (Mar 1959), 47, No. 1, 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Build (211)  |  Continent (79)  |  Contraction (18)  |  Detail (150)  |  Emission (20)  |  Explain (334)  |  Feature (49)  |  Gas (89)  |  Lava (12)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Tentative (18)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Volcano (46)

It is clear that the earth does not move, and that it does not lie elsewhere than at the center.
Aristotle
On the Heavens (2004), 54.
Science quotes on:  |  Geocentric Theory (2)  |  Lie (370)  |  Move (223)  |  Orbit (85)

It is curious to observe with what different degrees of architectonic skill Providence has endowed birds of the same genus, and so nearly correspondent in their general mode of life! for while the swallow and the house-martin discover the greatest address in raising and securely fixing crusts or shells of loam as cunabula for their young, the bank-martin terebrates a round and regular hole in the sand or earth, which is serpentine, horizontal, and about two feet deep. At the inner end of this burrow does this bird deposit, in a good degree of safety, her rude nest, consisting of fine grasses and feathers, usually goose-feathers, very inartificially laid together.
In Letter to Daines Barrington, (26 Feb 1774), in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789), 176.
Science quotes on:  |  Bank (31)  |  Bird (163)  |  Crust (43)  |  Curious (95)  |  Deep (241)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  End (603)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Feather (13)  |  General (521)  |  Genus (27)  |  Good (906)  |  Goose (13)  |  Grass (49)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Horizontal (9)  |  House (143)  |  Inner (72)  |  Life (1870)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Nest (26)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Providence (19)  |  Regular (48)  |  Safety (58)  |  Sand (63)  |  Shell (69)  |  Skill (116)  |  Swallow (32)  |  Together (392)  |  Two (936)  |  Usually (176)  |  Young (253)

It is fashionable nowadays to talk about the endless riches of the sea. The ocean is regarded as a sort of bargain basement, but I don’t agree with that estimate. People don’t realize that water in the liquid state is very rare in the universe. Away from earth it is usually a gas. This moisture is a blessed treasure, and it is our basic duty, if we don’t want to commit suicide, to preserve it.
As quoted by Nancy Hicks in 'Cousteau’s Philosophy of the Sea Helps Him Get Another Medal', New York Times (25 Oct 1970), 54.
Science quotes on:  |  Bargain (5)  |  Basement (4)  |  Basic (144)  |  Bless (25)  |  Blessed (20)  |  Commit (43)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Disagreement (14)  |  Duty (71)  |  Endless (60)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Fashionable (15)  |  Gas (89)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Oceanography (17)  |  People (1031)  |  Preservation (39)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Rare (94)  |  Realize (157)  |  Regard (312)  |  Regarding (4)  |  Riches (14)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sort (50)  |  State (505)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Talk (108)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Universe (900)  |  Usually (176)  |  Want (504)  |  Water (503)

It is for such inquiries the modern naturalist collects his materials; it is for this that he still wants to add to the apparently boundless treasures of our national museums, and will never rest satisfied as long as the native country, the geographical distribution, and the amount of variation of any living thing remains imperfectly known. He looks upon every species of animal and plant now living as the individual letters which go to make up one of the volumes of our earth’s history; and, as a few lost letters may make a sentence unintelligible, so the extinction of the numerous forms of life which the progress of cultivation invariably entails will necessarily render obscure this invaluable record of the past. It is, therefore, an important object, which governments and scientific institutions should immediately take steps to secure, that in all tropical countries colonised by Europeans the most perfect collections possible in every branch of natural history should be made and deposited in national museums, where they may be available for study and interpretation. If this is not done, future ages will certainly look back upon us as a people so immersed in the pursuit of wealth as to be blind to higher considerations. They will charge us with having culpably allowed the destruction of some of those records of Creation which we had it in our power to preserve; and while professing to regard every living thing as the direct handiwork and best evidence of a Creator, yet, with a strange inconsistency, seeing many of them perish irrecoverably from the face of the earth, uncared for and unknown.
In 'On the Physical Geography of the Malay Archipelago', Journal of the Royal Geographical Society (1863), 33, 234.
Science quotes on:  |  Add (42)  |  Age (509)  |  Allowed (3)  |  Amount (153)  |  Animal (651)  |  Apparently (22)  |  Available (80)  |  Back (395)  |  Best (467)  |  Blind (98)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Branch (155)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Charge (63)  |  Collect (19)  |  Collection (68)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Country (269)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creator (97)  |  Cultivation (36)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Direct (228)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Entail (4)  |  European (5)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Face (214)  |  Form (976)  |  Future (467)  |  Geographical (6)  |  Government (116)  |  Handiwork (6)  |  Higher (37)  |  History (716)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Imperfectly (2)  |  Important (229)  |  Inconsistency (5)  |  Individual (420)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Institution (73)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Invaluable (11)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Known (453)  |  Letter (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Lost (34)  |  Made (14)  |  Material (366)  |  Modern (402)  |  Most (1728)  |  Museum (40)  |  National (29)  |  Native (41)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Never (1089)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Object (438)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Past (355)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perish (56)  |  Person (366)  |  Plant (320)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Professing (2)  |  Progress (492)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Record (161)  |  Regard (312)  |  Remain (355)  |  Render (96)  |  Rest (287)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Secure (23)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Sentence (35)  |  Species (435)  |  Step (234)  |  Still (614)  |  Strange (160)  |  Study (701)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Tropical (9)  |  Unintelligible (17)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Variation (93)  |  Volume (25)  |  Want (504)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Will (2350)

It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on Earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature’s gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gift (105)  |  Good (906)  |  Honor (57)  |  Joy (117)  |  Love (328)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Outdoors (3)  |  Peace (116)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Realize (157)  |  Teach (299)  |  Will (2350)

It is in the nature of water ... to become transformed into earth through a predominating earthy virtue; ... it is in the nature of earth to become transformed into water through a predominating aqueous virtue.
Avicenna
Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidium (1021-23), trans. E. J. Hohnyard and D. C. Mandeville (1927), 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Aqueous (8)  |  Become (821)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Through (846)  |  Transform (74)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Water (503)

It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms.
Concluding remarks in final chapter, The Origin of Species (1859), 490.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Bank (31)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bird (163)  |  Character (259)  |  Complex (202)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Construct (129)  |  Different (595)  |  Direct (228)  |  Divergence (6)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Food Web (8)  |  Form (976)  |  Growth (200)  |  High (370)  |  Increase (225)  |  Indirect (18)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Insect (89)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Kind (564)  |  Largest (39)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Plant (320)  |  Produced (187)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Selection (130)  |  Sense (785)  |  Singing (19)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Use (771)  |  Various (205)  |  Worm (47)

It is natural for man to relate the units of distance by which he travels to the dimensions of the globe that he inhabits. Thus, in moving about the earth, he may know by the simple denomination of distance its proportion to the whole circuit of the earth. This has the further advantage of making nautical and celestial measurements correspond. The navigator often needs to determine, one from the other, the distance he has traversed from the celestial arc lying between the zeniths at his point of departure and at his destination. It is important, therefore, that one of these magnitudes should be the expression of the other, with no difference except in the units. But to that end, the fundamental linear unit must be an aliquot part of the terrestrial meridian. ... Thus, the choice of the metre was reduced to that of the unity of angles.
Lecture at the École Normale to the Year III (Apr 1795), Oeuvres Completes de Laplace (1878-1912), Vol. 14, 141. In Charles Coulston Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1978), Vol. 15, 335.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Angle (25)  |  Arc (14)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Choice (114)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Definition (238)  |  Denomination (6)  |  Destination (16)  |  Determine (152)  |  Difference (355)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Distance (171)  |  End (603)  |  Expression (181)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Know (1538)  |  Linear (13)  |  Lying (55)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Meridian (4)  |  Meter (9)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Navigator (8)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Simple (426)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Travel (125)  |  Unit (36)  |  Unity (81)  |  Whole (756)

It is no small comfort when I reflect that we should not so much marvel at the vast and almost infinite breadth of the most distant heavens but much more at the smallness of us manikins and the smallness of this our tiny ball of earth and also of all the planets.
From Letter to Johann Herwart (1598), as quoted in Murray Roston, Milton and the Baroque (1980), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Ball (64)  |  Breadth (15)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Distant (33)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Marvel (37)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Small (489)  |  Smallness (7)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Vast (188)

It is not failure but success that is forcing man off this earth. It is not sickness but the triumph of health... Our capacity to survive has expanded beyond the capacity of Earth to support us. The pains we are feeling are growing pains. We can solve growth problems in direct proportion to our capacity to find new worlds... If man stays on Earth, his extinction is sure even if he lasts till the sun expands and destroys him... It is no longer reasonable to assume that the meaning of life lies on this earth alone. If Earth is all there is for man, we are reaching the foreseeable end of man.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Assume (43)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Direct (228)  |  End (603)  |  Expand (56)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Failure (176)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Foreseeable (3)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growing (99)  |  Growth (200)  |  Health (210)  |  Last (425)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  New (1273)  |  New Worlds (5)  |  Pain (144)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reasonable (29)  |  Sickness (26)  |  Solve (145)  |  Stay (26)  |  Success (327)  |  Sun (407)  |  Support (151)  |  Survive (87)  |  Triumph (76)  |  World (1850)

It is not the amount of oxygen that determines flammability, but its proportion in the mixture with nitrogen. About 40 per cent of the nitrogen on Earth is now buried in the crust; perhaps in the Cretaceous that nitrogen had not yet been buried and existed in the air and so kept the proportion of oxygen safer for trees [from greatly intensified forest fires].
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 27.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Amount (153)  |  Bury (19)  |  Cretaceous (2)  |  Crust (43)  |  Determine (152)  |  Exist (458)  |  Keep (104)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Safe (61)  |  Tree (269)

It is not the business of science to inherit the earth, but to inherit the moral imagination; because without that, man and beliefs and science will perish together.
In The Ascent of Man (1973, 2011), 323.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Business (156)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inherit (35)  |  Inherit The Earth (2)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moral (203)  |  Perish (56)  |  Together (392)  |  Will (2350)

It is nothing short of scandalous that we probably only know one out of every ten species on earth, let alone where they are or, various aspects of their biology, and … unless we really know what there is, and where it is, we’re gonna make some mistakes without even knowing we’ve made them.
From Reith Lecture, 'Biodiversity', on BBC Radio 4 (19 Apr 2000). Transcript and audio on BBC website.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Biology (232)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Scandalous (3)  |  Short (200)  |  Species (435)  |  Various (205)

It is obvious that man dwells in a splendid universe, a magnificent expanse of earth and sky and heaven, which manifestly is built on a majestic plan, maintains some mighty design, though man himself cannot grasp it. Yet for him it is not a pleasant or satisfying world. In his few moments of respite from labor or from his enemies, he dreams that this very universe might indeed be perfect, its laws operating just as now they seem to do, and yet he and it somehow be in full accord. The very ease with which he can frame this image to himself makes the reality all the more mocking. ... It is only too clear that man is not at home in this universe, and yet he is not good enough to deserve a better.
In The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (1939, 1954), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  Better (493)  |  Clear (111)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Design (203)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Dwelling (12)  |  Ease (40)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Enough (341)  |  Expanse (6)  |  Frame (26)  |  Good (906)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Himself (461)  |  Home (184)  |  Image (97)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Labor (200)  |  Law (913)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Man (2252)  |  Manifestly (11)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mocking (4)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Operating (4)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Plan (122)  |  Pleasant (22)  |  Reality (274)  |  Satisfying (5)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sky (174)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

It is obvious that while science is struggling to bring Heaven to earth some men are using its materials in the construction of Hell.
Address delivered to Annual Meeting of the York Bible Class, Toronto, Canada (22 Nov 1938), 'The Imperative Need for Moral Re-armament', collected in America's Way Forward (1939), 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Construction (114)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Hell (32)  |  Material (366)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Struggle (111)

It is of priceless value to the human race to know that the sun will supply the needs of the earth, as to light and heat, for millions of years; that the stars are not lanterns hung out at night, but are suns like our own; and that numbers of them probably have planets revolving around them, perhaps in many cases with inhabitants adapted to the conditions existing there. In a sentence, the main purpose of the science is to learn the truth about the stellar universe; to increase human knowledge concerning our surroundings, and to widen the limits of intellectual life.
In 'The Nature of the Astronomer’s Work', North American Review (Jun 1908), 187, No. 631, 915.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Condition (362)  |  Hang (46)  |  Heat (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lantern (8)  |  Learn (672)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Limit (294)  |  Million (124)  |  Need (320)  |  Night (133)  |  Number (710)  |  Planet (402)  |  Priceless (9)  |  Probability (135)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Race (278)  |  Research (753)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stellar (4)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supply (100)  |  Surrounding (13)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)  |  Widen (10)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

It is probable that all heavy matter possesses—latent and bound up with the structure of the atom—a similar quantity of energy to that possessed by radium. If it could be tapped and controlled, what an agent it would be in shaping the world's destiny! The man who puts his hand on the lever by which a parsimonious nature regulates so jealously the output of this store of energy would possess a weapon by which he could destroy the Earth if he chose.
A prescient remark on atomic energy after the discovery of radioactivity, but decades before the harnessing of nuclear fission in an atomic bomb became a reality.
Lecture to the Corps of Royal Engineers, Britain (19040. In Rodney P. Carlisle, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries (2004), 373.
Science quotes on:  |  Agent (73)  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Atomic Energy (25)  |  Bound (120)  |  Decade (66)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fission (10)  |  Lever (13)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Energy (18)  |  Parsimonious (3)  |  Possess (157)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Radium (29)  |  Reality (274)  |  Store (49)  |  Structure (365)  |  Weapon (98)  |  World (1850)

It is the very error of the moon;
She comes more nearer earth than she was wont,
And makes men mad.
In Othello (1622), Act 5, Scene 2, line 109-111.
Science quotes on:  |  Error (339)  |  Mad (54)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Nearer (45)

It is time that science, having destroyed the religious basis for morality, accepted the obligation to provide a new and rational basis for human behavior—a code of ethics concerned with man’s needs on earth, not his rewards in heaven.
In 'Toward a New Morality,' IEEE Spectrum, 1972.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Basis (180)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Code (31)  |  Concern (239)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Ethic (39)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Behavior (10)  |  Man (2252)  |  Morality (55)  |  New (1273)  |  Obligation (26)  |  Rational (95)  |  Religious (134)  |  Reward (72)  |  Time (1911)

It is to geometry that we owe in some sort the source of this discovery [of beryllium]; it is that [science] that furnished the first idea of it, and we may say that without it the knowledge of this new earth would not have been acquired for a long time, since according to the analysis of the emerald by M. Klaproth and that of the beryl by M. Bindheim one would not have thought it possible to recommence this work without the strong analogies or even almost perfect identity that Citizen Haüy found for the geometrical properties between these two stony fossils.
Haüy used the geometry of cleavage to reveal the underlying crystal structure, and thus found the emeral and beryl were geometrically identical. In May Elvira Weeks, The Discovery of the Elements (1934), 153, citing Mellor, Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry (1923), 204-7.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Acquired (77)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Beryllium (3)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Discovery (837)  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Furnishing (4)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Idea (881)  |  Identity (19)  |  Martin Heinrich Klaproth (3)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Long (778)  |  Mineral (66)  |  New (1273)  |  Owe (71)  |  Owing (39)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Property (177)  |  Say (989)  |  Source (101)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strong (182)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Work (1402)

It is to them [fossils] alone that we owe the commencement of even a Theory of the Earth ... By them we are enabled to ascertain, with the utmost certainty, that our earth has not always been covered over by the same external crust, because we are thoroughly assured that the organized bodies to which these fossil remains belong must have lived upon the surface before they came to be buried, as they now are, at a great depth.
'Preliminary discourse', to Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles (1812), trans. R. Kerr Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813), 54-55.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Ascertain (41)  |  Belong (168)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Commencement (14)  |  Crust (43)  |  Depth (97)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Geology (240)  |  Great (1610)  |  Must (1525)  |  Owe (71)  |  Remain (355)  |  Surface (223)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thoroughly (67)

It is well known, that on the Ohio, and in many parts of America further north, tusks, grinders, and skeletons of unparalleled magnitude are found in great numbers, some lying on the surface of the earth, and some a little below it ... But to whatever animal we ascribe these remains, it is certain that such a one has existed in America, and that it has been the largest of all terrestrial beings.
Notes on the State of Virginia (1782), 71, 77.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Animal (651)  |  Being (1276)  |  Certain (557)  |  Excavation (8)  |  Exist (458)  |  Great (1610)  |  Known (453)  |  Largest (39)  |  Little (717)  |  Lying (55)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Mammoth (9)  |  Number (710)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Remain (355)  |  Skeleton (25)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Whatever (234)

It isn’t important in which sea or lake you observe a slick of pollution, or in the forests of which country a fire breaks out, or on which continent a hurricane arises. You are standing guard over the whole of our Earth.
In Jack Hassard and Julie Weisberg, Environmental Science on the Net: The Global Thinking Project (1999), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Arise (162)  |  Break (109)  |  Continent (79)  |  Country (269)  |  Forest (161)  |  Guard (19)  |  Hurricane (4)  |  Important (229)  |  Lake (36)  |  Observe (179)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Sea (326)  |  Stand (284)  |  Whole (756)

It may seem rash indeed to draw conclusions valid for the whole universe from what we can see from the small corner to which we are confined. Who knows that the whole visible universe is not like a drop of water at the surface of the earth? Inhabitants of that drop of water, as small relative to it as we are relative to the Milky Way, could not possibly imagine that beside the drop of water there might be a piece of iron or a living tissue, in which the properties of matter are entirely different.
Space and Time (1926), 227.
Science quotes on:  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Corner (59)  |  Different (595)  |  Draw (140)  |  Drop (77)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Iron (99)  |  Know (1538)  |  Living (492)  |  Matter (821)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Properties Of Matter (7)  |  Rash (15)  |  See (1094)  |  Small (489)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

It must not be thought that it is ever possible to reach the interior earth by any perseverance in mining: both because the exterior earth is too thick, in comparison with human strength; and especially because of the intermediate waters, which would gush forth with greater impetus, the deeper the place in which their veins were first opened; and which would drown all miners.
Principles of Philosophy (1644), trans. V. R. and R. P. Miller (1983), 217-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Both (496)  |  Comparison (108)  |  First (1302)  |  Greater (288)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impetus (5)  |  Interior (35)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Mining (22)  |  Must (1525)  |  Open (277)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Possible (560)  |  Reach (286)  |  Strength (139)  |  Thought (995)  |  Vein (27)  |  Water (503)

It seems as though no laws, not even fairly old ones, can safely be regarded as unassailable. The force of gravity, which we have always ascribed to the “pull of the earth,” was reinterpreted the other day by a scientist who says that when we fall it is not earth pulling us, it is heaven pushing us. This blasts the rock on which we sit. If science can do a rightabout-face on a thing as fundamental as gravity, maybe Newton was a sucker not to have just eaten the apple.
In 'Talk of the Town,', The New Yorker (3 Apr 1937). As cited in Martha White (ed.), In the Words of E.B. White (2011), 175.
Science quotes on:  |  Apple (46)  |  Blast (13)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eat (108)  |  Face (214)  |  Fall (243)  |  Force (497)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravity (16)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pull (43)  |  Push (66)  |  Regard (312)  |  Reinterpret (2)  |  Rock (176)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sucker (2)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Unassailable (3)

It seems to me that your Reverence and Signor Galileo act prudently when you content yourselves with speaking hypothetically and not absolutely, as I have always understood that Copernicus spoke. To say that on the supposition of the Earth’s movement and the Sun's quiescence all the celestial appearances are explained better than by the theory of eccentrics and epicycles is to speak with excellent good sense and to run no risk whatsoever. Such a manner of speaking is enough for a mathematician. But to want to affirm that the Sun, in very truth, is at the center of the universe and only rotates on its axis without going from east to west, is a very dangerous attitude and one calculated not only to arouse all Scholastic philosophers and theologians but also to injure our holy faith by contradicting the Scriptures.
Letter to Paolo Antonio Foscarini, 12 April 1615. Quoted in Giorgio De Santillana, The Crime of Galileo (1955), 99.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Better (493)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Enough (341)  |  Explain (334)  |  Faith (209)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Good (906)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Holy (35)  |  Movement (162)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Quiescence (2)  |  Religion (369)  |  Risk (68)  |  Rotate (8)  |  Run (158)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Theologian (23)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understood (155)  |  Universe (900)  |  Want (504)  |  Whatsoever (41)

It seems wonderful to everyone that sometimes stones are found that have figures of animals inside and outside. For outside they have an outline, and when they are broken open, the shapes of the internal organs are found inside. And Avicenna says that the cause of this is that animals, just as they are, are sometimes changed into stones, and especially [salty] stones. For he says that just as the Earth and Water are material for stones, so animals, too, are material for stones. And in places where a petrifying force is exhaling, they change into their elements and are attacked by the properties of the qualities [hot, cold, moist, dry] which are present in those places, and in the elements in the bodies of such animals are changed into the dominant element, namely Earth mixed with Water; and then the mineralizing power converts [the mixture] into stone, and the parts of the body retain their shape, inside and outside, just as they were before. There are also stones of this sort that are [salty] and frequently not hard; for it must be a strong power which thus transmutes the bodies of animals, and it slightly burns the Earth in the moisture, so it produces a taste of salt.
De Mineralibus (On Minerals) (c.1261-1263), Book I, tract 2, chapter 8, trans. Dorothy Wyckoff (1967), 52-53.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Attack (86)  |  Body (557)  |  Broken (56)  |  Burn (99)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Cold (115)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Dry (65)  |  Element (322)  |  Figure (162)  |  Force (497)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hot (63)  |  Internal (69)  |  Material (366)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Moist (13)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Must (1525)  |  Open (277)  |  Organ (118)  |  Outside (141)  |  Petrification (5)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Retain (57)  |  Rock (176)  |  Salt (48)  |  Say (989)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strong (182)  |  Taste (93)  |  Water (503)  |  Wonderful (155)

It sometimes strikes me that the whole of science is a piece of impudence; that nature can afford to ignore our impertinent interference. If our monkey mischief should ever reach the point of blowing up the earth by decomposing an atom, and even annihilated the sun himself, I cannot really suppose that the universe would turn a hair.
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, ch. 14 (1929, rev 1970).
Science quotes on:  |  Afford (19)  |  Annihilate (10)  |  Atom (381)  |  Blow (45)  |  Blowing (22)  |  Decompose (10)  |  Hair (25)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignore (52)  |  Impertinent (5)  |  Interference (22)  |  Mischief (13)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Piece (39)  |  Point (584)  |  Reach (286)  |  Really (77)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Strike (72)  |  Sun (407)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Turn (454)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)

It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Blot (2)  |  Blue (63)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feel (371)  |  Giant (73)  |  Pea (4)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pretty (21)  |  Shut (41)  |  Small (489)  |  Strike (72)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Thumb (18)  |  Tiny (74)

It took hundreds of millions of years to produce the life that now inhabits the earth–eons of time in which that developing and evolving and diversifying life reached a state of adjustment and balance with its surroundings.
In Silent Spring (1962), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Adjustment (21)  |  Balance (82)  |  Develop (278)  |  Diversify (3)  |  Eon (12)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Life (1870)  |  Million (124)  |  Produce (117)  |  Reach (286)  |  State (505)  |  Surroundings (6)  |  Time (1911)  |  Year (963)

It was during my enchanted days of travel that the idea came to me, which, through the years, has come into my thoughts again and again and always happily—the idea that geology is the music of the earth.
In 'Prologue', Conversation with the Earth (1954), 3. As translated by E.B. Garside from Gespräch mit der Erde (1947).
Science quotes on:  |  Geology (240)  |  Idea (881)  |  Music (133)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Travel (125)  |  Year (963)

It was one thing to declare that we had not yet discovered the traces of a beginning, and another to deny that the earth ever had a beginning.
As quoted in Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth’s Surface (1833), Vol. 3, 383. The quote is Playfair’s comment on Hutton’s conclusion: “The result, therefore of our present inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.” In defence of Hutton, Playfair was pointing out that the doctrine of Hutton was not opposed to the belief of a creation. Hutton’s conclusion is in Dissertation on the Theory of the Earth (1795)
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Declare (48)  |  Deny (71)  |  Discover (571)  |  James Hutton (22)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Trace (109)

It was one thing to declare that we had not yet discovered the trace of a beginning, and another to deny that the earth ever had a beginning.
Epigraph in Charles Clay, 'Observations on the Theory of the Earth’s Original Formation', Geological Sketches and Observations on Vegetable Fossil Remains (1839), 69.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Declare (48)  |  Deny (71)  |  Discover (571)  |  Geology (240)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Trace (109)

It was shortly after midday on December 12, 1901, [in a hut on the cliffs at St. John’s, Newfoundland] that I placed a single earphone to my ear and started listening. The receiver on the table before me was very crude—a few coils and condensers and a coherer—no valves [vacuum tubes], no amplifiers, not even a crystal. I was at last on the point of putting the correctness of all my beliefs to test. … [The] answer came at 12:30. … Suddenly, about half past twelve there sounded the sharp click of the “tapper” … Unmistakably, the three sharp clicks corresponding to three dots sounded in my ear. “Can you hear anything, Mr. Kemp?” I asked, handing the telephone to my assistant. Kemp heard the same thing as I. … I knew then that I had been absolutely right in my calculations. The electric waves which were being sent out from Poldhu [Cornwall, England] had travelled the Atlantic, serenely ignoring the curvature of the earth which so many doubters considered a fatal obstacle. … I knew that the day on which I should be able to send full messages without wires or cables across the Atlantic was not far distant.
As quoted in Degna Marconi, My Father, Marconi (2000), 93.
Science quotes on:  |  Amplifier (3)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Atlantic Ocean (7)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Cable (11)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Click (4)  |  Cliff (22)  |  Coil (4)  |  Condenser (4)  |  Consider (428)  |  Correctness (12)  |  Crude (32)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Curvature (8)  |  Dot (18)  |  Ear (69)  |  Electric (76)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Hear (144)  |  Ignoring (11)  |  Last (425)  |  Listening (26)  |  Message (53)  |  Midday (4)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Past (355)  |  Point (584)  |  Radio (60)  |  Receiver (5)  |  Right (473)  |  Single (365)  |  Sound (187)  |  Start (237)  |  Success (327)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Table (105)  |  Telephone (31)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Vacuum (41)  |  Vacuum Tube (2)  |  Valve (2)  |  Wave (112)  |  Wire (36)

It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn.
In Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Rev. ed. 1831, 1839), 24. Webmaster note: This line does not appear before this edition, revised by Shelley for Colburn and Bentley’s Standard Novels Series, No. 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Heaven (266)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Secret (216)

It will be possible in a few more years to build radio controlled rockets which can be steered into such orbits beyond the limits of the atmosphere and left to broadcast scientific information back to the Earth. A little later, manned rockets will be able to make similar flights with sufficient excess power to break the orbit and return to Earth. (1945) [Predicting communications satellites.]
In 'Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Coverage?', Wireless World (Oct 1945). Quoted and cited in Arthur C. Clarke, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays, 1934-1998, 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Back (395)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Break (109)  |  Broadcast (2)  |  Build (211)  |  Communication (101)  |  Excess (23)  |  Flight (101)  |  Information (173)  |  Limit (294)  |  Little (717)  |  More (2558)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Radio (60)  |  Return (133)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

It would be a very wonderful, but not an absolutely incredible result, that volcanic action has never been more violent on the whole than during the last two or three centuries; but it is as certain that there is now less volcanic energy in the whole earth than there was a thousand years ago, as it is that there is less gunpowder in a ‘Monitor’ after she has been seen to discharge shot and shell, whether at a nearly equable rate or not, for five hours without receiving fresh supplies, than there was at the beginning of the action.
In 'On the Secular Cooling of the Earth', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1864), 23, 159.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Certain (557)  |  Discharge (21)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Gunpowder (18)  |  Hour (192)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Last (425)  |  Monitor (10)  |  More (2558)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Never (1089)  |  Result (700)  |  Shell (69)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Two (936)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Year (963)

It would be better for the true physics if there were no mathematicians on earth.
Quoted in The Mathematical Intelligencer (Winter 1991), 13, No. 1, 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)

It would be our worst enemy who would wish us to live only on the glories of the past and die off from the face of the earth in sheer passivity. By continuous achievement alone we can justify our great ancestry. We do not honour our ancestors by the false claim that they are omniscient and had nothing more to learn.
From 'Sir J.C. Bose’s Address', Benares Hindu University 1905-1935 (1936), 423. Collected in J. Lourdusamy, Science and National Consciousness in Bengal: 1870-1930 (2004), 106.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Alone (324)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Ancestry (13)  |  Claim (154)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Die (94)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Face (214)  |  Face Of The Earth (5)  |  False (105)  |  Glory (66)  |  Great (1610)  |  Honour (58)  |  Justify (26)  |  Learn (672)  |  Live (650)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Omniscient (6)  |  Passivity (2)  |  Past (355)  |  Wish (216)  |  Worst (57)  |  Worst Enemy (5)

It... [can] be easily shown:
1. That all present mountains did not exist from the beginning of things.
2. That there is no growing of mountains.
3. That the rocks or mountains have nothing in common with the bones of animals except a certain resemblance in hardness, since they agree in neither matter nor manner of production, nor in composition, nor in function, if one may be permitted to affirm aught about a subject otherwise so little known as are the functions of things.
4. That the extension of crests of mountains, or chains, as some prefer to call them, along the lines of certain definite zones of the earth, accords with neither reason nor experience.
5. That mountains can be overthrown, and fields carried over from one side of a high road across to the other; that peaks of mountains can be raised and lowered, that the earth can be opened and closed again, and that other things of this kind occur which those who in their reading of history wish to escape the name of credulous, consider myths.
The Prodromus of Nicolaus Steno's Dissertation Concerning a Solid Body enclosed by Process of Nature within a Solid (1669), trans. J. G. Winter (1916), 232-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Aught (6)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Bone (101)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Closed (38)  |  Common (447)  |  Composition (86)  |  Consider (428)  |  Credulous (9)  |  Definite (114)  |  Escape (85)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experience (494)  |  Extension (60)  |  Field (378)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Function (235)  |  Growing (99)  |  Growth (200)  |  High (370)  |  History (716)  |  Kind (564)  |  Known (453)  |  Little (717)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Myth (58)  |  Name (359)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Occur (151)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overthrown (8)  |  Present (630)  |  Production (190)  |  Reading (136)  |  Reason (766)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Rock (176)  |  Side (236)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wish (216)

It’s becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only laboratory where sufficiently extreme conditions are ever achieved to test new ideas on particle physics. The energies in the Big Bang were far higher than we can ever achieve on Earth. So by looking at evidence for the Big Bang, and by studying things like neutron stars, we are in effect learning something about fundamental physics.
From editted transcript of BBC Radio 3 interview, collected in Lewis Wolpert and Alison Richards, A Passion For Science (1988), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Bang (29)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Condition (362)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Effect (414)  |  Energy (373)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Idea (881)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Learning (291)  |  Looking (191)  |  Neutron (23)  |  Neutron Star (3)  |  New (1273)  |  Particle (200)  |  Particle Physics (13)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Sense (785)  |  Something (718)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Study (701)  |  Studying (70)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)

It’s not quite as exhilarating a feeling as orbiting the earth, but it’s close. In addition, it has an exotic, bizarre quality due entirely to the nature of the surface below. The earth from orbit is a delight - offering visual variety and an emotional feeling of belonging “down there.” Not so with this withered, sun-seared peach pit out of my window. There is no comfort to it; it is too stark and barren; its invitation is monotonous and meant for geologists only.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Addition (70)  |  Barren (33)  |  Belong (168)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Below (26)  |  Bizarre (6)  |  Close (77)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Delight (111)  |  Down (455)  |  Due (143)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Exhilarating (3)  |  Exotic (8)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Invitation (12)  |  Mean (810)  |  Monotonous (3)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Offer (142)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Peach (3)  |  Pit (20)  |  Quality (139)  |  Sear (2)  |  Stark (3)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Variety (138)  |  Visual (16)  |  Window (59)  |  Wither (9)

Its [mathematical analysis] chief attribute is clearness; it has no means for expressing confused ideas. It compares the most diverse phenomena and discovers the secret analogies which unite them. If matter escapes us, as that of air and light because of its extreme tenuity, if bodies are placed far from us in the immensity of space, if man wishes to know the aspect of the heavens at successive periods separated by many centuries, if gravity and heat act in the interior of the solid earth at depths which will forever be inaccessible, mathematical analysis is still able to trace the laws of these phenomena. It renders them present and measurable, and appears to be the faculty of the human mind destined to supplement the brevity of life and the imperfection of the senses, and what is even more remarkable, it follows the same course in the study of all phenomena; it explains them in the same language, as if in witness to the unity and simplicity of the plan of the universe, and to make more manifest the unchangeable order which presides over all natural causes.
From Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur (1822), Discours Préliminaire, xiv, (Theory of Heat, Introduction), as translated by Alexander Freeman in The Analytical Theory of Heat (1878), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Air (366)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Appear (122)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Body (557)  |  Brevity (8)  |  Cause (561)  |  Century (319)  |  Chief (99)  |  Clearness (11)  |  Compare (76)  |  Confused (13)  |  Course (413)  |  Depth (97)  |  Destined (42)  |  Discover (571)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Escape (85)  |  Explain (334)  |  Express (192)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Far (158)  |  Follow (389)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heat (180)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Imperfection (32)  |  Inaccessible (18)  |  Interior (35)  |  Know (1538)  |  Language (308)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Mathematical Analysis (23)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Measurable (3)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Order (638)  |  Period (200)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Place (192)  |  Plan (122)  |  Present (630)  |  Preside (3)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  Render (96)  |  Same (166)  |  Secret (216)  |  Sense (785)  |  Separate (151)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Solid (119)  |  Space (523)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Successive (73)  |  Supplement (7)  |  Tenuity (2)  |  Trace (109)  |  Unchangeable (11)  |  Unite (43)  |  Unity (81)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)  |  Witness (57)

John Muir, Earth-planet, Universe.
John Muir
Name and address, as inscribed on the inside cover of the notebook Muir recording his Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (Sep 1867). In John Muir and William Frederick Badé (Ed.), A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916), ix.
Science quotes on:  |  Address (13)  |  Notebook (4)  |  Planet (402)  |  Universe (900)

Jupiter is the largest of all the solar system’s planets, more than ten times bigger and three hundred times as massive as Earth. Jupiter is so immense it could swallow all the other planets easily. Its Great Red Spot, a storm that has raged for centuries, is itself wider than Earth. And the Spot is merely one feature visible among the innumerable vortexes and streams of Jupiter’s frenetically racing cloud tops. Yet Jupiter is composed mainly of the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium, more like a star than a planet. All that size and mass, yet Jupiter spins on its axis in less than ten hours, so fast that the planet is clearly not spherical: Its poles are noticeably flattened. Jupiter looks like a big, colorfully striped beach ball that’s squashed down as if some invisible child were sitting on it. Spinning that fast, Jupiter’s deep, deep atmosphere is swirled into bands and ribbons of multihued clouds: pale yellow, saffron orange, white, tawny yellow-brown, dark brown, bluish, pink and red. Titanic winds push the clouds across the face of Jupiter at hundreds of kilometers per hour.
Ben Bova
Jupiter
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Axis (9)  |  Ball (64)  |  Band (9)  |  Beach (23)  |  Big (55)  |  Brown (23)  |  Century (319)  |  Child (333)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Compose (20)  |  Dark (145)  |  Deep (241)  |  Down (455)  |  Easily (36)  |  Element (322)  |  Face (214)  |  Fast (49)  |  Feature (49)  |  Great (1610)  |  Helium (11)  |  Hour (192)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hundreds (6)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Immense (89)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Kilometer (10)  |  Large (398)  |  Largest (39)  |  Less (105)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Mainly (10)  |  Mass (160)  |  Massive (9)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Orange (15)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pale (9)  |  Pink (4)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pole (49)  |  Push (66)  |  Race (278)  |  Rage (10)  |  Red (38)  |  Ribbon (2)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Size (62)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Solar Systems (5)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Spin (26)  |  Spinning (18)  |  Spot (19)  |  Squash (4)  |  Star (460)  |  Storm (56)  |  Stream (83)  |  Stripe (4)  |  Swallow (32)  |  Swirl (10)  |  System (545)  |  Tawny (3)  |  Time (1911)  |  Titanic (4)  |  Top (100)  |  Visible (87)  |  Vortex (10)  |  White (132)  |  Wide (97)  |  Wind (141)  |  Yellow (31)

Just a rock, a dome of snow, the deep blue sky, and a hunk of orange-painted metal from which a shredded American flag cracked in the wind. Nothing more. Except two tiny figures walking together those last few feet to the top of the Earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  American (56)  |  Blue (63)  |  Crack (15)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dome (9)  |  Figure (162)  |  Flag (12)  |  Foot (65)  |  Last (425)  |  Metal (88)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Orange (15)  |  Rock (176)  |  Shred (7)  |  Sky (174)  |  Snow (39)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Together (392)  |  Top (100)  |  Two (936)  |  Walk (138)  |  Wind (141)

Just as the spectroscope opened up a new astronomy by enabling the astronomer to determine some of the constituents of which distant stars are composed, so the seismograph, recording the unfelt motion of distant earthquakes, enables us to see into the earth and determine its nature with as great a certainty, up to a certain point, as if we could drive a tunnel through it and take samples of the matter passed through.
'The Constitution of the Interior of the Earth, as Revealed by Earthquakes', Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (1906), 62, 456.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Composition (86)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Determination (80)  |  Determine (152)  |  Distance (171)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Enable (122)  |  Great (1610)  |  Matter (821)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Open (277)  |  Pass (241)  |  Point (584)  |  Recording (13)  |  Sample (19)  |  See (1094)  |  Seismograph (4)  |  Spectroscope (3)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Through (846)  |  Tunnel (13)

Just as, in civil History, one consults title-deeds, one studies coins, one deciphers ancient inscriptions, in order to determine the epochs of human revolutions and to fix the dates of moral [i.e. human] events; so, in Natural History, one must excavate the archives of the world, recover ancient monuments from the depths of the earth, collect their remains, and assemble in one body of proofs all the evidence of physical changes that enable us to reach back to the different ages of Nature. This, then, is the order of the times indicated by facts and monuments: these are six epochs in the succession of the first ages of Nature; six spaces of duration, the limits of which although indeterminate are not less real; for these epochs are not like those of civil History ... that we can count and measure exactly; nevertheless we can compare them with each other and estimate their relative duration.
'Des Époques de la Nature', Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière contenant les Époques de la Nature (1778), Supplement Vol. 9, 1-2, 41. Trans. Martin J. Rudwick.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Assemble (14)  |  Back (395)  |  Body (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Civil (26)  |  Compare (76)  |  Count (107)  |  Deed (34)  |  Depth (97)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Enable (122)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Event (222)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Limit (294)  |  Measure (241)  |  Monument (45)  |  Moral (203)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Change (5)  |  Proof (304)  |  Reach (286)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Space (523)  |  Succession (80)  |  Time (1911)  |  World (1850)

Knowing Pains
I studied parts
of a flower
to understand
its flowering.
I learned much
about my limits.
I had forgotten
Earth and climate.
Poem, in Starting Points: Poems (1971), 38. As quoted in Arthur Lerner, 'Poetry Therapy', The American Journal of Nursing (Aug 1973), 73, No. 8, 1338.
Science quotes on:  |  Botany (63)  |  Climate (102)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Flower (112)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Limit (294)  |  Pain (144)  |  Part (235)  |  Study (701)  |  Understand (648)

Knowledge conceald and not broached for a publicke use, is like to a pearelesse gemme interred in the center of the earth, whereof no man knows but he that hid it.
In 'To the Reader', The Optick Glass of Humors (1607), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Center (35)  |  Conceal (19)  |  Gem (17)  |  Inter (12)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Public (100)  |  Use (771)

Laplace considers astronomy a science of observation, because we can only observe the movements of the planets; we cannot reach them, indeed, to alter their course and to experiment with them. “On earth,” said Laplace, “we make phenomena vary by experiments; in the sky, we carefully define all the phenomena presented to us by celestial motion.” Certain physicians call medicine a science of observations, because they wrongly think that experimentation is inapplicable to it.
From An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865), as translated by Henry Copley Greene (1957), 18. A footnote cites Laplace, Système du monde, Chap. 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Call (781)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Certain (557)  |  Consider (428)  |  Course (413)  |  Defining (3)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimentation (7)  |  Inapplicable (2)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Pierre-Simon Laplace (63)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Motion (320)  |  Movement (162)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physician (284)  |  Planet (402)  |  Present (630)  |  Reach (286)  |  Sky (174)  |  Think (1122)  |  Variation (93)  |  Wrongly (2)

Lately we have been getting facts pointing to the “oceanic” nature of the floor of so-called inland seas. Through geological investigations it has been definitely established that in its deepest places, for instance, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the Earth’s crust is devoid of granite stratum. The same may be said quite confidently about the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Could the interpretation of these data be that inland seas were the primary stage of the formation of oceanic basins?
From 'O geologicheskom stroyenii i razvitii okeanicheskikh vpadm' (The Geological Structure and Development of Ocean Hollows ), News of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Geology Series (1955), 3, 3-18. As given in N. Zhirov, Atlantis: Atlantology: Basic Problems (2001), 139.
Science quotes on:  |  Basin (2)  |  Call (781)  |  Caribbean Sea (2)  |  Crust (43)  |  Data (162)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Floor (21)  |  Formation (100)  |  Geology (240)  |  Granite (8)  |  Gulf (18)  |  Gulf Of Mexico (5)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Mediterranean (9)  |  Mediterranean Sea (6)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Primary (82)  |  Sea (326)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Stage (152)  |  Stratum (11)  |  Through (846)

Learn to reverence night and to put away the vulgar fear of it, for, with the banishment of night from the experience of man, there vanishes as well a religious emotion, a poetic mood, which gives depth to the adventure of humanity. By day, space is one with the earth and with man - it is his sun that is shining, his clouds that are floating past; at night, space is his no more. When the great earth, abandoning day, rolls up the deeps of the heavens and the universe, a new door opens for the human spirit, and there are few so clownish that some awareness of the mystery of being does not touch them as they gaze. For a moment of night we have a glimpse of ourselves and of our world islanded in its stream of stars - pilgrims of mortality, voyaging between horizons across eternal seas of space and time. Fugitive though the instant be, the spirit of man is, during it, ennobled by a genuine moment of emotional dignity, and poetry makes its own both the human spirit and experience.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Across (32)  |  Adventure (69)  |  Awareness (42)  |  Banishment (3)  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Clown (2)  |  Deep (241)  |  Depth (97)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Door (94)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Ennoble (8)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fear (212)  |  Float (31)  |  Fugitive (4)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Give (208)  |  Glimpse (16)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Spirit (12)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Instant (46)  |  Island (49)  |  Learn (672)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moment (260)  |  Mood (15)  |  More (2558)  |  Mortality (16)  |  Mystery (188)  |  New (1273)  |  Night (133)  |  Open (277)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Past (355)  |  Pilgrim (4)  |  Poetic (7)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Religious (134)  |  Reverence (29)  |  Roll (41)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shine (49)  |  Shining (35)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stream (83)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Touch (146)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vanish (19)  |  Voyage (13)  |  Vulgar (33)  |  World (1850)

Let him look at that dazzling light hung aloft as an eternal lamp to lighten the universe; let him behold the earth, a mere dot compared with the vast circuit which that orb describes, and stand amazed to find that the vast circuit itself is but a very fine point compared with the orbit traced by the stars as they roll their course on high. But if our vision halts there, let imagination pass beyond; it will fail to form a conception long before Nature fails to supply material. The whole visible world is but an imperceptible speck in the ample bosom of Nature. No notion comes near it. Though we may extend our thought beyond imaginable space, yet compared with reality we bring to birth mere atoms. Nature is an infinite sphere whereof the centre is everywhere, the circumference nowhere. In short, imagination is brought to silence at the thought, and that is the most perceptible sign of the all-power of God.
Let man reawake and consider what he is compared with the reality of things; regard himself lost in this remote corner of Nature; and from the tiny cell where he lodges, to wit the Universe, weigh at their true worth earth, kingdoms, towns, himself. What is a man face to face with infinity?
Pensées (1670), Section 1, aphorism 43. In H. F. Stewart (ed.), Pascal’s Pensées (1950), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Aloft (5)  |  Amazement (19)  |  Ample (4)  |  Atom (381)  |  Behold (19)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Birth (154)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Cell (146)  |  Centre (31)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Conception (160)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Corner (59)  |  Course (413)  |  Dazzling (13)  |  Describe (132)  |  Dot (18)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Extend (129)  |  Face (214)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  God (776)  |  Halt (10)  |  High (370)  |  Himself (461)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imperceptibility (2)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Light (635)  |  Lodge (3)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Lost (34)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Notion (120)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Orb (20)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Pass (241)  |  Perception (97)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Reality (274)  |  Regard (312)  |  Remote (86)  |  Roll (41)  |  Short (200)  |  Sign (63)  |  Silence (62)  |  Space (523)  |  Speck (25)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Stand (284)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Supply (100)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Town (30)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Visibility (6)  |  Visible (87)  |  Vision (127)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wit (61)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

Let the farmer for evermore be honored in his calling, for they who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.
In Tryon Edwards (ed.), A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations (1891), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Calling (3)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Farmer (35)  |  God (776)  |  Honor (57)  |  Labor (200)  |  People (1031)

Let the mind rise from victory to victory over surrounding nature, let it but conquer for human life and activity not only the surface of the earth but also all that lies between the depth of the sea and the outer limits of the atmosphere; let it command for its service prodigious energy to flow from one part of the universe to the other, let it annihilate space for the transference of its thoughts.
In Ivan Pavlov and William Horsley Gantt (trans.), Lectures on Conditioned Reflexes (1928, 1941), Preface, 41.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Annihilate (10)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Command (60)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Depth (97)  |  Energy (373)  |  Flow (89)  |  Human (1512)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Rise (169)  |  Sea (326)  |  Service (110)  |  Space (523)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universe (900)  |  Victory (40)

Let us only imagine that birds had studied their own development and that it was they in turn who investigated the structure of the adult mammal and of man. Wouldn’t their physiological textbooks teach the following? “Those four and two-legged animals bear many resemblances to embryos, for their cranial bones are separated, and they have no beak, just as we do in the first live or six days of incubation; their extremities are all very much alike, as ours are for about the same period; there is not a single true feather on their body, rather only thin feather-shafts, so that we, as fledglings in the nest, are more advanced than they shall ever be … And these mammals that cannot find their own food for such a long time after their birth, that can never rise freely from the earth, want to consider themselves more highly organized than we?”
Über Entwicklungsgeschichte der Thiere: Beobachtung und Reflexion (1828), 203. Trans. Stephen Jay Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny (1977), 54.
Science quotes on:  |  Alike (60)  |  Animal (651)  |  Bear (162)  |  Bird (163)  |  Birth (154)  |  Body (557)  |  Bone (101)  |  Consider (428)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Food (213)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Incubation (3)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Mammal (41)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Nest (26)  |  Never (1089)  |  Period (200)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Rise (169)  |  Single (365)  |  Structure (365)  |  Teach (299)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Want (504)

Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth.
Science quotes on:  |  Greatest (330)  |  Life (1870)  |  Show (353)

Life is girt all round with a zodiac of sciences, the contributions of men who have perished to add their point of light to our sky. ... These road-makers on every hand enrich us. We must extend the area of life and multiply our relations. We are as much gainers by finding a property in the old earth as by acquiring a new planet.
In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 247:34.
Science quotes on:  |  Contribution (93)  |  Enrich (27)  |  Extend (129)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Maker (34)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Perish (56)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Property (177)  |  Sky (174)

Life is not a miracle. It is a natural phenomenon, and can be expected to appear whenever there is a planet whose conditions duplicate those of the earth.
[Stating his belief that planets supporting life cannot be rare.]
Lecture at New York Academy of Medicine. Quoted in article, 'Life Begins,' Time (24 Nov 1952).
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Condition (362)  |  Duplicate (9)  |  Expect (203)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Life (1870)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Natural (810)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rare (94)  |  Whenever (81)

Life through many long periods has been manifested in a countless host of varying structures, all circumscribed by one general plan, each appointed to a definite place, and limited to an appointed duration. On the whole the earth has been thus more and more covered by the associated life of plants and animals, filling all habitable space with beings capable of enjoying their own existence or ministering to the enjoyment of others; till finally, after long preparation, a being was created capable of the wonderful power of measuring and weighing all the world of matter and space which surrounds him, of treasuring up the past history of all the forms of life, and considering his own relation to the whole. When he surveys this vast and co-ordinated system, and inquires into its history and origin, can he be at a loss to decide whether it be a work of Divine thought and wisdom, or the fortunate offspring of a few atoms of matter, warmed by the anima mundi, a spark of electricity, or an accidental ray of sunshine?
Life on the Earth: Its Origin and Succession (1860), 216-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Accidental (31)  |  Animal (651)  |  Appointment (12)  |  Association (49)  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Capability (44)  |  Capable (174)  |  Coordination (11)  |  Countless (39)  |  Cover (40)  |  Decision (98)  |  Definite (114)  |  Divine (112)  |  Duration (12)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fill (67)  |  Form (976)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Fortune (50)  |  General (521)  |  Habitat (17)  |  History (716)  |  Host (16)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Limited (102)  |  Long (778)  |  Loss (117)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Matter (821)  |  Measurement (178)  |  More (2558)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Period (200)  |  Place (192)  |  Plan (122)  |  Plant (320)  |  Power (771)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Ray (115)  |  Space (523)  |  Spark (32)  |  Structure (365)  |  Sunshine (12)  |  Survey (36)  |  System (545)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Variation (93)  |  Vast (188)  |  Warm (74)  |  Weight (140)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Life was born and propagates itself on the earth as a solitary pulsation.
In Teilhard de Chardin and Sara Appleton-Weber (trans.), The Human Phenomenon (1999, 2003), 60. Originally published in French as Le Phénomene Humain (1955).
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Life (1870)  |  Propagation (15)  |  Pulsation (4)  |  Solitary (16)

Life, forever dying to be born afresh, forever young and eager, will presently stand upon this Earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Afresh (4)  |  Amidst (2)  |  Bear (162)  |  Die (94)  |  Eager (17)  |  Footstool (2)  |  Forever (111)  |  Life (1870)  |  Realm (87)  |  Stand (284)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Will (2350)  |  Young (253)

Life, therefore, has been often disturbed on this earth by terrible events—calamities which, at their commencement, have perhaps moved and overturned to a great depth the entire outer crust of the globe, but which, since these first commotions, have uniformly acted at a less depth and less generally. Numberless living beings have been the victims of these catastrophes; some have been destroyed by sudden inundations, others have been laid dry in consequence of the bottom of the seas being instantaneously elevated. Their races even have become extinct, and have left no memorial of them except some small fragments which the naturalist can scarcely recognise.
'Preliminary discourse', to Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles (1812), trans. R. Kerr Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813), 16-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bottom Of The Sea (5)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Commencement (14)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Crust (43)  |  Depth (97)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Disturb (31)  |  Disturbed (15)  |  Dry (65)  |  Event (222)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Extinction (80)  |  First (1302)  |  Flood (52)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Great (1610)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Other (2233)  |  Race (278)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Sea (326)  |  Small (489)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Victim (37)

Like water, be gentle and strong. Be gentle enough to follow the natural paths of the earth, and strong enough to rise up and reshape the world.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Enough (341)  |  Follow (389)  |  Gentle (9)  |  Natural (810)  |  Path (159)  |  Reshape (5)  |  Rise (169)  |  Strong (182)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

Man has too long forgotten that the earth was given to him for usufruct alone, not for consumption, still less for profligate waste.
Man and Nature, (1864), 35. The word usufruct comes from Latin words in Roman law, usus et fructus for use and fruit (enjoyment), now meaning the temporary right to the use and enjoyment of the property of another, without changing the character of the property.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Consumption (16)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Still (614)  |  Use (771)  |  Waste (109)

Man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about a small star at the outskirts of an ordinary galaxy. ... I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It’s a very odd situation. And the more I look at things I cannot get rid of the feeling that existence is quite weird.
From lecture, 'Images of God,' available as a podcast, and part of The Tao of Philosophy six-CD collection of lectures by Watts.
Science quotes on:  |  Ball (64)  |  Discover (571)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fire (203)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Germ (54)  |  Importance (299)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Rock (176)  |  Situation (117)  |  Small (489)  |  Star (460)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)

Man must at all costs overcome the Earth’s gravity and have, in reserve, the space at least of the Solar System. All kinds of danger wait for him on the Earth… We are talking of disaster that can destroy the whole of mankind or a large part of it… For instance, a cloud of bolides [meteors] or a small planet a few dozen kilometers in diameter could fall on the Earth, with such an impact that the solid, liquid or gaseous blast produced by it could wipe off the face of the Earth all traces of man and his buildings. The rise of temperature accompanying it could alone scorch or kill all living beings… We are further compelled to take up the struggle against gravity, and for the utilization of celestial space and all its wealth, because of the overpopulation of our planet. Numerous other terrible dangers await mankind on the Earth, all of which suggest that man should look for a way into the Cosmos. We have said a great deal about the advantages of migration into space, but not all can be said or even imagined.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Against (332)  |  Alone (324)  |  Being (1276)  |  Blast (13)  |  Building (158)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Cost (94)  |  Danger (127)  |  Deal (192)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Disaster (58)  |  Face (214)  |  Fall (243)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impact (45)  |  Kill (100)  |  Kilometer (10)  |  Kind (564)  |  Large (398)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Living (492)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Meteor (19)  |  Migration (12)  |  Must (1525)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overcome (40)  |  Overpopulation (6)  |  Planet (402)  |  Produced (187)  |  Reserve (26)  |  Rise (169)  |  Small (489)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Solid (119)  |  Space (523)  |  Struggle (111)  |  System (545)  |  Talking (76)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Trace (109)  |  Utilization (16)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Whole (756)

Man will not always stay on earth; the pursuit of light and space will lead him to penetrate the bounds of the atmosphere, timidly at first, but in the end to conquer the whole of solar space.
Epitaph he wrote for himself, engraved in bronze letters on the tall grey stone obelisk raised over his grave. As translated by Kenneth Syers and given in the English edition, Beyond the Planet Earth (1960) of K. Tsiolkovsky’s original Russian book (1920). Also seen translated as, “Mankind will not remain on the earth forever, but, in search of light and space, will at first timidly penetrate beyond the limits of the atmosphere and then finally conquer the spaces of the solar system.”
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Bound (120)  |  Conquer (39)  |  End (603)  |  First (1302)  |  Lead (391)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

MAN, n. An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911), Vol. 7, The Devil's Dictionary,  212.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Canada (6)  |  Chief (99)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Humour (116)  |  Man (2252)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Rapidity (29)  |  Species (435)  |  Think (1122)  |  Whole (756)

Man, the cutting edge of terrestrial life, has no rational alternative but to expand the environmental and resource base beyond earth.
On the 'extraterrestrial imperative,' recalled on his death 11 Dec 84
Science quotes on:  |  Alternative (32)  |  Base (120)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Cut (116)  |  Edge (51)  |  Expand (56)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Rational (95)  |  Resource (74)  |  Terrestrial (62)

Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself, in his cities of steel and concrete, from the realities of earth and water and the growing seed. Intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into more experiments for the destruction of himself and his world.
From speech upon receiving the John Burroughs Medal (Apr 1952) in New York, awarded for her book, The Sea Around Us. As collected in Rachel Carson and Linda Lear (ed.), 'Design for Nature Writing', Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1998, 2011), 94.
Science quotes on:  |  Artificial (38)  |  City (87)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Creation (350)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Intoxication (7)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Power (771)  |  Reality (274)  |  Seed (97)  |  Steel (23)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

Mankind will not remain on Earth forever, but in its quest for light and space will at first timidly penetrate beyond the confines of the atmosphere, and later will conquer for itself all the space near the Sun.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Confine (26)  |  Conquer (39)  |  First (1302)  |  Forever (111)  |  Late (119)  |  Light (635)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Quest (39)  |  Remain (355)  |  Space (523)  |  Sun (407)  |  Timid (6)  |  Will (2350)

Many animals even now spring out of the soil,
Coalescing from the rains and the heat of the sun.
Small wonder, then, if more and bigger creatures,
Full-formed, arose from the new young earth and sky.
The breed, for instance, of the dappled birds
Shucked off their eggshells in the springtime, as
Crickets in summer will slip their slight cocoons
All by themselves, and search for food and life.
Earth gave you, then, the first of mortal kinds,
For all the fields were soaked with warmth and moisture.
On the Nature of Things, trans. Anthony M. Esolen (1995), Book 5, lines 794-803, 181.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Bird (163)  |  Cocoon (4)  |  Creature (242)  |  Cricket (8)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Food (213)  |  Form (976)  |  Heat (180)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Moisture (21)  |  More (2558)  |  Mortal (55)  |  New (1273)  |  Rain (70)  |  Search (175)  |  Sky (174)  |  Small (489)  |  Soil (98)  |  Spring (140)  |  Springtime (5)  |  Summer (56)  |  Sun (407)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Warmth (21)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Young (253)

Mars is the next frontier, what the Old West was, what America was 500 years ago. It’s been 500 years since Columbus. It’s time to strike out anew. There’s a big argument at the moment. The moon is closer, and we’ve got to go back there sometime. But whether it will ever be settled on a large scale is a question. But Mars—there’s no doubt about it. … Everything you need is on Mars.
The characteristic of human nature, and perhaps our simian family group, is curiosity and exploration. When we stop doing that, we won't be human anymore. You say there's been a decline, well, I’ve seen far more happen in my lifetime than I ever dreamed. And the momentary plateau now, well, many of our problems on Earth can only be solved by space technology. … When we get out of the present sort of slump and confusion, well, I mean the next step is space. It's inevitable.
Interview in Sri Lanka by Steve Coll for The Washington Post (9 Mar 1992), B1.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  America (143)  |  Anew (19)  |  Anymore (5)  |  Branch (155)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Doing (277)  |  Dream (222)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Family (101)  |  Far (158)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Lifetime (40)  |  Mars (47)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Next (238)  |  Problem (731)  |  See (1094)  |  Simian (2)  |  Solve (145)  |  Space (523)  |  Step (234)  |  Stop (89)  |  Strike (72)  |  Technology (281)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wild (96)  |  Wild West (2)  |  Year (963)

Mars was surprising in its way but not flabbergasting; it was a disappointment not to find evidences of life, and there was some sadness in the pictures sent back to earth from the Mars Lander, that lonely long-legged apparatus poking about with its jointed arm, picking up sample after sample of the barren Mars soil, looking for any flicker of life and finding none; the only sign of life on Mars was the Lander itself, an extension of the human mind all the way from earth to Mars, totally alone.
In Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (1984), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Arm (82)  |  Back (395)  |  Barren (33)  |  Disappointment (18)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Extension (60)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flicker (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Joint (31)  |  Leg (35)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lonely (24)  |  Long (778)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mars (47)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Pick (16)  |  Picture (148)  |  Poke (5)  |  Sadness (36)  |  Sample (19)  |  Send (23)  |  Sign (63)  |  Soil (98)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Totally (6)  |  Way (1214)

Mathematics accomplishes really nothing outside of the realm of magnitude; marvellous, however, is the skill with which it masters magnitude wherever it finds it. We recall at once the network of lines which it has spun about heavens and earth; the system of lines to which azimuth and altitude, declination and right ascension, longitude and latitude are referred; those abscissas and ordinates, tangents and normals, circles of curvature and evolutes; those trigonometric and logarithmic functions which have been prepared in advance and await application. A look at this apparatus is sufficient to show that mathematicians are not magicians, but that everything is accomplished by natural means; one is rather impressed by the multitude of skilful machines, numerous witnesses of a manifold and intensely active industry, admirably fitted for the acquisition of true and lasting treasures.
In Werke [Kehrbach] (1890), Bd. 5, 101. As quoted, cited and translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Active (80)  |  Admirably (3)  |  Advance (298)  |  Altitude (5)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Application (257)  |  Ascension (4)  |  Await (6)  |  Circle (117)  |  Curvature (8)  |  Everything (489)  |  Evolute (2)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fit (139)  |  Function (235)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Impress (66)  |  Impressed (39)  |  Industry (159)  |  Intense (22)  |  Latitude (6)  |  Line (100)  |  Logarithmic (5)  |  Longitude (8)  |  Look (584)  |  Machine (271)  |  Magician (15)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Manifold (23)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Network (21)  |  Normal (29)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Outside (141)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Really (77)  |  Realm (87)  |  Recall (11)  |  Refer (14)  |  Right (473)  |  Show (353)  |  Skill (116)  |  Skillful (17)  |  Spin (26)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  System (545)  |  Tangent (6)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Trigonometry (7)  |  True (239)  |  Wherever (51)  |  Witness (57)

May not subterraneous fire be considered as the great plough (if I may be allowed the expression) which Nature makes use of to turn up the bowels of the earth?
Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanoes (1774),161.
Science quotes on:  |  Bowel (17)  |  Consider (428)  |  Expression (181)  |  Fire (203)  |  Great (1610)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Plough (15)  |  Turn (454)  |  Use (771)  |  Volcano (46)

Medicine rests upon four pillars—philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and ethics. The first pillar is the philosophical knowledge of earth and water; the second, astronomy, supplies its full understanding of that which is of fiery and airy nature; the third is an adequate explanation of the properties of all the four elements—that is to say, of the whole cosmos—and an introduction into the art of their transformations; and finally, the fourth shows the physician those virtues which must stay with him up until his death, and it should support and complete the three other pillars.
Vas Buch Paragranum (c.1529-30), in J. Jacobi (ed.), Paracelsus: Selected Writings (1951), 133-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequacy (10)  |  Adequate (50)  |  Air (366)  |  Alchemy (31)  |  Art (680)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Complete (209)  |  Completion (23)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Death (406)  |  Element (322)  |  Ethic (39)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Four (6)  |  Introduction (37)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physician (284)  |  Pillar (10)  |  Property (177)  |  Rest (287)  |  Say (989)  |  Show (353)  |  Stay (26)  |  Supply (100)  |  Support (151)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

Men are weak now, and yet they transform the Earth’s surface. In millions of years their might will increase to the extent that they will change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, the atmosphere, and themselves. They will control the climate and the Solar System just as they control the Earth. They will travel beyond the limits of our planetary system; they will reach other Suns, and use their fresh energy instead of the energy of their dying luminary.
In Plan of Space Exploration (1926). Quote as translated in Vitaliĭ Ivanovich Sevastʹi︠a︡nov, Arkadiĭ Dmitrievich Ursul, I︠U︡riĭ Andreevich Shkolenko, The Universe and Civilisation (1981), 104.
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Change (639)  |  Climate (102)  |  Control (182)  |  Energy (373)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Increase (225)  |  Limit (294)  |  Luminary (4)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Reach (286)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  System (545)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Transform (74)  |  Travel (125)  |  Use (771)  |  Weak (73)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

Men can construct a science with very few instruments, or with very plain instruments; but no one on earth could construct a science with unreliable instruments. A man might work out the whole of mathematics with a handful of pebbles, but not with a handful of clay which was always falling apart into new fragments, and falling together into new combinations. A man might measure heaven and earth with a reed, but not with a growing reed.
Heretics (1905), 146-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Combination (150)  |  Construct (129)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Growing (99)  |  Handful (14)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  New (1273)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Together (392)  |  Whole (756)  |  Work (1402)

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth more than ruin more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Afraid (24)  |  Chief (99)  |  Comfortable (13)  |  Death (406)  |  Destructive (10)  |  Establish (63)  |  Fear (212)  |  Free (239)  |  Glory (66)  |  Great (1610)  |  Habit (174)  |  Hell (32)  |  Institution (73)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Merciless (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pit (20)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Revolutionary (31)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Subversive (2)  |  Swift (16)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Thought (995)  |  World (1850)

Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone.
From Kavanagh: A Tale (1849), 49.
Science quotes on:  |  Blaze (14)  |  Descend (49)  |  Dull (58)  |  Genius (301)  |  Inert (14)  |  Meteor (19)  |  Often (109)  |  Society (350)  |  Stone (168)

Men who are occupied in the restoration of health to other men, by the joint exertion of skill and humanity, are above all the great of the earth. They even partake of divinity, since to preserve and renew is almost as noble as to create.
A Philosophical Dictionary? (1764, 1843), Vol. 2, 317.
Science quotes on:  |  Create (245)  |  Divinity (23)  |  Great (1610)  |  Health (210)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Joint (31)  |  Noble (93)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physician (284)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Renew (20)  |  Skill (116)

Metaphor is important because to deal with, understand, and even ameliorate the fix we are now in over global change requires us to know the true nature of the Earth and imagine it as the largest living thing in the solar system, not something inanimate like that disreputable contraption ‘spaceship Earth’.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Ameliorate (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Contraption (3)  |  Fix (34)  |  Global (39)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Inanimate (18)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Living Thing (4)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Require (229)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Spaceship Earth (3)  |  True (239)  |  Understand (648)

Mineral substances vary greatly in color, transparency, luster, brilliance, odor, taste, and other properties which are shown by their strength and weakness, shape, and form. They do not have the variety of origins that we find not only in living matter but also in original matter. Moreover they have not been classified like the latter on the basis of the place where they pass their life since mineral substances lack life and with rare exceptions are found only within the earth. They do not have the differences in characters and actions which nature has given to living things alone. Great differences are not the essential features of minerals as they are of living and original matter.
De Natura Fossilium (1546), trans. M. C. and J. A. Bandy (1955), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Alone (324)  |  Basis (180)  |  Brilliance (14)  |  Character (259)  |  Color (155)  |  Difference (355)  |  Do (1905)  |  Essential (210)  |  Exception (74)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Lack (127)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Odor (11)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Rare (94)  |  Strength (139)  |  Substance (253)  |  Taste (93)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transparency (7)  |  Variety (138)  |  Weakness (50)

Modern neurosis began with the discoveries of Copernicus. Science made men feel small by showing him that the earth was not the center of the universe. He retaliated … through the conquest of nature, the invention of machines, the industrial revolution. … In the course of these compensatory activities, he unwittingly destroyed the home, replacing it with the factory as the center of his life.
In essay, 'Tyranny of the Orgasm' (Apr 1947), collected in On The Contrary (1961), 168.
Science quotes on:  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Modern (402)  |  Neurosis (9)  |  Small (489)  |  Universe (900)

Modern Science has along with the theory that the Earth dated its beginning with the advent of man, swept utterly away this beautiful imagining. We can, indeed, find no beginning of the world. We trace back events and come to barriers which close our vistabarriers which, for all we know, may for ever close it. They stand like the gates of ivory and of horn; portals from which only dreams proceed; and Science cannot as yet say of this or that dream if it proceeds from the gate of horn or from that of ivory.
In short, of the Earth's origin we have no certain knowledge; nor can we assign any date to it. Possibly its formation was an event so gradual that the beginning was spread over immense periods. We can only trace the history back to certain events which may with considerable certainty be regarded as ushering in our geological era.
John Joly
Lecture at the Royal Dublin Society, 6 Feb 1914. Published in Science Progress, Vol. 9, 37. Republished in The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays, (1915), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Barrier (34)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Dream (222)  |  Era (51)  |  Event (222)  |  Find (1014)  |  Formation (100)  |  Gate (33)  |  History (716)  |  Horn (18)  |  Immense (89)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Origin (250)  |  Period (200)  |  Portal (9)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Regard (312)  |  Say (989)  |  Short (200)  |  Spread (86)  |  Stand (284)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Trace (109)  |  World (1850)

More than the diamond Koh-i-noor, which glitters among their crown jewels, they prize the dull pebble which is wiser than a man, whose poles turn themselves to the poles of the world, and whose axis is parallel to the axis of the world. Now, their toys are steam and galvanism.
English Traits (1856), 47. The “dull pebble” refers to lodestone and its magnetic properties.
Science quotes on:  |  Axis (9)  |  Compass (37)  |  Crown (39)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Dull (58)  |  Dullness (4)  |  Galvanism (9)  |  Glitter (10)  |  Jewel (10)  |  Lodestone (7)  |  Magnetic Field (7)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Pole (49)  |  Prize (13)  |  Steam (81)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Toy (22)  |  Turn (454)  |  Turning (5)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  World (1850)

Moreover, within the hollows of the earth,
When from one quarter the wind builds up, lunges,
Muscles the deep caves with its headstrong power,
The earth leans hard where the force of wind has pressed it;
Then above ground, the higher the house is built,
The nearer it rises to the sky, the worse
Will it lean that way and jut out perilously,
The beams wrenched loose and hanging ready to fall.
And to think, men can't believe that for this world
Some time of death and ruin lies in wait,
Yet they see so great a mass of earth collapse!
And the winds pause for breath—that's lucky, for else
No force could rein things galloping to destruction.
But since they pause for breath, to rally their force,
Come building up and then fall driven back,
More often the earth will threaten ruin than
Perform it. The earth will lean and then sway back,
Its wavering mass restored to the right poise.
That explains why all houses reel, top floor
Most then the middle, and ground floor hardly at all.
On the Nature of Things, trans. Anthony M. Esolen (1995), Book 6, lines 558-77, 216.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beam (26)  |  Breath (61)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Cave (17)  |  Death (406)  |  Deep (241)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fall (243)  |  Force (497)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hard (246)  |  House (143)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Perform (123)  |  Power (771)  |  Right (473)  |  Rise (169)  |  Ruin (44)  |  See (1094)  |  Sky (174)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Threaten (33)  |  Time (1911)  |  Top (100)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  World (1850)

Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth.
Ptolemy
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Circular (19)  |  Course (413)  |  Follow (389)  |  Foot (65)  |  Know (1538)  |  Long (778)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Touch (146)

Most discussions of the population crisis lead logically to zero population growth as the ultimate goal, because any growth rate, if continued, will eventually use up the earth... Turning to the actual measures taken we see that the very use of family planning as the means for implementing population policy poses serious but unacknowledged limits the intended reduction in fertility. The family-planning movement, clearly devoted to the improvement and dissemination of contraceptive devices, states again and again that its purpose is that of enabling couples to have the number of children they want.
With the publication of this article 'zero population growth' and the acronym 'ZPG' came into general use.
'Population Policy: Will Current Programs Succeed?', Science, 1967, 158, 732.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Children (201)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Device (71)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Dissemination (3)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Family (101)  |  Fertility (23)  |  General (521)  |  Goal (155)  |  Growth (200)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Lead (391)  |  Limit (294)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Measure (241)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Number (710)  |  Planning (21)  |  Population (115)  |  Population Growth (9)  |  Publication (102)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reduction (52)  |  See (1094)  |  Serious (98)  |  State (505)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Use (771)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)  |  Zero (38)

Most of the beds [of rock] contain shells, corals, and other related forms, called fossils,—so named because dug out of the earth, the word being from the Latin fossilis, meaning, that which is dug up. … The various species that have left their remains in any bed must have been in existence when that bed was in progress of formation…. The study of the fossils of the successive beds is the study of the succession of living species that have existed in the earth’s history.
In 'Introduction', A Text-book of Geology: Designed for Schools and Academies (1863), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Bed (25)  |  Dig (25)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fossil (143)  |  History (716)  |  Latin (44)  |  Leave (138)  |  Life (1870)  |  Name (359)  |  Progress (492)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rock (176)  |  Shell (69)  |  Species (435)  |  Study (701)  |  Succession (80)  |  Various (205)  |  Word (650)

Most of these Mountains and Inland places whereon these kind of Petrify’d Bodies and Shells are found at present, or have been heretofore, were formerly under the Water, and that either by the descending of the Waters to another part of the Earth by the alteration of the Centre of Gravity of the whole bulk, or rather by the Eruption of some kind of Subterraneous Fires or Earthquakes, great quantities of Earth have been deserted by the Water and laid bare and dry.
Lectures and Discourses of Earthquakes (1668). In The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke, containing his Cutlerian Lectures and other Discourses read at the Meetings of the Illustrious Royal Society (1705), 320-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Alteration (31)  |  Bare (33)  |  Bulk (24)  |  Centre Of Gravity (4)  |  Desert (59)  |  Dry (65)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Eruption (10)  |  Fire (203)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Great (1610)  |  Kind (564)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Present (630)  |  Shell (69)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

My first view - a panorama of brilliant deep blue ocean, shot with shades of green and gray and white - was of atolls and clouds. Close to the window I could see that this Pacific scene in motion was rimmed by the great curved limb of the Earth. It had a thin halo of blue held close, and beyond, black space. I held my breath, but something was missing - I felt strangely unfulfilled. Here was a tremendous visual spectacle, but viewed in silence. There was no grand musical accompaniment; no triumphant, inspired sonata or symphony. Each one of us must write the music of this sphere for ourselves.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Black (46)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breath (61)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Close (77)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Curve (49)  |  Deep (241)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  Grand (29)  |  Gray (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Green (65)  |  Halo (7)  |  Hold (96)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Limb (9)  |  Miss (51)  |  Missing (21)  |  Motion (320)  |  Music (133)  |  Musical (10)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Pacific (4)  |  Panorama (5)  |  Rim (5)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Shade (35)  |  Shoot (21)  |  Silence (62)  |  Something (718)  |  Sonata (2)  |  Space (523)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Strangely (5)  |  Symphony (10)  |  Thin (18)  |  Tremendous (29)  |  Triumphant (10)  |  Unfulfilled (3)  |  View (496)  |  Visual (16)  |  White (132)  |  Window (59)  |  Write (250)

My life has been a continuous fulfillment of dreams. It appears that everything I saw and did has a new, and perhaps, more significant meaning, every time I see it. The earth is good. It is a privilege to live thereon.
In The National Gardener (1952?), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Continuous (83)  |  Dream (222)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fulfillment (20)  |  Good (906)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Significant (78)  |  Time (1911)

Natural causes, as we know, are at work, which tend to modify, if they do not at length destroy, all the arrangements and dimensions of the earth and the whole solar system. But though in the course of ages catastrophes have occurred and may yet occur in the heavens, though ancient systems may be dissolved and new systems evolved out of their ruins, the molecules [i.e. atoms] out of which these systems are built—the foundation stones of the material universe—remain unbroken and unworn. They continue to this day as they were created—perfect in number and measure and weight.
Lecture to the British Association at Bradford, 'Molecules', Nature (1873), 8, 437-441. Reprinted in James Clerk Maxwell and W. D. Niven, editor, The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (2003), 377. By
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Atom (381)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Cause (561)  |  Conservation Of Mass (2)  |  Continue (179)  |  Course (413)  |  Creation (350)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Do (1905)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Know (1538)  |  Material (366)  |  Measure (241)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Natural (810)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Occur (151)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Remain (355)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Stone (168)  |  System (545)  |  Tend (124)  |  Universe (900)  |  Weight (140)  |  Whole (756)  |  Work (1402)

Nature has put itself the problem how to catch in flight light streaming to the earth and to store the most elusive of all powers in rigid form. To achieve this aim, it has covered the crust of earth with organisms which in their life processes absorb the light of the sun and use this power to produce a continuously accumulating chemical difference. ... The plants take in one form of power, light; and produce another power, chemical difference.
In pamphlet, The Organic Motion in its Relation to Metabolism (1845), as translated in Eugene Rabinowitch, Govindjee, Photosynthesis (1969), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Aim (175)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Crust (43)  |  Difference (355)  |  Flight (101)  |  Form (976)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Organism (231)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Power (771)  |  Problem (731)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Store (49)  |  Sun (407)  |  Use (771)

Nature vibrates with rhythms, climatic and diastrophic, those finding stratigraphic expression ranging in period from the rapid oscillation of surface waters, recorded in ripple-mark, to those long-deferred stirrings of the deep imprisoned titans which have divided earth history into periods and eras. The flight of time is measured by the weaving of composite rhythms- day and night, calm and storm, summer and winter, birth and death such as these are sensed in the brief life of man. But the career of the earth recedes into a remoteness against which these lesser cycles are as unavailing for the measurement of that abyss of time as would be for human history the beating of an insect's wing. We must seek out, then, the nature of those longer rhythms whose very existence was unknown until man by the light of science sought to understand the earth. The larger of these must be measured in terms of the smaller, and the smaller must be measured in terms of years.
'Rhythm and the Measurement of Geologic Time', Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 1917, 28,746.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Against (332)  |  Birth (154)  |  Brief (37)  |  Calm (32)  |  Career (86)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Death (406)  |  Deep (241)  |  Divided (50)  |  Era (51)  |  Existence (481)  |  Expression (181)  |  Flight (101)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imprison (11)  |  Insect (89)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Period (200)  |  Recede (11)  |  Record (161)  |  Remoteness (9)  |  Rhythm (21)  |  Ripple (12)  |  Seek (218)  |  Storm (56)  |  Summer (56)  |  Surface (223)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Vibrate (7)  |  Water (503)  |  Weaving (6)  |  Wing (79)  |  Winter (46)  |  Year (963)

Richard M. Nixon quote: Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of
Neil and Buzz, I am talking to you by telephone from the Oval Office at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man’s world. As you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth.
Speaking to the first astronauts while they were standing on the Moon (20 Jul 1969).
Science quotes on:  |  Neil Armstrong (17)  |  Become (821)  |  Bring (95)  |  Call (781)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Effort (243)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Historic (7)  |  House (143)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Office (71)  |  Part (235)  |  Peace (116)  |  Sea (326)  |  Talk (108)  |  Talking (76)  |  Telephone (31)  |  Tranquility (8)  |  White (132)  |  White House (6)  |  World (1850)

Neutrinos, they are very small
They have no charge and have no mass
And do not interact at all.
The earth is just a silly ball
To them, through which they simply pass,
Like dustmaids down a drafty hall
Or photons through a sheet of glass.
They snub the most exquisite gas,
Ignore the most substantial wall,
Cold-shoulder steel and sounding brass,
Insult the stallion in his stall,
And, scorning barriers of class,
Infiltrate you and me! Like tall
And painless guillotines, they fall
Down through our heads into the grass.
At night, they enter at Nepal
And pierce the lover and his lass
From underneath the bed—you call
It wonderful; I call it crass.
In poem 'Cosmic Gall', The New Yorker (17 Dec 1960). Collected in Telephone Poles and Other Poems (1964), 5. Note: In fact, about 1014 neutrinos from the Sun and 103 neutrinos in cosmic rays pass through our bodies each second. Neutrinos are now known to have a very small amount of mass, and they do interact (through the weak force).
Science quotes on:  |  Ball (64)  |  Barrier (34)  |  Bed (25)  |  Brass (5)  |  Call (781)  |  Charge (63)  |  Class (168)  |  Cold (115)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Enter (145)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Fall (243)  |  Gas (89)  |  Glass (94)  |  Grass (49)  |  Guillotine (5)  |  Ignore (52)  |  Insult (16)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Lover (11)  |  Mass (160)  |  Most (1728)  |  Neutrino (11)  |  Pass (241)  |  Photon (11)  |  Pierce (4)  |  Shoulder (33)  |  Silly (17)  |  Small (489)  |  Stall (3)  |  Steel (23)  |  Substantial (24)  |  Through (846)  |  Wall (71)  |  Wonderful (155)

Ninety-nine and nine-tenths of the earth’s volume must forever remain invisible and untouchable. Because more than 97 per cent of it is too hot to crystallize, its body is extremely weak. The crust, being so thin, must bend, if, over wide areas, it becomes loaded with glacial ice, ocean water or deposits of sand and mud. It must bend in the opposite sense if widely extended loads of such material be removed. This accounts for … the origin of chains of high mountains … and the rise of lava to the earth’s surface.
Presidential speech to the Geological Society of America at Cambridge, Mass. (1932). As quoted in New York Times (20 Sep 1957), 23. Also summarized in Popular Mechanics (Apr 1933), 513.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bend (13)  |  Body (557)  |  Chain (51)  |  Crust (43)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Crystallize (12)  |  Deposit (12)  |  Extend (129)  |  Forever (111)  |  Glacier (17)  |  High (370)  |  Hot (63)  |  Ice (58)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Lava (12)  |  Load (12)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Mud (26)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Origin (250)  |  Remain (355)  |  Removal (12)  |  Rise (169)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sense (785)  |  Surface (223)  |  Water (503)  |  Weak (73)  |  Wide (97)

No collateral science had profited so much by palæontology as that which teaches the structure and mode of formation of the earth’s crust, with the relative position, time, and order of formation of its constituent stratified and unstratified parts. Geology has left her old hand-maiden mineralogy to rest almost wholly on the broad shoulders of her young and vigorous offspring, the science of organic remains.
In article 'Palæontology' contributed to Encyclopædia Britannica (8th ed., 1859), Vol. 17, 91.
Science quotes on:  |  Broad (28)  |  Collateral (4)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Crust (43)  |  Formation (100)  |  Geology (240)  |  Handmaiden (2)  |  Mineralogy (24)  |  Mode (43)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Old (499)  |  Order (638)  |  Organic (161)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Position (83)  |  Profit (56)  |  Relative (42)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remains (9)  |  Rest (287)  |  Shoulder (33)  |  Structure (365)  |  Teach (299)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vigorous (21)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Young (253)

No medieval schoolman has been singled out as a precursor more often than the French scholastic Nicole Oresme.This brilliant scholar has been credited with … the framing of Gresham’s law before Gresham, the invention of analytic geometry before Descartes, with propounding structural theories of compounds before nineteenth century organic chemists, with discovering the law of free fall before Galileo, and with advocating the rotation of the Earth before Copernicus. None of these claims is, in fact, true, although each is based on discussion by Oresme of some penetration and originality …
In Nicole Oresme and the Medieval Geometry of Quantities and Motions (1968).
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  Advocate (20)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Claim (154)  |  Compound (117)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Credit (24)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Fact (1257)  |  False (105)  |  Free Fall (2)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Invention (400)  |  Law (913)  |  Nicole Oresme (8)  |  Organic Chemist (2)  |  Originality (21)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Scholar (52)  |  Structure (365)  |  Theory (1015)  |  True (239)

No one in his senses, or imbued with the slightest knowledge of physics, will ever think that the earth, heavy and unwieldy from its own weight and mass, staggers up and down around its own center and that of the sun; for at the slightest jar of the earth, we would see cities and fortresses, towns and mountains thrown down.
Universae Naturae Theatrum (1597). In Dorothy Stimson, The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory of the Universe (1917), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Center (35)  |  City (87)  |  Copernican Theory (3)  |  Down (455)  |  Fortress (4)  |  Heavy (24)  |  Imbue (2)  |  Jar (9)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Slight (32)  |  Stagger (4)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  Throw (45)  |  Town (30)  |  Unwieldy (2)  |  Weight (140)  |  Will (2350)

No one, it has been said, will ever look at the Moon in the same way again. More significantly can one say that no one will ever look at the earth in the same way. Man had to free himself from earth to perceive both its diminutive place in a solar system and its inestimable value as a life-fostering planet. As earthmen, we may have taken another step into adulthood. We can see our planet earth with detachment, with tenderness, with some shame and pity, but at last also with love.
In Earth Shine (1969). As quoted and cited in Joseph J. Kerski, Interpreting Our World: 100 Discoveries That Revolutionized Geography (2016), 93.
Science quotes on:  |  Both (496)  |  Detachment (8)  |  Diminutive (3)  |  Fostering (4)  |  Free (239)  |  Himself (461)  |  Inestimable (4)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Perceive (46)  |  Pity (16)  |  Place (192)  |  Planet (402)  |  Same (166)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Shame (15)  |  Significantly (2)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Step (234)  |  System (545)  |  Tenderness (2)  |  Value (393)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

No, this trick wont work ... How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Biological (137)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Explain (334)  |  First (1302)  |  Important (229)  |  Love (328)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Trick (36)  |  Work (1402)

Not all the winds, and storms, and earthquakes, and seas, and seasons of the world, have done so much to revolutionize the earth as Man, the power of an endless life, has done since the day he came forth upon it, and received dominion over it.
From Sermon on the Power of Endless Life, and Other Sermons (1876), 310.
Science quotes on:  |  Dominion (11)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Endless (60)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Power (771)  |  Receive (117)  |  Revolutionize (8)  |  Sea (326)  |  Season (47)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Wind (141)  |  World (1850)

Not greatly moved with awe am I
To learn that we may spy
Five thousand firmaments beyond our own.
The best that's known
Of the heavenly bodies does them credit small.
View'd close, the Moon's fair ball
Is of ill objects worst,
A corpse in Night's highway, naked, fire-scarr'd, accurst;
And now they tell
That the Sun is plainly seen to boil and burst
Too horribly for hell.
So, judging from these two,
As we must do,
The Universe, outside our living Earth,
Was all conceiv'd in the Creator's mirth,
Forecasting at the time Man's spirit deep,
To make dirt cheap.
Put by the Telescope!
Better without it man may see,
Stretch'd awful in the hush'd midnight,
The ghost of his eternity.
'The Two Deserts' (1880-85). Poems, Introduction Basil Champneys (1906), 302.
Science quotes on:  |  Awe (43)  |  Ball (64)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Boil (24)  |  Burst (41)  |  Cheap (13)  |  Conception (160)  |  Corpse (7)  |  Creator (97)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dirt (17)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Fire (203)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Forecast (15)  |  Ghost (36)  |  Hell (32)  |  Highway (15)  |  Horrible (10)  |  Judge (114)  |  Known (453)  |  Learn (672)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Midnight (12)  |  Moon (252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naked (10)  |  Night (133)  |  Object (438)  |  Outside (141)  |  Poem (104)  |  Scar (8)  |  See (1094)  |  Small (489)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spy (9)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Sun (407)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  View (496)  |  Worst (57)

Nothing could be more obvious than that the earth is stable and unmoving, and that we are in the center of the universe. Modern Western science takes its beginning from the denial of this common sense axiom.
In The Discoverers (2011), 294.
Science quotes on:  |  Axiom (65)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Center (35)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Denial (20)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sense (785)  |  Stable (32)  |  Universe (900)  |  Western (45)

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Benefit (123)  |  Chance (244)  |  Diet (56)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Health (210)  |  Human (1512)  |  Increase (225)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Survival (105)  |  Vegetarian (13)  |  Will (2350)

Nothing will ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss. Escaped from the frightful torments of persecution and of calumny, I felt that I was answering all in rising above all.
after making man's first ascent by hydrogen balloon in 1783 quoted in Wonderful Balloon Ascents: Or, the Conquest of the Skies by F. Marion
Science quotes on:  |  Airplane (43)  |  Autobiography (58)  |  Being (1276)  |  Calumny (3)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Flying (74)  |  Moment (260)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Persecution (14)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Rising (44)  |  Torment (18)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

Now having (I know not by what accident) engaged my thoughts upon the Bills of Mortality, and so far succeeded therein, as to have reduced several great confused Volumes into a few perspicuous Tables, and abridged such Observations as naturally flowed from them, into a few succinct Paragraphs, without any long Series of multiloquious Deductions, I have presumed to sacrifice these my small, but first publish'd, Labours unto your Lordship, as unto whose benign acceptance of some other of my Papers even the birth of these is due; hoping (if I may without vanity say it) they may be of as much use to persons in your Lordships place, as they are of none to me, which is no more than fairest Diamonds are to the Journeymen Jeweller that works them, or the poor Labourer that first digg'd them from Earth.
[An early account demonstrating the value of statistical analysis of public health data. Graunt lived in London at the time of the plague epidemics.]
From Graunt's 'Epistle Dedicatory', for Natural and Political Observations Mentioned in a Following Index and Made upon Bills of Mortality (1662). Reproduced in Cornelius Walford, The Insurance Cyclopaedia (1871), Vol. 1, 286. (This text used abbreviations for “Mort.” and “vols.”) The italicized words are given as from other sources. Note: bills of mortality are abstracts from parish registers showing the numbers that have died in each week, month or year.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Accident (92)  |  Account (195)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Birth (154)  |  Data (162)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Due (143)  |  Early (196)  |  Epidemic (8)  |  First (1302)  |  Flow (89)  |  Great (1610)  |  Health (210)  |  Journeyman (3)  |  Know (1538)  |  Labor (200)  |  Laborer (9)  |  Long (778)  |  More (2558)  |  Mortality (16)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Person (366)  |  Plague (42)  |  Poor (139)  |  Public Health (12)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Say (989)  |  Series (153)  |  Small (489)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Table (105)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Work (1402)

Now is the time to take longer strides—time for a new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.
Address to Joint Session of Congress, on Urgent National Needs (25 May 1961). On web site of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Also in Vital Speeches of the Day (15 Jun 1961), Vol. 27, No. 17, 518-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  America (143)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Future (467)  |  Key (56)  |  Leading (17)  |  Nation (208)  |  New (1273)  |  Role (86)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Exploration (15)  |  Stride (15)  |  Time (1911)  |  Way (1214)

Now the whole earth had one language and few words… . Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth… .
Bible
(circa 725 B.C.)
Science quotes on:  |  Abroad (19)  |  Babel (3)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Call (781)  |  City (87)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Face (214)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Language (308)  |  Lord (97)  |  Name (359)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  People (1031)  |  Scatter (7)  |  See (1094)  |  Speech (66)  |  Top (100)  |  Tower (45)  |  Understand (648)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

Now, we propose in the first place to show, that this law of organic progress is the law of all progress. Whether it be in the development of the Earth, in the development in Life upon its surface, in the development of Society, of Government, of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Language, Literature, Science, Art, this same evolution of the simple into the complex, through a process of continuous differentiation, holds throughout. From the earliest traceable cosmical changes down to the latest results of civilization, we shall find that the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is that in which Progress essentially consists.
'Progress: Its Law and Cause', Westminster Review (1857), 67, 446-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Change (639)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Commerce (23)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Consist (223)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Development (441)  |  Differentiation (28)  |  Down (455)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Government (116)  |  Heterogeneity (4)  |  Homogeneity (9)  |  Homogeneous (17)  |  Language (308)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Literature (116)  |  Manufacture (30)  |  Manufacturing (29)  |  Organic (161)  |  Process (439)  |  Progress (492)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Result (700)  |  Show (353)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Society (350)  |  Surface (223)  |  Through (846)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Trace (109)  |  Traceable (5)  |  Transformation (72)

O truth of the earth! O truth of things! I am determin’d to press my way toward you;
Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the sea after you.
In poem, 'Great are the Myths', Leaves of Grass (1867), 292.
Science quotes on:  |  Determined (9)  |  Dive (13)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sound (187)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Voice (54)  |  Way (1214)

Objections … inspired Kronecker and others to attack Weierstrass’ “sequential” definition of irrationals. Nevertheless, right or wrong, Weierstrass and his school made the theory work. The most useful results they obtained have not yet been questioned, at least on the ground of their great utility in mathematical analysis and its implications, by any competent judge in his right mind. This does not mean that objections cannot be well taken: it merely calls attention to the fact that in mathematics, as in everything else, this earth is not yet to be confused with the Kingdom of Heaven, that perfection is a chimaera, and that, in the words of Crelle, we can only hope for closer and closer approximations to mathematical truth—whatever that may be, if anything—precisely as in the Weierstrassian theory of convergent sequences of rationals defining irrationals.
In Men of Mathematics (1937), 431-432.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Approximation (32)  |  Attack (86)  |  Attention (196)  |  Call (781)  |  Chimera (10)  |  Close (77)  |  Closer (43)  |  Competent (20)  |  Confuse (22)  |  Convergent (3)  |  Define (53)  |  Definition (238)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Hope (321)  |  Implication (25)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Irrational (16)  |  Judge (114)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Kingdom Of Heaven (3)  |  Leopold Kronecker (6)  |  Mathematical Analysis (23)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Objection (34)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Precise (71)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Question (649)  |  Rational (95)  |  Result (700)  |  Right (473)  |  School (227)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Sequential (2)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Useful (260)  |  Utility (52)  |   Karl Weierstrass, (10)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Word (650)  |  Work (1402)  |  Wrong (246)

Obviously we biologists should fit our methods to our materials. An interesting response to this challenge has been employed particularly by persons who have entered biology from the physical sciences or who are distressed by the variability in biology; they focus their research on inbred strains of genetically homogeneous laboratory animals from which, to the maximum extent possible, variability has been eliminated. These biologists have changed the nature of the biological system to fit their methods. Such a bold and forthright solution is admirable, but it is not for me. Before I became a professional biologist, I was a boy naturalist, and I prefer a contrasting approach; to change the method to fit the system. This approach requires that one employ procedures which allow direct scientific utilization of the successful long-term evolutionary experiments which are documented by the fascinating diversity and variability of the species of animals which occupy the earth. This is easy to say and hard to do.
In 'Scientific innovation and creativity: a zoologist’s point of view', American Zoologist (1982), 22, 232.
Science quotes on:  |  Admirable (20)  |  Allow (51)  |  Animal (651)  |  Approach (112)  |  Become (821)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biologist (70)  |  Biology (232)  |  Bold (22)  |  Boy (100)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Change (639)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Direct (228)  |  Distress (9)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Do (1905)  |  Document (7)  |  Easy (213)  |  Eliminate (25)  |  Employ (115)  |  Enter (145)  |  Evolutionary (23)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fascinating (38)  |  Fit (139)  |  Focus (36)  |  Genetically (2)  |  Hard (246)  |  Homogeneous (17)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Long (778)  |  Long-Term (11)  |  Material (366)  |  Maximum (16)  |  Method (531)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Obviously (11)  |  Occupy (27)  |  Particularly (21)  |  Person (366)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Possible (560)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Procedure (48)  |  Professional (77)  |  Require (229)  |  Research (753)  |  Response (56)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Solution (282)  |  Species (435)  |  Strain (13)  |  Successful (134)  |  System (545)  |  Term (357)  |  Utilization (16)  |  Variability (5)

October 9, 1863
Always, however great the height of the balloon, when I have seen the horizon it has roughly appeared to be on the level of the car though of course the dip of the horizon is a very appreciable quantity or the same height as the eye. From this one might infer that, could the earth be seen without a cloud or anything to obscure it, and the boundary line of the plane approximately the same height as the eye, the general appearance would be that of a slight concavity; but I have never seen any part of the surface of the earth other than as a plane.
Towns and cities, when viewed from the balloon are like models in motion. I shall always remember the ascent of 9th October, 1863, when we passed over London about sunset. At the time when we were 7,000 feet high, and directly over London Bridge, the scene around was one that cannot probably be equalled in the world. We were still so low as not to have lost sight of the details of the spectacle which presented itself to our eyes; and with one glance the homes of 3,000,000 people could be seen, and so distinct was the view, that every large building was easily distinguishable. In fact, the whole of London was visible, and some parts most clearly. All round, the suburbs were also very distinct, with their lines of detached villas, imbedded as it were in a mass of shrubs; beyond, the country was like a garden, its fields, well marked, becoming smaller and smaller as the eye wandered farther and farther away.
Again looking down, there was the Thames, throughout its whole length, without the slightest mist, dotted over its winding course with innumerable ships and steamboats, like moving toys. Gravesend was visible, also the mouth of the Thames, and the coast around as far as Norfolk. The southern shore of the mouth of the Thames was not so clear, but the sea beyond was seen for many miles; when at a higher elevation, I looked for the coast of France, but was unable to see it. On looking round, the eye was arrested by the garden-like appearance of the county of Kent, till again London claimed yet more careful attention.
Smoke, thin and blue, was curling from it, and slowly moving away in beautiful curves, from all except one part, south of the Thames, where it was less blue and seemed more dense, till the cause became evident; it was mixed with mist rising from the ground, the southern limit of which was bounded by an even line, doubtless indicating the meeting of the subsoils of gravel and clay. The whole scene was surmounted by a canopy of blue, everywhere free from cloud, except near the horizon, where a band of cumulus and stratus extended all round, forming a fitting boundary to such a glorious view.
As seen from the earth, the sunset this evening was described as fine, the air being clear and the shadows well defined; but, as we rose to view it and its effects, the golden hues increased in intensity; their richness decreased as the distance from the sun increased, both right and left; but still as far as 90º from the sun, rose-coloured clouds extended. The remainder of the circle was completed, for the most part, by pure white cumulus of well-rounded and symmetrical forms.
I have seen London by night. I have crossed it during the day at the height of four miles. I have often admired the splendour of sky scenery, but never have I seen anything which surpassed this spectacle. The roar of the town heard at this elevation was a deep, rich, continuous sound the voice of labour. At four miles above London, all was hushed; no sound reached our ears.
Travels in the Air (1871), 99-100.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Attention (196)  |  Balloon (16)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Both (496)  |  Bound (120)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Bridge (49)  |  Building (158)  |  Canopy (8)  |  Car (75)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circle (117)  |  Claim (154)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Completed (30)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Country (269)  |  Course (413)  |  Curve (49)  |  Deep (241)  |  Detail (150)  |  Distance (171)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Down (455)  |  Ear (69)  |  Effect (414)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Evident (92)  |  Extend (129)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Farther (51)  |  Field (378)  |  Flight (101)  |  Form (976)  |  Forming (42)  |  Free (239)  |  Garden (64)  |  General (521)  |  Glance (36)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Golden (47)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Labor (200)  |  Large (398)  |  Limit (294)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Low (86)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mist (17)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Never (1089)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  People (1031)  |  Present (630)  |  Pure (299)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Reach (286)  |  Remainder (7)  |  Remember (189)  |  Right (473)  |  Rising (44)  |  Rose (36)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Ship (69)  |  Shrub (5)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sky (174)  |  Smoke (32)  |  Sound (187)  |  South (39)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Splendour (8)  |  Steamboat (7)  |  Still (614)  |  Suburb (7)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Thames (6)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Toy (22)  |  View (496)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wander (44)  |  White (132)  |  Whole (756)  |  Winding (8)  |  World (1850)

Of … habitable worlds, such as the Earth, all which we may suppose to be of a terrestrial or terraqueous nature, and filled with beings of the human species, subject to mortality, it may not be amiss in this place to compute how many may he conceived within our finite view every clear Star-light night. … In all together then we may safely reckon 170,000,000, and yet be much within compass, exclusive Of the Comets which I judge to be by far the most numerous part of the creation.
In The Universe and the Stars: Being an Original Theory on the Visible Creation, Founded on the Laws of Nature (1750, 1837), 131-132.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Clear (111)  |  Comet (65)  |  Compass (37)  |  Compute (19)  |  Creation (350)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Finite (60)  |  Habitable (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Judge (114)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Night (133)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Species (435)  |  Star (460)  |  Starlight (5)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Together (392)  |  View (496)  |  World (1850)

Of all regions of the earth none invites speculation more than that which lies beneath our feet, and in none is speculation more dangerous; yet, apart from speculation, it is little that we can say regarding the constitution of the interior of the earth. We know, with sufficient accuracy for most purposes, its size and shape: we know that its mean density is about 5½ times that of water, that the density must increase towards the centre, and that the temperature must be high, but beyond these facts little can be said to be known. Many theories of the earth have been propounded at different times: the central substance of the earth has been supposed to be fiery, fluid, solid, and gaseous in turn, till geologists have turned in despair from the subject, and become inclined to confine their attention to the outermost crust of the earth, leaving its centre as a playground for mathematicians.
'The Constitution of the Interior of the Earth, as Revealed by Earthquakes', Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (1906), 62, 456.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Attention (196)  |  Become (821)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Central (81)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Crust (43)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Density (25)  |  Despair (40)  |  Different (595)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Geologist (82)  |  High (370)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Increase (225)  |  Interior (35)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Lie (370)  |  Little (717)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Playground (6)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Say (989)  |  Solid (119)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Subject (543)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Turn (454)  |  Water (503)

Of all the animals on earth, man is closest to the ape.
Aphorism 19 in Notebook B (1768-1771), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Ape (54)  |  Man (2252)

Of all the forces of nature, I should think the wind contains the largest amount of motive power—that is, power to move things. Take any given space of the earth’s surface— for instance, Illinois; and all the power exerted by all the men, and beasts, and running-water, and steam, over and upon it, shall not equal the one hundredth part of what is exerted by the blowing of the wind over and upon the same space. And yet it has not, so far in the world’s history, become proportionably valuable as a motive power. It is applied extensively, and advantageously, to sail-vessels in navigation. Add to this a few windmills, and pumps, and you have about all. … As yet, the wind is an untamed, and unharnessed force; and quite possibly one of the greatest discoveries hereafter to be made, will be the taming, and harnessing of it.
Lecture 'Discoveries and Inventions', (1860) in Discoveries and Inventions (1915).
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Applied (176)  |  Beast (58)  |  Become (821)  |  Blowing (22)  |  Exert (40)  |  Force (497)  |  Greatest (330)  |  History (716)  |  Invention (400)  |  Largest (39)  |  Motive (62)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Navigation (26)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Power (771)  |  Renewable Energy (15)  |  Running (61)  |  Sail (37)  |  Ship (69)  |  Space (523)  |  Steam (81)  |  Steam Engine (47)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  Wind Power (10)  |  Windmill (4)  |  World (1850)

Of course, Behaviourism “works.” So does torture. Give me a no-nonsense, down-to-earth behaviourist, a few drugs, and simple electrical appliances, and in six months I will have him reciting the Athanasian Creed in public.
A Certain World: A Commonplace Book (1971),33.
Science quotes on:  |  Appliance (9)  |  Course (413)  |  Creed (28)  |  Down (455)  |  Drug (61)  |  Electrical (57)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Month (91)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Simple (426)  |  Torture (30)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
you have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung
high in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
where never lark, or even eagle flew
and, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Blue (63)  |  Bond (46)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Chase (14)  |  Climb (39)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Craft (11)  |  Dance (35)  |  Delirious (2)  |  Dream (222)  |  Eager (17)  |  Eagle (20)  |  Easy (213)  |  Face (214)  |  Fling (5)  |  Fly (153)  |  God (776)  |  Grace (31)  |  Hall (5)  |  Hand (149)  |  Height (33)  |  High (370)  |  Hover (8)  |  Hovering (5)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Join (32)  |  Lark (2)  |  Laughter (34)  |  Lift (57)  |  Long (778)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mirth (3)  |  Never (1089)  |  Sanctity (4)  |  Shout (25)  |  Silence (62)  |  Silent (31)  |  Silver (49)  |  Sky (174)  |  Slip (6)  |  Soar (23)  |  Space (523)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunlit (2)  |  Sunward (2)  |  Swing (12)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Top (100)  |  Touch (146)  |  Tread (17)  |  Tumble (3)  |  Tumbling (2)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Wind (141)  |  Wing (79)

Oh! That the Chemist’s magic art
Could crystallize this sacred treasure!…
That very law which moulds a tear,
And bids it trickle from its source;
That law preserves the earth a sphere,
And guides the planets in their course.
Referring to the Law of Gravitation. From Poem, 'On a Tear' (c.1813-15), in Samuel Rogers et al., The Poetical Works of Rogers, Campbell, J. Montombery, Lamb, and Kirke White (1836), 101.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Course (413)  |  Crystallize (12)  |  Guide (107)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  Magic (92)  |  Mold (37)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Planet (402)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Tear (48)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Trickle (2)

Old King Coal was a merry old soul:
“I’ll move the world,” quoth he;
“My England’s high, and rich, and great,
But greater she shall be !”
And he call’d for the pick, and he call’d for the spade,
And he call’d for his miners bold;
“ And it’s dig,” he said, “in the deep, deep earth;
You’ll find my treasures better worth
Than mines of Indian gold!”

Old King Coal was a merry old soul,
Yet not content was he;
And he said, “I’ve found what I’ve desired,
Though ’tis but one of three.”
And he call’d for water, he call’d for fire,
For smiths and workmen true:
“Come, build me engines great and strong ;
We’ll have,” quoth he, “a change ere long;
We’ll try what Steam can do.”

Old King Coal was a merry old soul:
“’Tis fairly done,” quoth he,
When he saw the myriad wheels at work
O’er all the land and sea.
They spared the bones and strength of men,
They hammer’d, wove, and spun;
There was nought too great, too mean, or small,
The giant Steam had power for all;—
His task was never done.
From song, 'Old King Coal' (1846), collected in The Poetical Works of Charles Mackay: Now for the First Time Collected Complete in One Volume (1876), 565. To the melody of 'Old King Cole'.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Blacksmith (5)  |  Bold (22)  |  Bone (101)  |  Build (211)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Coal (64)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dig (25)  |  Do (1905)  |  Engine (99)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fire (203)  |  Giant (73)  |  Gold (101)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hammer (26)  |  High (370)  |  Indian (32)  |  Industrial Revolution (10)  |  Long (778)  |  Loom (20)  |  Machine (271)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mine (78)  |  Miner (9)  |  Move (223)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Never (1089)  |  Old (499)  |  Pick (16)  |  Power (771)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Saw (160)  |  Sea (326)  |  Small (489)  |  Soul (235)  |  Spade (3)  |  Steam (81)  |  Strength (139)  |  Strong (182)  |  Task (152)  |  Transport (31)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Try (296)  |  Water (503)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Work (1402)  |  Workman (13)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

On a perfect planet such as might be acceptable to a physicist, one might predict that from its origin the diversity of life would grow exponentially until the carrying capacity, however defined, was reached. The fossil record on Earth, however, tells a very different story.
In 'The Evolution of Diversity in AAncient Ecosystems: a Review', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (28 Feb 1998), 353, No. 1366, 327.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Carrying capacity (3)  |  Different (595)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Exponential (3)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fossil Record (12)  |  Grow (247)  |  Life (1870)  |  Origin (250)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Planet (402)  |  Predict (86)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Reach (286)  |  Record (161)  |  Story (122)  |  Tell (344)

On earth there is nothing great but man… in man there is nothing great but mind.
In 'Appendix', Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic (1860), Vol. 2, 261. Attributed in a Latin form to Favorinus in Pico di Mirandola (1463–94) Disputationes Adversus Astrologiam Divinatricem.
Science quotes on:  |  Great (1610)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nothing (1000)

On the basis of the results recorded in this review, it can be claimed that the average sand grain has taken many hundreds of millions of years to lose 10 per cent. of its weight by abrasion and become subangular. It is a platitude to point to the slowness of geological processes. But much depends on the way things are put. For it can also be said that a sand grain travelling on the bottom of a river loses 10 million molecules each time it rolls over on its side and that representation impresses us with the high rate of this loss. The properties of quartz have led to the concentration of its grains on the continents, where they could now form a layer averaging several hundred metres thick. But to my mind the most astounding numerical estimate that follows from the present evaluations, is that during each and every second of the incredibly long geological past the number of quartz grains on earth has increased by 1,000 million.
'Sand-its Origin, Transportation, Abrasion and Accumulation', The Geological Society of South Africa (1959), Annexure to Volume 62, 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Astounding (9)  |  Average (89)  |  Basis (180)  |  Become (821)  |  Claim (154)  |  Concentration (29)  |  Continent (79)  |  Depend (238)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Evaluation (10)  |  Follow (389)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grain (50)  |  High (370)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Layer (41)  |  Long (778)  |  Lose (165)  |  Loss (117)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Past (355)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Process (439)  |  Quartz (2)  |  Record (161)  |  Representation (55)  |  Result (700)  |  Review (27)  |  River (140)  |  Roll (41)  |  Sand (63)  |  Side (236)  |  Slowness (6)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Travelling (17)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weight (140)  |  Year (963)

On the way back [from the moon] we had an EVA [extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk] I had a chance to look around while I was outside and Earth was off to the right, 180,000 miles away, a little thin sliver of blue and white like a new moon surrounded by this blackness of space. Back over my left shoulder was almost a full moon. I didn’t feel like I was a participant. It was like sitting in the last row of the balcony, looking down at all of that play going on down there. I had that insignificant feeling of the immensity of this, God’s creation.
Reflecting on his participation on the Apollo 16 moon mission. Contributed to Kevin W. Kelley (ed.), The Home Planet (1988), unpaginated, with photo 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Back (395)  |  Balcony (2)  |  Blackness (4)  |  Blue (63)  |  Chance (244)  |  Creation (350)  |  Down (455)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Full (68)  |  God (776)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Last (425)  |  Leave (138)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mile (43)  |  Moon (252)  |  New (1273)  |  Outside (141)  |  Participant (6)  |  Play (116)  |  Right (473)  |  Row (9)  |  Shoulder (33)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Sliver (2)  |  Space (523)  |  Surround (33)  |  Thin (18)  |  Way (1214)  |  White (132)

Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see,
And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be-
Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth,
With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth.
While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incandescent youth,
From the coals that he’s preferred to the advantages of truth.
He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote
On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote-
For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow:
Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Asbestos (3)  |  Birth (154)  |  Cast (69)  |  Chief (99)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Coal (64)  |  Eye (440)  |  Future (467)  |  Hades (4)  |  Human (1512)  |  Incandescent (7)  |  Liar (8)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Quote (46)  |  Read (308)  |  Record (161)  |  Rose (36)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Shower (7)  |  Shut (41)  |  Snow (39)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Variable (37)  |  Wind (141)  |  Youth (109)

Once the hatch was opened, I turned the lock handle and bright rays of sunlight burst through it. I opened the hatch and dust from the station flew in like little sparklets, looking like tiny snowflakes on a frosty day. Space, like a giant vacuum cleaner, began to suck everything out. Flying out together with the dust were some little washers and nuts that dad got stuck somewhere; a pencil flew by.
My first impression when I opened the hatch was of a huge Earth and of the sense of unreality concerning everything that was going on. Space is very beautiful. There was the dark velvet of the sky, the blue halo of the Earth and fast-moving lakes, rivers, fields and clouds clusters. It was dead silence all around, nothing whatever to indicate the velocity of the flight… no wind whistling in your ears, no pressure on you. The panorama was very serene and majestic.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Begin (275)  |  Blue (63)  |  Bright (81)  |  Burst (41)  |  Clean (52)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Cluster (16)  |  Concern (239)  |  Dad (4)  |  Dark (145)  |  Dead (65)  |  Dust (68)  |  Ear (69)  |  Everything (489)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Flight (101)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Frosty (3)  |  Giant (73)  |  Halo (7)  |  Handle (29)  |  Hatch (4)  |  Huge (30)  |  Impression (118)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Lake (36)  |  Little (717)  |  Lock (14)  |  Looking (191)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Nut (7)  |  Open (277)  |  Panorama (5)  |  Pencil (20)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Ray (115)  |  River (140)  |  Sense (785)  |  Serene (5)  |  Silence (62)  |  Sky (174)  |  Snowflake (15)  |  Space (523)  |  Station (30)  |  Stick (27)  |  Suck (8)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Through (846)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Together (392)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unreality (3)  |  Vacuum (41)  |  Velocity (51)  |  Velvet (4)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Whistle (3)  |  Wind (141)

One can do noble acts without ruling earth and sea: for even with moderate advantages, one can act virtuously.
Aristotle
In Nicomachean Ethics, Book 10, Chap. 8. Great Books of the Western World (1952), Vol. 9, 433.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Do (1905)  |  Noble (93)  |  Rule (307)  |  Sea (326)

One could not by any experience whatsoever demonstrate that the heavens, and not the earth, are moved with a diurnal motion.
In Livre du ciel et du monde (On the Book of the Heavens and the World of Aristotle) (completed 1377), Book 2, Chap 25. Translated by Menut and Denomy (1968), as excerpted in Marshall Clagett, The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages, 600. Also found translated as, “No experience whatsoever could prove that the heavens rotate daily and not the earth.”
Science quotes on:  |  Daily (91)  |  Experience (494)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Prove (261)  |  Rotate (8)  |  Whatsoever (41)

One day in the year 1666 Newton had gone to the country, and seeing the fall of an apple, [as his niece (Mme Conduit) told me,] let himself be led into a deep meditation on the cause which thus draws every object along a line whose extension would pass almost through the center of the Earth.
From the original French, “Un jour, en l'année 1666, Newton, retiré à la campagne, et voyant tomber des fruits d’un arbre, à ce que m'a conté sa nièce, (Mme Conduit) se laissa aller à une méditation profonde sur la cause qui entraîne ainsi tous les corps dans une ligne qui, si elle était prolongée, passerait à peu près par le centre de la Terre,” in Éléments de Philosophie de Newton, Part 1, Chap. 3, in Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire (1785), Vol. 31, 175. Translation as given in an epigraph, in Charles W. Misner, Kip S. Thorn and John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation (1970, 1973), 47. An alternate translation is: “One day in the year 1666, Newton went into the country, and seeing fruit fall from a tree (as his niece, Madame Conduit, has informed me), entered into a profound train of thought as to the causes which could lead to such a drawing together or attraction.” As given in Robert Chambers (ed.), The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar (1888), Vol. 2, 757. (Note: Voltaire originally published his Éléments in 1738, but Webmaster could not find the above quote in it.)
Science quotes on:  |  17th Century (20)  |  Apple (46)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Cause (561)  |  Conduit (3)  |  Country (269)  |  Deep (241)  |  Draw (140)  |  Extension (60)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Himself (461)  |  Meditation (19)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Object (438)  |  Pass (241)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Tree (269)  |  Year (963)

One important object of this original spectroscopic investigation of the light of the stars and other celestial bodies, namely to discover whether the same chemical elements as those of our earth are present throughout the universe, was most satisfactorily settled in the affirmative. (1909)
In Publications of Sir William Huggins's Observatory (1909), Vol. 2, 49, footnote added to emphasize the significance of the results shown in this collection’s reprint of William Huggins and Dr. Miller, 'On the Spectra of Some of the Fixed Stars', Philosophical Transactions (1864), 64, 413-435.
Science quotes on:  |  Celestial (53)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Discover (571)  |  Element (322)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Object (438)  |  Other (2233)  |  Present (630)  |  Settled (34)  |  Spectroscopy (11)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Universe (900)

One is hard pressed to think of universal customs that man has successfully established on earth. There is one, however, of which he can boast the universal adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numerals to record numbers. In this we perhaps have man’s unique worldwide victory of an idea.
In Mathematical Circles Squared (1972), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Adoption (7)  |  Arabic (4)  |  Boast (22)  |  Custom (44)  |  Establish (63)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hindu (4)  |  Idea (881)  |  Man (2252)  |  Number (710)  |  Numeral (2)  |  Record (161)  |  Successful (134)  |  Think (1122)  |  Unique (72)  |  Universal (198)  |  Victory (40)  |  Worldwide (19)

One may summarize by saying that by a combination of behavior and physiology mammals can successfully occupy all but the most extreme environments on earth without anything more than quantitative shifts in the basic physiological pattern common to all.
From 'The role of physiology in the distribution of terrestrial vertebrates', collected in C.L. Hubbs (ed.), Zoogeography: Publ. 51 (1958), 87.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Combination (150)  |  Common (447)  |  Environment (239)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Mammal (41)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Occupy (27)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Say (989)  |  Shift (45)  |  Successful (134)  |  Summarize (10)

One might be led to question whether the scientists acted wisely in presenting the statesmen of the world with this appalling problem. Actually there was no choice. Once basic knowledge is acquired, any attempt at preventing its fruition would be as futile as hoping to stop the earth from revolving around the sun.
'Atomic Energy for Power', Collected Papers (Note e Memorie): The United States 1939-1945 (1962), Vol. 2, 556.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Act (278)  |  Appalling (10)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Atomic Power (9)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Basic (144)  |  Choice (114)  |  Fruition (2)  |  Futile (13)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sun (407)  |  World (1850)

One naturally asks, what was the use of this great engine set at work ages ago to grind, furrow, and knead over, as it were, the surface of the earth? We have our answer in the fertile soil which spreads over the temperate regions of the globe. The glacier was God’s great plough.
In 'Ice-Period in America', Geological Sketches (1875), 99.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Engine (99)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Fertile (30)  |  Glacier (17)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Plough (15)  |  Set (400)  |  Soil (98)  |  Spread (86)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Use (771)  |  Work (1402)

One of the grandest generalizations formulated by modern biological science is that of the continuity of life; the protoplasmic activity within each living body now on earth has continued without cessation from the remote beginnings of life on our planet, and from that period until the present no single organism has ever arisen save in the form of a bit of living protoplasm detached from a pre-existing portion; the eternal flame of life once kindled upon this earth has passed from organism to organism, and is still, going on existing and propagating, incarnated within the myriad animal and plant forms of everyday life.
In History of the Human Body (1919), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arise (162)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Body (557)  |  Cessation (13)  |  Continuation (20)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Detach (5)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everyday Life (15)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  Flame (44)  |  Form (976)  |  Formulation (37)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Grandest (10)  |  Incarnation (3)  |  Kindled (2)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Body (3)  |  Modern (402)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Organism (231)  |  Pass (241)  |  Period (200)  |  Planet (402)  |  Plant (320)  |  Portion (86)  |  Present (630)  |  Propagation (15)  |  Protoplasm (13)  |  Remote (86)  |  Save (126)  |  Single (365)  |  Still (614)

One orbit, with a radius of 42,000 kilometers, has a period of exactly 24 hours. A body in such an orbit, if its plane coincided with that of the Earth’s equator, would revolve with the Earth and would thus be stationary above the same spot on the planet. It would remain fixed in the sky of a whole hemisphere ... [to] provide coverage to half the globe, and for a world service three would be required, though more could be readily utilized. (1945) [Predidicting geosynchronous communication satellites]
In 'Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Coverage?', Wireless World (Oct 1945). Quoted and cited in Arthur C. Clarke, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays, 1934-1998, 22.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Communication (101)  |  Equator (6)  |  Hemisphere (5)  |  Hour (192)  |  Kilometer (10)  |  More (2558)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Period (200)  |  Planet (402)  |  Remain (355)  |  Required (108)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Service (110)  |  Sky (174)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

One will see a layer of smooth stones, popularly called fluitati [diluvium], and over these another layer of smaller pebbles, thirdly sand, and finally earth, and you will see this repeatedly … up to the summit of the Mountain. This clearly shows that the order has been caused by many floods, not just one.
In De' Corpi Marini che su Monti si Trovano (1721), 57, as translated by Ezio Vaccari.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Cause (561)  |  Flood (52)  |  Layer (41)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Order (638)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Repeat (44)  |  Sand (63)  |  See (1094)  |  Show (353)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Stone (168)  |  Summit (27)  |  Will (2350)

Organic chemistry has literally placed a new nature beside the old. And not only for the delectation and information of its devotees; the whole face and manner of society has been altered by its products. We are clothed, ornamented and protected by forms of matter foreign to Nature; we travel and are propelled, in, on and by them. Their conquest of our powerful insect enemies, their capacity to modify the soil and control its microscopic flora, their ability to purify and protect our water, have increased the habitable surface of the earth and multiplied our food supply; and the dramatic advances in synthetic medicinal chemistry comfort and maintain us, and create unparalleled social opportunities (and problems).
In 'Synthesis', in A. Todd (ed.), Perspectives in Organic Chemistry (1956), 180.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Advance (298)  |  Alter (64)  |  Altered (32)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Control (182)  |  Create (245)  |  Dramatic (19)  |  Face (214)  |  Food (213)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Form (976)  |  Information (173)  |  Insect (89)  |  Literally (30)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Matter (821)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Chemistry (41)  |  Ornament (20)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Problem (731)  |  Product (166)  |  Protect (65)  |  Purification (10)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Soil (98)  |  Supply (100)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Synthetic (27)  |  Travel (125)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

Organized Fossils are to the naturalist as coins to the antiquary; they are the antiquities of the earth; and very distinctly show its gradual regular formation, with the various changes inhabitants in the watery element.
Stratigraphical System of Organized Fossils (1817), ix-x.
Science quotes on:  |  Antiquary (4)  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Change (639)  |  Coin (13)  |  Element (322)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Organization (120)  |  Regular (48)  |  Show (353)  |  Various (205)  |  Water (503)

Our appreciation of the crane grows with the slow unraveling of earthly history. His tribe, we now know, stems out of the remote Eocene. The other members of the fauna in which he originated are long since entombed within the hills.
In A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There (1949, 1987), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Crane (4)  |  Entomb (2)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Hill (23)  |  History (716)  |  Originate (39)

Our civilization is an engineering civilization, and the prosperous life of the large population, which our earth now supports has become possible only by the work of the engineer. Engineering, however, is the application of science to the service of man, and so to-day science is the foundation, not only of our prosperity, but of our very existence, and thus necessarily has become the dominant power in our human society.
In 'Religion and Modern Science', The Christian Register (16 Nov 1922), 101, 1089. The article is introduced as “the substance of an address to the Laymen’s League in All Soul’s Church (5 Nov 1922).
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Become (821)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Existence (481)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Society (14)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Population (115)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Prosperity (31)  |  Service (110)  |  Society (350)  |  Support (151)  |  Work (1402)

Our earth is very old, an old warrior that has lived through many battles. Nevertheless, the face of it is still changing, and science sees no certain limit of time for its stately evolution. Our solid earth, apparently so stable, inert, and finished, is changing, mobile, and still evolving. Its major quakings are largely the echoes of that divine far-off event, the building of our noble mountains. The lava floods and intriguing volcanoes tell us of the plasticity, mobility, of the deep interior of the globe. The slow coming and going of ancient shallow seas on the continental plateaus tell us of the rhythmic distortion of the deep interior-deep-seated flow and changes of volume. Mountain chains prove the earth’s solid crust itself to be mobile in high degree. And the secret of it all—the secret of the earthquake, the secret of the “temple of fire,” the secret of the ocean basin, the secret of the highland—is in the heart of the earth, forever invisible to human eyes.
In Our Mobile Earth (1926), 320.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Building (158)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Coming (114)  |  Crust (43)  |  Deep (241)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distortion (13)  |  Divine (112)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Event (222)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Eye (440)  |  Face (214)  |  Finish (62)  |  Fire (203)  |  Flood (52)  |  Flow (89)  |  Forever (111)  |  Heart (243)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inert (14)  |  Interior (35)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Lava (12)  |  Limit (294)  |  Lithosphere (2)  |  Magma (4)  |  Major (88)  |  Mobility (11)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Noble (93)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Old (499)  |  Plasticity (7)  |  Prove (261)  |  Sea (326)  |  Secret (216)  |  See (1094)  |  Slow (108)  |  Solid (119)  |  Stable (32)  |  Stately (12)  |  Still (614)  |  Tell (344)  |  Temple (45)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Volcano (46)

Our exploration of the planets represents a triumph of imagination and will for the human race. The events of the last twenty years are perhaps too recent for us to adequately appreciate their proper historical significance.
We can, however, appraise the scientific significance of these voyages of exploration: They have been nothing less than revolutionary both in providing a new picture of the nature of the solar system, its likely origin and evolution, and in giving us a new perspective on our own planet Earth.
NASA
NASA Advisory Committee, report of Solar System Exploration Committee, Planetary Exploration Through Year 2000: A Core Program (1983).
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Both (496)  |  Event (222)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Historical (70)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Last (425)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Origin (250)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Picture (148)  |  Planet (402)  |  Proper (150)  |  Race (278)  |  Recent (78)  |  Represent (157)  |  Revolutionary (31)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Significance (114)  |  Solar System (81)  |  System (545)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

Our fathers thought the world was flat, and we think it is round, not because the earth has changed its shape, but because men have revised their thoughts.
The Homiletic Review, Vol. 83-84 (1922), Vol. 83, 208.
Science quotes on:  |  Father (113)  |  Flat (34)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  World (1850)

Our lifetime may be the last that will be lived out in a technological society. If the world continues to behave as stupidly as it has behaved in the past, we are going to have an increase in population, an increase in violence. We will try to support the population by ripping up earth’s resources, producing pollution at a greater and greater rate, ending, perhaps, in a nuclear war. The earth will have its oil burnt up, most of its most easily available coal used up, its metals distributed thinly over the entire world. We simply won’t have the material basis to build up another technological civilization. The greater the population, the greater the pressure on technology to produce things. Also, there is a great deal of pressure to produce things that don’t directly relate to the quantity of people in the world, but are useless, energy wasting. Socrates is reported to have looked over a bazaar in great wonder and said, “How very many things there are that I do not need.” There are a great many things that we don’t need.
Interview in The Christian Science Monitor (27 Mar 1974), F1.
Science quotes on:  |  Basis (180)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Coal (64)  |  Energy (373)  |  Environment (239)  |  Lifetime (40)  |  Material (366)  |  Need (320)  |  Nuclear War (2)  |  Oil (67)  |  Overpopulation (6)  |  Population (115)  |  Production (190)  |  Resource (74)  |  Society (350)  |   Socrates, (17)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Technology (281)  |  Violence (37)  |  Waste (109)

Our methods of communication with our fellow men take many forms. We share with other animals the ability to transmit information by such diverse means as the posture of our bodies, by the movements of our eyes, head, arms, and hands, and by our utterances of non-specific sounds. But we go far beyond any other species on earth in that we have evolved sophisticated forms of pictorial representation, elaborate spoken and written languages, ingenious methods of recording music and language on discs, on magnetic tape and in a variety of other kinds of code.
As quoted in epigraph before title page in John Wolfenden, Hermann Bondi, et al., The Languages of Science: A Survey of Techniques of Communication (1963), i.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arm (82)  |  Arms (37)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Code (31)  |  Communication (101)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Elaborate (31)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Form (976)  |  Hand (149)  |  Head (87)  |  Information (173)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Kind (564)  |  Language (308)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Method (531)  |  Movement (162)  |  Music (133)  |  Other (2233)  |  Picture (148)  |  Posture (7)  |  Record (161)  |  Recording (13)  |  Representation (55)  |  Share (82)  |  Sophisticated (16)  |  Sound (187)  |  Species (435)  |  Specific (98)  |  Spoken (3)  |  Tape (5)  |  Utterance (11)  |  Variety (138)  |  Written (6)

Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Aware (36)  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Connect (126)  |  Daily (91)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fate (76)  |  Feel (371)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indebtedness (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Often (109)  |  Other (2233)  |  Sake (61)  |  Seem (150)  |  Short (200)  |  Situation (117)  |  Stay (26)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thought (995)  |  Wherefore (2)  |  Why (491)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worry (34)

Our welfare is ever more intimately tied up with the welfare—indeed the continued survival—of the millions of species that share the One Earth home with us.
A Wealth Of Wild Species: Storehouse For Human Welfare (1983), Preface, x.
Science quotes on:  |  Home (184)  |  Intimate (21)  |  Million (124)  |  Share (82)  |  Species (435)  |  Survival (105)  |  Welfare (30)

Over very long time scales, when the perturbing influences of both Jupiter and Saturn are taken into account, the seemingly regular orbits of asteroids that stray into the Kirkwood gaps turn chaotic. For millions of years … such an orbit seems predictable. Then the path grows increasingly eccentric until it begins to cross the orbit of Mars and then the Earth. Collisions or close encounters with those planets are inevitable.
In article 'Tales of Chaos: Tumbling Moons and Unstable Asteroids", New York Times (20 Jan 1987), C3.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Asteroid (19)  |  Begin (275)  |  Both (496)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Collision (16)  |  Cross (20)  |  Eccentric (11)  |  Gap (36)  |  Grow (247)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Influence (231)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Long (778)  |  Mars (47)  |  Million (124)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Path (159)  |  Perturb (2)  |  Planet (402)  |  Predictable (10)  |  Regular (48)  |  Saturn (15)  |  Scale (122)  |  Seemingly (28)  |  Stray (7)  |  Time (1911)  |  Turn (454)  |  Year (963)

Owing to their [minor planets or asteroids] small size; … The force of gravity on their surfaces must be very small. A man placed on one of them would spring with ease 60 feet high, and sustain no greater shock in his descent than he does on the Earth from leaping a yard. On such planets giants may exist; and those enormous animals which here require the buoyant power of water to counteract their weight, may there inhabit the land.
In Elements of Astronomy (1870), 153. The ellipsis reads “the largest minor planet is but 228 miles in diameter, and many of the smaller ones are less than 50.”
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Asteroid (19)  |  Buoyant (6)  |  Counteract (5)  |  Descent (30)  |  Ease (40)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Exist (458)  |  Force (497)  |  Giant (73)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Land (131)  |  Leap (57)  |  Power (771)  |  Require (229)  |  Shock (38)  |  Small (489)  |  Spring (140)  |  Surface (223)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)  |  Yard (10)

Palaeontology is the Aladdin’s lamp of the most deserted and lifeless regions of the earth; it touches the rocks and there spring forth in orderly succession the monarchs of the past and the ancient river streams and savannahs wherein they flourished. The rocks usually hide their story in the most difficult and inaccessible places.
In On the Trail of Ancient Man (1926), x.
Science quotes on:  |  Aladdin (2)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Desert (59)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Flourish (34)  |  Hide (70)  |  Inaccessible (18)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Most (1728)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Paleontologist (19)  |  Past (355)  |  River (140)  |  Rock (176)  |  Spring (140)  |  Story (122)  |  Stream (83)  |  Succession (80)  |  Usually (176)

People give ear to an upstart astrologer [Copernicus] who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy.
c. 1543, in The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky (1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Best (467)  |  Clever (41)  |  Course (413)  |  Ear (69)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Fool (121)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Moon (252)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  People (1031)  |  Reverse (33)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Show (353)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Whoever (42)

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child - our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
In The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation (1987), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Black (46)  |  Blue (63)  |  Child (333)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Consider (428)  |  Curious (95)  |  Engage (41)  |  Eye (440)  |  Green (65)  |  Leave (138)  |  Miracle (85)  |  People (1031)  |  Real (159)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Sky (174)  |  Thin (18)  |  Think (1122)  |  Two (936)  |  Usually (176)  |  Walk (138)  |  Water (503)  |  White (132)

Perhaps the most impressive illustration of all is to suppose that you could label the molecules in a tumbler of water. ... threw it anywhere you please on the earth, and went away from the earth for a few million years while all the water on the earth, the oceans, rivers, lakes and clouds had had time to mix up perfectly. Now supposing that perfect mixing had taken place, you come back to earth and draw a similar tumbler of water from the nearest tap, how many of those marked molecules would you expect to find in it? Well, the answer is 2000. There are 2000 times more molecules in a tumbler of water than there are tumblers of water in the whole earth.
In Lecture (1936) on 'Forty Years of Atomic Theory', collected in Needham and Pagel (eds.) in Background to Modern Science: Ten Lectures at Cambridge Arranged by the History of Science Committee, (1938), 99-100.
Science quotes on:  |  2000 (15)  |  Answer (389)  |  Back (395)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Draw (140)  |  Expect (203)  |  Find (1014)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Lake (36)  |  Marked (55)  |  Million (124)  |  Mix (24)  |  Molecule (185)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Please (68)  |  River (140)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Year (963)

Physical investigation, more than anything besides, helps to teach us the actual value and right use of the Imagination—of that wondrous faculty, which, left to ramble uncontrolled, leads us astray into a wilderness of perplexities and errors, a land of mists and shadows; but which, properly controlled by experience and reflection, becomes the noblest attribute of man; the source of poetic genius, the instrument of discovery in Science, without the aid of which Newton would never have invented fluxions, nor Davy have decomposed the earths and alkalies, nor would Columbus have found another Continent.
Presidential Address to Anniversary meeting of the Royal Society (30 Nov 1859), Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1860), 10, 165.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Aid (101)  |  Alkali (6)  |  America (143)  |  Astray (13)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Become (821)  |  Christopher Columbus (16)  |  Continent (79)  |  Sir Humphry Davy (49)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Element (322)  |  Error (339)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fluxion (7)  |  Genius (301)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Lead (391)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mist (17)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Physical (518)  |  Ramble (3)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Right (473)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Teach (299)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Wilderness (57)  |  Wondrous (22)

Physician's faults are covered with earth, and rich men's with money.
In Adam Wooléver (ed.), Treasury of Wisdom, Wit and Humor, Odd Comparisons and Proverbs (1878), 507.
Science quotes on:  |  Cover (40)  |  Fault (58)  |  Money (178)  |  Physician (284)  |  Rich (66)

Physicians, of all men, are most happy; whatever good success soever they have, the world proclaimeth; and what faults they commit, the earth covereth.
In 'Nicocles', Emblems, Divine and Moral; The School of the Heart; and Hieroglyphics of the Life of Man (1866), 404.
Science quotes on:  |  Commit (43)  |  Cover (40)  |  Fault (58)  |  Good (906)  |  Happy (108)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physician (284)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Success (327)  |  Whatever (234)  |  World (1850)

Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star.
As given, without citation, in Paul G. Hewitt, Conceptual Physics (4th ed., 1981), 51, footnote.
Science quotes on:  |  Flower (112)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Move (223)  |  Star (460)

Placed in a universe of constant change, on an isolated globe surrounded by distant celestial objects on all sides, subjected to influences of various kinds, it is a sublime occupation to measure the earth and weigh the planets, to predict their changes, and even to discover the materials of which they are composed; to investigate the causes of the tempest and volcano; to bring the lightning from the clouds; to submit it to experiment by which it shall reveal its character; and to estimate the size and weight of those invisible atoms which constitute the universe of things.
In Letter (3 Feb 1873) to the Committee of Arrangements, in Proceedings of the Farewell Banquet to Professor Tyndall (4 Feb 1873), 19. Reprinted as 'On the Importance of the Cultivation of Science', The Popular Science Monthly (1873), Vol. 2, 645.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Cause (561)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Change (639)  |  Character (259)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Composition (86)  |  Constant (148)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Discover (571)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Globe (51)  |  Influence (231)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Isolated (15)  |  Kind (564)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Material (366)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Object (438)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Planet (402)  |  Predict (86)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Side (236)  |  Star (460)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Tempest (7)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Weight (140)

Populations of bacteria live in the spumes of volcanic thermal vents on the ocean floor, multiplying in water above the boiling point. And far beneath Earth’s surface, to a depth of 2 miles (3.2 km) or more, dwell the SLIMES (subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystems), unique assemblages of bacteria and fungi that occupy pores in the interlocking mineral grains of igneous rock and derive their energy from inorganic chemicals. The SLIMES are independent of the world above, so even if all of it were burned to a cinder, they would carry on and, given enough time, probably evolve new life-forms able to re-enter the world of air and sunlight.
In 'Vanishing Before Our Eyes', Time (26 Apr 2000).
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Assemblage (17)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Burn (99)  |  Carry (130)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Cinder (6)  |  Depth (97)  |  Derive (70)  |  Ecosystem (33)  |  Energy (373)  |  Enough (341)  |  Enter (145)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Form (976)  |  Fungus (8)  |  Grain (50)  |  Igneous (3)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life-Form (6)  |  Live (650)  |  Microbe (30)  |  Mineral (66)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ocean Floor (6)  |  Point (584)  |  Population (115)  |  Pore (7)  |  Rock (176)  |  Slime (6)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thermal (15)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unique (72)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

Pure earth does not petrify, because the predominance of dryness over [i.e. in] the earth endows it not with coherence but rather with crumbliness. In general, stone is formed in two ways only (a) through the hardening of clay, and (b) by the congelation [of waters].
Avicenna
Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidium (1021-23), trans. E. J. Holmyard and D. C. Mandeville (1927), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Coherence (13)  |  Dryness (5)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Petrification (5)  |  Pure (299)  |  Rock (176)  |  Stone (168)  |  Through (846)  |  Two (936)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)

Quietly, like a night bird, floating, soaring, wingless.
We glide from shore to shore, curving and falling
but not quite touching;
Earth: a distant memory seen in an instant of repose,
crescent shaped, ethereal, beautiful,
I wonder which part is home, but I know it doesn’t matter . . .
the bond is there in my mind and memory;
Earth: a small, bubbly balloon hanging delicately
in the nothingness of space.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Balloon (16)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Bird (163)  |  Bond (46)  |  Crescent (4)  |  Curve (49)  |  Distant (33)  |  Ethereal (9)  |  Fall (243)  |  Float (31)  |  Glide (4)  |  Hang (46)  |  Home (184)  |  Instant (46)  |  Know (1538)  |  Matter (821)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Night (133)  |  Nothingness (12)  |  Part (235)  |  Quietly (5)  |  Repose (9)  |  See (1094)  |  Shape (77)  |  Shore (25)  |  Small (489)  |  Soar (23)  |  Soaring (9)  |  Space (523)  |  Touch (146)  |  Touching (16)  |  Wonder (251)

Reaching the Moon by three-man vessels in one long bound from Earth is like casting a thin thread across space. The main effort, in the coming decades, will be to strengthen this thread; to make it a cord, a cable, and, finally, a broad highway.
In 'The Coming Decades in Space', Boy’s Life (Jun 1972), 8. Reprinted in The Beginning and the End (1977), 203.
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Bound (120)  |  Broad (28)  |  Cable (11)  |  Cast (69)  |  Casting (10)  |  Coming (114)  |  Cord (3)  |  Decade (66)  |  Effort (243)  |  Finally (26)  |  Highway (15)  |  Long (778)  |  Main (29)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Reach (286)  |  Space (523)  |  Strengthen (25)  |  Thin (18)  |  Thread (36)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Will (2350)

Reality is never skin-deep. The true nature of the earth and its full wealth of hidden treasures cannot be argued from the visible rocks, the rocks upon which we live and out of which we make our living. The face of the earth, with its upstanding continents and depressed ocean-deeps, its vast ornament of plateau and mountain-chain, is molded by structure and process in hidden depths.
Science quotes on:  |  Continent (79)  |  Deep (241)  |  Deep Sea (10)  |  Depressed (3)  |  Depth (97)  |  Face (214)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Mold (37)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ornament (20)  |  Plateau (8)  |  Process (439)  |  Reality (274)  |  Rock (176)  |  Skin (48)  |  Structure (365)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Vast (188)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wealth (100)

Reason is the only ability that makes it possible for humans to rule the Earth and to ruin it.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Human (1512)  |  Possible (560)  |  Reason (766)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Rule (307)

Recognize that the very molecules that make up your body, the atoms that construct the molecules, are traceable to the crucibles that were once the centers of high mass stars that exploded their chemically rich guts into the galaxy, enriching pristine gas clouds with the chemistry of life. So that we are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That’s kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It’s not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.
From a History Channel TV show, (?) The Universe.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Better (493)  |  Biologically (4)  |  Body (557)  |  Center (35)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Connect (126)  |  Connected (8)  |  Construct (129)  |  Crucible (8)  |  End (603)  |  Enriching (2)  |  Exploded (11)  |  Feel (371)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Gas (89)  |  Guts (2)  |  High (370)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mass (160)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Pristine (5)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Rest (287)  |  Rich (66)  |  Smile (34)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Traceable (5)  |  Universe (900)

Returning to the moon is an important step for our space program. Establishing an extended human presence on the moon could vastly reduce the costs of further space exploration, making possible ever more ambitious missions. Lifting heavy spacecraft and fuel out of the Earth’s gravity is expensive. Spacecraft assembled and provisioned on the moon could escape its far lower gravity using far less energy, and thus, far less cost. Also, the moon is home to abundant resources. Its soil contains raw materials that might be harvested and processed into rocket fuel or breathable air. We can use our time on the moon to develop and test new approaches and technologies and systems that will allow us to function in other, more challenging environments. The moon is a logical step toward further progress and achievement.
Speech, NASA Headquarters (14 Jan 2004). In Office of the Federal Register (U.S.) Staff (eds.), Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, George W. Bush (2007), 58.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundant (23)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Air (366)  |  Allow (51)  |  Ambitious (4)  |  Approach (112)  |  Assemble (14)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Contain (68)  |  Cost (94)  |  Develop (278)  |  Energy (373)  |  Environment (239)  |  Escape (85)  |  Establish (63)  |  Expensive (10)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extended (4)  |  Far (158)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Function (235)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Harvest (28)  |  Heavy (24)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Important (229)  |  Less (105)  |  Lift (57)  |  Logical (57)  |  Low (86)  |  Making (300)  |  Material (366)  |  Mission (23)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possible (560)  |  Presence (63)  |  Process (439)  |  Progress (492)  |  Provision (17)  |  Raw (28)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Resource (74)  |  Return (133)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Soil (98)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Exploration (15)  |  Space Program (9)  |  Spacecraft (6)  |  Step (234)  |  System (545)  |  Technology (281)  |  Test (221)  |  Time (1911)  |  Toward (45)  |  Use (771)  |  Vastly (8)  |  Will (2350)

Sand is a substance that is beautiful, mysterious, and infinitely variable; each grain on a beach is the result of processes that go back into the shadowy beginnings of life, or of the earth itself.
In The Edge of the Sea (1955), 125.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beach (23)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Beginnings (5)  |  Go Back (4)  |  Grain (50)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Process (439)  |  Result (700)  |  Sand (63)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Substance (253)  |  Variable (37)

Science and poetry are, in fact, inseparable. By providing a vision of life, of Earth, of the universe in all its splendor, science does not challenge human values; it can inspire human values. It does not negate faith; it celebrates faith.
In Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein, The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World (2007), 201.
Science quotes on:  |  Celebrate (21)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faith (209)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Life (1870)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Science And Poetry (17)  |  Splendor (20)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)  |  Vision (127)

Science has blown to atoms, as she can rend and rive in the rocks themselves; but in those rocks she has found, and read aloud, the great stone book which is the history of the earth, even when darkness sat upon the face of the deep. Along their craggy sides she has traced the footprints of birds and beasts, whose shapes were never seen by man. From within them she has brought the bones, and pieced together the skeletons, of monsters that would have crushed the noted dragons of the fables at a blow.
Book review of Robert Hunt, Poetry of Science (1848), in the London Examiner (1848). Although uncredited in print, biographers identified his authorship from his original handwritten work. Collected in Charles Dickens and Frederic George Kitton (ed.) Old Lamps for New Ones: And Other Sketches and Essays (1897), 87.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Beast (58)  |  Bird (163)  |  Blow (45)  |  Bone (101)  |  Book (413)  |  Crag (6)  |  Crush (19)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dragon (6)  |  Fable (12)  |  Face (214)  |  Footprint (16)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Man (2252)  |  Monster (33)  |  Never (1089)  |  Piece (39)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Rock (176)  |  Shape (77)  |  Side (236)  |  Skeleton (25)  |  Stone (168)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Together (392)  |  Tracing (3)

Science has radically changed the conditions of human life on earth. It has expanded our knowledge and our power but not our capacity to use them with wisdom.
In Old Myths and New Realities (1964).
Science quotes on:  |  Capacity (105)  |  Condition (362)  |  Expand (56)  |  Human (1512)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Power (771)  |  Use (771)  |  Wisdom (235)

Science is teaching man to know and reverence truth, and to believe that only so far as he knows and loves it can he live worthily on earth, and vindicate the dignity of his spirit.
In Where are We and Whither Tending?: Three Lectures on the Reality and Worth of Human Progress (1886), 26.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Live (650)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Reverence (29)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Vindicate (4)  |  Worth (172)

Science is the art of the appropriate approximation. While the flat earth model is usually spoken of with derision it is still widely used. Flat maps, either in atlases or road maps, use the flat earth model as an approximation to the more complicated shape.
In 'On the Nature of Science', Physics in Canada (Jan/Feb 2007), 63, No. 1, 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Approximation (32)  |  Art (680)  |  Atlas (3)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Derision (8)  |  Flat (34)  |  Flat Earth (3)  |  Map (50)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Shape (77)  |  Still (614)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)

Science is triumphant with far-ranging success, but its triumph is somehow clouded by growing difficulties in providing for the simple necessities of human life on earth.
In Science and Survival (1966).
Science quotes on:  |  Cloud (111)  |  Growing (99)  |  Human (1512)  |  Life (1870)  |  Simple (426)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Success (327)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Triumphant (10)

Science, that gives man hope to live without lies
Or blast himself off the earth; curb science
Until morality catches up?
But look:
At present morality is running rapidly retrograde.
You’d have to turn science, too, back to the witch doctors,
the myth drunkards. Besides that,
Morality is not an end in itself; truth is an end.
To seek the truth is
better than good works, better than survival
Holier than innocence, and higher than love.
Poem, 'Curb Science?', in The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: 1938-1962 (1988), 199. The poem was suppressed until 1977.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Better (493)  |  Blast (13)  |  Doctor (191)  |  End (603)  |  Good (906)  |  Himself (461)  |  Holy (35)  |  Hope (321)  |  Innocence (13)  |  Lie (370)  |  Live (650)  |  Look (584)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Morality (55)  |  Myth (58)  |  Present (630)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Retrograde (8)  |  Running (61)  |  Seek (218)  |  Survival (105)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Witch Doctor (2)  |  Work (1402)

Science, the partisan of no country, but the beneficent patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may meet. Her influence on the mind, like the sun on the chilled earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation and further improvement. The philosopher of one country sees not an enemy in the philosopher of another; he takes his seat in the temple of science, and asks not who sits beside him.
In Letter to the Abbé Reynal, on the 'Affairs of North America in which the Mistakes in the Abbé’s Account of the Revolution of America are Corrected and Cleared Up', collected in The Works of Thomas Paine (1797), Vol. 1, 295. Originally published in the Pennsylvania magazine (1775).
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Beneficent (9)  |  Chill (10)  |  Country (269)  |  Cultivation (36)  |  Enemy (86)  |  High (370)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Influence (231)  |  Long (778)  |  Meet (36)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Open (277)  |  Partisan (5)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Preparing (21)  |  Seat (7)  |  See (1094)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sun (407)  |  Temple (45)  |  Temple Of Science (8)

Scientific education is a training in mental integrity. All along the history of culture from savagery to modern civilization men have imagined what ought to be, and then have tried to prove it true. This is the very spirit of metaphysic philosophy. When the imagination is not disciplined by unrelenting facts, it invents falsehood, and, when error has thus been invented, the heavens and the earth are ransacked for its proof.
From address (1 Oct 1884), at inauguration of the Corcoran School of Science and Arts, Columbian University, Washington, D.C. Published in 'The Larger Import of Scientific Education', Popular Science Monthly (Feb 1885), 26, 455.
Science quotes on:  |  Culture (157)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Education (423)  |  Error (339)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Heaven (266)  |  History (716)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Integrity (21)  |  Invent (57)  |  Mental (179)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  Modern Civilization (3)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Proof (304)  |  Ransack (2)  |  Savage (33)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Training (92)  |  True (239)  |  Unrelenting (2)

Scientists still do not appear to understand sufficiently that all earth sciences must contribute evidence toward unveiling the state of our planet in earlier times, and that the truth of the matter can only be reached by combing all this evidence. ... It is only by combing the information furnished by all the earth sciences that we can hope to determine 'truth' here, that is to say, to find the picture that sets out all the known facts in the best arrangement and that therefore has the highest degree of probability. Further, we have to be prepared always for the possibility that each new discovery, no matter what science furnishes it, may modify the conclusions we draw.
The Origins of Continents and Oceans
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Best (467)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Degree (277)  |  Determine (152)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Draw (140)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Find (1014)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hope (321)  |  Information (173)  |  Known (453)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Picture (148)  |  Planet (402)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Probability (135)  |  Reach (286)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Set (400)  |  State (505)  |  Still (614)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)

See that your children be taught, not only the labors of the earth, but the loveliness of it.
In Elbert Hubbard (ed. and publ.), The Philistine (Mar 1908), 26, No. 4, inside front cover, opposite 97.
Science quotes on:  |  Children (201)  |  Labor (200)  |  Loveliness (6)  |  See (1094)  |  Teaching (190)

See, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth,
All matter quick, and bursting into birth.
Above, how high progressive life may go!
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vast chain of being, which from God began,
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man,
Beast, bird, fish, insect! what no eye can see,
No glass can reach! from Infinite to thee,
From thee to Nothing—On superior pow'rs
Were we to press, inferior might on ours:
Or in the full creation leave a void,
Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd:
From Nature's chain whatever link you strike,
Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.
'An Essay on Man' (1733-4), Epistle I. In John Butt (ed.), The Poems of Alexander Pope (1965), 513.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Alike (60)  |  Angel (47)  |  Beast (58)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Below (26)  |  Bird (163)  |  Birth (154)  |  Break (109)  |  Broken (56)  |  Burst (41)  |  Chain (51)  |  Creation (350)  |  Deep (241)  |  Depth (97)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Ether (37)  |  Ethereal (9)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extension (60)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fish (130)  |  Glass (94)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inferior (37)  |  Inferiority (7)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Insect (89)  |  Life (1870)  |  Link (48)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Might (3)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Power (771)  |  Press (21)  |  Progress (492)  |  Quickness (5)  |  Reach (286)  |  Scale (122)  |  See (1094)  |  Step (234)  |  Strike (72)  |  Superior (88)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vastness (15)  |  Void (31)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wide (97)  |  Width (5)

Seeing therefore the variety of Motion which we find in the World is always decreasing, there is a necessity of conserving and recruiting it by active Principles, such as are the cause of Gravity, by which Planets and Comets keep their Motions in their Orbs, and Bodies acquire great Motion in falling; and the cause of Fermentation, by which the Heart and Blood of Animals are kept in perpetual Motion and Heat; the inward Parts of the Earth are constantly warm'd, and in some places grow very hot; Bodies burn and shine, Mountains take fire, the Caverns of the Earth are blown up, and the Sun continues violently hot and lucid, and warms all things by his Light. For we meet with very little Motion in the World, besides what is owing to these active Principles.
From Opticks, (1704, 2nd ed. 1718), Book 3, Query 31, 375.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Animal (651)  |  Blood (144)  |  Burn (99)  |  Cause (561)  |  Cavern (9)  |  Comet (65)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Continue (179)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fermentation (15)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fire (203)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heart (243)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hot (63)  |  Inward (6)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Lucid (9)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Orb (20)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Owing (39)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Perpetual Motion (14)  |  Planet (402)  |  Principle (530)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Variety (138)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Warm (74)  |  World (1850)

Several days after looking at the Earth a childish thought occurred to me - that we the cosmonauts are being deceived. If we are the first ones in space, then who was it who made the globe correctly? Then this thought was replaced by pride in the human capacity to see with our mind.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Childish (20)  |  Correctly (4)  |  Cosmonaut (5)  |  Deceive (26)  |  First (1302)  |  Globe (51)  |  Human (1512)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Occur (151)  |  Pride (84)  |  Replace (32)  |  See (1094)  |  Several (33)  |  Space (523)  |  Thought (995)

Should the research worker of the future discover some means of releasing this [atomic] energy in a form which could be employed, the human race will have at its command powers beyond the dream of scientific fiction, but the remotest possibility must always be considered that the energy once liberated will be completely uncontrollable and by its intense violence detonate all neighbouring substances. In this event, the whole of the hydrogen on earth might be transformed at once and the success of the experiment published at large to the universe as a new star.
'Mass Spectra and Isotopes', Nobel Lecture, 12 December 1922. In Nobel Lectures, Chemistry, 1922-1941 (1966), 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Atomic Energy (25)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Command (60)  |  Completely (137)  |  Consider (428)  |  Discover (571)  |  Dream (222)  |  Employ (115)  |  Energy (373)  |  Event (222)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Form (976)  |  Future (467)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Large (398)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Power (771)  |  Race (278)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Star (460)  |  Substance (253)  |  Success (327)  |  Transform (74)  |  Universe (900)  |  Violence (37)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

Since [World War I] we have seen the atomic age, the computer age, the space age, and the bio-engineering age, each as epochal as the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution. And all these have occurred in one generation. Man has stood on the moon and looked back on the earth, that small planet now reduced to a neighbourhood. But our material achievements have exceeded the managerial capacities of our human minds and institutions.
As quoted in Colin Bingham (ed.), Wit and Wisdom: A Public Affairs Miscellany (1982), 227.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Age (509)  |  Atomic Age (6)  |  Back (395)  |  Bioengineering (5)  |  Bronze (5)  |  Bronze Age (2)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Computer (131)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Exceed (10)  |  Generation (256)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Industrial Revolution (10)  |  Institution (73)  |  Iron (99)  |  Iron Age (3)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  Neighbourhood (2)  |  Occur (151)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Renaissance (16)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Age (4)  |  Stand (284)  |  War (233)  |  World (1850)  |  World War I (3)

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But bad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
Sonnet 65.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Bad (185)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Brass (5)  |  Flower (112)  |  Power (771)  |  Sea (326)  |  Stone (168)  |  Stronger (36)

Since Britain lies far north toward the pole, the nights are short in summer, and at midnight it is hard to tell whether the evening twilight still lingers or whether dawn is approaching, since the sun at night passes not far below the earth in its journey round the north back to the east. Consequently the days are long in summer, as are the nights in winter when the sun withdraws into African regions.
Bede
Science quotes on:  |  Africa (38)  |  African (11)  |  Back (395)  |  Britain (26)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Hard (246)  |  Journey (48)  |  Lie (370)  |  Linger (14)  |  Long (778)  |  Midnight (12)  |  Night (133)  |  North (12)  |  Pole (49)  |  Short (200)  |  Still (614)  |  Summer (56)  |  Sun (407)  |  Tell (344)  |  Twilight (6)  |  Winter (46)  |  Withdraw (11)

Since nothing stands in the way of the movability of the earth, I believe we must now investigate whether it also has several motions, so that it can be considered one of the planets.
In De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543).
Science quotes on:  |  Consider (428)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Planet (402)  |  Stand (284)  |  Way (1214)

Since the discovery of oxygen the civilised world has undergone a revolution in manners and customs. The knowledge of the composition of the atmosphere, of the solid crust of the earth, of water, and of their influence upon the life of plants and animals, was linked to that discovery. The successful pursuit of innumerable trades and manufactures, the profitable separation of metals from their ores, also stand in the closest connection therewith.
Familiar Letters on Chemistry (1851), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Composition (86)  |  Connection (171)  |  Crust (43)  |  Custom (44)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Influence (231)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Manufacture (30)  |  Metal (88)  |  Ore (14)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Plant (320)  |  Profitable (29)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Separation (60)  |  Solid (119)  |  Stand (284)  |  Successful (134)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

Since the discovery of secret things and in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and demonstrated arguments than from probable conjectures and the opinions of philosophical speculators of the common sort; therefore to the end that the noble substance of that great loadstone, our common mother (the earth), still quite unknown, and also the forces extraordinary and exalted of this globe may the better be understood, we have decided first to begin with the common stony and ferruginous matter, and magnetic bodies, and the parts of the earth that we may handle and may perceive with the senses; then to proceed with plain magnetic experiments, and to penetrate to the inner parts of the earth.
On the Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies and on the Great Magnet the Earth: A New Physiology, Demonstrated with many Arguments and Experiments (1600), trans. P. Fleury Mottelay (1893), Author’s Preface, xlvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Begin (275)  |  Better (493)  |  Cause (561)  |  Common (447)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Discovery (837)  |  End (603)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Exalted (22)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  First (1302)  |  Force (497)  |  Great (1610)  |  Handle (29)  |  Inner (72)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mother (116)  |  Noble (93)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Reason (766)  |  Secret (216)  |  Sense (785)  |  Still (614)  |  Stronger (36)  |  Substance (253)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understood (155)  |  Unknown (195)

Since the princes take the Earth for their own, it’s fair that the philosophers reserve the sky for themselves and rule there, but they should never permit the entry of others.
Conversations on the Plurality of Words (1686), trans. H. A. Hargreaves (1990), 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Permit (61)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Reserve (26)  |  Rule (307)  |  Sky (174)  |  Themselves (433)

Since, then, there is no objection to the mobility of the Earth, I think it must now be considered whether several motions are appropriate for it, so that it can be regarded as one of the wandering stars. For the fact that it is not the centre of all revolutions is made clear by the apparent irregular motion of the wandering stars, and their variable distances from the Earth, which cannot be understood in a circle having the same centre as the Earth.
'Book One. Chapter IX. Whether several motions can be attributed to the Earth, and on the centre of the universe', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Circle (117)  |  Consider (428)  |  Distance (171)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Mobility (11)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Objection (34)  |  Regard (312)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Think (1122)  |  Understood (155)  |  Variable (37)

So far as I have been able to observe thus far, the series of strata which compose the earth’s visible crust, seem to me to be divided into four general or successive, orders, without taking into consideration the sea. These four orders can be thought of as being four enormous strata ... which, wherever they are found, are seen to be placed one above the other, in a consistently uniform manner.
'Lettere Seconda ... sopra varie sue Osservazioni fatti in diverse parti del Territorio di Vicenza, ad altrove, appartenenti alIa Teoria terrestre, ed alIa Mineralogia') Nuova Raccolta di Opuscoli Scientificie Filologici, 1760,6,158, trans. Ezio Vaccari.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Consistently (8)  |  Crust (43)  |  Divided (50)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  Observe (179)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Sea (326)  |  Series (153)  |  Strata (37)  |  Successive (73)  |  Thought (995)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wherever (51)

So far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction into the earth at successive geological periods of life,—sensation,—instinct,—the intelligence of the higher mammalia bordering on reason,—and lastly the improvable reason of Man himself, presents us with a picture of the ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.
The Antiquity of Man (1863), 506.
Science quotes on:  |  Himself (461)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Period (200)  |  Picture (148)  |  Present (630)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Successive (73)  |  Tendency (110)

So I travelled, stopping ever and again, in great strides of a thousand years or more, drawn on by the mystery of the earth’s fate, watching with a strange fascination the sun grow larger and duller in the westward sky, and the life of the old earth ebbing out.
In The Time Machine (1898), 160.
Science quotes on:  |  Dull (58)  |  Ebb (4)  |  Fascination (35)  |  Fate (76)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Old (499)  |  Sky (174)  |  Strange (160)  |  Stride (15)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Travel (125)  |  Watch (118)  |  West (21)  |  Year (963)

So it is clear, since there will be no end to time and the world is eternal, that neither the Tanais nor the Nile has always been flowing, but that the region whence they flow was once dry; for their action has an end, but time does not. And this will be equally true of all other rivers. But if rivers come into existence and perish and the same parts of the earth were not always moist, the sea must needs change correspondingly. And if the sea is always advancing in one place and receding in another it is clear that the same parts of the whole earth are not always either sea or land, but that all this changes in the course of time.
Aristotle
Meteorology, 353a, 14-24. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. I, 575.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Change (639)  |  Course (413)  |  Dry (65)  |  End (603)  |  Equally (129)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Existence (481)  |  Flow (89)  |  Moist (13)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perish (56)  |  River (140)  |  Sea (326)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

So says the most ancient book of the Earth; thus it is written on its leaves of marble, lime, sand, slate, and clay: ... that our Earth has fashioned itself, from its chaos of substances and powers, through the animating warmth of the creative spirit, to a peculiar and original whole, by a series of preparatory revolutions, till at last the crown of its creation, the exquisite and tender creature man, was enabled to appear.
Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man (1803). Translated from 1784 Original, Vol. I, Book 10, 465-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Book (413)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creative (144)  |  Creature (242)  |  Crown (39)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Geology (240)  |  Last (425)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marble (21)  |  Most (1728)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Power (771)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Sand (63)  |  Say (989)  |  Series (153)  |  Slate (6)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Substance (253)  |  Through (846)  |  Warmth (21)  |  Whole (756)

Some drill and bore
The solid earth, and from the strata there
Extract a register, by which we learn,
That he who made it, and reveal'd its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age.
The Task and Other Poems, Book III, The Garden (1785). In John D. Baird and Charles Ryskamp (eds.), The Poems of William Cowper (1995), Vol. 2, 1782-1785, 166-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Extract (40)  |  Learn (672)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Register (22)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Solid (119)  |  Strata (37)

Some few, & I am one, even wish to God, though at the loss of millions of lives, that the North would proclaim a crusade against Slavery. In the long run, a million horrid deaths would be amply repaid in the cause of humanity. ... Great God how I shd like to see that greatest curse on Earth Slavery abolished.
Letter to Asa Gray (5 Jun 1861). In Charles Darwin, Frederick Burkhardt, Sydney Smith, The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Vol. 9, 1861 (1994), xx. An attack by Confederate forces at Fort Sumter on 12 Apr 1861 marked the beginning of the American Civil war. In Sep 1862, President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a goal of the war. (Lincoln and Darwin were born on the same day.)
Science quotes on:  |  Abolish (13)  |  Against (332)  |  Cause (561)  |  Crusade (6)  |  Curse (20)  |  Death (406)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Humanity (186)  |  In The Long Run (18)  |  Live (650)  |  Loss (117)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  See (1094)  |  Slavery (13)  |  Wish (216)

Some people say there is a God out there. ... but in my travels around the earth all day long, I looked around and didn't see Him ... I saw no God or angels. The rocket was made by our own people. I don't believe in God. I believe in man, in his strength, his possibilities, and his reason.[After his return from a space flight orbitting the earth.]
As quoted, without citation, in H. T. Spence, Confronting Contemporary Christian Music: A Plain Account of Its History, Philosophy, and Future (2002), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Angel (47)  |  Flight (101)  |  God (776)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  People (1031)  |  Reason (766)  |  Return (133)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Saw (160)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Strength (139)  |  Travel (125)

Some think that the earth remains at rest. But Philolaus the Pythagorean believes that, like the sun and moon, it revolves around the fire in an oblique circle. Heraclides of Pontus, and Ephantus the Pythagorean make the earth move, not in a progressive motion, but like a wheel in a rotation from west to east about its own center.
From Preface to Book on the Revolutions.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Center (35)  |  Circle (117)  |  East (18)  |  Fire (203)  |  Moon (252)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Progressive (21)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  West (21)  |  Wheel (51)

Somebody once observed to the eminent philosopher Wittgenstein how stupid medieval Europeans living before the time of Copernicus must have been that they could have looked at the sky and thought that the sun was circling the earth. Surely a modicum of astronomical good sense would have told them that the reverse was true. Wittgenstein is said to have replied: “I agree. But I wonder what it would have looked like if the sun had been circling the earth.”
In Day the Universe Changed (1985), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Circling (2)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Eminent (20)  |  European (5)  |  Geocentric (6)  |  Good (906)  |  Heliocentric (4)  |  Living (492)  |  Look (584)  |  Medieval (12)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Reverse (33)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sky (174)  |  Stupid (38)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surely (101)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Ludwig Wittgenstein (16)  |  Wonder (251)

Someone sent me a postcard picture of the earth. On the back it said, “Wish you were here.”
Anonymous
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Joke (90)  |  Picture (148)  |  Wish (216)

Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee.
Bible
Book of Job (12:8), The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testaments, in the Common Version (1833), 409.
Science quotes on:  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)

Speaking of libraries: A big open-stack academic or public library is no small pleasure to work in. You’re, say, trying to do a piece on something in Nevada, and you go down to C Floor, deep in the earth, and out to what a miner would call a remote working face. You find 10995.497S just where the card catalog and the online computer thought it would be, but that is only the initial nick. The book you knew about has led you to others you did not know about. To the ceiling the shelves are loaded with books about Nevada. You pull them down, one at a time, and sit on the floor and look them over until you are sitting on a pile five feet high, at which point you are late home for dinner and you get up and walk away. It’s an incomparable boon to research, all that; but it is also a reason why there are almost no large open-stack libraries left in the world.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Academic (20)  |  Big (55)  |  Book (413)  |  Boon (7)  |  C (2)  |  Call (781)  |  Card (5)  |  Catalog (5)  |  Ceiling (5)  |  Computer (131)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dinner (15)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Face (214)  |  Find (1014)  |  Five (16)  |  Floor (21)  |  Foot (65)  |  Get Up (5)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Incomparable (14)  |  Initial (17)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Late (119)  |  Lead (391)  |  Leave (138)  |  Library (53)  |  Load (12)  |  Look (584)  |  Miner (9)  |  Nick (2)  |  Online (4)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Piece (39)  |  Pile (12)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Point (584)  |  Public (100)  |  Pull (43)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remote (86)  |  Research (753)  |  Say (989)  |  Shelve (2)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Small (489)  |  Something (718)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Walk (138)  |  Why (491)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Spherical space is not very easy to imagine. We have to think of the properties of the surface of a sphere—the two-dimensional case—and try to conceive something similar applied to three-dimensional space. Stationing ourselves at a point let us draw a series of spheres of successively greater radii. The surface of a sphere of radius r should be proportional to r2; but in spherical space the areas of the more distant spheres begin to fall below the proper proportion. There is not so much room out there as we expected to find. Ultimately we reach a sphere of biggest possible area, and beyond it the areas begin to decrease. The last sphere of all shrinks to a point—our antipodes. Is there nothing beyond this? Is there a kind of boundary there? There is nothing beyond and yet there is no boundary. On the earth’s surface there is nothing beyond our own antipodes but there is no boundary there
In Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory (1920, 1921), 158-159.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Draw (140)  |  Easy (213)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fall (243)  |  Find (1014)  |  Greater (288)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Kind (564)  |  Last (425)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Proper (150)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Reach (286)  |  Series (153)  |  Shrink (23)  |  Something (718)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Surface (223)  |  Think (1122)  |  Three-Dimensional (11)  |  Try (296)  |  Two (936)  |  Ultimately (56)

Standing beside each other, we feasted our eyes. Above us the cerulean sky deepened to an inky black as the remnants of the atmosphere gave way to the depths of space. The mighty Himalaya were now a sparkling relief map spread out before us and garnished with a gleaming lattice work of swirling glaciers. Even Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Makalu, all 8,000-meter giants, were dwarfed. To the east and west, Kanchenjunga and Shishapangma, two more great sentinels of the Himalaya, stood crystal clear over 100 kilometers away. To the north were the burnished plains of Tibet, and to the south the majestic peaks and lush foothills of Nepal. We stood on the crown jewel of the earth, the curved horizon spinning endlessly around us.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Black (46)  |  Clear (111)  |  Crown (39)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Curve (49)  |  Deepen (6)  |  Depth (97)  |  Dwarf (7)  |  East (18)  |  Endlessly (4)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feast (5)  |  Foothill (3)  |  Garnish (3)  |  Giant (73)  |  Give (208)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Gleam (13)  |  Great (1610)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Jewel (10)  |  Kilometer (10)  |  Lattice (2)  |  Lush (5)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Map (50)  |  Mighty (13)  |  More (2558)  |  Nepal (2)  |  North (12)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peak (20)  |  Plain (34)  |  Relief (30)  |  Remnant (7)  |  Sky (174)  |  South (39)  |  Space (523)  |  Sparkle (8)  |  Sparkling (7)  |  Spin (26)  |  Spinning (18)  |  Spread (86)  |  Stand (284)  |  Swirl (10)  |  Tibet (4)  |  Two (936)  |  Way (1214)  |  West (21)  |  Work (1402)

Suddenly, from behind the rim of the moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth . . . home.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Behind (139)  |  Black (46)  |  Blue (63)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Emerge (24)  |  Fully (20)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Home (184)  |  Immense (89)  |  Jewel (10)  |  Lace (2)  |  Light (635)  |  Long (778)  |  Majesty (21)  |  Moment (260)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Pearl (8)  |  Realize (157)  |  Rim (5)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rising (44)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sky (174)  |  Slow (108)  |  Slowly (19)  |  Small (489)  |  Sparkle (8)  |  Sparkling (7)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Swirl (10)  |  Thick (6)  |  Veil (27)  |  White (132)

Surely the immutable laws of the universe can teach more impressive and exalted lessons than the holy books of all the religions on earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Exalted (22)  |  Holy (35)  |  Immutable (26)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Law (913)  |  Lesson (58)  |  More (2558)  |  Religion (369)  |  Surely (101)  |  Teach (299)  |  Universe (900)

Take note, theologians, that in your desire to make matters of faith out of propositions relating to the fixity of sun and earth you run the risk of eventually having to condemn as heretics those who would declare the earth to stand still and the sun to change position—eventually, I say, at such a time as it might be physically or logically proved that the earth moves and the sun stands still.
Note added by Galileo in the preliminary leaves of his copy of Dialogue on the Great World Systems (1632).
Science quotes on:  |  Change (639)  |  Condemn (44)  |  Declare (48)  |  Desire (212)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Faith (209)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Heretic (8)  |  Matter (821)  |  Move (223)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Religion (369)  |  Risk (68)  |  Run (158)  |  Say (989)  |  Stand (284)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theologian (23)  |  Time (1911)

Taking a very gloomy view of the future of the human race, let us suppose that it can only expect to survive for two thousand millions years longer, a period about equal to the past age of the earth. Then, regarded as a being destined to live for three-score years and ten, humanity although it has been born in a house seventy years old, is itself only three days old. But only in the last few minutes has it become conscious that the whole world does not centre round its cradle and its trappings, and only in the last few ticks of the clock has any adequate conception of the size of the external world dawned upon it. For our clock does not tick seconds, but years; its minutes are the lives of men.
EOS: Or the Wider Aspects of Cosmology (1928), 12-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequate (50)  |  Age (509)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Clock (51)  |  Conception (160)  |  Cradle (19)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Destined (42)  |  Expect (203)  |  Future (467)  |  House (143)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Last (425)  |  Live (650)  |  Minute (129)  |  Old (499)  |  Past (355)  |  Period (200)  |  Race (278)  |  Regard (312)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Survive (87)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tick (9)  |  Two (936)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

Telescopes are in some ways like time machines. They reveal galaxies so far away that their light has taken billions of years to reach us. We in astronomy have an advantage in studying the universe, in that we can actually see the past.
We owe our existence to stars, because they make the atoms of which we are formed. So if you are romantic you can say we are literally starstuff. If you’re less romantic you can say we’re the nuclear waste from the fuel that makes stars shine.
We’ve made so many advances in our understanding. A few centuries ago, the pioneer navigators learnt the size and shape of our Earth, and the layout of the continents. We are now just learning the dimensions and ingredients of our entire cosmos, and can at last make some sense of our cosmic habitat.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Actually (27)  |  Advance (298)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Atom (381)  |  Billion (104)  |  Billions (7)  |  Century (319)  |  Continent (79)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Entire (50)  |  Existence (481)  |  Far (158)  |  Form (976)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Habitat (17)  |  Ingredient (16)  |  Last (425)  |  Layout (2)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Less (105)  |  Light (635)  |  Literally (30)  |  Machine (271)  |  Navigator (8)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Waste (4)  |  Owe (71)  |  Past (355)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Romantic (13)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shape (77)  |  Shine (49)  |  Size (62)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Starstuff (5)  |  Study (701)  |  Studying (70)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time Machine (4)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Waste (109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Year (963)

Television, films, and newspapers are forms of pollution for us and our children. They sow seeds of violence and anxiety in us and pollute our consciousness, just as we destroy our environment by farming with chemicals, clear-cutting the trees, and polluting the water. We need to protect the ecology of the Earth and the ecology of the mind, or this kind of violence and recklessness will spill over into even more areas of life.
In Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change (1993), 132.
Science quotes on:  |  Anxiety (30)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Environment (239)  |  Farm (28)  |  Film (12)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Newspaper (39)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Protect (65)  |  Television (33)  |  Tree (269)  |  Violence (37)  |  Water (503)

Tell me these things, Olympian Muses, tell
From the beginning, which first came to be?
Chaos was first of all, but next appeared
Broad-bosomed Earth, Sure standing-place for all
The gods who live on snowy Olympus' peak,
And misty Tartarus, in a recess
Of broad-pathed earth, and Love, most beautiful
Of all the deathless gods. He makes men weak,
He overpowers the clever mind, and tames
The spirit in the breasts of men and gods.
From Chaos came black Night and Erebos.
And Night in turn gave birth to Day and Space
Whom she conceived in love to Erebos.
And Earth bore starry Heaven, first, to be
An equal to herself, to cover her
All over, and to be a resting-place,
Always secure, for all the blessed gods.Theogony, I. 114-28.
Heslod
In Hesiod and Theognis, trans. Dorothea Wender (1973), 26-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Birth (154)  |  Bless (25)  |  Blessed (20)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Clever (41)  |  Day (43)  |  First (1302)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Live (650)  |  Love (328)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Muse (10)  |  Next (238)  |  Night (133)  |  Path (159)  |  Recess (8)  |  Space (523)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Star (460)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Turn (454)  |  Weak (73)

Thales thought that water was the primordial substance of all things. Heraclitus of Ephesus… thought that it was fire. Democritus and his follower Epicurus thought that it was the atoms, termed by our writers “bodies that cannot be cut up” or, by some “indivisibles.” The school of the Pythagoreans added air and the earthy to the water and fire. Hence, although Democritus did not in a strict sense name them, but spoke only of indivisible bodies, yet he seems to have meant these same elements, because when taken by themselves they cannot be harmed, nor are they susceptible of dissolution, nor can they be cut up into parts, but throughout time eternal they forever retain an infinite solidity.
Vitruvius
In De Architectura, Book 2, Chap 2, Sec. 1. As translated in Morris Hicky Morgan (trans.), Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (1914), 42.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atom (381)  |  Cut (116)  |  Democritus of Abdera (17)  |  Dissolution (11)  |  Element (322)  |  Epicurus (6)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Fire (203)  |  Forever (111)  |  Heraclitus (15)  |  Indivisible (22)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Name (359)  |  Primordial (14)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Retain (57)  |  School (227)  |  Sense (785)  |  Solid (119)  |  Substance (253)  |  Term (357)  |  Thales (9)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Water (503)  |  Writer (90)

That all plants immediately and substantially stem from the element water alone I have learnt from the following experiment. I took an earthern vessel in which I placed two hundred pounds of earth dried in an oven, and watered with rain water. I planted in it a willow tree weighing five pounds. Five years later it had developed a tree weighing one hundred and sixty-nine pounds and about three ounces. Nothing but rain (or distilled water) had been added. The large vessel was placed in earth and covered by an iron lid with a tin-surface that was pierced with many holes. I have not weighed the leaves that came off in the four autumn seasons. Finally I dried the earth in the vessel again and found the same two hundred pounds of it diminished by about two ounces. Hence one hundred and sixty-four pounds of wood, bark and roots had come up from water alone. (1648)
A diligent experiment that was quantitatively correct only as far as it goes. He overlooked the essential role of air and photosynthesis in the growth process.
Complex. atque mist. elem. fig., 30, Opp. pp. 104-5; Aufgang, 148. In Walter Pagel, Joan Baptista Van Helmont (2002) , 53.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Alone (324)  |  Autumn (11)  |  Bark (19)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Develop (278)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Element (322)  |  Essential (210)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Growth (200)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Iron (99)  |  Large (398)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Oven (5)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Process (439)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Rain (70)  |  Role (86)  |  Root (121)  |  Season (47)  |  Stem (31)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tin (18)  |  Tree (269)  |  Two (936)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Water (503)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Wood (97)  |  Year (963)

That hemisphere of the moon which faces us is better known than the earth itself; its vast desert plains have been surveyed to within a few acres; its mountains and craters have been measured to within a few yards; while on the earth's surface there are 30,000,000 square kilometres (sixty times the extent of France), upon which the foot of man has never trod, which the eye of man has never seen.
In 'Mars, by the Latest Observations', Popular Science (Dec 1873), 4, 187.
Science quotes on:  |  Acre (13)  |  Better (493)  |  Crater (8)  |  Desert (59)  |  Extent (142)  |  Eye (440)  |  Face (214)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Man (2252)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Never (1089)  |  Plain (34)  |  Square (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Survey (36)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tread (17)  |  Vast (188)

That radioactive elements created by us are found in nature is an astounding event in the history of the earth. And of the Human race. To fail to consider its importance and its consequences would be a folly for which humanity would have to pay a terrible price. When public opinion has been created in the countries concerned and among all the nations, an opinion informed of the dangers involved in going on with the tests and led by the reason which this information imposes, then the statesmen may reach an agreement to stop the experiments.
In 'Excerpts from Message by Schweitzer', New York Times (24 Apr 1957), 4, translated from a letter issued by Schweitzer through the Nobel Committee, asking that public opinion demand an end to nuclear tests.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Astounding (9)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Danger (127)  |  Element (322)  |  Event (222)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fail (191)  |  Folly (44)  |  History (716)  |  History Of The Earth (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Importance (299)  |  Inform (50)  |  Information (173)  |  Involved (90)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Price (57)  |  Public Opinion (2)  |  Race (278)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Statesman (20)  |  Stop (89)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Test (221)

The ‘Doctrine of Uniformity’ in Geology, as held by many of the most eminent of British Geologists, assumes that the earth’s surface and upper crust have been nearly as they are at present in temperature, and other physical qualities, during millions of millions of years. But the heat which we know, by observation, to be now conducted out of the earth yearly is so great, that if this action has been going on with any approach to uniformity for 20,000 million years, the amount of heat lost out of the earth would have been about as much as would heat, by 100 Cent., a quantity of ordinary surface rock of 100 times the earth’s bulk. This would be more than enough to melt a mass of surface rock equal in bulk to the whole earth. No hypothesis as to chemical action, internal fluidity, effects of pressure at great depth, or possible character of substances in the interior of the earth, possessing the smallest vestige of probability, can justify the supposition that the earth’s upper crust has remained nearly as it is, while from the whole, or from any part, of the earth, so great a quantity of heat has been lost.
In 'The “Doctrine of Uniformity” in Geology Briefly Refuted' (1866), Popular Lectures and Addresses (1891), Vol. 2, 6-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Amount (153)  |  Approach (112)  |  British (42)  |  Bulk (24)  |  Character (259)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Crust (43)  |  Depth (97)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enough (341)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Interior (35)  |  Internal (69)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Observation (593)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Probability (135)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rock (176)  |  Substance (253)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Surface (223)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Time (1911)  |  Uniformity (38)  |  Vestige (11)  |  Whole (756)  |  Year (963)

The “grand old Book of God still stands”, and this grand old earth, the more its leaves are turned over and pondered, the more it will sustain, enlighten and illustrate the Sacred word.
In Science and the Bible, a Review of ‘The Six Days of Creation’ of Prof. Tayler Lewis (1856), 128-129. Published as Article III, from the Bibliotheca Sacra (Jan 1856). Prof. Lewis, a Professor of Greek, published a book (1855) based on his lecture series (1853) interpreting Scripture, which slighted scientific discoveries of Geology, such that Prof. Dana was moved to write his extensive rebuttal.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  God (776)  |  Grand (29)  |  Illustrate (14)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Old (499)  |  Ponder (15)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Stand (284)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Turn (454)  |  Word (650)

The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown is perhaps the most direct interaction with the earth
Diet For a Small Planet (1971), pt. 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Direct (228)  |  Food (213)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mouth (54)

The advance from the simple to the complex, through a process of successive differentiations, is seen alike in the earliest changes of the Universe to which we can reason our way back, and in the earliest changes which we can inductively establish; it is seen in the geologic and climatic evolution of the Earth; it is seen in the unfolding of every single organism on its surface, and in the multiplication of kinds of organisms; it is seen in the evolution of Humanity, whether contemplated in the civilized individual, or in the aggregate of races; it is seen in the evolution of Society in respect alike of its political, its religious, and its economical organization; and it is seen in the evolution of all those endless concrete and abstract products of human activity which constitute the environment of our daily life. From the remotest past which Science can fathom, up to the novelties of yesterday, that in which Progress essentially consists, is the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous.
Progress: Its Law and Cause (1857), 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Activity (218)  |  Advance (298)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Aggregation (6)  |  Alike (60)  |  Back (395)  |  Change (639)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Climate (102)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Consist (223)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Daily (91)  |  Daily Life (18)  |  Differentiation (28)  |  Early (196)  |  Economy (59)  |  Endless (60)  |  Environment (239)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fathom (15)  |  Geology (240)  |  Heterogeneity (4)  |  Homogeneity (9)  |  Homogeneous (17)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Individual (420)  |  Induction (81)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Multiplication (46)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Organism (231)  |  Organization (120)  |  Past (355)  |  Political (124)  |  Politics (122)  |  Process (439)  |  Product (166)  |  Progress (492)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remoteness (9)  |  Respect (212)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Single (365)  |  Society (350)  |  Succession (80)  |  Successive (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Through (846)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Unfolding (16)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Yesterday (37)

The advanced course in physics began with Rutherford’s lectures. I was the only woman student who attended them and the regulations required that women should sit by themselves in the front row. There had been a time when a chaperone was necessary but mercifully that day was past. At every lecture Rutherford would gaze at me pointedly, as I sat by myself under his very nose, and would begin in his stentorian voice: “Ladies and Gentlemen”. All the boys regularly greeted this witticism with thunderous applause, stamping with their feet in the traditional manner, and at every lecture I wished I could sink into the earth. To this day I instinctively take my place as far back as possible in a lecture room.
In Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections (1996), 118.
Science quotes on:  |  Applause (9)  |  Attend (67)  |  Back (395)  |  Begin (275)  |  Boy (100)  |  Course (413)  |  Foot (65)  |  Front (16)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Gentleman (26)  |  Lady (12)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Manner (62)  |  Myself (211)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Past (355)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possible (560)  |  Regulation (25)  |  Regulations (3)  |  Required (108)  |  Row (9)  |  Sir Ernest Rutherford (55)  |  Sink (38)  |  Stamp (36)  |  Student (317)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Traditional (16)  |  Voice (54)  |  Wish (216)  |  Witticism (2)  |  Woman (160)

The age of the earth was thus increased from a mere score of millions [of years] to a thousand millions and more, and the geologist who had before been bankrupt in time now found himself suddenly transformed into a capitalist with more millions in the bank than he knew how to dispose of … More cautious people, like myself, too cautious, perhaps, are anxious first of all to make sure that the new [radioactive] clock is not as much too fast as Lord Kelvin’s was too slow.
1921 British Association for the Advancement of Science symposium on 'The Age of the Earth'. In Nature (1921), 108, 282.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Anxiety (30)  |  Bank (31)  |  Bankrupt (4)  |  Capitalist (6)  |  Caution (24)  |  Clock (51)  |  Fast (49)  |  First (1302)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Himself (461)  |  Increase (225)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Lord (97)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  New (1273)  |  People (1031)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Slow (108)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transform (74)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Year (963)

The Almighty lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call ours, “I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the arts. He can now provide for his own comfort, and learn from my munificence to all, to be kind to all, to be kind to each other.”
In The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology (27 Jan O.S. 1794), 44.
Science quotes on:  |  Almighty (23)  |  Art (680)  |  Call (781)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Display (59)  |  Dwell (19)  |  Globe (51)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Imitation (24)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Invitation (12)  |  Kind (564)  |  Kindness (14)  |  Learn (672)  |  Lecturer (13)  |  Made (14)  |  Man (2252)  |  Munificence (2)  |  Other (2233)  |  Principle (530)  |  Provide (79)  |  Render (96)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Star (460)  |  Structure (365)  |  Study (701)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)

The application of botanical and zoological evidence to determine the relative age of rocks—this chronometry of the earth's surface which was already present to the lofty mind of Hooke—indicates one of the most glorious epochs of modern geognosy, which has finally, on the Continent at least, been emancipated from the way of Semitic doctrines. Palaeontological investigations have imparted a vivifying breath of grace and diversity to the science of the solid structure of the earth.
Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (1845-62), trans. E. C. Due (1849), Vol. 1, 272.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Already (226)  |  Application (257)  |  Botany (63)  |  Breath (61)  |  Continent (79)  |  Determine (152)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Geognosy (2)  |  Geology (240)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Grace (31)  |  Robert Hooke (20)  |  Impart (24)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Modern (402)  |  Most (1728)  |  North America (5)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Present (630)  |  Rock (176)  |  Solid (119)  |  Structure (365)  |  Surface (223)  |  Way (1214)  |  Zoology (38)

The astronomer who studies the motion of the stars is surely like a blind man who, with only a staff [mathematics] to guide him, must make a great, endless, hazardous journey that winds through innumerable desolate places. What will be the result? Proceeding anxiously for a while and groping his way with his staff, he will at some time, leaning upon it, cry out in despair to Heaven, Earth and all the Gods to aid him in his misery.
In The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler (1968).
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Blind (98)  |  Cry (30)  |  Despair (40)  |  Endless (60)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guide (107)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Journey (48)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Misery (31)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Proceeding (38)  |  Result (700)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Surely (101)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)

The Atomic Age began at exactly 5.30 Mountain War Time on the morning of July 15, 1945, on a stretch of semi-desert land about 50 airline miles from Alamogordo, New Mexico. And just at that instance there rose from the bowels of the earth a light not of this world, the light of many suns in one. ... At first it was a giant column that soon took the shape of a supramundane mushroom.
On the first atomic explosion in New Mexico, 16 Jul 1945.
From 'Drama of the Atomic Bomb Found Climax in July 16 Test', in New York Times (26 Sep 1945), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Atomic Age (6)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Bowel (17)  |  Desert (59)  |  Explosion (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Giant (73)  |  Light (635)  |  Morning (98)  |  Mountain (202)  |  New (1273)  |  Rose (36)  |  Soon (187)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  War (233)  |  World (1850)

The Atoms or Particles, which now constitute Heaven and Earth, being once separate and diffused in the Mundane Space, like the supposed Chaos, could never without a God by their Mechanical affections have convened into this present Frame of Things or any other like it.
A Confutation of Atheism from the Origin and Frame of the World. (1693), Part II, 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Affection (44)  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Constitute (99)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particle (200)  |  Present (630)  |  Separate (151)  |  Space (523)  |  Thing (1914)

The attainment of knowledge is the high and exclusive attribute of man, among the numberless myriads of animated beings, inhabitants of the terrestrial globe. On him alone is bestowed, by the bounty of the Creator of the universe, the power and the capacity of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge is the attribute of his nature which at once enables him to improve his condition upon earth, and to prepare him for the enjoyment of a happier existence hereafter.
Report, as chairman of a committee, on the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution (Jan 1836). In Josiah Quincy, Memoir of the life of John Quincy Adams (1858), 265.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquiring (5)  |  Alone (324)  |  Animated (5)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bestow (18)  |  Bounty (2)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Condition (362)  |  Creator (97)  |  Enable (122)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Existence (481)  |  Globe (51)  |  High (370)  |  Improve (64)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Numberless (3)  |  Power (771)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Universe (900)

The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer, but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.
In The Bird: Its Form and Function (1906), Vol. 1, 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Composer (7)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Expression (181)  |  Extinction (80)  |  First (1302)  |  Genius (301)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Individual (420)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Pass (241)  |  Race (278)  |  Species (435)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vanishing (11)  |  Work (1402)

The big blue area that dominates the view of earth from space was once our home and today represents 97 percent of the biosphere where life exists, providing the water we drink and the air we breathe. And we are destroying it.
In 'Can We Stop Killing Our Oceans Now, Please?', Huffington Post (14 Aug 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Drink (56)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Exist (458)  |  Home (184)  |  Life (1870)  |  Oceanography (17)  |  Provide (79)  |  Represent (157)  |  Space (523)  |  Today (321)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)

The birth of a volcanic island is an event marked by prolonged and violent travail; the forces of the earth striving to create, and all the forces of the sea opposing.
In The Sea Around Us (1951), 83.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Create (245)  |  Event (222)  |  Force (497)  |  Geology (240)  |  Island (49)  |  Marked (55)  |  Oppose (27)  |  Prolong (29)  |  Prolonged (7)  |  Sea (326)  |  Travail (5)  |  Violent (17)  |  Volcano (46)

The body of the earth is of the nature of a fish... because it draws water as its breath instead of air.
'Philosophy', in The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, trans. E. MacCurdy (1938), Vol. 1 70.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Body (557)  |  Breath (61)  |  Draw (140)  |  Fish (130)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Water (503)

The body of the Earth, large, sluggish and inapt for motion, is not to be disturbed by movement (especially three movements), any more than the Aetherial Lights [stars] are to be shifted, so that such ideas are opposed both to physical principles and to the authority of the Holy Writ which many time: confirms the stability of the Earth (as we shall discuss more fully elsewhere).
De Mundi Aetherei Recentioribus Phaenomenis (On Recent Phenomena in the Aetherial World) (1588). Quoted in M. Boas Hall, The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630 (1962), 115.
Science quotes on:  |  Authority (99)  |  Body (557)  |  Both (496)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Disturb (31)  |  Disturbed (15)  |  Holy (35)  |  Idea (881)  |  Large (398)  |  Light (635)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Movement (162)  |  Physical (518)  |  Principle (530)  |  Shift (45)  |  Stability (28)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Time (1911)

The bottom of the sea is the great laboratory, where loose materials are mineralized and formed into stone, the atmosphere is the region where stones are decomposed, and again resolved into earth.
In The Works of John Playfair: Vol. 1: Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1822), 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Bottom (36)  |  Bottom Of The Sea (5)  |  Decompose (10)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Loose (14)  |  Material (366)  |  Mineralize (2)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Sea (326)  |  Soil (98)  |  Stone (168)

The breaking up of the terrestrial globe, this it is we witness. It doubtless began a long time ago, and the brevity of human life enables us to contemplate it without dismay. It is not only in the great mountain ranges that the traces of this process are found. Great segments of the earth's crust have sunk hundreds, in some cases, even thousands, of feet deep, and not the slightest inequality of the surface remains to indicate the fracture; the different nature of the rocks and the discoveries made in mining alone reveal its presence. Time has levelled all.
The Face of the Earth (1904), Vol. 1, 604.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Break (109)  |  Brevity (8)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Crust (43)  |  Deep (241)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Dismay (5)  |  Doubtless (8)  |  Enable (122)  |  Enabling (7)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Fracture (7)  |  Globe (51)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Indication (33)  |  Inequality (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Mining (22)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Presence (63)  |  Process (439)  |  Range (104)  |  Remain (355)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Rock (176)  |  Segment (6)  |  Sinking (6)  |  Surface (223)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Witness (57)

The chemical compounds are comparable to a system of planets in that the atoms are held together by chemical affinity. They may be more or less numerous, simple or complex in composition, and in the constitution of the materials, they play the same role as Mars and Venus do in our planetary system, or the compound members such as our earth with its moon, or Jupiter with its satellites... If in such a system a particle is replaced by one of different character, the equilibrium can persist, and then the new compound will exhibit properties similar to those shown by the original substance.
Quoted in Ralph Oesper, The Human Side of Scientists (1975), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Affinity (27)  |  Atom (381)  |  Character (259)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Complex (202)  |  Composition (86)  |  Compound (117)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Mars (47)  |  Material (366)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  New (1273)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Particle (200)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Role (86)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Simple (426)  |  Substance (253)  |  System (545)  |  Together (392)  |  Venus (21)  |  Will (2350)

The Christian church, in its attitude toward science, shows the mind of a more or less enlightened man of the Thirteenth Century. It no longer believes that the earth is flat, but it is still convinced that prayer can cure after medicine fails.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Attitude (84)  |  Belief (615)  |  Century (319)  |  Christian (44)  |  Church (64)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Cure (124)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Fail (191)  |  Flat (34)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Prayer (30)  |  Show (353)  |  Still (614)  |  Thirteenth (2)  |  Toward (45)

The clouds roll on.
Silent as sleepwalkers the clouds
keep coming from infinity
bank behind bank
and line after line,
and change colors on the earth.
As translated in Rolf Jacobsen and ‎Roger Greenwald (ed., trans.), 'The Clouds', North in the World: Selected Poems of Rolf Jacobsen, A Bilingual Edition (1985, 2002), 9, from 'Earth and Iron' (1933). Collected in the original Norwegian edition (1999).
Science quotes on:  |  Bank (31)  |  Behind (139)  |  Change (639)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Color (155)  |  Coming (114)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Keep (104)  |  Line (100)  |  Roll (41)  |  Silent (31)  |  Sleepwalker (2)

The colors are stunning. In a single view, I see - looking out at the edge of the earth: red at the horizon line, blending to orange and yellow, followed by a thin white line, then light blue, gradually turning to dark blue and various gradually darker shades of gray, then black and a million stars above. It’s breathtaking.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Black (46)  |  Blend (9)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breathtaking (4)  |  Color (155)  |  Dark (145)  |  Edge (51)  |  Follow (389)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Gray (9)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Light (635)  |  Line (100)  |  Looking (191)  |  Million (124)  |  Orange (15)  |  Red (38)  |  See (1094)  |  Shade (35)  |  Single (365)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stunning (4)  |  Thin (18)  |  Turn (454)  |  Various (205)  |  View (496)  |  White (132)  |  Yellow (31)

The colours of insects and many smaller animals contribute to conceal them from the larger ones which prey upon them. Caterpillars which feed on leaves are generally green; and earth-worms the colour of the earth which they inhabit; butter-flies, which frequent flowers, are coloured like them; small birds which frequent hedges have greenish backs like the leaves, and light-coloured bellies like the sky, and are hence less visible to the hawk who passes under them or over them.
The Botanic Garden (1791), part 2, note to canto I, line 375, page 38.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Back (395)  |  Bird (163)  |  Butter (8)  |  Flower (112)  |  Green (65)  |  Insect (89)  |  Light (635)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Sky (174)  |  Small (489)  |  Visible (87)  |  Worm (47)

The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors. … In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring idealism, we will miss them all the more. … The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.
Address to the Nation on the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, from the Cabinet Room (1 Feb 2003). In William J. Federer, A Treasury of Presidential Quotations (2004), 437.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Cause (561)  |  Continue (179)  |  Courage (82)  |  Danger (127)  |  Daring (17)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Death (406)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Easy (213)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Flight (101)  |  High (370)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Journey (48)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Life (1870)  |  Longing (19)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Miss (51)  |  More (2558)  |  Noble (93)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Routine (26)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Space Shuttle (12)  |  Travel (125)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

The complacent manner in which geologists have produced their theories has been extremely amusing; for often with knowledge (and that frequently inaccurate) not extending beyond a given province, they have described the formation of a world with all the detail and air of eye-witnesses. That much good ensues, and that the science is greatly advanced, by the collision of various theories, cannot be doubted. Each party is anxious to support opinions by facts. Thus, new countries are explored, and old districts re-examined; facts come to light that do not suit either party; new theories spring up; and, in the end, a greater insight into the real structure of the earth's surface is obtained.
Sections and Views Illustrative of Geological Phenomena (1830), iii.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Collision (16)  |  Detail (150)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  End (603)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Formation (100)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Good (906)  |  Greater (288)  |  Insight (107)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Light (635)  |  New (1273)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Old (499)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Produced (187)  |  Province (37)  |  Spring (140)  |  Structure (365)  |  Support (151)  |  Surface (223)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Various (205)  |  World (1850)

The conclusion of Science which recognizes unbroken casual connection between the past and the present would undoubtedly be that the molten earth contained within it elements of life, which grouped themselves into their present forms as the planet cooled. … The difficulty and reluctance encountered by this conception, arise solely from the fact that the theologic conception obtained a prior footing in the human mind. Did the latter depend upon reasoning alone, it could not hold its ground for an hour against its rival. * * * Were not man’s origin implicated, we should accept without a murmur the derivation of animal and vegetable life from what we call inorganic nature. The conclusion of pure intellect points this way and no other.
As quoted in 'The Origin of Life', Scientific American (25 Dec 1875), 33, No. 26, 400. The article (by an unnamed writer), having quoted Tyndall, includes a parenthetical clarification, “The context shows that by ‘elements of life,’ Professor Tyndall does not mean entities but possibilities of molecular condition by which the phenomena of life were to be evolved in the natural course of events, not by the miraculous addition of a new force but by means of the forces already in play.”
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Inorganic (14)  |  Molten (3)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Vegetable (49)

The conditions of the earth’s core are starlike. From their study can physicists of the future tell us something more of the true nature of the stars?
Science quotes on:  |  Condition (362)  |  Core (20)  |  Future (467)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Something (718)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Study (701)  |  Tell (344)

The contributions of physiological knowledge to an understanding of distribution are necessarily inferential. Distribution is a historical phenomenon, and the data ordinarily obtained by students of physiology are essentially instantaneous. However, every organism has a line of ancestors which extends back to the beginning of life on earth and which, during this immensity of time, has invariably been able to avoid, to adapt to, or to compensate for environmental changes.
From 'The role of physiology in the distribution of terrestrial vertebrates', collected in C.L. Hubbs (ed.), Zoogeography: Publ. 51 (1958), 84.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Back (395)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Change (639)  |  Compensate (3)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Data (162)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Environment (239)  |  Essentially (15)  |  Extend (129)  |  Historical (70)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Inferential (2)  |  Instantaneous (4)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Line (100)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Organism (231)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Student (317)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.
Address to the Nation on the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, from the Cabinet Room (1 Feb 2003). In William J. Federer, A Treasury of Presidential Quotations (2004), 438.
Science quotes on:  |  Columbia (2)  |  Crew (10)  |  Home (184)  |  Prayer (30)  |  Return (133)  |  Safety (58)  |  Space Shuttle (12)

The discovery of the famous original [Rosetta Stone] enabled Napoleon’s experts to begin the reading of Egypt’s ancient literature. In like manner the seismologists, using the difficult but manageable Greek of modern physics, are beginning the task of making earthquakes tell the nature of the earth’s interior and translating into significant speech the hieroglyphics written by the seismograph.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Egypt (31)  |  Expert (67)  |  Geology (240)  |  Greek (109)  |  Hieroglyphic (6)  |  Interior (35)  |  Literature (116)  |  Making (300)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Physics (23)  |  Napoleon (16)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Rosetta Stone (4)  |  Seismograph (4)  |  Seismologist (2)  |  Significant (78)  |  Speech (66)  |  Stone (168)  |  Task (152)  |  Tell (344)  |  Translate (21)  |  Write (250)

The discovery of the telephone has made us acquainted with many strange phenomena. It has enabled us, amongst other things, to establish beyond a doubt the fact that electric currents actually traverse the earth’s crust. The theory that the earth acts as a great reservoir for electricity may be placed in the physicist's waste-paper basket, with phlogiston, the materiality of light, and other old-time hypotheses.
From Recent Progress in Telephony: British Association Report (1882). Excerpted in John Joseph Fahie, A History of Wireless Telegraphy (1902), 136.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Basket (8)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Crust (43)  |  Current (122)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Electric (76)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Enabling (7)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Light (635)  |  Materiality (2)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Phlogiston (9)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Reservoir (9)  |  Strange (160)  |  Telephone (31)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Traverse (5)  |  Waste (109)

The domain, over which the language of analysis extends its sway, is, indeed, relatively limited, but within this domain it so infinitely excels ordinary language that its attempt to follow the former must be given up after a few steps. The mathematician, who knows how to think in this marvelously condensed language, is as different from the mechanical computer as heaven from earth.
In Jahresberichte der Deutschen Mathematiker Vereinigung, 13, 367. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 197.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Computer (131)  |  Condense (15)  |  Different (595)  |  Domain (72)  |  Excel (4)  |  Extend (129)  |  Follow (389)  |  Former (138)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Know (1538)  |  Language (308)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics As A Language (20)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Relatively (8)  |  Step (234)  |  Sway (5)  |  Think (1122)

The earth and its atmosphere constitute a vast distilling apparatus in which the equatorial ocean plays the part of the boiler, and the chill regions of the poles the part of the condenser. In this process of distillation heat plays quite as necessary a part as cold.
In Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers (1872), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Boiler (7)  |  Chill (10)  |  Cold (115)  |  Condenser (4)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Distillation (11)  |  Equator (6)  |  Heat (180)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Part (235)  |  Playing (42)  |  Pole (49)  |  Process (439)  |  Region (40)  |  Vast (188)

The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth. All things are connected, like the blood which unites one family. Mankind did not weave the web of life. We are but one strand within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
Ted Perry
Fictional speech from script for ABC TV movie, Home (1972). The words by the screenwriter were inspired from an Earth Day gathering in 1970, where Perry heard a historical account by physician Dr. Henry Smith. The doctor’s words were published in a Seattle newspaper, written up to 33 years after being present, when in Dec 1854 Chief Seattle made an impassioned speech, in the language of his own people, the Suquwamish. The Chief, with other tribal leaders, were meeting with the Territorial Governor who was trying to get them to sign away their lands and instead receive protection on a reservation. Dr. Smith may not have been fluent in the language of the Suquwamish, although he did make some notes at the time. But he wrote poetry, making embellishment or invention likely, so it is questionable whether his newspaper account is reliable in providing the Chief’s actual words. In turn, Perry has made clear that his script provided a fictional representation of the Chief. The televised quote, however became mythical, and is incorrectly passed along as attributed to Chief Seattle in 1854, but the truth is the words are contemporary, written by Perry, a screenwriter. Also seen as: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.”
Science quotes on:  |  Belong (168)  |  Blood (144)  |  Connect (126)  |  Connection (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Family (101)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Ourself (21)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Strand (9)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Unite (43)  |  Weave (21)  |  Web (17)  |  Web Of Life (9)  |  Whatever (234)

The Earth does not orbit the sun because of any gravitational pull that the sun exerts on Earth; rather, the sun, being a rather massive object, warps the fabric of space time around it, and the Earth, in attempting to move in a straight line, is instead placed into its near-circular orbit around the sun due to this warping.
Alan Hale
In column, 'In Our Skies: Surfing the Gravitational waves of Einstein’s theory', Ruidoso News (online 25 Feb 2016), on ruidosonews.com website.
Science quotes on:  |  Gravity (140)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Space-Time (20)  |  Sun (407)  |  Warp (7)

The Earth has no business possessing such a Moon. It is too huge—over a quarter Earth’s diameter and about 1/81 of its mass. No other planet in the Solar System has even nearly so large a satellite.
In Asimov on Physics (1976), 46. Also in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 166.
Science quotes on:  |  Business (156)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Huge (30)  |  Large (398)  |  Mass (160)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Possess (157)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Strange (160)  |  System (545)

The Earth has recovered after fevers like this, and there are no grounds for thinking that what we are doing will destroy Gaia, but if we continue business as usual, our species may never again enjoy the lush and verdant world we had only a hundred years ago. What is most in danger is civilization; humans are tough enough for breeding pairs to survive, and Gaia is toughest of all. What we are doing weakens her but is unlikely to destroy her. She has survived numerous catastrophes in her three billion years or more of life.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 76-77.
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Breed (26)  |  Business As Usual (2)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Continue (179)  |  Danger (127)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Environmentalism (9)  |  Fever (34)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lush (5)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Pair (10)  |  Recover (14)  |  Species (435)  |  Survive (87)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tough (22)  |  Unlikely (15)  |  Verdant (3)  |  Weaken (5)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The earth holds a silver treasure, cupped between ocean bed and tenting sky. Forever the heavens spend it, in the showers that refresh our temperate lands, the torrents that sluice the tropics. Every suckling root absorbs it, the very soil drains it down; the rivers run unceasing to the sea, the mountains yield it endlessly… Yet none is lost; in vast convection our water is returned, from soil to sky, and sky to soil, and back gain, to fall as pure as blessing. There was never less; there could never be more. A mighty mercy on which life depends, for all its glittering shifts, water is constant.
In A Cup of Sky (1950), 41.
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Back (395)  |  Bed (25)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Constant (148)  |  Convection (3)  |  Cup (7)  |  Depend (238)  |  Down (455)  |  Drain (12)  |  Endlessly (4)  |  Fall (243)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gain (146)  |  Glittering (2)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hold (96)  |  Land (131)  |  Less (105)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lost (34)  |  Mercy (12)  |  Mighty (13)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Pure (299)  |  Refresh (5)  |  Return (133)  |  River (140)  |  Root (121)  |  Run (158)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shift (45)  |  Shower (7)  |  Silver (49)  |  Sky (174)  |  Sluice (2)  |  Soil (98)  |  Spend (97)  |  Suckling (3)  |  Torrent (5)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Tropic (2)  |  Unceasing (3)  |  Vast (188)  |  Water (503)  |  Water Cycle (5)  |  Yield (86)

The earth in its rapid motion round the sun possesses a degree of living force so vast that, if turned into the equivalent of heat, its temperature would be rendered at least one thousand times greater than that of red-hot iron, and the globe on which we tread would in all probability be rendered equal in brightness to the sun itself.
'On Matter, Living Force, and Heat' (1847). In The Scientific Papers of James Prescott Joule (1884), Vol. 1, 271.
Science quotes on:  |  Brightness (12)  |  Degree (277)  |  Equivalent (46)  |  Force (497)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hot (63)  |  Iron (99)  |  Living (492)  |  Motion (320)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Probability (135)  |  Render (96)  |  Sun (407)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tread (17)  |  Turn (454)  |  Vast (188)

The earth is a book in which we read not only its history, but the history of the living things it has borne.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 108.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Read (308)  |  Thing (1914)

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Arena (4)  |  Become (821)  |  Blood (144)  |  Corner (59)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Cruelty (24)  |  Distinguishable (2)  |  Dot (18)  |  Eager (17)  |  Emperor (6)  |  Endless (60)  |  Fervent (6)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Frequent (26)  |  General (521)  |  Glory (66)  |  Hatred (21)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Kill (100)  |  Master (182)  |  Misunderstanding (13)  |  Momentary (5)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pixel (2)  |  River (140)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Small (489)  |  Spill (3)  |  Stage (152)  |  Think (1122)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Vast (188)  |  Visit (27)

The earth is flat, being borne upon air, and similarly the sun, moon and the other heavenly bodies, which are all fiery, ride upon the air through their flatness.
Hippolytus, Refutation 1.7.4. In G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven and M.Schofield (eds), The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts (1983), p. 154.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Anaximander (5)  |  Being (1276)  |  Fiery (5)  |  Flat (34)  |  Moon (252)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ride (23)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sun (407)  |  Through (846)

The earth is large and old enough to teach us modesty.
In 'Prologue', Conversation with the Earth (1954), 8. As translated by E.B. Garside from Gespräch mit der Erde (1947).
Science quotes on:  |  Enough (341)  |  Large (398)  |  Modesty (18)  |  Old (499)  |  Teach (299)

The earth is simply too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in.
Speech, undated. As given in Bill Swainson (ed.), Encarta Book of Quotations. [This quote is many times seen ascribed to Arthur C. Clarke. If Encarta is to be believed, the attribution to Clarke is not correct. —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Basket (8)  |  Egg (71)  |  Fragile (26)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Keep (104)  |  Race (278)  |  Simply (53)  |  Small (489)

The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but we cannot live forever in a cradle.
In a Letter (1911) from Kaluga. A more direct translation from the letter is, “A planet is the cradle of mind, but one cannot live in a cradle forever.”
Science quotes on:  |  Cradle (19)  |  Forever (111)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Live (650)

The earth is the only home that any of us have—so far; anyway.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Home (184)

The earth itself assures us it is a living entity. Deep below surface one can hear its slow pulse, feel its vibrant rhythm. The great breathing mountains expand and contract. The vast sage desert undulates with almost imperceptible tides like the oceans. From the very beginning, throughout all its cataclysmic upthrusts and deep sea submergences, the planet Earth seems to have maintained an ordered rhythm.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Assure (16)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Below (26)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Breathing (23)  |  Contract (11)  |  Deep (241)  |  Deep Sea (10)  |  Desert (59)  |  Entity (37)  |  Expand (56)  |  Feel (371)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hear (144)  |  Imperceptible (8)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Order (638)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pulse (22)  |  Rhythm (21)  |  Sage (25)  |  Sea (326)  |  Seem (150)  |  Slow (108)  |  Surface (223)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Tide (37)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vibrant (2)

The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.
Bible
Isaiah 24:5-6 in Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (2011), 504.
Science quotes on:  |  Broken (56)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Covenant (2)  |  Curse (20)  |  Devour (29)  |  Everlasting (11)  |  Global Warming (29)  |  Guilt (13)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Law (913)  |  Lie (370)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Statute (4)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Violation (7)

The Earth obey’d and straight
Op’ning her fertile womb, teem’d at a birth Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
Limb’d and full grown.
From 'Paradise Lost', Book 7, collected in Edward Hawkins (ed.), The Poetical Works of John Milton (1824), Vol. 2, 43.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Creature (242)  |  Fertile (30)  |  Form (976)  |  Full (68)  |  Grow (247)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Obey (46)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Straight (75)  |  Womb (25)

The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man, has to make a man appreciate the creation of God and the love of God.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Blackness (4)  |  Change (639)  |  Christmas (13)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crumble (5)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Diminish (17)  |  Fall (243)  |  Far (158)  |  Farther (51)  |  Finally (26)  |  Finger (48)  |  Fragile (26)  |  God (776)  |  Hang (46)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Look (584)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marble (21)  |  Most (1728)  |  Object (438)  |  Ornament (20)  |  Remind (16)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Shrink (23)  |  Size (62)  |  Space (523)  |  Touch (146)  |  Tree (269)  |  Warm (74)

The Earth Speaks, clearly, distinctly, and, in many of the realms of Nature, loudly, to William Jennings Bryan, but he fails to hear a single sound. The earth speaks from the remotest periods in its wonderful life history in the Archaeozoic Age, when it reveals only a few tissues of its primitive plants. Fifty million years ago it begins to speak as “the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life.” In successive eons of time the various kinds of animals leave their remains in the rocks which compose the deeper layers of the earth, and when the rocks are laid bare by wind, frost, and storm we find wondrous lines of ascent invariably following the principles of creative evolution, whereby the simpler and more lowly forms always precede the higher and more specialized forms.
The earth speaks not of a succession of distinct creations but of a continuous ascent, in which, as the millions of years roll by, increasing perfection of structure and beauty of form are found; out of the water-breathing fish arises the air-breathing amphibian; out of the land-living amphibian arises the land-living, air-breathing reptile, these two kinds of creeping things resembling each other closely. The earth speaks loudly and clearly of the ascent of the bird from one kind of reptile and of the mammal from another kind of reptile.
This is not perhaps the way Bryan would have made the animals, but this is the way God made them!
The Earth Speaks to Bryan (1925), 5-6. Osborn wrote this book in response to the Scopes Monkey Trial, where William Jennings Bryan spoke against the theory of evolution. They had previously been engaged in the controversy about the theory for several years. The title refers to a Biblical verse from the Book of Job (12:8), “Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee.”
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Air (366)  |  Amphibian (7)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arise (162)  |  Bare (33)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Begin (275)  |  Bird (163)  |  Breath (61)  |  Breathing (23)  |  William Jennings Bryan (20)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creative (144)  |  Creature (242)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Eon (12)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fish (130)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Frost (15)  |  God (776)  |  Hear (144)  |  History (716)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Kind (564)  |  Land (131)  |  Layer (41)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Mammal (41)  |  Million (124)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Period (200)  |  Plant (320)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Principle (530)  |  Realm (87)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remains (9)  |  Reptile (33)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Rock (176)  |  Roll (41)  |  Single (365)  |  Sound (187)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Storm (56)  |  Structure (365)  |  Succession (80)  |  Successive (73)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Two (936)  |  Various (205)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wind (141)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  Year (963)

The earth was covered by a huge ice sheet which buried the Siberian mammoths, and reached just as far south as did the phenomenon of erratic boulders. This ice sheet filled all the irregularities of the surface of Europe before the uplift of the Alps, the Baltic Sea, all the lakes of Northern Germany and Switzerland. It extended beyond the shorelines of the Mediterranean and of the Atlantic Ocean, and even covered completely North America and Asiatic Russia. When the Alps were uplifted, the ice sheet was pushed upwards like the other rocks, and the debris, broken loose from all the cracks generated by the uplift, fell over its surface and, without becoming rounded (since they underwent no friction), moved down the slope of the ice sheet.
From Études sur Les Glaciers (1840), as translated by Albert V. Carozzi in Studies on Glaciers: Preceded by the Discourse of Neuchâtel (1967), 166.
Science quotes on:  |  Alp (9)  |  Alps (9)  |  America (143)  |  Atlantic Ocean (7)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Boulder (8)  |  Broken (56)  |  Completely (137)  |  Debris (7)  |  Down (455)  |  Erratic (4)  |  Extend (129)  |  Friction (14)  |  Geology (240)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Ice (58)  |  Lake (36)  |  Mammoth (9)  |  Mediterranean (9)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Push (66)  |  Reach (286)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sea (326)  |  Slope (10)  |  South (39)  |  Surface (223)  |  Uplift (6)  |  Upward (44)

The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic. The Earth was absolutely round. I believe I never knew what the word round meant until I saw Earth from space.
As quoted in Kevin W. Kelly, The Home Planet (1988), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Alone (324)  |  Belief (615)  |  Blue (63)  |  Defend (32)  |  Holy (35)  |  Home (184)  |  Know (1538)  |  Light (635)  |  Mean (810)  |  Must (1525)  |  Never (1089)  |  Relic (8)  |  Round (26)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Word (650)

The Earth would only have to move a few million kilometers sunward—or starward—for the delicate balance of climate to be destroyed. The Antarctic icecap would melt and flood all low-lying land; or the oceans would freeze and the whole world would be locked in eternal winter. Just a nudge in either direction would be enough.
In Rendezvous With Rama (1973), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Antarctic (7)  |  Balance (82)  |  Climate (102)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Direction (185)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Flood (52)  |  Freezing (16)  |  Kilometer (10)  |  Land (131)  |  Lock (14)  |  Low (86)  |  Lying (55)  |  Melting (6)  |  Million (124)  |  Move (223)  |  Nudge (2)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Sunward (2)  |  Whole (756)  |  Whole World (29)  |  Winter (46)  |  World (1850)

The earth, formed out of the same debris of which the sun was born, is extraordinarily rich in iron—iron which once may have existed at the center of a star that exploded many billions of years ago.
(1965). In Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 220.
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Birth (154)  |  Center (35)  |  Debris (7)  |  Exist (458)  |  Explode (15)  |  Exploded (11)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Form (976)  |  Iron (99)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rich (66)  |  Star (460)  |  Sun (407)  |  Year (963)

The earth’s atmosphere is an imperfect window on the universe. Electromagnetic waves in the optical part of the spectrum (that is, waves longer than X rays and shorter than radio waves) penetrate to the surface of the earth only in a few narrow spectral bands. The widest of the transmitted bands corresponds roughly to the colors of visible light; waves in the flanking ultraviolet and infrared regions of the optical spectrum are almost totally absorbed by the atmosphere. In addition, atmospheric turbulence blurs the images of celestial objects, even when they are viewed through the most powerful ground-based telescopes.
in an article promoting the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope
Scientific American (July 1977)
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Addition (70)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Blur (8)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Color (155)  |  Construction (114)  |  Electromagnetic Wave (2)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hubble Space Telescope (9)  |  Image (97)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Object (438)  |  Optical (11)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Radio (60)  |  Ray (115)  |  Space (523)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Turbulence (4)  |  Universe (900)  |  View (496)  |  Visible (87)  |  Visible Light (2)  |  Wave (112)  |  Window (59)

The earth’s becoming at a particular period the residence of human beings, was an era in the moral, not in the physical world, that our study and contemplation of the earth, and the laws which govern its animate productions, ought no more to be considered in the light of a disturbance or deviation from the system, than the discovery of the satellites of Jupiter should be regarded as a physical event in the history of those heavenly bodies, however influential they may have become from that time in advancing the progress of sound philosophy among men.
In Principles of Geology, Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the of the Earth’s Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation(1830), Vol. 1, 163.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Deviation (21)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Disturbance (34)  |  Era (51)  |  Event (222)  |  Govern (66)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Law (913)  |  Light (635)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Period (200)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Production (190)  |  Progress (492)  |  Regard (312)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Sound (187)  |  Study (701)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)  |  World (1850)

The Earthworm plows the whole world with his tunnels, drains and aerates the earth… If you ever buy any land, be sure it has plenty of Earthworms toiling and moiling all day so that you can sit down and relax. (1949)
How to Attract the Wombat (2002), 165
Science quotes on:  |  Down (455)  |  Drain (12)  |  Earthworm (8)  |  Plow (7)  |  Tunnel (13)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  Worm (47)

The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place. All through the long history of Earth it has been an area of unrest where waves have broken heavily against the land, where the tides have pressed forward over the continents, receded, and then returned. For no two successive days is the shore line precisely the same. Not only do the tides advance and retreat in their eternal rhythms, but the level of the sea itself is never at rest. It rises or falls as the glaciers melt or grow, as the floor of the deep ocean basins shifts under its increasing load of sediments, or as the Earth’s crust along the continental margins warps up or down in adjustment to strain and tension. Today a little more land may belong to the sea, tomorrow a little less. Always the edge of the sea remains an elusive and indefinable boundary.
Opening paragraph in The Edge of the Sea (1955), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Adjustment (21)  |  Advance (298)  |  Against (332)  |  Area (33)  |  Basin (2)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Belong (168)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Break (109)  |  Broken (56)  |  Continent (79)  |  Continental (2)  |  Crust (43)  |  Deep (241)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Edge (51)  |  Elusive (8)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Fall (243)  |  Floor (21)  |  Forward (104)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heavily (14)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Earth (2)  |  Increase (225)  |  Indefinable (5)  |  Land (131)  |  Less (105)  |  Level (69)  |  Line (100)  |  Little (717)  |  Load (12)  |  Long (778)  |  Margin (6)  |  Melt (16)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Place (192)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Press (21)  |  Recede (11)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rest (287)  |  Retreat (13)  |  Return (133)  |  Rhythm (21)  |  Rise (169)  |  Same (166)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sediment (9)  |  Shift (45)  |  Shore (25)  |  Strain (13)  |  Strange (160)  |  Successive (73)  |  Tension (24)  |  Through (846)  |  Tide (37)  |  Today (321)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Two (936)  |  Unrest (2)  |  Warp (7)  |  Wave (112)

The epoch of intense cold which preceded the present creation has been only a temporary oscillation of the earth’s temperature, more important than the century-long phases of cooling undergone by the Alpine valleys. It was associated with the disappearance of the animals of the diluvial epoch of the geologists, as still demonstrated by the Siberian mammoths; it preceded the uplifting of the Alps and the appearance of the present-day living organisms, as demonstrated by the moraines and the existence of fishes in our lakes. Consequently, there is complete separation between the present creation and the preceding ones, and if living species are sometimes almost identical to those buried inside the earth, we nevertheless cannot assume that the former are direct descendants of the latter or, in other words, that they represent identical species.
From Discours de Neuchâtel (1837), as translated by Albert V. Carozzi in Studies on Glaciers: Preceded by the Discourse of Neuchâtel (1967), lviii.
Science quotes on:  |  Alp (9)  |  Alps (9)  |  Animal (651)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Century (319)  |  Cold (115)  |  Complete (209)  |  Cooling (10)  |  Creation (350)  |  Descendant (18)  |  Direct (228)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Former (138)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Ice Age (10)  |  Identical (55)  |  Lake (36)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Mammoth (9)  |  More (2558)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Organism (231)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Other (2233)  |  Phase (37)  |  Present (630)  |  Represent (157)  |  Separation (60)  |  Species (435)  |  Still (614)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Temporary (24)  |  Valley (37)  |  Word (650)

The experience was more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. I have a newfound sense of wonder seeing the Earth and stars from such an incredible perspective. Certainly, through my training I was prepared for the technical aspects, but I had no idea that I would be flooded with such amazement and joy after seeing my first sunrise and sunset from space.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Amazement (19)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Experience (494)  |  First (1302)  |  Flood (52)  |  Fulfill (19)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Joy (117)  |  More (2558)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Prepare (44)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Sense (785)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sunrise (14)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Technical (53)  |  Through (846)  |  Training (92)  |  Wonder (251)

The experienced observer does more than merely report and recite. He guides the eager student to an understanding of the earth. He may chart the scientist’s steep, barren road of sober observation and strict deduction, or the artist’s gentle road of contemplation and empathy. And, finally, he may point out his own unique way, the path of the initiated, which leads him from the laboratories and libraries to the meadows and flower gardens of the living earth.
In 'Prologue', Conversation with the Earth (1954), 7. As translated by E.B. Garside from Gespräch mit der Erde (1947).
Science quotes on:  |  Artist (97)  |  Biology (232)  |  Chart (7)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Eager (17)  |  Education (423)  |  Empathy (4)  |  Experience (494)  |  Flower (112)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gentle (9)  |  Geology (240)  |  Guide (107)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Library (53)  |  Meadow (21)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observer (48)  |  Path (159)  |  Recite (2)  |  Report (42)  |  Strict (20)  |  Student (317)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unique (72)

The experiments that we will do with the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] have been done billions of times by cosmic rays hitting the earth. ... They're being done continuously by cosmic rays hitting our astronomical bodies, like the moon, the sun, like Jupiter and so on and so forth. And the earth's still here, the sun's still here, the moon's still here. LHC collisions are not going to destroy the planet.
As quoted in Alan Boyle, 'Discovery of Doom? Collider Stirs Debate', article (8 Sep 2008) on a msnbc.com web page.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Billion (104)  |  Collision (16)  |  Continuously (7)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Cosmic Ray (7)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Do (1905)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Large (398)  |  Large Hadron Collider (6)  |  Moon (252)  |  Planet (402)  |  Plant (320)  |  Ray (115)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

The explosions [of dying stars] scattered the heavy elements as a fine dust through space. By the time it made the Sun, the primordial gas of the Milky Way was sufficiently enriched with heavier elements for rocky planets like the Earth to form. And from the rocks atoms escaped for eventual incorporation in living things: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur for all living tissue; calcium for bones and teeth; sodium and potassium for the workings of nerves and brains; the iron colouring blood red… and so on. No other conclusion of modern research testifies more clearly to mankind’s intimate connections with the universe at large and with the cosmic forces at work among the stars.
In The Key to the Universe: A Report on the New Physics (1977), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Blood (144)  |  Bone (101)  |  Brain (281)  |  Calcium (8)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Connection (171)  |  Dust (68)  |  Element (322)  |  Enrich (27)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Form (976)  |  Gas (89)  |  Intimate (21)  |  Iron (99)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living Things (8)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Phosphorus (18)  |  Planet (402)  |  Potassium (12)  |  Primordial (14)  |  Red (38)  |  Research (753)  |  Rock (176)  |  Scatter (7)  |  Sodium (15)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Sulphur (19)  |  Sun (407)  |  Testify (7)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Tooth (32)  |  Universe (900)

The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over anything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.
As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
Science quotes on:  |  Awesome (15)  |  Control (182)  |  Creature (242)  |  Dead (65)  |  Future (467)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Live (650)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Share (82)  |  Species (435)

The fact that this chain of life existed [at volcanic vents on the seafloor] in the black cold of the deep sea and was utterly independent of sunlight—previously thought to be the font of all Earth’s life—has startling ramifications. If life could flourish there, nurtured by a complex chemical process based on geothermal heat, then life could exist under similar conditions on planets far removed from the nurturing light of our parent star, the Sun.
Quoted in Peter Douglas Ward and Donald Brownlee, Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe (2000), 1, without citation.
Science quotes on:  |  Chain (51)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Cold (115)  |  Complex (202)  |  Condition (362)  |  Deep (241)  |  Deep Sea (10)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Far (158)  |  Flourish (34)  |  Heat (180)  |  Independence (37)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Nurture (17)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Parent (80)  |  Planet (402)  |  Process (439)  |  Ramification (8)  |  Sea (326)  |  Star (460)  |  Startling (15)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Thought (995)

The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.
In The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time (2002), 132.
Science quotes on:  |  Bottom (36)  |  Deep (241)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fireball (3)  |  Gas (89)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Indication (33)  |  Live (650)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Planet (402)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tend (124)  |  Think (1122)  |  Well (14)

The facts proved by geology are briefly these: that during an immense, but unknown period, the surface of the earth has undergone successive changes; land has sunk beneath the ocean, while fresh land has risen up from it; mountain chains have been elevated; islands have been formed into continents, and continents submerged till they have become islands; and these changes have taken place, not once merely, but perhaps hundreds, perhaps thousands of times.
In 'On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species', The Annals and Magazine of Natural History (1855), 16, No. 93, 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Chain (51)  |  Change (639)  |  Continent (79)  |  Elevate (15)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Form (976)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Immense (89)  |  Island (49)  |  Land (131)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Period (200)  |  Prove (261)  |  Rise (169)  |  Sink (38)  |  Successive (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Undergo (18)  |  Unknown (195)

The famous principle of indeterminacy is not as negative as it appears. It limits the applicability of classical concepts to atomic events in order to make room for new phenomena such as the wave-particle duality. The uncertainty principle has made our understanding richer, not poorer; it permits us to include atomic reality in the framework of classical concepts. To quote from Hamlet: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
In Scientific American as quoted in epigraph, in Barbara Lovett Cline, The Questioners: Physicists and the Quantum Theory (1965), 235. Weisskopf was replying to James R Newman’s statement beginning “In this century the professional philosophers…” on this site’s webpage of James R. Newman Quotations.
Science quotes on:  |  Applicability (7)  |  Atomic (6)  |  Classical (49)  |  Concept (242)  |  Dream (222)  |  Event (222)  |  Framework (33)  |  Hamlet (10)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Limit (294)  |  New (1273)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Quote (46)  |  Reality (274)  |  William Shakespeare (109)  |  Uncertainty Principle (9)  |  Understand (648)  |  Wave-Particle Duality (3)

The field cannot be well seen from within the field. The astronomer must have his diameter of the earth's orbit as a base to fix the parallax of any other star
In James Wood, Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893), 427:37.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Base (120)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Field (378)  |  Must (1525)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parallax (3)  |  Star (460)

The field cannot well be seen from within the field. The astronomer must have his diameter of the earth’s orbit as a base to find the parallax of any star.
In Essay 10, 'Circles', Essays by R.W. Emerson (1841), 314.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Base (120)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Field (378)  |  Find (1014)  |  Must (1525)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Parallax (3)  |  See (1094)  |  Star (460)

The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day we were aware of only one Earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Aware (36)  |  Continent (79)  |  Country (269)  |  Fifth (3)  |  First (1302)  |  Fourth (8)  |  Point (584)  |  Third (17)

The first notions of law and order in the universe were found in the heavens. When the same ideas were dragged down from the skies to the earth, Physics was born.
The Nature of Science and Other Lectures (1954), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  First (1302)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Law And Order (5)  |  Notion (120)  |  Physics (564)  |  Sky (174)  |  Universe (900)

The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space. Everything else is merely thought to exist. The worlds are unlimited. They come into being and perish. Nothing can come into being from that which is not nor pass away into that which is not. Further, the atoms are unlimited in size and number, and they are borne along in the whole universe in a vortex, and thereby generate all composite things—-fire, water, air, earth. For even these are conglomerations of given atoms. And it is because of their solidarity that these atoms are impassive and unalterable. The sun and the moon have been composed of such smooth and spherical masses [i.e. atoms], and so also the soul, which is identical with reason.
Diogenes Laertius IX, 44. Trans. R. D. Hicks (1925), Vol. 2, 453-5. An alternate translation of the opening is "Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion."
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Empty (82)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Identical (55)  |  Impassive (2)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Pass (241)  |  Perish (56)  |  Principle (530)  |  Reason (766)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Soul (235)  |  Space (523)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unlimited (24)  |  Vortex (10)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, “What is the use of climbing Mount Everest ?” and my answer must at once be, “It is no use.” There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It’s no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Adventure (69)  |  Altitude (5)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Aviation (8)  |  Back (395)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Bit (21)  |  Body (557)  |  Bring (95)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Climb (39)  |  Coal (64)  |  Crop (26)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eat (108)  |  End (603)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Food (213)  |  Foot (65)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gain (146)  |  Gem (17)  |  Gold (101)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Body (34)  |  Iron (99)  |  Joy (117)  |  Learn (672)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Medical (31)  |  Meet (36)  |  Money (178)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Everest (6)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Observation (593)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  Plant (320)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Question (649)  |  Raise (38)  |  Respond (14)  |  See (1094)  |  Sheer (9)  |  Silver (49)  |  Single (365)  |  Slight (32)  |  Something (718)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Try (296)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understand (648)  |  Upward (44)  |  Use (771)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)

The following general conclusions are drawn from the propositions stated above, and known facts with reference to the mechanics of animal and vegetable bodies:—
There is at present in the material world a universal tendency to the dissipation of mechanical energy.
Any restoration of mechanical energy, without more than an equivalent of dissipation, is impossible in inanimate material processes, and is probably never effected by means of organized matter, either endowed with vegetable life, or subjected to the will of an animated creature.
Within a finite period of time past the earth must have been, and within a finite period of time to come the earth must again be, unfit for the habitation of man as at present constituted, unless operations have been, or are to be performed, which are impossible under the laws to which the known operations going on at present in the material world are subject.
In 'On a Universal Tendency in Nature to the Dissipation of Mechanical Energy', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1852, 3, 141-142. In Mathematical and Physical Papers (1882-1911), Vol. 1, 513-514.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Creature (242)  |  Effect (414)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Energy (373)  |  Equivalent (46)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Finite (60)  |  General (521)  |  Habitation (7)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Never (1089)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Past (355)  |  Perform (123)  |  Period (200)  |  Present (630)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Subject (543)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universal (198)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

The forces which displace continents are the same as those which produce great fold-mountain ranges. Continental drift, faults and compressions, earthquakes, volcanicity, transgression cycles and polar wandering are undoubtedly connected causally on a grand scale. Their common intensification in certain periods of the earth’s history shows this to be true. However, what is cause and what effect, only the future will unveil.
In The Origins of Continents and Oceans (4th ed. 1929), trans. John Biram (1966), 179.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Compression (7)  |  Connect (126)  |  Connection (171)  |  Continent (79)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Displace (9)  |  Displacement (9)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Effect (414)  |  Fault (58)  |  Fold (9)  |  Force (497)  |  Future (467)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Intensification (2)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Period (200)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Polar (13)  |  Pole (49)  |  Range (104)  |  Scale (122)  |  Show (353)  |  Transgression (3)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unveiling (2)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Will (2350)

The fuel in the earth will be exhausted in a thousand or more years, and its mineral wealth, but man will find substitutes for these in the winds, the waves, the sun's heat, and so forth. (1916)
From Under the Apple-Trees (1916), 308.
Science quotes on:  |  Alternative Energy (2)  |  Exhaustion (18)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Heat (180)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mineral (66)  |  More (2558)  |  Renewable Energy (15)  |  Solar Energy (21)  |  Substitute (47)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tidal Power (4)  |  Wave (112)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  Wind Power (10)  |  Year (963)

The Gaia Hypothesis asserts that Earth’s atmosphere is continually interacting with geology (the lithosphere). Earth’s cycling waters (the hydrosphere), and everything that lives (the biosphere). … The image is that the atmosphere is a circulatory system for life’s bio-chemical interplay. If the atmosphere is pan of a larger whole that has some of the qualities of an organism, one of those qualities we must now pray for is resilience.
In Praise of Nature
Science quotes on:  |  Assert (69)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Circulatory (2)  |  Continually (17)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Everything (489)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Image (97)  |  Interact (8)  |  Interplay (9)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lithosphere (2)  |  Live (650)  |  Must (1525)  |  Organism (231)  |  Pray (19)  |  Quality (139)  |  Resilience (2)  |  System (545)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

The genuine spirit of Mathesis is devout. No intellectual pursuit more truly leads to profound impressions of the existence and attributes of a Creator, and to a deep sense of our filial relations to him, than the study of these abstract sciences. Who can understand so well how feeble are our conceptions of Almighty Power, as he who has calculated the attraction of the sun and the planets, and weighed in his balance the irresistible force of the lightning? Who can so well understand how confused is our estimate of the Eternal Wisdom, as he who has traced out the secret laws which guide the hosts of heaven, and combine the atoms on earth? Who can so well understand that man is made in the image of his Creator, as he who has sought to frame new laws and conditions to govern imaginary worlds, and found his own thoughts similar to those on which his Creator has acted?
In 'The Imagination in Mathematics', North American Review, 85, 226.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Act (278)  |  Almighty (23)  |  Atom (381)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Balance (82)  |  Calculate (58)  |  Combine (58)  |  Conception (160)  |  Condition (362)  |  Confused (13)  |  Creator (97)  |  Deep (241)  |  Devout (5)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Frame (26)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Govern (66)  |  Guide (107)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Host (16)  |  Image (97)  |  Imaginary (16)  |  Impression (118)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Irresistible (17)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  New (1273)  |  Planet (402)  |  Power (771)  |  Profound (105)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Relation (166)  |  Secret (216)  |  Seek (218)  |  Sense (785)  |  Similar (36)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Study (701)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thought (995)  |  Trace (109)  |  Truly (118)  |  Understand (648)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  World (1850)

The globe of this earth … [is] … not just a machine but also a organised body as it has a regenerative power.
'Theory of the Earth', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1788), as quoted in Keith S. Thomson, 'Vestiges of James Hutton', American Scientist (May-Jun 2001), 89, No. 3, 213.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Globe (51)  |  Machine (271)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Power (771)

The Grand Canyon is carven deep by the master hand; it is the gulf of silence, widened in the desert; it is all time inscribing the naked rock; it is the book of earth.
In The Road of a Naturalist (1941), 206.
Science quotes on:  |  Arizona (2)  |  Book (413)  |  Deep (241)  |  Desert (59)  |  Grand Canyon (11)  |  Gulf (18)  |  Master (182)  |  Naked (10)  |  Rock (176)  |  Silence (62)  |  Time (1911)  |  Widen (10)

The great age of the earth will appear greater to man when he understands the origin of living organisms and the reasons for the gradual development and improvement of their organization. This antiquity will appear even greater when he realizes the length of time and the particular conditions which were necessary to bring all the living species into existence. This is particularly true since man is the latest result and present climax of this development, the ultimate limit of which, if it is ever reached, cannot be known.
Hydrogéologie (1802), trans. A. V. Carozzi (1964), 77.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Condition (362)  |  Development (441)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Known (453)  |  Limit (294)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Organism (231)  |  Organization (120)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Present (630)  |  Reach (286)  |  Realize (157)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Species (435)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)

The great object of all knowledge is to enlarge and purify the soul, to fill the mind with noble contemplations, to furnish a refined pleasure, and to lead our feeble reason from the works of nature up to its great Author and Sustainer. Considering this as the ultimate end of science, no branch of it can surely claim precedence of Astronomy. No other science furnishes such a palpable embodiment of the abstractions which lie at the foundation of our intellectual system; the great ideas of time, and space, and extension, and magnitude, and number, and motion, and power. How grand the conception of the ages on ages required for several of the secular equations of the solar system; of distances from which the light of a fixed star would not reach us in twenty millions of years, of magnitudes compared with which the earth is but a foot-ball; of starry hosts—suns like our own—numberless as the sands on the shore; of worlds and systems shooting through the infinite spaces.
Oration at Inauguration of the Dudley Astronomical Observatory, Albany (28 Jul 1856). Text published as The Uses of Astronomy (1856), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Age (509)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Author (175)  |  Ball (64)  |  Branch (155)  |  Claim (154)  |  Conception (160)  |  Considering (6)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Distance (171)  |  Embodiment (9)  |  End (603)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Equation (138)  |  Extension (60)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Fill (67)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Football (11)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Great (1610)  |  Host (16)  |  Idea (881)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lie (370)  |  Light (635)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Million (124)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Noble (93)  |  Number (710)  |  Numberless (3)  |  Object (438)  |  Other (2233)  |  Palpable (8)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Power (771)  |  Precedence (4)  |  Purify (9)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Refined (8)  |  Required (108)  |  Sand (63)  |  Secular (11)  |  Shooting (6)  |  Shore (25)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Soul (235)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surely (101)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The great obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
The Discoverers (1985), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Continent (79)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Shape (77)

The great physicist von Laue said … a pendulum clock is not the Box you buy in a shop; a pendulum clock is the box you buy in a shop together with the Earth.
From Assumption and Myth in Physical Theory (1967), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Box (22)  |  Clock (51)  |  Great (1610)  |  Max von Laue (3)  |  Pendulum (17)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Together (392)

The green pre-human earth is the mystery we were chosen to solve, a guide to the birthplace of our spirit.
In Diversity of Life (1992).
Science quotes on:  |  Chosen (48)  |  Green (65)  |  Guide (107)  |  Human (1512)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Solve (145)  |  Spirit (278)

The heavens call to you, and circle about you, displaying to you their eternal splendors and your eye gazes only to earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Admit (49)  |  Call (781)  |  Circle (117)  |  Defeat (31)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Eye (440)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Splendor (20)

The Himalayas are the crowning achievement of the Indo-Australian plate. India in the Oligocene crashed head on into Tibet, hit so hard that it not only folded and buckled the plate boundaries but also plowed into the newly created Tibetan plateau and drove the Himalayas five and a half miles into the sky. The mountains are in some trouble. India has not stopped pushing them, and they are still going up. Their height and volume are already so great they are beginning to melt in their own self-generated radioactive heat. When the climbers in 1953 planted their flags on the highest mountain, they set them in snow over the skeletons of creatures that had lived in a warm clear ocean that India, moving north, blanked out. Possibly as much as 20,000 feet below the sea floor, the skeletal remains had turned into rock. This one fact is a treatise in itself on the movements of the surface of the earth.
If by some fiat, I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence; this is the one I would choose: the summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone.
Annals of the Former World
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Already (226)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Below (26)  |  Blank (14)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Buckle (5)  |  Choose (116)  |  Clear (111)  |  Climber (7)  |  Crash (9)  |  Create (245)  |  Creature (242)  |  Crown (39)  |  Drive (61)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fiat (7)  |  Five (16)  |  Flag (12)  |  Floor (21)  |  Fold (9)  |  Foot (65)  |  Great (1610)  |  Half (63)  |  Hard (246)  |  Head (87)  |  Heat (180)  |  Height (33)  |  High (370)  |  Himalayas (3)  |  Hit (20)  |  India (23)  |  Limestone (6)  |  Live (650)  |  Marine (9)  |  Melt (16)  |  Mile (43)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Everest (6)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Move (223)  |  Movement (162)  |  Newly (4)  |  North (12)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Plant (320)  |  Plate (7)  |  Plateau (8)  |  Plow (7)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Push (66)  |  Radioactive (24)  |  Remain (355)  |  Restrict (13)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sea (326)  |  Self (268)  |  Sentence (35)  |  Set (400)  |  Skeletal (2)  |  Skeleton (25)  |  Sky (174)  |  Snow (39)  |  Still (614)  |  Stop (89)  |  Summit (27)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tibet (4)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Turn (454)  |  Volume (25)  |  Warm (74)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)

The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings.
In Silent Spring (1962), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  History (716)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Surroundings (6)  |  Thing (1914)

The history of most fossil species includes two features particularly inconsistent with gradualism: 1. Stasis. Most species exhibit no directional change during their tenure on earth. They appear in the fossil record looking much the same as when they disappear; morphological change is usually limited and directionless. 2. Sudden appearance. In any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the steady transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and ‘fully formed.’
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Appear (122)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Area (33)  |  Arise (162)  |  Change (639)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Exhibit (21)  |  Feature (49)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fossil Record (12)  |  Fully (20)  |  Gradually (102)  |  History (716)  |  Include (93)  |  Inconsistent (9)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Local (25)  |  Looking (191)  |  Morphological (3)  |  Most (1728)  |  Particularly (21)  |  Record (161)  |  Same (166)  |  Species (435)  |  Steady (45)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Tenure (8)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Two (936)  |  Usually (176)

The idea that humans are yet intelligent enough to serve as stewards of the Earth is among the most hubristic ever.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 195.
Science quotes on:  |  Environmentalism (9)  |  Hubris (4)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Serve (64)  |  Steward (4)

The idea that the Earth is alive may be as old as humankind. The ancient Greeks gave her the powerful name Gaia and looked on her as a goddess.
In 'The Earth as a Living Organism', Essay collected in E. O. Wilson and F. M. Peter (eds.), Biodiversity (1988), Chap. 56, 488. [Lovelock gave the name Gaia to Earth’s self-regulation of its own material conditions and requirements akin to a living organism. —Webmaster
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Goddess (9)  |  Greek (109)  |  Humankind (15)  |  Idea (881)  |  Name (359)  |  Old (499)  |  Powerful (145)

The indescribable pleasure—which pales the rest of life's joys—is abundant compensation for the investigator who endures the painful and persevering analytical work that precedes the appearance of the new truth, like the pain of childbirth. It is true to say that nothing for the scientific scholar is comparable to the things that he has discovered. Indeed, it would be difficult to find an investigator willing to exchange the paternity of a scientific conquest for all the gold on earth. And if there are some who look to science as a way of acquiring gold instead of applause from the learned, and the personal satisfaction associated with the very act of discovery, they have chosen the wrong profession.
From Reglas y Consejos sobre Investigacíon Cientifica: Los tónicos de la voluntad. (1897), as translated by Neely and Larry W. Swanson, in Advice for a Young Investigator (1999), 50.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Abundant (23)  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Act (278)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Applause (9)  |  Childbirth (2)  |  Choice (114)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Comparable (7)  |  Compensation (8)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Endurance (8)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Find (1014)  |  Gold (101)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Indescribable (2)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Joy (117)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pain (144)  |  Pale (9)  |  Paternity (2)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Preceding (8)  |  Profession (108)  |  Rest (287)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Say (989)  |  Scholar (52)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Willing (44)  |  Willingness (10)  |  Work (1402)  |  Wrong (246)

The information we have so far from the exploration of the planets seems to indicate that the earth is probably the only place in this solar system where there is life.
In Space World (1985), 5, 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Exploration (161)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Information (173)  |  Life (1870)  |  Planet (402)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space Exploration (15)  |  System (545)

The intensity and quantity of polemical literature on scientific problems frequently varies inversely as the number of direct observations on which the discussions are based: the number and variety of theories concerning a subject thus often form a coefficient of our ignorance. Beyond the superficial observations, direct and indirect, made by geologists, not extending below about one two-hundredth of the Earth's radius, we have to trust to the deductions of mathematicians for our ideas regarding the interior of the Earth; and they have provided us successively with every permutation and combination possible of the three physical states of matter—solid, liquid, and gaseous.
'Address delivered by the President of Section [Geology] at Sydney (Friday, Aug 21), Report of the Eighty-Fourth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science: Australia 1914, 1915, 345.
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Coefficient (6)  |  Combination (150)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Form (976)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Indirect (18)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Interior (35)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Literature (116)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Number (710)  |  Observation (593)  |  Permutation (5)  |  Physical (518)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Publication (102)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Solid (119)  |  State (505)  |  Subject (543)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Trust (72)  |  Two (936)  |  Variety (138)

The interior parts of the earth and its internal depths are a region totally impervious to the eye of mortal man, and can least of all be approached by those ordinary paths of hypothesis adopted by naturalists and geologists. The region designed for the existence of man, and of every other creature endowed with organic life, as well as the sphere opened to the perception of man's senses, is confined to a limited space between the upper and lower parts of the earth, exceedingly small in proportion to the diameter, or even semi-diameter of the earth, and forming only the exterior surface, or outer skin, of the great body of the earth.
In Friedrich von Schlegel and James Burton Robertson (trans.), The Philosophy of History (1835), 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Body (557)  |  Creature (242)  |  Depth (97)  |  Design (203)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Existence (481)  |  Exterior (7)  |  Eye (440)  |  Forming (42)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Impervious (5)  |  Interior (35)  |  Internal (69)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Open (277)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Organic (161)  |  Other (2233)  |  Path (159)  |  Perception (97)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Sense (785)  |  Skin (48)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Surface (223)

The interpretation of messages from the earth’s interior demands all the resources of ordinary physics and of extraordinary mathematics. The geophysicist is of a noble company, all of whom are reading messages from the untouchable reality of things. The inwardness of things—atoms, crystals, mountains, planets, stars, nebulas, universes—is the quarry of these hunters of genius and Promethean boldness.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Boldness (11)  |  Company (63)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Demand (131)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Genius (301)  |  Geology (240)  |  Geophysicist (3)  |  Hunter (28)  |  Interior (35)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Message (53)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nebula (16)  |  Noble (93)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Planet (402)  |  Prometheus (7)  |  Quarry (14)  |  Reading (136)  |  Reality (274)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universe (900)  |  Untouchable (2)

The intricate edifice of verifiable fact and tested theory that has been patiently created in just a brief few hundred years is man’s most solid achievement on earth.
In Francis Bello, Lawrence Lessing and George A.W. Boehm, Great American Scientists (1960, 1961), 117.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Advance (298)  |  Brief (37)  |  Correction (42)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Edifice (26)  |  Error (339)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Glory (66)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inexorable (10)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Solid (119)  |  Test (221)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Year (963)

The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries.
In 'Table-Talk', The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Volume 3 (1883), 1354.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Burn (99)  |  Bury (19)  |  Cause (561)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Consume (13)  |  Drown (14)  |  Element (322)  |  Fire (203)  |  Forbearance (3)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  Law Of Nature (80)  |  Mercy (12)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Water (503)  |  Weak (73)

The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel. Billions of individuals, and millions of kinds of plants and animals …. Working together to benefit from the energy of the sun and the minerals of the earth. Leading lives that interlock in such a way that they sustain each other. We rely entirely on this finely tuned life-support machine. And it relies on its biodiversity to run smoothly. Yet the way we humans live on Earth now is sending biodiversity into a decline.
From introductory narration to Netflix TV program, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (4 Oct 2020).
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Billions (7)  |  Biodiversity (25)  |  Decline (28)  |  Energy (373)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Finely (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Individual (420)  |  Interlock (4)  |  Life-Support (2)  |  Living (492)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Million (124)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Plant (320)  |  Rely (12)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Together (392)  |  Tune (20)  |  Unique (72)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

The long summer was over. For ages a tropical climate had prevailed over a great part of the earth, and animals whose home is now beneath the Equator roamed over the world from the far South to the very borders of the Arctics ... But their reign was over. A sudden intense winter, that was also to last for ages, fell upon our globe.
Geological Sketches (1866), 208.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arctic (10)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Climate (102)  |  Equator (6)  |  Great (1610)  |  Home (184)  |  Ice Age (10)  |  Last (425)  |  Long (778)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Reign (24)  |  South (39)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Summer (56)  |  Winter (46)  |  World (1850)

The magnitude of the railway works undertaken in this country will be still more clearly exhibited, if you consider the extent of the Earth-Works. Taking them at an average of 70,000 cubic yards to a mile, they will measure 550,000,000 cubic yards. What does this represent? We are accustomed to regard St. Paul’s as a test for height and space; but by the side of the pyramid of earth these works would rear, St. Paul’s would be but as a pigmy by a giant. Imagine a mountain half a mile in diameter at its base, and soaring into the clouds one mile and a half in height;—that would be the size of the mountain of earth which these earth-works would form.
From 'Railway System and its Results' (Jan 1856) read to the Institution of Civil Engineers, reprinted in Samuel Smiles, Life of George Stephenson (1857), 512.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Average (89)  |  Base (120)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Consider (428)  |  Country (269)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Extent (142)  |  Form (976)  |  Giant (73)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Pyramid (9)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Railway (19)  |  Regard (312)  |  Represent (157)  |  Side (236)  |  Soaring (9)  |  Space (523)  |  Still (614)  |  Test (221)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

The major religions on the Earth contradict each other left and right. You can’t all be correct. And what if all of you are wrong? It’s a possibility, you know. You must care about the truth, right? Well, the way to winnow through all the differing contentions is to be skeptical. I’m not any more skeptical about your religious beliefs than I am about every new scientific idea I hear about. But in my line of work, they’re called hypotheses, not inspiration and not revelation.
Contact (1997), 162.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Call (781)  |  Care (203)  |  Contention (14)  |  Contradict (42)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Know (1538)  |  Major (88)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Right (473)  |  Scepticism (17)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Skeptical (21)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Winnow (4)  |  Work (1402)  |  Wrong (246)

The mass starts into a million suns;
Earths round each sun with quick explosions burst,
And second planets issue from the first.
[The first concept of a 'big bang' theory of the universe.]
The Botanic Garden (1789-1791, 1805), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Bang (29)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Burst (41)  |  Concept (242)  |  Explosion (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Mass (160)  |  Planet (402)  |  Start (237)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)

The materials of wealth are in the earth, in the seas, and in their natural and unaided productions.
Speech in Senate (12 Mar 1838). In The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster (1903), Vol. 8, 177.
Science quotes on:  |  Material (366)  |  Natural (810)  |  Production (190)  |  Sea (326)  |  Unaided (2)  |  Wealth (100)

The method of inquiry which all our ingenious Theorists of the Earth have pursued is certainly erroneous. They first form an hypothesis to solve the phenomena, but in fact the Phenomena are always used as a prop to the hypothesis.
Instead therefore of attempting to cut the gordian knot by Hypothetical analysis, we shall follow the synthetic method of inquiry and content ourselves with endeavouring to establish facts rather than attempt solutions and try by experiments how far that method may leave us thro' the mazes of this subject
Introduction to his lecture course. In Robert Jameson, edited by H. W. Scott, Lectures on Geology, (1966), 27. In Patrick Wyse Jackson, Four Centuries of Geological Travel (2007), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Cut (116)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Knot (11)  |  Method (531)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Solve (145)  |  Subject (543)  |  Synthetic (27)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Try (296)

The mineral kingdom consists of the fossil substances found in the earth. These are either entirely destitute of organic structure, or, having once possessed it, possess it no longer: such are the petrefactions.
In Outlines of Mineralogy (1783), trans. William Withering, 5. [Before it was specifically used for the petrified remains of organic forms, the word “fossil”—obsolete, as used here—refers to that which is “dug from the earth, preserved in the ground.” —Webmaster] Also collected in William Withering (the son, ed.), The Miscellaneous Tracts of the Late William Withering (1822), Vol. 2, 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Consist (223)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Organic (161)  |  Possess (157)  |  Structure (365)  |  Substance (253)

The most striking impression was that of an overwhelming bright light. I had seen under similar conditions the explosion of a large amount—100 tons—of normal explosives in the April test, and I was flabbergasted by the new spectacle. We saw the whole sky flash with unbelievable brightness in spite of the very dark glasses we wore. Our eyes were accommodated to darkness, and thus even if the sudden light had been only normal daylight it would have appeared to us much brighter than usual, but we know from measurements that the flash of the bomb was many times brighter than the sun. In a fraction of a second, at our distance, one received enough light to produce a sunburn. I was near Fermi at the time of the explosion, but I do not remember what we said, if anything. I believe that for a moment I thought the explosion might set fire to the atmosphere and thus finish the earth, even though I knew that this was not possible.
In Enrico Fermi: Physicist (1970), 147.
Science quotes on:  |  Accommodation (9)  |  Amount (153)  |  April (9)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Bright (81)  |  Brightness (12)  |  Condition (362)  |  Dark (145)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Daylight (23)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enough (341)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Explosive (24)  |  Eye (440)  |  Enrico Fermi (20)  |  Finish (62)  |  Fire (203)  |  Flabbergast (2)  |  Flash (49)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Glasses (2)  |  Impression (118)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Light (635)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Moment (260)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Remember (189)  |  Saw (160)  |  Second (66)  |  Set (400)  |  Sky (174)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Spite (55)  |  Striking (48)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Sun (407)  |  Test (221)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ton (25)  |  Unbelievable (7)  |  Whole (756)

The most wonderful mystery of life may well be the means by which it created so much diversity from so little physical matter. The biosphere, all organisms combined, makes up only about one part in ten billion of the earth’s mass. … Yet life has divided into millions of species, the fundamental units, each playing a unique role in relation to the whole.
In 'The Most Fundamental Unit', The Diversity of Life (1992), 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Combine (58)  |  Create (245)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Divide (77)  |  Divided (50)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Mass (160)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Million (124)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Organism (231)  |  Physical (518)  |  Play (116)  |  Playing (42)  |  Relation (166)  |  Role (86)  |  Species (435)  |  Unique (72)  |  Unit (36)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wonderful (155)

The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention. Most of the organic productions are aboriginal creations, found nowhere else; there is even a difference between the inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show a marked relationship with those of America, though separated from that continent by an open space of ocean, between 500 and 600 miles in width. The archipelago is a little world within itself, or rather a satellite attached to America, whence it has derived a few stray colonists, and has received the general character of its indigenous productions. Considering the small size of these islands, we feel the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a period, geologically recent, the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhere near to that great fact—that mystery of mysteries—the first appearance of new beings on this earth.
Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, 2nd edn. (1845), 377-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Aboriginal (3)  |  America (143)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Archipelago (7)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Attach (57)  |  Attached (36)  |  Attention (196)  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Character (259)  |  Colonist (2)  |  Continent (79)  |  Crater (8)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crown (39)  |  Curious (95)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Island (49)  |  Lava (12)  |  Little (717)  |  Marked (55)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Open (277)  |  Organic (161)  |  Period (200)  |  Production (190)  |  Range (104)  |  Recent (78)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Show (353)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Spread (86)  |  Still (614)  |  Stream (83)  |  Time (1911)  |  World (1850)

The natural world in which we live is nothing short of entrancing—wondrous really. Personally, I take great joy in sharing a world with the shimmering variety of life on earth. Nor can I believe any of us really want a planet which is a lonely wasteland.
In Reith Lecture, 'Biodiversity', BBC Radio 4 (19 Apr 2000). Audio on BBC website.
Science quotes on:  |  Entrancing (2)  |  Great (1610)  |  Joy (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Lonely (24)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural World (33)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Planet (402)  |  Sharing (11)  |  Shimmering (2)  |  Short (200)  |  Variety (138)  |  Want (504)  |  Wasteland (2)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  World (1850)

The next care to be taken, in respect of the Senses, is a supplying of their infirmities with Instruments, and, as it were, the adding of artificial Organs to the natural; this in one of them has been of late years accomplisht with prodigious benefit to all sorts of useful knowledge, by the invention of Optical Glasses. By the means of Telescopes, there is nothing so far distant but may be represented to our view; and by the help of Microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible World discovered to the understanding. By this means the Heavens are open'd, and a vast number of new Stars, and new Motions, and new Productions appear in them, to which all the ancient Astronomers were utterly Strangers. By this the Earth it self, which lyes so neer us, under our feet, shews quite a new thing to us, and in every little particle of its matter, we now behold almost as great a variety of creatures as we were able before to reckon up on the whole Universe it self.
Micrographia, or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries thereupon (1665), preface, sig. A2V.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Care (203)  |  Creature (242)  |  Discover (571)  |  Escape (85)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Late (119)  |  Little (717)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Motion (320)  |  Natural (810)  |  New (1273)  |  Next (238)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Optical (11)  |  Organ (118)  |  Particle (200)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Production (190)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Represent (157)  |  Respect (212)  |  Self (268)  |  Sense (785)  |  Small (489)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Useful (260)  |  Variety (138)  |  Vast (188)  |  View (496)  |  Visible (87)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The noble science of Geology loses glory from the extreme imperfection of the record. The crust of the earth with its embedded remains must not be looked at as a well-filled museum, but as a poor collection made at hazard and at rare intervals.
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1861), 423.
Science quotes on:  |  Collection (68)  |  Crust (43)  |  Embed (7)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Geology (240)  |  Glory (66)  |  Hazard (21)  |  Imperfection (32)  |  Interval (14)  |  Look (584)  |  Lose (165)  |  Loss (117)  |  Museum (40)  |  Must (1525)  |  Noble (93)  |  Poor (139)  |  Rare (94)  |  Record (161)  |  Remain (355)

The observations, so numerous and so important, of the pendulum as object are especially relevant to the length of its oscillations. Those that I propose to make known to the [Paris] Academy [of Sciences] are principally addressed to the direction of the plane of its oscillation, which, moving gradually from east to west, provides evidence to the senses of the diurnal movement of the terrestrial globe.
'Demonstration Physique du Mouvement de Rotation de la Terre', 3 Feb 1851. In C. M. Gariel and J. Bertrand (eds.), Recueil des Travaux Scientifiques de Lion Foucault (1878), Vol. 2, 378. Trans. Harold Burstyn.
Science quotes on:  |  Academy (37)  |  Direction (185)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Known (453)  |  Movement (162)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Pendulum (17)  |  Sense (785)  |  Terrestrial (62)

The oceans are the planet’s last great living wilderness, man’s only remaining frontier on Earth, and perhaps his last chance to prove himself as a rational species.
The Forests of the Sea
Science quotes on:  |  Chance (244)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Great (1610)  |  Himself (461)  |  Last (425)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Planet (402)  |  Prove (261)  |  Rational (95)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Species (435)  |  Wilderness (57)

The old Sussex tortoise, that I have mentioned to you so often, is become my property. I dug it out of its winter dormitory in March last, when it was enough awakened to express its resentments by hissing; and, packing it in a box with earth, carried it eighty miles in post-chaises. The rattle and hurry of the journey so perfectly roused it that, when I turned it out on a border, it walked twice down to the bottom of my garden; however, in the evening, the weather being cold, it buried it-self in the loose mound, and continues still concealed … When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish it so little as to squander more than two-thirds of its existence in joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of slumbers.
In Letter to Daines Barrington, (21 Apr 1780) in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789), 357.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bestow (18)  |  Box (22)  |  Cold (115)  |  Concealed (25)  |  Continue (179)  |  Down (455)  |  Enough (341)  |  Existence (481)  |  Express (192)  |  Find (1014)  |  Garden (64)  |  Hibernation (3)  |  Hurry (16)  |  Journey (48)  |  Last (425)  |  Little (717)  |  Longevity (6)  |  March (48)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mention (84)  |  Month (91)  |  More (2558)  |  Old (499)  |  Property (177)  |  Providence (19)  |  Relish (4)  |  Reptile (33)  |  Self (268)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Slumber (6)  |  State (505)  |  Still (614)  |  Strange (160)  |  Stupor (2)  |  Together (392)  |  Tortoise (10)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Walk (138)  |  Waste (109)  |  Weather (49)  |  Winter (46)  |  Wonder (251)

The One remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven's light forever shines, Earth's shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments.
Adonais (1821), St. 52. In K. Raine (ed.), Shelley (1974), 209.
Science quotes on:  |  Change (639)  |  Color (155)  |  Death (406)  |  Dome (9)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Fly (153)  |  Forever (111)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Glass (94)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Pass (241)  |  Radiance (7)  |  Remain (355)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Shine (49)  |  Stain (10)  |  Trample (3)  |  White (132)

The only truly alien planet is Earth.
In 'Which Way to Inner Space?', New Worlds (May 1962). Quoted in The Riverside Dictionary of Biography (2004), 54.
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  Planet (402)  |  Truly (118)

The organic creation, as we now see it ... was not placed upon the earth at once:—it observed a PROGRESS.
Explanations (1845), 30.
Science quotes on:  |  Creation (350)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Observed (149)  |  Organic (161)  |  Progress (492)  |  See (1094)

The other book you may have heard of and perhaps read, but it is not one perusal which will enable any man to appreciate it. I have read it through five or six times, each time with increasing admiration. It will live as long as the ‘Principia’ of Newton. It shows that nature is, as I before remarked to you, a study that yields to none in grandeur and immensity. The cycles of astronomy or even the periods of geology will alone enable us to appreciate the vast depths of time we have to contemplate in the endeavour to understand the slow growth of life upon the earth. The most intricate effects of the law of gravitation, the mutual disturbances of all the bodies of the solar system, are simplicity itself compared with the intricate relations and complicated struggle which have determined what forms of life shall exist and in what proportions. Mr. Darwin has given the world a new science, and his name should, in my opinion, stand above that of every philosopher of ancient or modem times. The force of admiration can no further go!!!
Letter to George Silk (1 Sep 1860), in My Life (1905), Vol. I, 372-373.
Science quotes on:  |  Admiration (61)  |  Alone (324)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Book (413)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Depth (97)  |  Disturbance (34)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enable (122)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Exist (458)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Growth (200)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Perusal (2)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Principia (14)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Read (308)  |  Show (353)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Slow (108)  |  Solar (8)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Stand (284)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Study (701)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Vast (188)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Yield (86)

The overwhelming astonishment, the queerest structure we know about so far in the whole universe, the greatest of all cosmological scientific puzzles, confounding all our efforts to comprehend it, is the earth.
In Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony(1984), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Confounding (8)  |  Cosmological (11)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Effort (243)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Structure (365)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)

The overwhelming astonishment, the queerest structure we know about so far in the whole universe, the greatest of all cosmological scientific puzzles, confounding all our efforts to comprehend it, is the earth. We are only now beginning to appreciate how strange and splendid it is, how it catches the breath, the loveliest object afloat around the sun, enclosed in its own blue bubble of atmosphere, manufacturing and breathing its own oxygen, fixing its own nitrogen from the air into its own soil, generating its own weather at the surface of its rain forests, constructing its own carapace from living parts: chalk cliffs, coral reefs, old fossils from earlier forms of life now covered by layers of new life meshed together around the globe, Troy upon Troy.
In Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony (1984), 22-23.
Science quotes on:  |  Afloat (4)  |  Air (366)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breath (61)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Breathing (23)  |  Bubble (23)  |  Catch (34)  |  Chalk (9)  |  Cliff (22)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Confound (21)  |  Confounding (8)  |  Construct (129)  |  Coral Reef (15)  |  Cosmological (11)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Cover (40)  |  Early (196)  |  Effort (243)  |  Enclose (2)  |  Fix (34)  |  Forest (161)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Generate (16)  |  Geology (240)  |  Globe (51)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Know (1538)  |  Layer (41)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Lovely (12)  |  Manufacturing (29)  |  Mesh (3)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  New (1273)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Object (438)  |  Old (499)  |  Overwhelm (5)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Part (235)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Queer (9)  |  Rain (70)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Soil (98)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Strange (160)  |  Structure (365)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Together (392)  |  Troy (3)  |  Universe (900)  |  Weather (49)  |  Whole (756)

The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them into shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1. In Carl Sagan, Broca's Brain (1986), 162.
Science quotes on:  |  Eye (440)  |  Form (976)  |  Frenzy (6)  |  Glance (36)  |  Habitation (7)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Name (359)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pen (21)  |  Poet (97)  |  Shape (77)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unknown (195)

The point [is] largely scientific in character …[concerning] the methods which can be invented or adopted or discovered to enable the Earth to control the Air, to enable defence from the ground to exercise control—indeed dominance—upon aeroplanes high above its surface. … science is always able to provide something. We were told that it was impossible to grapple with submarines, but methods were found … Many things were adopted in war which we were told were technically impossible, but patience, perseverance, and above all the spur of necessity under war conditions, made men’s brains act with greater vigour, and science responded to the demands.
[Remarks made in the House of Commons on 7 June 1935. His speculation was later proved correct with the subsequent development of radar during World War II, which was vital in the air defence of Britain.]
Quoting himself in The Second World War: The Gathering Storm (1948, 1986), Vol. 1, 134.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Air (366)  |  Airplane (43)  |  Brain (281)  |  Britain (26)  |  Character (259)  |  Common (447)  |  Condition (362)  |  Control (182)  |  Defence (16)  |  Defense (26)  |  Demand (131)  |  Development (441)  |  Discover (571)  |  Enable (122)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Grapple (11)  |  Greater (288)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  House (143)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Invention (400)  |  Method (531)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Patience (58)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Point (584)  |  Radar (9)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Something (718)  |  Sonar (2)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Submarine (12)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vigour (18)  |  Vital (89)  |  War (233)  |  World (1850)

The powers which tend to preserve, and those which tend to change the condition of the earth's surface, are never in equilibrio; the latter are, in all cases, the most powerful, and, in respect of the former, are like living in comparison of dead forces. Hence the law of decay is one which suffers no exception: The elements of all bodies were once loose and unconnected, and to the same state nature has appointed that they should all return... TIME performs the office of integrating the infinitesimal parts of which this progression is made up; it collects them into one sum, and produces from them an amount greater than any that can be assigned.
Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), 116-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Appointment (12)  |  Assignment (12)  |  Change (639)  |  Collection (68)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Condition (362)  |  Decay (59)  |  Element (322)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Exception (74)  |  Force (497)  |  Former (138)  |  Greater (288)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Integration (21)  |  Law (913)  |  Living (492)  |  Loose (14)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Office (71)  |  Perform (123)  |  Performance (51)  |  Power (771)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Preservation (39)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Production (190)  |  Progression (23)  |  Respect (212)  |  Return (133)  |  State (505)  |  Sum (103)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tend (124)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unconnected (10)

The pre-Darwinian age had come to be regarded as a Dark Age in which men still believed that the book of Genesis was a standard scientific treatise, and that the only additions to it were Galileo’s demonstration of Leonardo da Vinci’s simple remark that the earth is a moon of the sun, Newton’s theory of gravitation, Sir Humphry Davy's invention of the safety-lamp, the discovery of electricity, the application of steam to industrial purposes, and the penny post.
Back to Methuselah: a Metabiological Pentateuch (1921), viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Addition (70)  |  Age (509)  |  Application (257)  |  Belief (615)  |  Book (413)  |  Dark (145)  |  Dark Ages (10)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Leonardo da Vinci (87)  |  Sir Humphry Davy (49)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |   Genesis (26)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Industry (159)  |  Invention (400)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Penny (6)  |  Post (8)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Regard (312)  |  Remark (28)  |  Safety (58)  |  Safety Lamp (3)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Simple (426)  |  Standard (64)  |  Steam (81)  |  Steam Power (10)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Gravitation (6)  |  Treatise (46)

The present state of the earth and of the organisms now inhabiting it, is but the last stage of a long and uninterrupted series of changes which it has undergone, and consequently, that to endeavour to explain and account for its present condition without any reference to those changes (as has frequently been done) must lead to very imperfect and erroneous conclusions.
In 'On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species', The Annals and Magazine of Natural History (1855), 16, No. 93, 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Change (639)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequent (19)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Error (339)  |  Explain (334)  |  Frequent (26)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Last (425)  |  Lead (391)  |  Long (778)  |  Must (1525)  |  Organism (231)  |  Present (630)  |  Reference (33)  |  Series (153)  |  Stage (152)  |  State (505)  |  Undergo (18)  |  Uninterrupted (7)

The primary rocks, … I regard as the deposits of a period in which the earth’s crust had sufficiently cooled down to permit the existence of a sea, with the necessary denuding agencies,—waves and currents,—and, in consequence, of deposition also; but in which the internal heat acted so near the surface, that whatever was deposited came, matter of course, to be metamorphosed into semi-plutonic forms, that retained only the stratification. I dare not speak of the scenery of the period. We may imagine, however, a dark atmosphere of steam and vapour, which for age after age conceals the face of the sun, and through which the light of moon or star never penetrates; oceans of thermal water heated in a thousand centres to the boiling point; low, half-molten islands, dim through the log, and scarce more fixed than the waves themselves, that heave and tremble under the impulsions of the igneous agencies; roaring geysers, that ever and anon throw up their intermittent jets of boiling fluid, vapour, and thick steam, from these tremulous lands; and, in the dim outskirts of the scene, the red gleam of fire, shot forth from yawning cracks and deep chasms, and that bears aloft fragments of molten rock and clouds of ashes. But should we continue to linger amid a scene so featureless and wild, or venture adown some yawning opening into the abyss beneath, where all is fiery and yet dark,—a solitary hell, without suffering or sin,—we would do well to commit ourselves to the guidance of a living poet of the true faculty,—Thomas Aird and see with his eyes.
Lecture Sixth, collected in Popular Geology: A Series of Lectures Read Before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, with Descriptive Sketches from a Geologist's Portfolio (1859), 297-298.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Act (278)  |  Age (509)  |  Ash (21)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Bear (162)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Chasm (9)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Commit (43)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Continue (179)  |  Course (413)  |  Crack (15)  |  Crust (43)  |  Current (122)  |  Dare (55)  |  Dark (145)  |  Deep (241)  |  Deposition (4)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Era (51)  |  Existence (481)  |  Eye (440)  |  Face (214)  |  Fire (203)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Form (976)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Guidance (30)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hell (32)  |  Igneous (3)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Internal (69)  |  Island (49)  |  Light (635)  |  Linger (14)  |  Living (492)  |  Low (86)  |  Matter (821)  |  Metamorphosis (5)  |  Molten (3)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Period (200)  |  Permit (61)  |  Poet (97)  |  Point (584)  |  Primary (82)  |  Regard (312)  |  Retain (57)  |  Rock (176)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Sin (45)  |  Solitary (16)  |  Speak (240)  |  Star (460)  |  Steam (81)  |  Stratification (2)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thermal (15)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Vapour (16)  |  Water (503)  |  Wave (112)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wild (96)

The problems of the infinite have challenged man’s mind and have fired his imagination as no other single problem in the history of thought. The infinite appears both strange and familiar, at times beyond our grasp, at times easy and natural to understand. In conquering it, man broke the fetters that bound him to earth. All his faculties were required for this conquest—his reasoning powers, his poetic fancy, his desire to know.
With co-author James R Newman, in 'Beyond the Google', Mathematics and the Imagination (1940), 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bind (26)  |  Both (496)  |  Bound (120)  |  Break (109)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Desire (212)  |  Easy (213)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Familiar (47)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Fetter (4)  |  Fetters (7)  |  Fire (203)  |  Grasp (65)  |  History (716)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Know (1538)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Natural (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Poetic (7)  |  Power (771)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Require (229)  |  Required (108)  |  Single (365)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)

The profoundest facts in the earth’s history prove that the oceans have always been oceans.
In Corals and Coral Islands (1879), 371.
Science quotes on:  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  History (716)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Prove (261)

The proposition that the meek (that is the adaptable and serviceable), inherit the earth is not merely a wishful sentiment of religion, but an iron law of evolution.
The Organizational Revolution (1953), 252.
Science quotes on:  |  Evolution (635)  |  Inherit (35)  |  Inherit The Earth (2)  |  Iron (99)  |  Law (913)  |  Meek (2)  |  Merely (315)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Religion (369)  |  Sentiment (16)  |  Wishful (6)

The ravages committed by man subvert the relations and destroy the balance which nature had established between her organized and her inorganic creations; and she avenges herself upon the intruder, by letting loose upon her defaced provinces destructive energies hitherto kept in check by organic forces destined to be his best auxiliaries, but which he has unwisely dispersed and driven from the field of action. When the forest is gone, the great reservoir of moisture stored up in its vegetable mould is evaporated, and returns only in deluges of rain to wash away the parched dust into which that mould has been converted. The well-wooded and humid hills are turned to ridges of dry rock, which encumbers the low grounds and chokes the watercourses with its debris, and–except in countries favored with an equable distribution of rain through the seasons, and a moderate and regular inclination of surface–the whole earth, unless rescued by human art from the physical degradation to which it tends, becomes an assemblage of bald mountains, of barren, turfless hills, and of swampy and malarious plains. There are parts of Asia Minor, of Northern Africa, of Greece, and even of Alpine Europe, where the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon; and though, within that brief space of time which we call “the historical period,” they are known to have been covered with luxuriant woods, verdant pastures, and fertile meadows, they are now too far deteriorated to be reclaimable by man, nor can they become again fitted for human use, except through great geological changes, or other mysterious influences or agencies of which we have no present knowledge, and over which we have no prospective control. The earth is fast becoming an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant, and another era of equal human crime and human improvidence, and of like duration with that through which traces of that crime and that improvidence extend, would reduce it to such a condition of impoverished productiveness, of shattered surface, of climatic excess, as to threaten the depravation, barbarism, and perhaps even extinction of the species.
Man and Nature, (1864), 42-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Africa (38)  |  Art (680)  |  Assemblage (17)  |  Balance (82)  |  Balance Of Nature (7)  |  Barbarism (8)  |  Barren (33)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Best (467)  |  Brief (37)  |  Call (781)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Complete (209)  |  Condition (362)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Control (182)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crime (39)  |  Degradation (18)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Destined (42)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Dry (65)  |  Dust (68)  |  Era (51)  |  Excess (23)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Face (214)  |  Favor (69)  |  Fertile (30)  |  Field (378)  |  Force (497)  |  Forest (161)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Historical (70)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impoverished (3)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Influence (231)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Low (86)  |  Man (2252)  |  Meadow (21)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Mold (37)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Operation (221)  |  Organic (161)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Physical (518)  |  Present (630)  |  Productivity (23)  |  Prospective (7)  |  Province (37)  |  Rain (70)  |  Ravage (7)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Regular (48)  |  Reservoir (9)  |  Return (133)  |  Rock (176)  |  Season (47)  |  Set (400)  |  Shattered (8)  |  Space (523)  |  Species (435)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tend (124)  |  Threaten (33)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Use (771)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Verdant (3)  |  Wash (23)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wood (97)

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one … I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two thirds of the people of the Earth would be killed.
In interview with Raymond Swing, 'Einstein on the Atomic Bomb' Atlantic Monthly, (Nov 1945), 176, No. 5, 43.
Science quotes on:  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Atomic Energy (25)  |  Belief (615)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Create (245)  |  Do (1905)  |  Energy (373)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fight (49)  |  Kill (100)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessity (197)  |  New (1273)  |  People (1031)  |  Problem (731)  |  Release (31)  |  Solve (145)  |  Two (936)  |  Urgent (15)  |  War (233)  |  Will (2350)

The religious conservatives make an important point when they oppose presenting evolution in a manner that suggests it has been proved to be entirely determined by random, mechanistic events, but they are wrong to oppose the teaching of evolution itself. Its occurrence, on Earth and in the Universe, is by now indisputable. Not so its processes, however. In this, there is need for a nuanced approach, with evidence of creative ordering presented as intrinsic both to what we call matter and to the unfolding story, which includes randomness and natural selection.
Epigraph, without citation, in Michael Dowd, Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World (2008), 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Both (496)  |  Call (781)  |  Conservative (16)  |  Creative (144)  |  Event (222)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Include (93)  |  Intrinsic (18)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mechanistic (3)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Nuance (4)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Oppose (27)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Random (42)  |  Randomness (5)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Selection (130)  |  Story (122)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Unfolding (16)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wrong (246)

The responsibility which rests upon man is proportional to the ability which he possesses and the opportunity which he faces. Perhaps that responsibility is no greater for him than was that of Notharctus or Eohippus or a trilobite, each in his own day, but because of man’s unique abilities it is the greatest responsibility that has ever rested upon any of the earth’s offspring.
In Sons of the Earth: The Geologist’s View of History (1930), 258.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Face (214)  |  Greater (288)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Man (2252)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Rest (287)  |  Trilobite (6)  |  Unique (72)

The ridge of the Lammer-muir hills... consists of primary micaceous schistus, and extends from St Abb's head westward... The sea-coast affords a transverse section of this alpine tract at its eastern extremity, and exhibits the change from the primary to the secondary strata... Dr HUTTON wished particularly to examine the latter of these, and on this occasion Sir JAMES HALL and I had the pleasure to accompany him. We sailed in a boat from Dunglass ... We made for a high rocky point or head-land, the SICCAR ... On landing at this point, we found that we actually trode [sic] on the primeval rock... It is here a micaceous schistus, in beds nearly vertical, highly indurated, and stretching from S.E. to N. W. The surface of this rock... has thin covering of red horizontal sandstone laid over it, ... Here, therefore, the immediate contact of the two rocks is not only visible, but is curiously dissected and laid open by the action of the waves... On us who saw these phenomena for the first time, the impression will not easily be forgotten. The palpable evidence presented to us, of one of the most extraordinary and important facts in the natural history of the earth, gave a reality and substance to those theoretical speculations, which, however probable had never till now been directly authenticated by the testimony of the senses... What clearer evidence could we have had of the different formation of these rocks, and of the long interval which separated their formation, had we actually seen them emerging from the bosom of the deep? ... The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time; and while we listened with earnestness and admiration to the philosopher who was now unfolding to us the order and series of these wonderful events, we became sensible how much farther reason may sometimes go than imagination can venture to follow.
'Biographical Account of the Late Dr James Hutton, F.R.S. Edin.' (read 1803), Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1805), 5, 71-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Accompany (22)  |  Action (342)  |  Admiration (61)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Change (639)  |  Consist (223)  |  Contact (66)  |  Covering (14)  |  Deep (241)  |  Different (595)  |  Earnestness (3)  |  Event (222)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Examine (84)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Extremity (7)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Farther (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Formation (100)  |  Grow (247)  |  High (370)  |  History (716)  |  Horizontal (9)  |  James Hutton (22)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Impression (118)  |  Listen (81)  |  Long (778)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Never (1089)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Open (277)  |  Order (638)  |  Palpable (8)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Primary (82)  |  Primeval (15)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sail (37)  |  Sandstone (3)  |  Saw (160)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sense (785)  |  Series (153)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Strata (37)  |  Stratum (11)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surface (223)  |  Testimony (21)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Unfolding (16)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wave (112)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)  |  Wonderful (155)

The rockets that have made spaceflight possible are an advance that, more than any other technological victory of the twentieth century, was grounded in science fiction… . One thing that no science fiction writer visualized, however, as far as I know, was that the landings on the Moon would be watched by people on Earth by way of television.
In Asimov on Physics (1976), 35. Also in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 307.
Science quotes on:  |  20th Century (40)  |  Advance (298)  |  Century (319)  |  Ground (222)  |  Know (1538)  |  Landing (3)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Possible (560)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Science Fiction (35)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Technological (62)  |  Technology (281)  |  Television (33)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Victory (40)  |  Visualize (8)  |  Watch (118)  |  Way (1214)  |  Writer (90)

The ruthless destruction of their forests by the Chinese is one of the reasons why famine and plague today hold this nation in their sinister grasp. Denudation, wherever practiced, leaves naked soil; floods and erosion follow, and when the soil is gone men must also go—and the process does not take long. The great plains of Eastern China were centuries ago transformed from forest into agricultural land. The mountain plateau of Central China have also within a few hundred years been utterly devastated of tree growth, and no attempt made at either natural or artificial reforestation. As a result, the water rushes off the naked slopes in veritable floods, gullying away the mountain sides, causing rivers to run muddy with yellow soil, and carrying enormous masses of fertile earth to the sea. Water courses have also changed; rivers become uncontrollable, and the water level of the country is lowered perceptibly. In consequence, the unfortunate people see their crops wither and die for lack of water when it is most needed.
Statement (11 May 1921) by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) concerning the famine in China in seven out of every ten years. Reported in 'Blames Deforestation: Department of Agriculture Ascribes Chinese Famine to it', New York Times (12 May 1921), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Become (821)  |  Central (81)  |  Century (319)  |  Changed (2)  |  China (27)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Country (269)  |  Course (413)  |  Crop (26)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Denudation (2)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Die (94)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Famine (18)  |  Fertile (30)  |  Flood (52)  |  Follow (389)  |  Forest (161)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Great (1610)  |  Growth (200)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Lack (127)  |  Land (131)  |  Level (69)  |  Long (778)  |  Lowered (2)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Muddy (3)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naked (10)  |  Nation (208)  |  Natural (810)  |  Need (320)  |  People (1031)  |  Perceptibly (2)  |  Plague (42)  |  Plain (34)  |  Plateau (8)  |  Process (439)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reforestation (6)  |  Result (700)  |  River (140)  |  Run (158)  |  Ruthless (12)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Side (236)  |  Sinister (8)  |  Slope (10)  |  Soil (98)  |  Today (321)  |  Transform (74)  |  Tree (269)  |  Uncontrollable (5)  |  Unfortunate (19)  |  Utterly (15)  |  Water (503)  |  Wherever (51)  |  Why (491)  |  Wither (9)  |  Year (963)  |  Yellow (31)

The same thing may have all the kinds of causes, e.g. the moving cause of a house is the art or the builder, the final cause is the function it fulfils, the matter is earth and stones, and the form is the definitory formula.
Aristotle
Metaphysics, 996b, 5-8. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. 2, 1574.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Cause (561)  |  Final (121)  |  Form (976)  |  Formula (102)  |  Function (235)  |  House (143)  |  Kind (564)  |  Matter (821)  |  Stone (168)  |  Thing (1914)

The science and technology which have advanced man safely into space have brought about startling medical advances for man on earth. Out of space research have come new knowledge, techniques and instruments which have enabled some bedridden invalids to walk, the totally deaf to hear, the voiceless to talk, and, in the foreseeable future, may even make it possible for the blind to “see.”
'From Outer Space—Advances For Medicine on Earth', contributed in Lillian Levy, Space, Its Impact on Man and Society (1965, reprinted 1973), 117.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Blind (98)  |  Deaf (4)  |  Foreseeable (3)  |  Future (467)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hearing (50)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Invalid (3)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Medicine (392)  |  New (1273)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Research (753)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)  |  Startling (15)  |  Talk (108)  |  Technique (84)  |  Technology (281)  |  Voice (54)  |  Walk (138)

The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork. Let’s protect all our kids.
Tweet, @HillaryClinton on Twitter (3 Feb 2015).
Science quotes on:  |  Blue (63)  |  Clear (111)  |  Kid (18)  |  Protect (65)  |  Round (26)  |  Sky (174)  |  Vaccine (9)  |  Work (1402)

The science of fossil shells is the first step towards the study of the earth.
Conchiologia Fossile Subappennina (1814), Vol. I, trans. Ezio Vaccari, 13.
Science quotes on:  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Shell (69)  |  Step (234)  |  Study (701)

The science of the earth... invites us to be present at the origin of things, and to enter into the very worship of the Creator.
The Story of the Earth and Man (1887), vi.
Science quotes on:  |  Creator (97)  |  Enter (145)  |  Geology (240)  |  Origin (250)  |  Present (630)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Worship (32)

The sciences are like a beautiful river, of which the course is easy to follow, when it has acquired a certain regularity; but if one wants to go back to the source, one will find it nowhere, because it is everywhere; it is spread so much [as to be] over all the surface of the earth; it is the same if one wants to go back to the origin of the sciences, one will find only obscurity, vague ideas, vicious circles; and one loses oneself in the primitive ideas.
In Essai sur les machines en général (1783), conclusion, as translated in Ivor Grattan-Guinness, Convolutions in French Mathematics, 1800-1840 (1990), Vol. 1, 32.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Back (395)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Certain (557)  |  Circle (117)  |  Course (413)  |  Easy (213)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Idea (881)  |  Lose (165)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Obscurity (28)  |  Oneself (33)  |  Origin (250)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Regularity (40)  |  River (140)  |  Source (101)  |  Spread (86)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Vague (50)  |  Vicious Circle (4)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)

The sea is not all that responds to the moon. Twice a day the solid earth bobs up and down, as much as a foot. That kind of force and that kind of distance are more than enough to break hard rock. Wells will flow faster during lunar high tides.
Annals of the Former World
Science quotes on:  |  Bob (2)  |  Break (109)  |  Distance (171)  |  Down (455)  |  Enough (341)  |  Fast (49)  |  Faster (50)  |  Flow (89)  |  Foot (65)  |  Force (497)  |  Hard (246)  |  High (370)  |  Kind (564)  |  Lunar (9)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Respond (14)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sea (326)  |  Solid (119)  |  Tide (37)  |  Twice (20)  |  Will (2350)

The seed of a tree has the nature of a branch or twig or bud. While it grows upon the tree it is a part of the tree: but if separated and set in the earth to be better nourished, the embryo or young tree contained in it takes root and grows into a new tree.
As quoted in Roderick W. Home, Electricity and Experimental Physics in Eighteenth-century Europe (1992), 112.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Botany (63)  |  Branch (155)  |  Bud (6)  |  Contain (68)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Embryology (18)  |  Grow (247)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Nourish (18)  |  Part (235)  |  Root (121)  |  Seed (97)  |  Set (400)  |  Tree (269)  |  Twig (15)  |  Young (253)

The smallest particles of matter were said [by Plato] to be right-angled triangles which, after combining in pairs, ... joined together into the regular bodies of solid geometry; cubes, tetrahedrons, octahedrons and icosahedrons. These four bodies were said to be the building blocks of the four elements, earth, fire, air and water ... [The] whole thing seemed to be wild speculation. ... Even so, I was enthralled by the idea that the smallest particles of matter must reduce to some mathematical form ... The most important result of it all, perhaps, was the conviction that, in order to interpret the material world we need to know something about its smallest parts.
[Recalling how as a teenager at school, he found Plato's Timaeus to be a memorable poetic and beautiful view of atoms.]
In Werner Heisenberg and A.J. Pomerans (trans.) The Physicist's Conception of Nature (1958), 58-59. Quoted in Jagdish Mehra and Helmut Rechenberg, The Historical Development of Quantum Theory (2001), Vol. 2, 12. Cited in Mauro Dardo, Nobel Laureates and Twentieth-Century Physics (2004), 178.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atom (381)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Body (557)  |  Building (158)  |  Building Block (9)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Cube (14)  |  Element (322)  |  Fire (203)  |  Form (976)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Know (1538)  |  Material (366)  |  Material World (8)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Order (638)  |  Pair (10)  |  Particle (200)  |  Plato (80)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Regular (48)  |  Result (700)  |  Right (473)  |  School (227)  |  Solid (119)  |  Solid Geometry (2)  |  Something (718)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Tetrahedron (4)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Triangle (20)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wild (96)  |  World (1850)

The solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago, and the oldest fossils on Earth have been dated at about 3.8 billion years. Sometime between these two points, the chemicals of the young planet were organized into the responsive, reproducing systems we call “life.”
In 'Cosmochemistry The Earliest Evolution', The Science Teacher (Oct 1983), 50, No. 7, 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Chemical (303)  |  Date (14)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Life (1870)  |  Organize (33)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Responsive (3)  |  Solar System (81)  |  System (545)  |  Young (253)

The Spacious Firmament on high,
With all the blue Etherial Sky,
And spangled Heav’ns, a Shining Frame, Their great Original proclaim:
Th’unwearied Sun, from day to day
Does his Creator’s Pow’r display,
And publishes to every Land
The Work of an Almighty Hand.
Soon as the Evening Shades prevail,
The Moon takes up the wondrous Tale,
And nightly to the listning Earth Repeats the Story of her Birth:
Whilst all the Stars that round her burn,
And all the Planets, in their turn,
Confirm the Tidings as they rowl,
And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole.
What though, in solemn Silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial Ball?
What tho’ nor real Voice nor Sound
Amid their radiant Orbs be found?
In Reason’s Ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious Voice,
For ever singing, as they shine,
“The Hand that made us is Divine”.
The Spectator, no. 465, Saturday 23 August 1712. In D. F. Bond (ed.) The Spectator (1965), Vol. 4, 144-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Almighty (23)  |  Ball (64)  |  Birth (154)  |  Burn (99)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Creator (97)  |  Dark (145)  |  Display (59)  |  Divine (112)  |  Ear (69)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Moon (252)  |  Move (223)  |  Orb (20)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pole (49)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Radiant (15)  |  Reason (766)  |  Shade (35)  |  Shining (35)  |  Silence (62)  |  Singing (19)  |  Sky (174)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Solemn (20)  |  Soon (187)  |  Sound (187)  |  Spread (86)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Story (122)  |  Sun (407)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  Work (1402)

The specific qualities in diseases also tend more rapidly to the skin than to the deeper-seated parts, except the cancer; although even in this disease the progress towards the superficies is more quick than its progress towards the centre. In short, this is a law in nature, and it probably is upon the same principle by which vegetables always approach the surface of the earth.
In A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation and Gun-shot Wounds (1794, 1828), 299-300.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Centre (31)  |  Deep (241)  |  Disease (340)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Nature (80)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Principle (530)  |  Progress (492)  |  Quality (139)  |  Quick (13)  |  Rapid (37)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Short (200)  |  Skin (48)  |  Specific (98)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tend (124)  |  Toward (45)  |  Vegetable (49)

The stars hang bright above,
Silent, as if they watch’d the sleeping earth.
Science quotes on:  |  Bright (81)  |  Hang (46)  |  Poem (104)  |  Silent (31)  |  Sleeping (2)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Watch (118)

The strata of the earth are frequently very much bent, being raised in some places, and depressed in others, and this sometimes with a very quick ascent or descent; but as these ascents and descents, in a great measure, compensate one another, if we take a large extent of country together, we may look upon the whole set of strata, as lying nearly horizontally. What is very remarkable, however, in their situation, is, that from most, if not all, large tracts of high and mountainous countries, the strata lie in a situation more inclined to the horizon, than the country itself, the mountainous countries being generally, if not always, formed out of the lower strata of earth. This situation of the strata may be not unaptly represented in the following manner. Let a number of leaves of paper, of several different sorts or colours, be pasted upon one another; then bending them up together into a ridge in the middle, conceive them to be reduced again to a level surface, by a plane so passing through them, as to cut off all the part that had been raised; let the middle now be again raised a little, and this will be a good general representation of most, if not of all, large tracts of mountainous countries, together with the parts adjacent, throughout the whole world.
'Conjectures Concerning the Cause, and Observations upon the Phenomena of Earthquakes', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1760), 51, 584-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Country (269)  |  Cut (116)  |  Descent (30)  |  Different (595)  |  Extent (142)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Large (398)  |  Lie (370)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Lying (55)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Number (710)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Passing (76)  |  Past (355)  |  Represent (157)  |  Representation (55)  |  Ridge (9)  |  Set (400)  |  Situation (117)  |  Strata (37)  |  Surface (223)  |  Through (846)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Together (392)  |  Whole (756)  |  Whole World (29)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

The study of economics does not seem to require any specialised gifts of an unusually high order. Is it not, intellectually regarded, a very easy subject compared with the higher branches of philosophy and pure science? Yet good, or even competent, economists are the rarest of birds. An easy subject, at which very few excel! The paradox finds its explanation, perhaps, in that the master-economist must possess a rare combination of gifts. He must reach a high standard in several different directions and must combine talents not often found together. He must be mathematician, historian, statesman, philosopher—in some degree. He must understand symbols and speak in words. He must contemplate the particular in terms of the general, and touch abstract and concrete in the same flight of thought. He must study the present in the light of the past for the purposes of the future. No part of man's nature or his institutions must lie entirely outside his regard. He must be purposeful and disinterested in a simultaneous mood; as aloof and incorruptible as an artist, yet sometimes as near the earth as a politician.
'Alfred Marshall: 1842-1924' (1924). In Geoffrey Keynes (ed.), Essays in Biography (1933), 170.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Artist (97)  |  Bird (163)  |  Combination (150)  |  Combine (58)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Direction (185)  |  Easy (213)  |  Economic (84)  |  Economics (44)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flight (101)  |  Future (467)  |  General (521)  |  Gift (105)  |  Good (906)  |  High (370)  |  Historian (59)  |  Institution (73)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Lie (370)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Outside (141)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Past (355)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Politician (40)  |  Possess (157)  |  Present (630)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rare (94)  |  Reach (286)  |  Regard (312)  |  Require (229)  |  Simultaneous (23)  |  Speak (240)  |  Statesman (20)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Talent (99)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Touch (146)  |  Understand (648)  |  Word (650)

The succession of rocks in the earth’s crust is…like a series of historical volumes, and full of inscriptions. It is the endeavor of Geology to examine and interpret these inscriptions.
In 'Introduction', A Text-book of Geology: Designed for Schools and Academies (1863), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Crust (43)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Examine (84)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Interpret (25)  |  Rock (176)  |  Succession (80)  |  Volume (25)

The sun and the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago—as even their infinitely more numerous analogues on the earth beneath are likely to disappear—had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.
In The Dance of Life (1923), 352.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogue (7)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Environment (239)  |  Hand (149)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Human (1512)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Likely (36)  |  Long (778)  |  Long Ago (12)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Reach (286)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)

The sun gives spirit and life to the plants and the earth nourishes them with moisture.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Give (208)  |  Life (1870)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Nourish (18)  |  Plant (320)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Sun (407)

The sun has lost no beams, the earth no elements ; gravity is as adhesive, heat as expansive, light as joyful, air as virtuous, water as medicinal as on the first day. There is no loss, only transference. When the heat is less here it is not lost, but more heat is there.
In 'Perpetual Forces', North American Review (1877), No. 125. Collected in Ralph Waldo Emerson and James Elliot Cabot (ed.), Lectures and Biographical Sketches (1883), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Adhesive (2)  |  Air (366)  |  Beam (26)  |  Conservation Of Energy (30)  |  Element (322)  |  Expansive (5)  |  First (1302)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heat (180)  |  Light (635)  |  Loss (117)  |  Medicine (392)  |  More (2558)  |  Sun (407)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Virtuous (9)  |  Water (503)

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace,
Where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees.
Yo ho, it’s hot, the sun is not a place where we could live.
But here on earth there’d be no life without the light it gives.
We need its light, we need its heat, we need its energy.
Without the sun, without a doubt, there’d be no you and me.
Hy Zaret
From song 'Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas)' on LP record album Space Songs (1961), in the series Ballads for the Age of Science. Music by Louis Singer, and sung by Tom Glazer. Also recorded by the group They Might Be Giants (1998) who followed up with 'Why Does The Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)' on CD album Here Comes Science (2009), which corrects several scientific inaccuracies in the lyrics
Science quotes on:  |  Built (7)  |  Degree (277)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Energy (373)  |  Furnace (13)  |  Gas (89)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Heat (180)  |  Helium (11)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Incandescent (7)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Live (650)  |  Mass (160)  |  Million (124)  |  Need (320)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Sun (407)  |  Temperature (82)

The sun is larger than the moon, and, in fact, … is so enormous that if we could hollow out the sun’s globe and place the earth in the centre, there would still be so much room that the moon might go on moving in her present orbit at two hundred and forty thousand miles from the earth,—all within the globe of the sun itself,—and have plenty of room to spare.
In The New Astronomy (1888), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Centre (31)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Globe (51)  |  Hollow (6)  |  Moon (252)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Room (42)  |  Sun (407)

The Sun is no lonelier than its neighbors; indeed, it is a very common-place star,—dwarfish, though not minute,—like hundreds, nay thousands, of others. By accident the brighter component of Alpha Centauri (which is double) is almost the Sun's twin in brightness, mass, and size. Could this Earth be transported to its vicinity by some supernatural power, and set revolving about it, at a little less than a hundred million miles' distance, the star would heat and light the world just as the Sun does, and life and civilization might go on with no radical change. The Milky Way would girdle the heavens as before; some of our familiar constellations, such as Orion, would be little changed, though others would be greatly altered by the shifting of the nearer stars. An unfamiliar brilliant star, between Cassiopeia and Perseus would be—the Sun. Looking back at it with our telescopes, we could photograph its spectrum, observe its motion among the stars, and convince ourselves that it was the same old Sun; but what had happened to the rest of our planetary system we would not know.
The Solar System and its Origin (1935), 2-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Alpha Centauri (2)  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Altered (32)  |  Back (395)  |  Brightness (12)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Cassiopeia (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Common (447)  |  Component (51)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Convince (43)  |  Distance (171)  |  Double (18)  |  Dwarf (7)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Heat (180)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Loneliness (6)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mile (43)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Million (124)  |  Minute (129)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Nearness (3)  |  Neighbor (14)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Perseus (2)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Power (771)  |  Radical (28)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Set (400)  |  Shift (45)  |  Size (62)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supernatural (26)  |  System (545)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Transport (31)  |  Transportation (19)  |  Twin (16)  |  Unfamiliar (17)  |  Unfamiliarity (5)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

The sun is not a-bed, when I
At night upon my pillow lie;
Still round the earth his way he takes,
And morning after morning makes.
In poem, 'The Sun’s Travels', A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), 36
Science quotes on:  |  Around (7)  |  Bed (25)  |  Lie (370)  |  Morning (98)  |  Night (133)  |  Pillow (4)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Travel (125)  |  Way (1214)

The sun, moving as it does, sets up processes of change and becoming and decay, and by its agency the finest and sweetest water is every day carried up and is dissolved into vapour and rises to the upper region, where it is condensed again by the cold and so returns to the earth. This, as we have said before, is the regular course of nature.
Aristotle
Meteorology (350 B.C.), Book II, translated by E. W. Webster. Internet Classics Archive, (classics.mit.edu).
Science quotes on:  |  Becoming (96)  |  Change (639)  |  Cold (115)  |  Condensation (12)  |  Course (413)  |  Decay (59)  |  Meteorology (36)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Rain (70)  |  Regular (48)  |  Return (133)  |  Rise (169)  |  Set (400)  |  Sun (407)  |  Vapour (16)  |  Water (503)  |  Water Cycle (5)

The sun's rays are the ultimate source of almost every motion which takes place on the surface of the earth. By their heat are produced all winds, and those disturbances in the electric equilibrium of the atmosphere which give rise to the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism. By their vivifying action vegetables are elaborated from inorganic matter, and become in their turn the support of animals and of man, and the sources of those great deposits of dynamical efficiency which are laid up for human use in our coal strata. By them the waters of the sea are made to circulate in vapor through the air, and irrigate the land, producing springs and rivers. By them are produced all disturbances of the chemical equilibrium of the elements of nature which, by a series of compositions and decompositions, give rise to new products, and originate a transfer of materials. Even the slow degradation of the solid constituents of the surface, in which its chief geological changes consist, and their diffusion among the waters of the ocean, are entirely due to the abrasion of the wind, rain, and tides, which latter, however, are only in part the effect of solar influence and the alternate action of the seasons.
from Outlines of Astronomy (1849), 237.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Become (821)  |  Change (639)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chief (99)  |  Coal (64)  |  Composition (86)  |  Consist (223)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Decomposition (19)  |  Degradation (18)  |  Diffusion (13)  |  Disturbance (34)  |  Due (143)  |  Dynamical (15)  |  Effect (414)  |  Efficiency (46)  |  Elaborated (7)  |  Electric (76)  |  Element (322)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heat (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Influence (231)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Matter (821)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Originate (39)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Produced (187)  |  Product (166)  |  Rain (70)  |  Ray (115)  |  Rise (169)  |  River (140)  |  Sea (326)  |  Season (47)  |  Series (153)  |  Slow (108)  |  Solar Energy (21)  |  Solid (119)  |  Spring (140)  |  Strata (37)  |  Sun (407)  |  Support (151)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Through (846)  |  Tide (37)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Turn (454)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Use (771)  |  Vapor (12)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Water (503)  |  Weather (49)  |  Wind (141)

The surface of the earth is not simply a stage on which the thousands of present and past inhabitants played their parts in turn. There are much more intimate relations between the earth and the living organisms which populated it, and it may even be demonstrated that the earth was developed because of them.
From Études sur Les Glaciers (1840), as translated by Albert V. Carozzi in Studies on Glaciers: Preceded by the Discourse of Neuchâtel (1967), 175.
Science quotes on:  |  Develop (278)  |  Geology (240)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Living (492)  |  More (2558)  |  Organism (231)  |  Past (355)  |  Present (630)  |  Stage (152)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Turn (454)

The test of science is not whether you are reasonable—there would not be much of physics if that was the case—the test is whether it works. And the great point about Newton’s theory of gravitation was that it worked, that you could actually say something about the motion of the moon without knowing very much about the constitution of the Earth.
From Assumption and Myth in Physical Theory (1967), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Actually (27)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Great (1610)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Moon (252)  |  Motion (320)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Reasonable (29)  |  Say (989)  |  Something (718)  |  Test (221)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Gravitation (6)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worked (2)

The theory of the earth is the science which describes and explains changes that the terrestrial globe has undergone from its beginning until today, and which allows the prediction of those it shall undergo in the future. The only way to understand these changes and their causes is to study the present-day state of the globe in order to gradually reconstruct its earlier stages, and to develop probable hypotheses on its future state. Therefore, the present state of the earth is the only solid base on which the theory can rely.
In Albert V. Carozzi, 'Forty Years of Thinking in Front of the Alps: Saussure's (1796) Unpublished Theory of the Earth', Earth Sciences History (1989), 8 136.
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Describe (132)  |  Description (89)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Future (467)  |  Globe (51)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Order (638)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Present (630)  |  Reconstruction (16)  |  Solid (119)  |  Stage (152)  |  State (505)  |  Study (701)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Today (321)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Way (1214)

The thought that we’re in competition with Russians or with Chinese is all a mistake, and trivial. We are one species, with a world to win. There’s life all over this universe, but the only life in the solar system is on earth, and in the whole universe we are the only men.
From speech given at an anti-war teach-in at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (4 Mar 1969) 'A Generation in Search of a Future', as edited by Ron Dorfman for Chicago Journalism Review, (May 1969).
Science quotes on:  |  China (27)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Competition (45)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Russia (14)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Species (435)  |  System (545)  |  Thought (995)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)  |  Win (53)  |  World (1850)

The time is coming when man will be so well-versed in the earth’s habits that he will be able to anticipate earthquakes and prepare for them. When this happens, a unity between man and earth will have been achieved, a unity without which a consistent concept of the world is impossible.
In 'Prologue', Conversation with the Earth (1954), 9. As translated by E.B. Garside from Gespräch mit der Erde (1947).
Science quotes on:  |  Anticipate (20)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Earthquake Prediction (2)  |  Habit (174)  |  Man (2252)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Unity (81)  |  World (1850)

The totality of life, known as the biosphere to scientists and creation to theologians, is a membrane of organisms wrapped around Earth so thin it cannot be seen edgewise from a space shuttle, yet so internally complex that most species composing it remain undiscovered. The membrane is seamless. From Everest's peak to the floor of the Mariana Trench, creatures of one kind or another inhabit virtually every square inch of the planetary surface.
In 'Vanishing Before Our Eyes', Time (26 Apr 2000). Also in The Future of Life (2002), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Complex (202)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creature (242)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Kind (564)  |  Known (453)  |  Life (1870)  |  Membrane (21)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Organism (231)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Remain (355)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Shuttle (12)  |  Species (435)  |  Square (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  Theologian (23)  |  Thin (18)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Totality (17)  |  Trench (6)  |  Undiscovered (15)

The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of this world’s luxuries, king by the grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat.
In Pudd’nhead Wilson: and, Those Extraordinary Twins (1893, 1899), 132.
Science quotes on:  |  Angel (47)  |  Boon (7)  |  Chief (99)  |  Common (447)  |  Eat (108)  |  Fruit (108)  |  God (776)  |  Grace (31)  |  King (39)  |  Know (1538)  |  Luxury (21)  |  Mention (84)  |  Taste (93)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Watermelon (2)  |  World (1850)

The two revolutions, I mean the annual revolutions of the declination and of the centre of the Earth, are not completely equal; that is the return of the declination to its original value is slightly ahead of the period of the centre. Hence it necessarily follows that the equinoxes and solstices seem to anticipate their timing, not because the sphere of the fixed stars moves to the east, but rather the equatorial circle moves to the west, being at an angle to the plane of the ecliptic in proportion to the declination of the axis of the terrestrial globe.
'Book Three. Chapter I. The Precession of the equinoxes and solstices', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 141.
Science quotes on:  |  Anticipate (20)  |  Being (1276)  |  Circle (117)  |  Completely (137)  |  Equinox (5)  |  Follow (389)  |  Mean (810)  |  Move (223)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Period (200)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Return (133)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Solstice (2)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Two (936)  |  Value (393)

The uniformity of the earth’s life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single cell, fertilized in a bolt of lightning as the earth cooled. It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is a family resemblance.
In The Lives of a Cell (1974), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Astonishing (29)  |  Bolt (11)  |  Cell (146)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Enzyme (19)  |  Family (101)  |  Fertilization (15)  |  Gene (105)  |  Grass (49)  |  High (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Look (584)  |  More (2558)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Parent (80)  |  Probability (135)  |  Progeny (16)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Share (82)  |  Sharing (11)  |  Single (365)  |  Still (614)  |  Uniformity (38)  |  Whale (45)

The universe contains vastly more order than Earth-life could ever demand. All those distant galaxies, irrelevant for our existence, seem as equally well ordered as our own.
As quoted in Eugene F. Mallove, The Quickening Universe: Cosmic Evolution and Human Destiny (1987), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Contain (68)  |  Demand (131)  |  Distant (33)  |  Equally (129)  |  Existence (481)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Irrelevant (11)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  Order (638)  |  Seem (150)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vastly (8)

The universe flows, carrying with it milky ways and worlds, Gondwanas and Eurasias, inconsistent visions and clumsy systems. But the good conceptual models, these serena templa of intelligence on which several masters have worked, never disappear entirely. They are the great legacy of the past. They linger under more and more harmonious forms and actually never cease to grow. They bring solace by the great art that is inseparable from them. Their permanence relies on the immortal poetry of truth, of the truth that is given to us in minute amounts, foretelling an order whose majesty dominates time.
In Tectonics of Asia (1924, 1977), 164, trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Art (680)  |  Cease (81)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Flow (89)  |  Form (976)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Harmonious (18)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Legacy (14)  |  Linger (14)  |  Majesty (21)  |  Master (182)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Minute (129)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Order (638)  |  Past (355)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Poetry (150)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vision (127)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

The various elements had different places before they were arranged so as to form the universe. At first, they were all without reason and measure. But when the world began to get into order, fire and water and earth and air had only certain faint traces of themselves, and were altogether such as everything might be expected in the absence of God; this, I say, was their nature at that time, and God fashioned them by form and number.
Plato
In Plato and B. Jowett (trans.), The Dialogues of Plato: Republic (3rd ed., 1892), Vol. 3, 473.
Science quotes on:  |  Absence (21)  |  Air (366)  |  Arrange (33)  |  Certain (557)  |  Different (595)  |  Element (322)  |  Everything (489)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  God (776)  |  Measure (241)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Order (638)  |  Place (192)  |  Reason (766)  |  Say (989)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

The vast spread
Of darkness
That speaks of mystery
The darkness that reveals
The beauty that lies beneath
In the form of glittering
Stars, a countless beauty
That seemed to conceal
A million stories
That can make the mankind
Take a new look at life
And the majestic moon
That silently looks at mankind
Wondering how its serenity
Was disturbed by the little steps
Of a man from the beautiful earth
Yet softly smiling back
And let the world sleep
In its magical glow
A glow that soothes
The world’s senses
And forget the pain of reality
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Conceal (19)  |  Countless (39)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Disturb (31)  |  Disturbed (15)  |  Forget (125)  |  Form (976)  |  Glitter (10)  |  Glow (15)  |  Let (64)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Magic (92)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Million (124)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mystery (188)  |  New (1273)  |  Pain (144)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sense (785)  |  Serenity (11)  |  Silently (4)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Smile (34)  |  Softly (6)  |  Soothe (2)  |  Speak (240)  |  Spread (86)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Step (234)  |  Story (122)  |  Vast (188)  |  Wonder (251)  |  World (1850)

The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me - a small disk, 240,000 miles away… Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don’t show from that distance.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Disk (3)  |  Distance (171)  |  Famine (18)  |  Fascinate (12)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mile (43)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nationalistic (2)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Rage (10)  |  Show (353)  |  Small (489)  |  View (496)  |  War (233)

The views of the Earth are really beautiful. If you’ve ever seen a space IMAX movie, that’s really what it looks like. I wish I’d had more time just to sit and look out the window with a map, but our science program kept us very busy in the lab most of the time.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Busy (32)  |  Keep (104)  |  Look (584)  |  Map (50)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movie (21)  |  Program (57)  |  Really (77)  |  See (1094)  |  Sit (51)  |  Space (523)  |  Time (1911)  |  View (496)  |  Window (59)  |  Wish (216)

The volumes, the surfaces, the lines—in one word, the structures that build a tectonic construction—do not represent the whole picture: there is also the movement that animated and still animates these bodies because the history continues and we live under no particular privileged conditions at any given time in this great process.
In Tectonics of Asia (1924, 1977), 2, trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  Build (211)  |  Condition (362)  |  Construction (114)  |  Continue (179)  |  Do (1905)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Live (650)  |  Movement (162)  |  Picture (148)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Process (439)  |  Represent (157)  |  Still (614)  |  Structure (365)  |  Surface (223)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whole (756)  |  Word (650)

The war found me in Marburg. One day a man visited me whose fine features and penetrating blue-grey eyes I was unable to forget, even after only one encounter. He spun out an extremely strange train of thought about the structure of the earth and asked me whether I would be willing to help him, a physicist, with geological facts and concepts. As off-putting as this idea seemed to me, the man himself became my friend. As long as we could find time from our military responsibilities, we were able to work together informally. … The man was Alfred Wegener.
From Gespräch mit der Erde (1946). In Martin Schwarzbach, Alfred Wegener, The Father of Continental Drift (1986), 19, as translated by Carla Love, from Alfred Wegener und die Drift der Kontinente (1980). This passage appears in a slightly different translation in the English version of Cloos’ book, Conversation With the Earth. See the Todayinsci webpage of Hans Cloos quotations, for the one beginning, “One day while I was teaching at Marburg…”.
Science quotes on:  |  Concept (242)  |  Cooperation (38)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Friend (180)  |  Geology (240)  |  Help (116)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Structure (365)

The Wegener hypothesis has been so stimulating and has such fundamental implications in geology as to merit respectful and sympathetic interest from every geologist. Some striking arguments in his favor have been advanced, and it would be foolhardy indeed to reject any concept that offers a possible key to the solution of profound problems in the Earth’s history.
Published while geologists remained sceptical of Alfred Wegener’s idea of Continental Drift, Though unconvinced, he published these thoughts suggesting that critics should be at least be open-minded. His patience was proven justified when two decades later, the theory of plate tectonics provided a mechanism for the motion of the continents.
Some Thoughts on the Evidence for Continental Drift (1944).
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Concept (242)  |  Continent (79)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Decade (66)  |  Favor (69)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Merit (51)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motion (320)  |  Offer (142)  |  Open (277)  |  Patience (58)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Profound (105)  |  Reject (67)  |  Remain (355)  |  Solution (282)  |  Striking (48)  |  Sympathetic (10)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)  |  Alfred L. Wegener (12)

The weight of our civilization has become so great, it now ranks as a global force and a significant wild card in the human future along with the Ice Ages and other vicissitudes of a volatile and changeable planetary system
Rethinking Environmentalism (13 Dec 1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Become (821)  |  Change (639)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Force (497)  |  Future (467)  |  Global (39)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ice (58)  |  Ice Age (10)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Rank (69)  |  Significant (78)  |  System (545)  |  Vicissitude (6)  |  Volatility (3)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wild (96)

The whole Terrestrial Globe was taken all to Pieces and dissolved at the Deluge, the Particles of Stone, Marble, and all other solid Fossils being dissevered, taken up into the Water, and there sustained with Sea-Shells and other Animal and Vegetable Bodyes: and that the present Earth consists, and was formed out of that promiscuous Mass of Sand, Earth, Shells, and the rest, falling down again, and subsiding from the Water.
In An Essay Towards a Natural History of the Earth (3rd ed., 1723), Preface.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Being (1276)  |  Consist (223)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Deposit (12)  |  Down (455)  |  Flood (52)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Geology (240)  |  Marble (21)  |  Mass (160)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particle (200)  |  Present (630)  |  Rest (287)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sedimentation (3)  |  Shell (69)  |  Solid (119)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strata (37)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

The world is comparable to ice, and the Truth to water, the origin of this ice. The name “ice” is only lent to this coagulation; it is the name of water which is restored to it, according to its essential reality.
Al- Jill
Universal Man. In Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilisation in Islam (1968), 341.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Coagulation (5)  |  Essential (210)  |  Ice (58)  |  Name (359)  |  Origin (250)  |  Reality (274)  |  Science In Islam (2)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

The world is the geologist’s great puzzle-box; he stands before it like the child to whom the separate pieces of his puzzle remain a mystery till he detects their relation and sees where they fit, and then his fragments grow at once into a connected picture beneath his hand.
Geological Sketches (1866), II.
Science quotes on:  |  Beneath (68)  |  Box (22)  |  Child (333)  |  Connect (126)  |  Detect (45)  |  Fit (139)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Picture (148)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Remain (355)  |  See (1094)  |  Separate (151)  |  Stand (284)  |  World (1850)

The world looks so different after learning science. For example, trees are made of air, primarily. When they are burned, they go back to air, and in the flaming heat is released the flaming heat of the sun which was bound in to convert the air into tree, and in the ash is the small remnant of the part which did not come from air, that came from the solid earth, instead. These are beautiful things, and the content of science is wonderfully full of them. They are very inspiring, and they can be used to inspire others.
From address (1966) at the 14th Annual Convention of the National Science Teachers Association, New York City, printed in 'What is science?', The Physics Teacher (1969), 7, No. 6, 320.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Ash (21)  |  Back (395)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Bound (120)  |  Burn (99)  |  Content (75)  |  Convert (22)  |  Different (595)  |  Flame (44)  |  Heat (180)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Learning (291)  |  Look (584)  |  Other (2233)  |  Released (2)  |  Remnant (7)  |  Small (489)  |  Solid (119)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tree (269)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  World (1850)

The world we know at present is in no fit state to take over the dreariest little meteor ... If we have the courage and patience, the energy and skill, to take us voyaging to other planets, then let us use some of these to tidy up and civilize this earth. One world at a time, please.
Column in the London News Chronicle as quoted in article, 'Notions in Motion,' Time (24 Nov 1952).
Science quotes on:  |  Civilization (220)  |  Courage (82)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fit (139)  |  Know (1538)  |  Little (717)  |  Meteor (19)  |  Other (2233)  |  Patience (58)  |  Planet (402)  |  Please (68)  |  Present (630)  |  Skill (116)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  State (505)  |  Time (1911)  |  Use (771)  |  World (1850)

The world's forests need to be seen for what they are—giant global utilities, providing essential public services to humanity on a vast scale. They store carbon, which is lost to the atmosphere when they burn, increasing global warming. The life they support cleans the atmosphere of pollutants and feeds it with moisture. They act as a natural thermostat, helping to regulate our climate and sustain the lives of 1.4 billion of the poorest people on this Earth. And they do these things to a degree that is all but impossible to imagine.
Speech (25 Oct 2007) at the World Wildlife Fund gala dinner, Hampton Court Palace, announcing the Prince's Rainforests Project. On the Prince of Wales website.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Billion (104)  |  Burn (99)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbon Cycle (5)  |  Clean (52)  |  Climate (102)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Degree (277)  |  Do (1905)  |  Essential (210)  |  Forest (161)  |  Giant (73)  |  Global (39)  |  Global Warming (29)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Increase (225)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Loss (117)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Natural (810)  |  People (1031)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Poverty (40)  |  Public Service (6)  |  Regulation (25)  |  Scale (122)  |  Service (110)  |  Store (49)  |  Support (151)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Thermostat (2)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Utility (52)  |  Vast (188)  |  Warming (24)  |  World (1850)

The world’s first spaceship, Vostok (East), with a man on board was launched into orbit from the Soviet Union on April 12, 1961. The pilot space-navigator of the satellite-spaceship Vostok is a citizen of the U.S.S.R., Flight Major Yuri Gagarin.
The launching of the multistage space rocket was successful and, after attaining the first escape velocity and the separation of the last stage of the carrier rocket, the spaceship went in to free flight on around-the-earth orbit. According to preliminary data, the period of revolution of the satellite spaceship around the earth is 89.1 min. The minimum distance from the earth at perigee is 175 km (108.7 miles) and the maximum at apogee is 302 km (187.6 miles), and the angle of inclination of the orbit plane to the equator is 65º 4’. The spaceship with the navigator weighs 4725 kg (10,418.6 lb), excluding the weight of the final stage of the carrier rocket.
The first man in space was announced by the Soviet newsagency Tass on 12 April 1961, 9:59 a.m. Moscow time.
Tass
Quoted in John David Anderson, Jr., Hypersonic and High Temperature Gas Dynamics (2000), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  April (9)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Data (162)  |  Distance (171)  |  Equator (6)  |  Escape (85)  |  Final (121)  |  First (1302)  |  Flight (101)  |  Free (239)  |  Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (13)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Last (425)  |  Launch (21)  |  Major (88)  |  Man (2252)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Period (200)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Satellite (30)  |  Separation (60)  |  Soviet (10)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Stage (152)  |  Successful (134)  |  Time (1911)  |  Union (52)  |  Velocity (51)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Weight (140)  |  World (1850)

The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern “knowledge” is that it is wrong.
The young man then quoted with approval what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed him the wisest man in Greece. “If I am the wisest man,” said Socrates, “it is because I alone know that I know nothing.” The implication was that I was very foolish because I was under the impression I knew a great deal.
Alas, none of this was new to me. (There is very little that is new to me; I wish my correspondents would realize this.) This particular theme was addressed to me a quarter of a century ago by John Campbell, who specialized in irritating me. He also told me that all theories are proven wrong in time.
My answer to him was, “John, when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.”
In The Relativity of Wrong (1989), 214.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Answer (389)  |  Both (496)  |  Century (319)  |  Deal (192)  |  Delphic (4)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flat (34)  |  Follow (389)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impression (118)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Learning (291)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Modern (402)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Realize (157)  |  Say (989)  |   Socrates, (17)  |  Specialist (33)  |  Theme (17)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Understood (155)  |  Universe (900)  |  View (496)  |  Wish (216)  |  Wrong (246)  |  Young (253)

Then if the first argument remains secure (for nobody will produce a neater one, than the length of the periodic time is a measure of the size of the spheres), the order of the orbits follows this sequence, beginning from the highest: The first and highest of all is the sphere of the fixed stars, which contains itself and all things, and is therefore motionless. It is the location of the universe, to which the motion and position of all the remaining stars is referred. For though some consider that it also changes in some respect, we shall assign another cause for its appearing to do so in our deduction of the Earth’s motion. There follows Saturn, the first of the wandering stars, which completes its circuit in thirty years. After it comes Jupiter which moves in a twelve-year long revolution. Next is Mars, which goes round biennially. An annual revolution holds the fourth place, in which as we have said is contained the Earth along with the lunar sphere which is like an epicycle. In fifth place Venus returns every nine months. Lastly, Mercury holds the sixth place, making a circuit in the space of eighty days. In the middle of all is the seat of the Sun. For who in this most beautiful of temples would put this lamp in any other or better place than the one from which it can illuminate everything at the same time? Aptly indeed is he named by some the lantern of the universe, by others the mind, by others the ruler. Trismegistus called him the visible God, Sophocles' Electra, the watcher over all things. Thus indeed the Sun as if seated on a royal throne governs his household of Stars as they circle around him. Earth also is by no means cheated of the Moon’s attendance, but as Aristotle says in his book On Animals the Moon has the closest affinity with the Earth. Meanwhile the Earth conceives from the Sun, and is made pregnant with annual offspring. We find, then, in this arrangement the marvellous symmetry of the universe, and a sure linking together in harmony of the motion and size of the spheres, such as could be perceived in no other way. For here one may understand, by attentive observation, why Jupiter appears to have a larger progression and retrogression than Saturn, and smaller than Mars, and again why Venus has larger ones than Mercury; why such a doubling back appears more frequently in Saturn than in Jupiter, and still more rarely in Mars and Venus than in Mercury; and furthermore why Saturn, Jupiter and Mars are nearer to the Earth when in opposition than in the region of their occultation by the Sun and re-appearance. Indeed Mars in particular at the time when it is visible throughout the night seems to equal Jupiter in size, though marked out by its reddish colour; yet it is scarcely distinguishable among stars of the second magnitude, though recognized by those who track it with careful attention. All these phenomena proceed from the same course, which lies in the motion of the Earth. But the fact that none of these phenomena appears in the fixed stars shows their immense elevation, which makes even the circle of their annual motion, or apparent motion, vanish from our eyes.
'Book One. Chapter X. The Order of the Heavenly Spheres', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 49-51.
Science quotes on:  |  Affinity (27)  |  Animal (651)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Argument (145)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Attention (196)  |  Attentive (15)  |  Back (395)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Better (493)  |  Book (413)  |  Call (781)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Cheat (13)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Consider (428)  |  Course (413)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Everything (489)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  God (776)  |  Govern (66)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Immense (89)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Lantern (8)  |  Lie (370)  |  Linking (8)  |  Location (15)  |  Long (778)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Making (300)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mars (47)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mercury (54)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Month (91)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Next (238)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Observation (593)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Progression (23)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Respect (212)  |  Retrogression (6)  |  Return (133)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Royal (56)  |  Ruler (21)  |  Saturn (15)  |  Say (989)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Show (353)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Temple (45)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Track (42)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Venus (21)  |  Visible (87)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Dream (222)  |  Heaven (266)  |  More (2558)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Thing (1914)

There are those who say that the human kidney was created to keep the blood pure, or more precisely, to keep our internal environment in an ideal balanced state. This I must deny. I grant that the human kidney is a marvelous organ, but I cannot grant that it was purposefully designed to excrete urine or to regulate the composition of the blood or to subserve the physiological welfare of Homo sapiens in any sense. Rather I contend that the human kidney manufactures the kind of urine that it does, and it maintains the blood in the composition which that fluid has, because this kidney has a certain functional architecture; and it owes that architecture not to design or foresight or to any plan, but to the fact that the earth is an unstable sphere with a fragile crust, to the geologic revolutions that for six hundred million years have raised and lowered continents and seas, to the predacious enemies, and heat and cold, and storms and droughts; to the unending succession of vicissitudes that have driven the mutant vertebrates from sea into fresh water, into desiccated swamps, out upon the dry land, from one habitation to another, perpetually in search of the free and independent life, perpetually failing, for one reason or another, to find it.
From Fish to Philosopher (1953), 210-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Architecture (50)  |  Balance (82)  |  Blood (144)  |  Certain (557)  |  Cold (115)  |  Composition (86)  |  Contention (14)  |  Continent (79)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crust (43)  |  Denial (20)  |  Deny (71)  |  Design (203)  |  Drought (14)  |  Dry (65)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Environment (239)  |  Excretion (7)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Failure (176)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Foresight (8)  |  Fragile (26)  |  Fragility (2)  |  Free (239)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Function (235)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grant (76)  |  Habitation (7)  |  Heat (180)  |  Homo Sapiens (23)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Independent (74)  |  Internal (69)  |  Keep (104)  |  Kidney (19)  |  Kind (564)  |  Land (131)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lowering (4)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Maintenance (21)  |  Manufacture (30)  |  Manufacturing (29)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutant (2)  |  Organ (118)  |  Owe (71)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Perpetually (20)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Plan (122)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Predator (6)  |  Pure (299)  |  Purity (15)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Raise (38)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regulation (25)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Say (989)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Sea (326)  |  Search (175)  |  Sense (785)  |  Serve (64)  |  Sphere (118)  |  State (505)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Succession (80)  |  Swamp (9)  |  Unstable (9)  |  Urine (18)  |  Vertebrate (22)  |  Vicissitude (6)  |  Water (503)  |  Welfare (30)  |  Year (963)

There are three reasons why, quite apart from scientific considerations, mankind needs to travel in space. The first reason is garbage disposal; we need to transfer industrial processes into space so that the earth may remain a green and pleasant place for our grandchildren to live in. The second reason is to escape material impoverishment; the resources of this planet are finite, and we shall not forgo forever the abundance of solar energy and minerals and living space that are spread out all around us. The third reason is our spiritual need for an open frontier. The ultimate purpose of space travel is to bring to humanity, not only scientific discoveries and an occasional spectacular show on television, but a real expansion of our spirit.
In Disturbing the Universe (1979).
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Energy (373)  |  Escape (85)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Finite (60)  |  First (1302)  |  Forever (111)  |  Forgo (4)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Garbage (10)  |  Green (65)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Material (366)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Occasional (23)  |  Open (277)  |  Planet (402)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remain (355)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Show (353)  |  Solar Energy (21)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Spread (86)  |  Television (33)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Travel (125)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Why (491)

There are two avenues from the little passions and the drear calamities of earth; both lead to the heaven and away from hell—Art and Science. But art is more godlike than science; science discovers, art creates.
Spoken by fictional character Zanoni in novel, Zanoni (1842), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Avenue (14)  |  Both (496)  |  Calamity (11)  |  Create (245)  |  Discover (571)  |  Godlike (3)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Hell (32)  |  Lead (391)  |  Little (717)  |  More (2558)  |  Passion (121)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Two (936)

There is a clarity, a brilliance to space that simply doesn’t exist on earth, even on a cloudless summer’s day in the Rockies, and nowhere else can you realize so fully the majesty of our Earth and be so awed at the thought that it’s only one of untold thousands of planets.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Awe (43)  |  Brilliance (14)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fully (20)  |  Majesty (21)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Planet (402)  |  Realize (157)  |  Simply (53)  |  Space (523)  |  Summer (56)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Untold (6)

There is a finite number of species of plants and animals—even of insects—upon the earth. … Moreover, the universality of the genetic code, the common character of proteins in different species, the generality of cellular structure and cellular reproduction, the basic similarity of energy metabolism in all species and of photosynthesis in green plants and bacteria, and the universal evolution of living forms through mutation and natural selection all lead inescapably to a conclusion that, although diversity may be great, the laws of life, based on similarities, are finite in number and comprehensible to us in the main even now.
Presidential Address (28 Dec 1970) to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'Science: Endless Horizons or Golden Age?', Science (8 Jan 1971), 171, No. 3866, 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Bacterium (6)  |  Basic (144)  |  Cell (146)  |  Character (259)  |  Code (31)  |  Common (447)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Energy (373)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Finite (60)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Great (1610)  |  Green (65)  |  Inescapable (7)  |  Insect (89)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life Form (6)  |  Living (492)  |  Metabolism (15)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Number (710)  |  Photosynthesis (21)  |  Plant (320)  |  Protein (56)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Selection (130)  |  Similar (36)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Species (435)  |  Structure (365)  |  Through (846)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universality (22)

There is a place with four suns in the sky—red, white, blue, and yellow; two of them are so close together that they touch, and star-stuff flows between them. I know of a world with a million moons. I know of a sun the size of the Earth—and made of diamond. There are atomic nuclei a few miles across which rotate thirty times a second. There are tiny grains between the stars, with the size and atomic composition of bacteria. There are stars leaving the Milky Way, and immense gas clouds falling into it. There are turbulent plasmas writhing with X- and gamma-rays and mighty stellar explosions. There are, perhaps, places which are outside our universe. The universe is vast and awesome, and for the first time we are becoming a part of it.
Opening paragraph, in 'Introduction' Planetary Exploration (1970), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Awesome (15)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Blue (63)  |  Close (77)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Composition (86)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Explosion (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Flow (89)  |  Gamma-Ray (2)  |  Gas (89)  |  Grain (50)  |  Immense (89)  |  Know (1538)  |  Leave (138)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Million (124)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Outside (141)  |  Plasma (8)  |  Ray (115)  |  Red (38)  |  Rotate (8)  |  Second (66)  |  Sky (174)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Starstuff (5)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Together (392)  |  Touch (146)  |  Turbulent (4)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Way (1214)  |  White (132)  |  World (1850)  |  X-ray (43)  |  Yellow (31)

There is a single general space, a single vast immensity which we may freely call void: in it are unnumerable globes like this on which we live and grow, this space we declare to be infinite, since neither reason, convenience, sense-perception nor nature assign to it a limit.
Quoted in Joseph Silk, The Big Bang (1997), 89.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Declare (48)  |  General (521)  |  Grow (247)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Limit (294)  |  Live (650)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Perception (97)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sense (785)  |  Single (365)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Void (31)

There is already overwhelming evidence that the visible matter within galaxies may account for less than 10 percent of the galaxies’ actual mass: the rest, not yet directly detectable by observers on the earth, is probably distributed within and around each galaxy.
(1986). As quoted in Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Actual (118)  |  Already (226)  |  Around (7)  |  Distribute (16)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Mass (160)  |  Matter (821)  |  Observer (48)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Rest (287)  |  Visible (87)

There is another approach to the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO origins. This assessment depends on a large number of factors about which we know little, and a few about which we know literally nothing. I want to make some crude numerical estimate of the probability that we are frequently visited by extraterrestrial beings.
Now, there is a range of hypotheses that can be examined in such a way. Let me give a simple example: Consider the Santa Claus hypothesis, which maintains that, in a period of eight hours or so on December 24-25 of each year, an outsized elf visits one hundred million homes in the United States. This is an interesting and widely discussed hypothesis. Some strong emotions ride on it, and it is argued that at least it does no harm.
We can do some calculations. Suppose that the elf in question spends one second per house. This isn't quite the usual picture—“Ho, Ho, Ho,” and so on—but imagine that he is terribly efficient and very speedy; that would explain why nobody ever sees him very much-only one second per house, after all. With a hundred million houses he has to spend three years just filling stockings. I have assumed he spends no time at all in going from house to house. Even with relativistic reindeer, the time spent in a hundred million houses is three years and not eight hours. This is an example of hypothesis-testing independent of reindeer propulsion mechanisms or debates on the origins of elves. We examine the hypothesis itself, making very straightforward assumptions, and derive a result inconsistent with the hypothesis by many orders of magnitude. We would then suggest that the hypothesis is untenable.
We can make a similar examination, but with greater uncertainty, of the extraterrestrial hypothesis that holds that a wide range of UFOs viewed on the planet Earth are space vehicles from planets of other stars.
The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective (1973), 200.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crude (32)  |  Debate (40)  |  Depend (238)  |  Derive (70)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elf (7)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Examination (102)  |  Examine (84)  |  Explain (334)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Greater (288)  |  Home (184)  |  Hour (192)  |  House (143)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Literally (30)  |  Little (717)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Making (300)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Order (638)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Picture (148)  |  Plane (22)  |  Planet (402)  |  Probability (135)  |  Propulsion (10)  |  Question (649)  |  Range (104)  |  Reindeer (2)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Result (700)  |  Ride (23)  |  Santa Claus (2)  |  See (1094)  |  Simple (426)  |  Space (523)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spent (85)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  State (505)  |  Straightforward (10)  |  Strong (182)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Test (221)  |  Time (1911)  |  UFO (4)  |  Uncertainty (58)  |  Untenable (5)  |  Vehicle (11)  |  View (496)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Wide (97)  |  Year (963)

There is no gravity. The earth sucks.
Anonymous
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Gravity (140)  |  Suck (8)

There is not a soul on Earth who can read the deluge of physics publications in its entirety. As a result, it is sad but true that physics has irretrievably fallen apart from a cohesive to a fragmented discipline. … It was not that long ago that people were complaining about two cultures. If we only had it that good today.
In 'The Physical Review Then and Now', in H. Henry Stroke, Physical Review: The First Hundred Years: a Selection of Seminal Papers and Commentaries, Vol. 1, 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Cohesive (4)  |  Complaint (13)  |  Culture (157)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Entirety (6)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Good (906)  |  Long (778)  |  Long Ago (12)  |  People (1031)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Publication (102)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Result (700)  |  Soul (235)  |  Today (321)  |  Two (936)

There is nothing human in the whole round of nature. All nature, all the universe that we can see, is absolutely indifferent to us, and except to us human life is of no more value than grass. If the entire human race perished at this hour, what difference would it make to the earth? What would the earth care? As much as for the extinct dodo, or for the fate of the elephant now going.
In Chap. 4, The Story of My Heart: My Autobiography (1883), 57.
Science quotes on:  |  Care (203)  |  Difference (355)  |  Dodo (7)  |  Elephant (35)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Fate (76)  |  Grass (49)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Indifferent (17)  |  Life (1870)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Perish (56)  |  Universe (900)

There is nothing on earth, intended for innocent people, so horrible as a school. It is in some respects more cruel than a prison. In a prison for example, you are not forced to read books written by the warders and the governor.
In 'School', Misalliance: A Debate in One Sitting (1914, 1957), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Cruel (25)  |  Example (98)  |  Force (497)  |  Governor (13)  |  Horrible (10)  |  Innocent (13)  |  Intend (18)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Prison (13)  |  Read (308)  |  Respect (212)  |  School (227)  |  Warder (2)  |  Write (250)

There rolls the deep where grew the tree.
O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850), canto 123. Collected in Alfred Tennyson and William James Rolfe (ed.) The Poetic and Dramatic works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1898), 194.
Science quotes on:  |  Central (81)  |  Change (639)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Deep (241)  |  Flow (89)  |  Form (976)  |  Hill (23)  |  Land (131)  |  Long (778)  |  Melting (6)  |  Mist (17)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Roar (6)  |  Roll (41)  |  Sea (326)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Shape (77)  |  Solid (119)  |  Stand (284)  |  Stillness (5)  |  Street (25)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Tree (269)

There were tides in the new earth, long before there was an ocean.
In The Sea Around Us (1951), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Long (778)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Oceanography (17)  |  Tide (37)

There’s a lot of scientific data that I found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I believe that the Earth is about 9,000 years old. I believe that it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says. And what I’ve come to learn is that it’s the manufacturer’s handbook, is what I call it. It ... teaches us how to run all our public policy.
[Demonstrating the uncompromising substitution of his religious ideology for centuries of scientific facts while he is responsible for setting important public policy on matters of science.]
From speech (27 Sep 2012) to a sportman's banquet at Liberty Baptist Church, Hartwell, Georgia, as quoted in Matt Pearce, 'U.S. Rep. Paul Broun: Evolution a lie ‘from the pit of hell’', Los Angeles Times (7 Oct 2012).
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Bible (105)  |  Call (781)  |  Data (162)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Ideology (15)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  Lot (151)  |  Manufacturer (10)  |  Matter (821)  |  Old (499)  |  Public Policy (2)  |  Religious (134)  |  Run (158)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Setting (44)  |  Show (353)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)

There’s no question in my mind that the capability of [the space shuttle] to put 65,000 pounds in low earth orbit—to put payloads up there cheaper than we’ve been able to do it before, not having to throw away the booster—will absolutely revolutionize the way we do business here on earth in ways that we just can’t imagine. It will help develop science and technology. With the space shuttle—when we get it operational—we’ll be able to do in 5 or 10 years what it would take us 20 to 30 years to do otherwise in science and technology development.
Interview for U.S. News & World Report (13 Apr 1981), 56.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Absoluteness (4)  |  Before (8)  |  Business (156)  |  Capability (44)  |  Cheaper (6)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Low (86)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Operation (221)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  Question (649)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Revolutionize (8)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Shuttle (12)  |  Technology (281)  |  Throw Away (4)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)  |  Years (5)

There's nothing situate under heaven's eye
But hath his bond in earth, in sea, in sky.
The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowls
Are their males' subjects and at their controls.
Man, more divine, the master of all these,
Lord of the wide world and wild wat'ry seas,
Indu'd with intellectual sense and souls,
Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls,
Are masters to their females, and their lords;
Then let your will attend on their accords.
The Comedy of Errors (1594), II, i.
Science quotes on:  |  Attend (67)  |  Beast (58)  |  Bond (46)  |  Control (182)  |  Divine (112)  |  Eminence (25)  |  Eye (440)  |  Female (50)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fowl (6)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Lord (97)  |  Male (26)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pre-eminence (4)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sky (174)  |  Soul (235)  |  Subject (543)  |  Wide (97)  |  Wild (96)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wing (79)  |  World (1850)

Therefore the solid body of the earth is reasonably considered as being the largest relative to those moving against it and as remaining unmoved in any direction by the force of the very small weights, and as it were absorbing their fall. And if it had some one common movement, the same as that of the other weights, it would clearly leave them all behind because of its much greater magnitude. And the animals and other weights would be left hanging in the air, and the earth would very quickly fallout of the heavens. Merely to conceive such things makes them appear ridiculous.
Ptolemy
'The Almagest 1', in Ptolemy: the Almagest; Nicolaus Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres; Johannes Kepler: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy: IV - V The Harmonies of the World: V, trans. R. Catesby Taliaferro (1952), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Behind (139)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Consider (428)  |  Direction (185)  |  Fall (243)  |  Force (497)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Largest (39)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Merely (315)  |  Movement (162)  |  Other (2233)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Small (489)  |  Solid (119)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Weight (140)

Therefore, these [geotectonic] models cannot be expected to assume that the deeper parts of the earth’s crust were put together and built in a simpler way. The myth about the increasing simplicity with depth results from a general pre-scientific trend according to which the unknown or little known has to be considered simpler than the known. Many examples of this myth occur in the history of geology as, for instance, the development of views on the nature of the seafloor from the past to the present.
In 'Stockwerktektonik und Madelle van Esteinsdifferentiation', in Geotektonisches Symposium zu Ehren von Hans Stille, als Festschrift zur Vollendung seines 80, Lebensjahres (1956), 17, trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crust (43)  |  Depth (97)  |  Development (441)  |  Example (98)  |  Expect (203)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Known (453)  |  Little (717)  |  Model (106)  |  Myth (58)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Occur (151)  |  Past (355)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Pre-Scientific (5)  |  Present (630)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seafloor (2)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Together (392)  |  Trend (23)  |  Unknown (195)  |  View (496)  |  Way (1214)

These rocks, these bones, these fossil forms and shells
Shall yet be touched with beauty and reveal
The secrets if the book of earth to man.
In The Book of Earth (1925), 157.
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Bone (101)  |  Book (413)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Man (2252)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealing (4)  |  Rock (176)  |  Secret (216)  |  Shell (69)  |  Touch (146)

They may say what they like; everything is organized matter. The tree is the first link of the chain; man is the last. Men are young; the earth is old. Vegetable and animal chemistry are still in their infancy. Electricity, galvanism,—what discoveries in a few years!
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Chain (51)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Everything (489)  |  First (1302)  |  Galvanism (9)  |  Infancy (14)  |  Last (425)  |  Link (48)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Old (499)  |  Organize (33)  |  Say (989)  |  Still (614)  |  Tree (269)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)

They say,
The solid earth whereon we tread
In tracts of fluent heat began,
And grew to seeming-random forms,
The seeming prey of cyclic storms,
Till at the last arose the Man. …
From poem, 'In Memoriam A.H.H.' written between 1833-50, and first published anonymously in 1850. Collected in Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson (1860), Vol.2, 147.
Science quotes on:  |  Arise (162)  |  Begin (275)  |  Cyclic (3)  |  Fluent (2)  |  Form (976)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heat (180)  |  Last (425)  |  Man (2252)  |  Prey (13)  |  Random (42)  |  Say (989)  |  Seem (150)  |  Solid (119)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Tract (7)  |  Tread (17)

Think, for a moment, of a cheetah, a sleek, beautiful animal, one of the fastest on earth, which roams freely on the savannas of Africa. In its natural habitat, it is a magnificent animal, almost a work of art, unsurpassed in speed or grace by any other animal. Now, think of a cheetah that has been captured and thrown into a miserable cage in a zoo. It has lost its original grace and beauty, and is put on display for our amusement. We see only the broken spirit of the cheetah in the cage, not its original power and elegance. The cheetah can be compared to the laws of physics, which are beautiful in their natural setting. The natural habitat of the laws of physics is a higher-dimensional space-time. However, we can only measure the laws of physics when they have been broken and placed on display in a cage, which is our three-dimensional laboratory. We only see the cheetah when its grace and beauty have been stripped away.
In Hyperspace by Michio Kaku (1994).
Science quotes on:  |  Africa (38)  |  Amusement (37)  |  Animal (651)  |  Art (680)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Broken (56)  |  Cage (12)  |  Cheetah (2)  |  Display (59)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Grace (31)  |  Habitat (17)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Law (913)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Measure (241)  |  Moment (260)  |  Natural (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Power (771)  |  See (1094)  |  Setting (44)  |  Space (523)  |  Space-Time (20)  |  Speed (66)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Think (1122)  |  Three-Dimensional (11)  |  Time (1911)  |  Work (1402)

This false belief that we own the Earth, or are its stewards, allow us to pay lip service to environmental policies and programmes but to continue with business as usual.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 173.
Science quotes on:  |  Allow (51)  |  Belief (615)  |  Business As Usual (2)  |  Continue (179)  |  Environment (239)  |  False (105)  |  Lip Service (2)  |  Policy (27)  |  Program (57)  |  Steward (4)

This is the kingdom of the chemical elements, the substances from which everything tangible is made. It is not an extensive country, for it consists of only a hundred or so regions (as we shall often term the elements), yet it accounts for everything material in our actual world. From the hundred elements that are at the center of our story, all planets, rocks, vegetation, and animals are made. These elements are the basis of the air, the oceans, and the Earth itself. We stand on the elements, we eat the elements, we are the elements. Because our brains are made up of elements, even our opinions are, in a sense, properties of the elements and hence inhabitants of the kingdom.
In 'The Terrain', The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey Into the Land of the Chemical Elements (1995), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Actual (118)  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Basis (180)  |  Brain (281)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Consist (223)  |  Country (269)  |  Eat (108)  |  Element (322)  |  Everything (489)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Material (366)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Planet (402)  |  Property (177)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sense (785)  |  Stand (284)  |  Story (122)  |  Substance (253)  |  Tangible (15)  |  Term (357)  |  Vegetation (24)  |  World (1850)

This is the most beautiful place on Earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.
Opening sentences in 'The First morning', Desert Solitaire (1968,1988), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Carry (130)  |  Heart (243)  |  Home (184)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Image (97)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Place (192)  |  Right (473)  |  True (239)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Visionary (6)  |  Woman (160)

This planet is essentially a body of crystallized and uncrystallized igneous material. The final philosophy of earth history will therefore be founded on igneous-rock geology.
In Igneous Rocks and their Origin (1914), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Final (121)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Igneous (3)  |  Material (366)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rock (176)  |  Will (2350)

This prime matter which is proper for the form of the Elixir is taken from a single tree which grows in the lands of the West. It has two branches, which are too high for whoso seeks to eat the fruit thereof to reach them without labour and trouble; and two other branches, but the fruit of these is drier and more tanned than that of the two preceding. The blossom of one of the two is red [corresponding to gold], and the blossom of the second is between white and black [corresponding to silver]. Then there are two other branches weaker and softer than the four preceding, and the blossom of one of them is black [referring to iron] and the other between white and yellow [probably tin]. And this tree grows on the surface of the ocean [the material prima from which all metals are formed] as plants grow on the surface of the earth. This is the tree of which whosoever eats, man and jinn obey him; it is also the tree of which Adam (peace be upon him!) was forbidden to eat, and when he ate thereof he was transformed from his angelic form to human form. And this tree may be changed into every animal shape.
Al- Iraqi
'Cultivation of Gold', trans. E. J. Holmyard (1923), 23. Quoted and annotated in Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilization in Islam (1968), 279.
Science quotes on:  |  Angel (47)  |  Animal (651)  |  Blossom (22)  |  Creation (350)  |  Eat (108)  |  Elixir (6)  |  Forbidden (18)  |  Form (976)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Gold (101)  |  Grow (247)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Iron (99)  |  Labor (200)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Matter (821)  |  Metal (88)  |  More (2558)  |  Obey (46)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peace (116)  |  Plant (320)  |  Proper (150)  |  Reach (286)  |  Science In Islam (2)  |  Seek (218)  |  Silver (49)  |  Single (365)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tin (18)  |  Transform (74)  |  Tree (269)  |  Trouble (117)  |  White (132)  |  Yellow (31)

This sceptred isle,…
This fortress built by Nature for herself…
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
In Richard II, Act 2, Scene 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Bless (25)  |  Blessed (20)  |  Cliff (22)  |  Defence (16)  |  England (43)  |  Envy (15)  |  Fortress (4)  |  Geology (240)  |  House (143)  |  Invasion (9)  |  Isle (6)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Oceanography (17)  |  Office (71)  |  Precious (43)  |  Realm (87)  |  Sea (326)  |  Set (400)  |  Silver (49)  |  Stone (168)  |  Wall (71)

This single Stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected Corner, I once knew in a flourishing State in a Forest: It was full of Sap, full of Leaves, and full of Boughs: But now, in vain does the busy Art of Man pretend to vie with Nature, by tying that withered Bundle of Twigs to its sapless Trunk: It is at best but the Reverse of what it was; a Tree turned upside down, the Branches on the Earth, and the Root in the Air.
'A Meditation Upon a Broom-stick: According to The Style and Manner of the Honorable Robert Boyle's Meditations' (1703), collected in 'Thoughts On Various Subjects', The Works of Jonathan Swift (1746), Vol. 1, 55-56.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Art (680)  |  Behold (19)  |  Best (467)  |  Bough (10)  |  Bundle (7)  |  Busy (32)  |  Corner (59)  |  Down (455)  |  Flourishing (6)  |  Forest (161)  |  Full (68)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Lying (55)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Neglected (23)  |  Pretend (18)  |  Reverse (33)  |  Root (121)  |  Sap (5)  |  Single (365)  |  State (505)  |  Stick (27)  |  Tree (269)  |  Trunk (23)  |  Turn (454)  |  Turned (2)  |  Twig (15)  |  Tying (2)  |  Upside Down (8)  |  Vain (86)

This upper limit, of earth at our feet is visible and touches the air, but below it reaches to infinity
Quoted in Arthur Fairbanks (ed. And trans.), The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 69, fragment 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Limit (294)  |  Visible (87)

Those to whom the harmonious doors
Of Science have unbarred celestial stores,
To whom a burning energy has given
That other eye which darts thro’ earth and heaven,
Roams through all space and unconfined,
Explores the illimitable tracts of mind,
And piercing the profound of time can see
Whatever man has been and man can be.
In An Evening Walk (1793). In E. de Selincourt (ed.), The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth (1940), Vol. 1, 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Burning (49)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Door (94)  |  Energy (373)  |  Eye (440)  |  Harmonious (18)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Other (2233)  |  Profound (105)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)  |  Store (49)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Whatever (234)

Those who dwell as scientists … among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
In The Sense of Wonder (1956, 1965), 88-89.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Dwell (19)  |  Endure (21)  |  Find (1014)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Never (1089)  |  Reserve (26)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Strength (139)  |  Weary (11)  |  Will (2350)

Those who have long and carefully studied the Grand Cañon of the Colorado do not hesitate for a moment to pronounce it by far the most sublime of all earthly spectacles. If its sublimity consisted only in its dimensions, it could be sufficiently set forth in a single sentence. It is more than 200 miles long, from 5 to 12 miles wide, and from 5,000 to 6,000 feet deep. There are in the world valleys which are longer and a few which are deeper. There are valleys flanked by summits loftier than the palisades of the Kaibab. Still the Grand Cañon is the sublimest thing on earth. It is so not alone by virtue of its magnitudes, but by virtue of the whole—its ensemble.
In Tertiary History of the Grand Cañon District: With Atlas (1882), Vol. 2, 142-143.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Careful (28)  |  Colorado (5)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Ensemble (8)  |  Far (158)  |  Grand Canyon (11)  |  Hesitate (24)  |  Lofty (16)  |  Long (778)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Mile (43)  |  Pronounce (11)  |  Sentence (35)  |  Single (365)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Study (701)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Summit (27)  |  Valley (37)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wide (97)  |  World (1850)

Those who knew that the judgements of many centuries had reinforced the opinion that the Earth is placed motionless in the middle of heaven, as though at its centre, if I on the contrary asserted that the Earth moves, I hesitated for a long time whether to bring my treatise, written to demonstrate its motion, into the light of day, or whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and certain others, who used to pass on the mysteries of their philosophy merely to their relatives and friends, not in writing but by personal contact, as the letter of Lysis to Hipparchus bears witness. And indeed they seem to me to have done so, not as some think from a certain jealousy of communicating their doctrines, but so that their greatest splendours, discovered by the devoted research of great men, should not be exposed to the contempt of those who either find it irksome to waste effort on anything learned, unless it is profitable, or if they are stirred by the exhortations and examples of others to a high-minded enthusiasm for philosophy, are nevertheless so dull-witted that among philosophers they are like drones among bees.
'To His Holiness Pope Paul III', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Assert (69)  |  Bear (162)  |  Bee (44)  |  Better (493)  |  Certain (557)  |  Contact (66)  |  Contempt (20)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Discover (571)  |  Drone (4)  |  Dull (58)  |  Effort (243)  |  Enthusiasm (59)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Friend (180)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Heaven (266)  |  High (370)  |  Hipparchus (5)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Jealousy (9)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Letter (117)  |  Light (635)  |  Long (778)  |  Lysis (4)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Profitable (29)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Research (753)  |  Splendour (8)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Waste (109)  |  Witness (57)  |  Writing (192)

Thou, Chemistry, do penetrate
With vision keen the bowels of earth,
Reveal what treasure Russia hides there… .
As quoted, without citation, in Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman (eds.), Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Bowel (17)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Do (1905)  |  Hide (70)  |  Keen (10)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Russia (14)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Vision (127)

Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field…. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?
In Areopagitica: A speech of Mr John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenced printing to the Parliament of England (23 Nov 1644), 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Encounter (23)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Field (378)  |  Free (239)  |  Grapple (11)  |  Open (277)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Wind (141)  |  Worse (25)

Though the theories of plate tectonics now provide us with a modus operandi, they still seem to me to be a periodic phenomenon. Nothing is world-wide, but everything is episodic. In other words, the history of any one part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror.
In The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record (1973), 100.
Science quotes on:  |  Boredom (11)  |  Consist (223)  |  Everything (489)  |  History (716)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Short (200)  |  Soldier (28)  |  Still (614)  |  Terror (32)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Wide (97)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

Though thou art far away, thy rays are on Earth;
Though thou art in their faces, no one knows thy going.
Akhenaten
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Face (214)  |  Far (158)  |  Know (1538)  |  Ray (115)  |  Thou (9)

Thought isn’t a form of energy. So how on Earth can it change material processes? That question has still not been answered.
As quoted in Eric Roston, The Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Gratest Threat (2009), 117.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Change (639)  |  Energy (373)  |  Form (976)  |  Material (366)  |  Process (439)  |  Question (649)  |  Still (614)  |  Thought (995)

Three thousand stadia from the earth to the moon,—the first station. From thence to the sun about five hundred parasangs. ... Marvel not, my comrade, if I appear talking to you on super-terrestrial and aerial topics. The long and the short of the matter is that I am running over the order of a Journey I have lately made. ... I have travelled in the stars.
One of the earliest examples of what might be regarded as science fiction.
Icaromennipus, or the Aerial Jaunt in Ainsworth Rand Spofford (ed.), Rufus Edmonds Shapley (ed.) The Library of Wit and Humor, Prose and Poetry, Selected from the Literature of all Times and Nations (1894), vol. 4, 282-283. A shortened quote is on the title page of H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon (1901).
Science quotes on:  |  Aerial (11)  |  First (1302)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Journey (48)  |  Long (778)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Matter (821)  |  Moon (252)  |  Order (638)  |  Regard (312)  |  Running (61)  |  Science Fiction (35)  |  Short (200)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Station (30)  |  Sun (407)  |  Talking (76)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Topic (23)

Through radio I look forward to a United States of the World. Radio is standardizing the peoples of the Earth, English will become the universal language because it is predominantly the language of the ether. The most important aspect of radio is its sociological influence. (1926)
As quoted (without citation) in Orrin Elmer Dunlap, Radio's 100 Men of Science: Biographical Narratives of Pathfinders (1944), 131.
Science quotes on:  |  Aspect (129)  |  Become (821)  |  English (35)  |  Ether (37)  |  Forward (104)  |  Important (229)  |  Influence (231)  |  Language (308)  |  Look (584)  |  Most (1728)  |  People (1031)  |  Predominantly (4)  |  Radio (60)  |  State (505)  |  Through (846)  |  United (15)  |  Universal (198)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Through the animal and vegetable kingdoms, Nature has scattered the seeds of life abroad with the most profuse and liberal hand; but has been comparatively sparing in the room and the nourishment necessary to rear them. The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, if they could freely develop themselves, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a few thousand years. Necessity, that imperious all-pervading law of nature, restrains them within the prescribed bounds. The race of plants and the race of animals shrink under this great restrictive law; and man cannot by any efforts of reason escape from it.
In An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), 14-15.
Science quotes on:  |  Abroad (19)  |  Animal (651)  |  Bound (120)  |  Comparatively (8)  |  Course (413)  |  Develop (278)  |  Effort (243)  |  Escape (85)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fill (67)  |  Freely (13)  |  Germ (54)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hand (149)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Nature (80)  |  Liberal (8)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Million (124)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Nourishment (26)  |  Pervading (7)  |  Plant (320)  |  Prescribed (3)  |  Profuse (3)  |  Race (278)  |  Rear (7)  |  Reason (766)  |  Restrictive (4)  |  Room (42)  |  Scattered (5)  |  Seed (97)  |  Shrink (23)  |  Sparing (2)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

Thus far I have produced a various and, in my judgement, incontrovertible body of facts, to show that the whole earth has been subjected to a recent and universal inundation.
Reliquire Diluvianae (1824), 224.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Flood (52)  |  Incontrovertible (8)  |  Produced (187)  |  Recent (78)  |  Show (353)  |  Subject (543)  |  Universal (198)  |  Various (205)  |  Whole (756)

Thus the great drama of universal life is perpetually sustained; and though the individual actors undergo continual change, the same parts are ever filled by another and another generation; renewing the face of the earth, and the bosom of the deep, with endless successions of life and happiness.
Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (1836), Vol. I, 134.
Science quotes on:  |  Bosom (14)  |  Change (639)  |  Continual (44)  |  Deep (241)  |  Drama (24)  |  Endless (60)  |  Face (214)  |  Generation (256)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Perpetually (20)  |  Succession (80)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Universal (198)

Thus the system of the world only oscillates around a mean state from which it never departs except by a very small quantity. By virtue of its constitution and the law of gravity, it enjoys a stability that can be destroyed only by foreign causes, and we are certain that their action is undetectable from the time of the most ancient observations until our own day. This stability in the system of the world, which assures its duration, is one of the most notable among all phenomena, in that it exhibits in the heavens the same intention to maintain order in the universe that nature has so admirably observed on earth for the sake of preserving individuals and perpetuating species.
'Sur l'Équation Séculaire de la Lune' (1786, published 1788). In Oeuvres complètes de Laplace, 14 Vols. (1843-1912), Vol. 11, 248-9, trans. Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (1997), 145.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Constitution (78)  |  The Constitution of the United States (7)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Duration (12)  |  Exhibit (21)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Individual (420)  |  Intention (46)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravity (16)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mean (810)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Order (638)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Perpetuate (11)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Preservation (39)  |  Preserving (18)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Sake (61)  |  Small (489)  |  Species (435)  |  Stability (28)  |  State (505)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)  |  Undetectable (3)  |  Universe (900)  |  Virtue (117)  |  World (1850)

Thus we conclude, that the strata both primary and secondary, both those of ancient and those of more recent origin, have had their materials furnished from the ruins of former continents, from the dissolution of rocks, or the destruction of animal or vegetable bodies, similar, at least in some respects, to those that now occupy the surface of the earth.
Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), 14-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Animal (651)  |  Both (496)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Continent (79)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Dissolution (11)  |  Former (138)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Furnishing (4)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  Origin (250)  |  Primary (82)  |  Recent (78)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rock (176)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Secondary (15)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Strata (37)  |  Stratum (11)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Vegetable (49)

Thus you can throw yourself flat on the ground, stretched out upon Mother Earth, with certain conviction that you are one with her and she with you ... For eternally and always there is only now, one and the same now; the present is the only thing that has no end.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Certain (557)  |  Conviction (100)  |  End (603)  |  Eternally (4)  |  Flat (34)  |  Ground (222)  |  Mother (116)  |  Present (630)  |  Same (166)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throw (45)

Thus, remarkably, we do not know the true number of species on earth even to the nearest order of magnitude. My own guess, based on the described fauna and flora and many discussions with entomologists and other specialists, is that the absolute number falls somewhere between five and thirty million.
Conservation for the 21st Century
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Base (120)  |  Describe (132)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Do (1905)  |  Entomologist (7)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Five (16)  |  Flora (9)  |  Guess (67)  |  Know (1538)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Million (124)  |  Number (710)  |  Order (638)  |  Order Of Magnitude (5)  |  Other (2233)  |  Remarkably (3)  |  Specialist (33)  |  Species (435)  |  Thirty (6)  |  True (239)

Thy shadow, Earth, from Pole to Central Sea,
Now steals along upon the Moon's meek shine
In even monochrome and curving line Of imperturbable serenity.
How shall I link such sun-cast symmetry
With the torn troubled form I know as thine,
That profile, placid as a brow divine,
With continents of moil and misery?
'At a Lunar Eclipse'. In James Gibson (ed.), The Complete Poems of Thomas Hardy (1976), 116.
Science quotes on:  |  Cast (69)  |  Central (81)  |  Continent (79)  |  Divine (112)  |  Eclipse (25)  |  Form (976)  |  Know (1538)  |  Misery (31)  |  Moon (252)  |  Pole (49)  |  Sea (326)  |  Serenity (11)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Sun (407)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Torn (17)

Time will soon destroy the works of famous painters and sculptors, but the Indian arrowhead will balk his efforts and Eternity will have to come to his aid. They are not fossil bones, but, as it were, fossil thoughts, forever reminding me of the mind that shaped them… . Myriads of arrow-points lie sleeping in the skin of the revolving earth, while meteors revolve in space. The footprint, the mind-print of the oldest men.
(28 Mar 1859). In Henry David Thoreau and Bradford Torrey (ed.), The Writings of Henry Thoreau: Journal: XII: March, 2, 1859-November 30, 1859 (1906), 91.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Arrow (22)  |  Arrowhead (4)  |  Bone (101)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Effort (243)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Famous (12)  |  Footprint (16)  |  Forever (111)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Indian (32)  |  Lie (370)  |  Meteor (19)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Painter (30)  |  Point (584)  |  Print (20)  |  Remind (16)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Revolving (2)  |  Sculptor (10)  |  Shape (77)  |  Skin (48)  |  Sleeping (2)  |  Soon (187)  |  Space (523)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

To a body of infinite size there can be ascribed neither center nor boundary ... Just as we regard ourselves as at the center of that universally equidistant circle, which is the great horizon and the limit of our own encircling ethereal region, so doubtless the inhabitants of the moon believe themselves to be at the center (of a great horizon) that embraces this earth, the sun, and the stars, and is the boundary of the radii of their own horizon. Thus the earth no more than any other world is at the center; moreover no points constitute determined celestial poles for our earth, just as she herself is not a definite and determined pole to any other point of the ether, or of the world-space; and the same is true for all other bodies. From various points of view these may all be regarded either as centers, or as points on the circumference, as poles, or zeniths and so forth. Thus the earth is not in the center of the universe; it is central only to our own surrounding space.
Irving Louis Horowitz, The Renaissance Philosophy of Giordano Bruno (1952), 60.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Central (81)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Definite (114)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Ether (37)  |  Ethereal (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Limit (294)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Point (584)  |  Pole (49)  |  Regard (312)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  View (496)  |  World (1850)

To excavate is to open a book written in the language that the centuries have spoken into the earth.
In Who Said what (and When, and Where, and How) in 1971 (1972), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Century (319)  |  Excavation (8)  |  Language (308)  |  Open (277)  |  Speak (240)  |  Write (250)

To fly in space is to see the reality of Earth, alone. The experience changed my life and my attitude toward life itself. I am one of the lucky ones.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Change (639)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fly (153)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lucky (13)  |  Reality (274)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)  |  Toward (45)

To have a railroad, there must have been first the discoverers, who found out the properties of wood and iron, fire and water, and their latent power to carry men over the earth; next the organizers, who put these elements together, surveyed the route, planned the structure, set men to grade the hill, to fill the valley, and pave the road with iron bars; and then the administrators, who after all that is done, procure the engines, engineers, conductors, ticket-distributors, and the rest of the “hands;” they buy the coal and see it is not wasted, fix the rates of fare, calculate the savings, and distribute the dividends. The discoverers and organizers often fare hard in the world, lean men, ill-clad and suspected, often laughed at, while the administrator is thought the greater man, because he rides over their graves and pays the dividends, where the organizer only called for the assessments, and the discoverer told what men called a dream. What happens in a railroad happens also in a Church, or a State.
Address at the Melodeon, Boston (5 Mar 1848), 'A Discourse occasioned by the Death of John Quincy Adams'. Collected in Discourses of Politics: The Collected Works of Theodore Parker: Part 4 (1863), 139. Note: Ralph Waldo Emerson earlier used the phrase “pave the road with iron bars,” in Nature (1836), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Administrator (11)  |  Assessment (3)  |  Bar (9)  |  Buy (21)  |  Calculate (58)  |  Call (781)  |  Carry (130)  |  Church (64)  |  Coal (64)  |  Conductor (17)  |  Discoverer (43)  |  Distribute (16)  |  Dividend (3)  |  Dream (222)  |  Element (322)  |  Engine (99)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Fare (5)  |  Fill (67)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Fix (34)  |  Grade (12)  |  Grave (52)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hand (149)  |  Happen (282)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hill (23)  |  Iron (99)  |  Latent (13)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Next (238)  |  Pave (8)  |  Pay (45)  |  Plan (122)  |  Power (771)  |  Procure (6)  |  Property (177)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Rate (31)  |  Rest (287)  |  Ride (23)  |  Road (71)  |  Route (16)  |  Saving (20)  |  See (1094)  |  Set (400)  |  State (505)  |  Structure (365)  |  Survey (36)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thought (995)  |  Ticket (5)  |  Together (392)  |  Valley (37)  |  Waste (109)  |  Water (503)  |  Wood (97)  |  World (1850)

To learn… the ordinary arrangement of the different strata of minerals in the earth, to know from their habitual colocations and proximities, where we find one mineral; whether another, for which we are seeking, may be expected to be in its neighborhood, is useful.
In The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1854), Vol. 7, 443.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Different (595)  |  Expect (203)  |  Find (1014)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  Location (15)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Mineralogy (24)  |  Neighborhood (12)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Proximity (3)  |  Strata (37)  |  Useful (260)

To make still bigger telescopes will be useless, for the light absorption and temperature variations of the earth’s atmosphere are what now limits the ability to see fine detail. If bigger telescopes are to be built, it will have to be for use in an airless observatory, perhaps an observatory on the moon.
(1965). In Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 284.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Absorption (13)  |  Airless (3)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Big (55)  |  Build (211)  |  Detail (150)  |  Fine (37)  |  Light (635)  |  Limit (294)  |  Moon (252)  |  Observatory (18)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Use (771)  |  Useless (38)  |  Variation (93)  |  Will (2350)

To our senses, the elements are four
and have ever been, and will ever be
for they are the elements of life, of poetry, and of perception,
the four Great Ones, the Four Roots, the First Four
of Fire and the Wet, Earth and the wide Air of the World.
To find the other many elements, you must go to the laboratory
and hunt them down.
But the four we have always with us, they are our world.
Or rather, they have us with them.
'The Four', David Herbert Lawrence, The Works of D.H. Lawrence (1994), 593.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Down (455)  |  Element (322)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hunt (32)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perception (97)  |  Poem (104)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Root (121)  |  Sense (785)  |  Wide (97)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold—brothers who know now that they are truly brothers.
In The New York Times (25 Dec 1968), 1. Written after the Apollo 8 transmitted a photograph of the Earth from space.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Blue (63)  |  Bright (81)  |  Brother (47)  |  Cold (115)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Float (31)  |  Know (1538)  |  Loveliness (6)  |  Ourself (21)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Rider (3)  |  See (1094)  |  Silence (62)  |  Small (489)  |  Together (392)  |  Truly (118)

To the mind which looks not to general results in the economy of Nature, the earth may seem to present a scene of perpetual warfare, and incessant carnage: but the more enlarged view, while it regards individuals in their conjoint relations to the general benefit of their own species, and that of other species with which they are associated in the great family of Nature, resolves each apparent case of individual evil, into an example of subserviency to universal good.
Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (1836), Vol. I, 131-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Evil (122)  |  Family (101)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Present (630)  |  Regard (312)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Result (700)  |  Scene (36)  |  Species (435)  |  Universal (198)  |  View (496)  |  Warfare (12)

To trace the series of these revolutions, to explain their causes, and thus to connect together all the indications of change that are found in the mineral kingdom, is the proper object of a THEORY OF THE EARTH.
Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Connect (126)  |  Connection (171)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Finding (34)  |  Indication (33)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Object (438)  |  Proper (150)  |  Properness (2)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Series (153)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Together (392)  |  Trace (109)

Today the earth speaks with resonance and clearness and every ear in every civilized country of the world is attuned to its wonderful message of the creative evolution of man, except the ear of William Jennings Bryan; he alone remains stone-deaf, he alone by his own resounding voice drowns the eternal speech of nature.
In The Earth Speaks to Bryan (1925), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  William Jennings Bryan (20)  |  Country (269)  |  Creative (144)  |  Deaf (4)  |  Drowning (2)  |  Ear (69)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Message (53)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Remain (355)  |  Resonance (7)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Speech (66)  |  Stone (168)  |  Today (321)  |  Voice (54)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  World (1850)

Today there remain but a few small areas on the world’s map unmarked by explorers’ trails. Human courage and endurance have conquered the Poles; the secrets of the tropical jungles have been revealed. The highest mountains of the earth have heard the voice of man. But this does not mean that the youth of the future has no new worlds to vanquish. It means only that the explorer must change his methods.
On the Trail of Ancient Man (1926), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Change (639)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Courage (82)  |  Endurance (8)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Explorer (30)  |  Future (467)  |  Human (1512)  |  Jungle (24)  |  Man (2252)  |  Map (50)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Method (531)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Pole (49)  |  Remain (355)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Secret (216)  |  Small (489)  |  Today (321)  |  World (1850)  |  Youth (109)

Tonight, the moon came out, it was nearly full.
Way down here on earth, I could feel it’s pull.
The weight of gravity or just the lure of life,
Made me want to leave my only home tonight.
I’m just wondering how we know where we belong
Is it in the arc of the moon, leaving shadows on the lawn
In the path of fireflies and a single bird at dawn
Singing in between here and gone
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Arc (14)  |  Belong (168)  |  Bird (163)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Down (455)  |  Feel (371)  |  Firefly (8)  |  Full (68)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Home (184)  |  In Between (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lawn (5)  |  Leave (138)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lure (9)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Path (159)  |  Pull (43)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Sing (29)  |  Singing (19)  |  Single (365)  |  Tonight (9)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wonder (251)

Trees are poems that Earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.
In Kahlil Gibran: The Collected Works (2007), 178.
Science quotes on:  |  Emptiness (13)  |  Fell (2)  |  Paper (192)  |  Poem (104)  |  Record (161)  |  Sky (174)  |  Tree (269)  |  Write (250)

True Agnosticism will not forget that existence, motion, and law-abiding operation in nature are more stupendous miracles than any recounted by the mythologies, and that there may be things, not only in the heavens and earth, but beyond the intelligible universe, which “are not dreamt of in our philosophy.” The theological “gnosis” would have us believe that the world is a conjurer’s house; the anti-theological “gnosis” talks as if it were a “dirt-pie,” made by the two blind children, Law and Force. Agnosticism simply says that we know nothing of what may be behind phenomena.
In Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley (1913), Vol. 3, 98, footnote 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Agnosticism (2)  |  Behind (139)  |  Belief (615)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Blind (98)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Dirt (17)  |  Dream (222)  |  Existence (481)  |  Force (497)  |  Forget (125)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  House (143)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Know (1538)  |  Law (913)  |  Miracle (85)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mythology (19)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Operation (221)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Say (989)  |  Simply (53)  |  Stupendous (13)  |  Talk (108)  |  Theology (54)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Twin sister of natural and revealed religion, and of heavenly birth, science will never belie her celestial origin, nor cease to sympathize with all that emanates from the same pure home. Human ignorance and prejudice may for a time seem to have divorced what God has joined together; but human ignorance and prejudice shall at length pass away, and then science and religion shall be seen blending their particolored rays into one beautiful bow of light, linking heaven to earth and earth to heaven.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Belie (3)  |  Birth (154)  |  Blend (9)  |  Bow (15)  |  Cease (81)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Divorce (7)  |  Emanate (3)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavenly (8)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Join (32)  |  Length (24)  |  Light (635)  |  Link (48)  |  Linking (8)  |  Natural (810)  |  Never (1089)  |  Origin (250)  |  Pass (241)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Pure (299)  |  Ray (115)  |  Religion (369)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Same (166)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  See (1094)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sister (8)  |  Sympathize (2)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Twin (16)  |  Will (2350)

Under the... new hypothesis [of Continental Drift] certain geological concepts come to acquire a new significance amounting in a few cases to a complete inversion of principles, and the inquirer will find it necessary to re-orient his ideas. For the first time he will get glimpses... of a pulsating restless earth, all parts of which are in greater or less degree of movement in respect to the axis of rotation, having been so, moreover, throughout geological time. He will have to leave behind him—perhaps reluctantly—the dumbfounding spectacle of the present continental masses, firmly anchored to a plastic foundation yet remaining fixed in space; set thousands of kilometres apart, it may be, yet behaving in almost identical fashion from epoch to epoch and stage to stage like soldiers, at drill; widely stretched in some quarters at various times and astoundingly compressed in others, yet retaining their general shapes, positions and orientations; remote from one another through history, yet showing in their fossil remains common or allied forms of terrestrial life; possessed during certain epochs of climates that may have ranged from glacial to torrid or pluvial to arid, though contrary to meteorological principles when their existing geographical positions are considered -to mention but a few such paradoxes!
Our Wandering Continents: An Hypothesis of Continental Drifting (1937), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Arid (6)  |  Behind (139)  |  Certain (557)  |  Climate (102)  |  Common (447)  |  Complete (209)  |  Concept (242)  |  Consider (428)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Degree (277)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Foundation (177)  |  General (521)  |  Greater (288)  |  History (716)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Identical (55)  |  Inquirer (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mention (84)  |  Movement (162)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plastic (30)  |  Possess (157)  |  Present (630)  |  Principle (530)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Remote (86)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Set (400)  |  Significance (114)  |  Soldier (28)  |  Space (523)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Stage (152)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Various (205)  |  Will (2350)

Unless you make yourself equal to God, you cannot understand God: for the like is not intelligible save to the like. Make yourself grow to a greatness beyond measure, by a bound free yourself from the body; raise yourself above all time, become Eternity; then you will understand God. Believe that nothing is impossible for you, think yourself immortal and capable of understanding all, all arts, all sciences, the nature of every living being. Mount higher than the highest height; descend lower than the lowest depth. Draw into yourself all sensations of everything created, fire and water, dry and moist, imagining that you are everywhere, on earth, in the sea, in the sky, that you are not yet born, in the maternal womb, adolescent, old, dead, beyond death. If you embrace in your thought all things at once, times, places, substances, qualities, quantities, you may understand God.
Quoted in F. A. Yales, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), 198.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Body (557)  |  Bound (120)  |  Capable (174)  |  Death (406)  |  Depth (97)  |  Descend (49)  |  Draw (140)  |  Dry (65)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Everything (489)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Fire (203)  |  Free (239)  |  God (776)  |  Greatness (55)  |  Grow (247)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Living (492)  |  Measure (241)  |  Moist (13)  |  Mount (43)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Old (499)  |  Save (126)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Sky (174)  |  Substance (253)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)  |  Womb (25)

Unlike any creature that lived before, humans have become a geophysical force, swiftly changing the atmosphere and climate as well as the composition of the world’s fauna and flora. … Darwin’s dice have rolled badly for Earth.
In 'Is Humanity Suicidal?', In Search of Nature (1996), 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Bad (185)  |  Badly (32)  |  Become (821)  |  Change (639)  |  Climate (102)  |  Composition (86)  |  Creature (242)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Dice (21)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Flora (9)  |  Force (497)  |  Geophysical (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Roll (41)  |  Swiftly (5)  |  World (1850)

Until that afternoon, my thoughts on planetary atmospheres had been wholly concerned with atmospheric analysis as a method of life detection and nothing more. Now that I knew the composition of the Martian atmosphere was so different from that of our own, my mind filled with wonderings about the nature of the Earth. If the air is burning, what sustains it at a constant composition? I also wondered about the supply of fuel and the removal of the products of combustion. It came to me suddenly, just like a flash of enlightenment, that to persist and keep stable, something must be regulating the atmosphere and so keeping it at its constant composition. Moreover, if most of the gases came from living organisms, then life at the surface must be doing the regulation.
Homage to Gaia: The Life of an Independent Scholar (2000), 253.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Burning (49)  |  Combustion (22)  |  Composition (86)  |  Concern (239)  |  Constant (148)  |  Detection (19)  |  Different (595)  |  Doing (277)  |  Enlightenment (21)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Flash (49)  |  Fuel (39)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Mars (47)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Organism (231)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Product (166)  |  Regulation (25)  |  Something (718)  |  Stable (32)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Supply (100)  |  Surface (223)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Thought (995)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Wonder (251)

Very old and wide-spread is the opinion that forests have an important impact on rainfall. ... If forests enhance the amount and frequency of precipitation simply by being there, deforestation as part of agricultural expansion everywhere, must necessarily result in less rainfall and more frequent droughts. This view is most poignantly expressed by the saying: Man walks the earth and desert follows his steps! ... It is not surprising that under such circumstances the issue of a link between forests and climate has ... been addressed by governments. Lately, the Italian government has been paying special attention to reforestation in Italy and its expected improvement of the climate. ... It must be prevented that periods of heavy rainfall alternate with droughts. ...In the Unites States deforestation plays an important role as well and is seen as the cause for a reduction in rainfall. ... committee chairman of the American Association for Advancement of Science demands decisive steps to extend woodland in order to counteract the increasing drought. ... some serious concerns. In 1873, in Vienna, the congress for agriculture and forestry discussed the problem in detail; and when the Prussian house of representatives ordered a special commission to examine a proposed law pertaining to the preservation and implementation of forests for safeguarding, it pointed out that the steady decrease in the water levels of Prussian rivers was one of the most serious consequences of deforestation only to be rectified by reforestation programs. It is worth mentioning that ... the same concerns were raised in Russia as well and governmental circles reconsidered the issue of deforestation.
as quoted in Eduard Brückner - The Sources and Consequences of Climate Change and Climate Variability in Historical Times editted by N. Stehr and H. von Storch (2000)
Science quotes on:  |  Advancement (63)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Amount (153)  |  Association (49)  |  Attention (196)  |  Being (1276)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Climate (102)  |  Concern (239)  |  Congress (20)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Decisive (25)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Demand (131)  |  Desert (59)  |  Detail (150)  |  Drought (14)  |  Enhance (17)  |  Environment (239)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Examine (84)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Expect (203)  |  Express (192)  |  Extend (129)  |  Follow (389)  |  Forest (161)  |  Forestry (17)  |  Frequency (25)  |  Government (116)  |  House (143)  |  Impact (45)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Italian (13)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Old (499)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Order (638)  |  Period (200)  |  Point (584)  |  Precipitation (7)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Problem (731)  |  Rectified (4)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Reforestation (6)  |  Result (700)  |  River (140)  |  Role (86)  |  Serious (98)  |  Special (188)  |  Spread (86)  |  State (505)  |  Steady (45)  |  Step (234)  |  Unite (43)  |  View (496)  |  Walk (138)  |  Water (503)  |  Wide (97)  |  Worth (172)

Visible from Earth orbit … tropical rain forests of equatorial regions are huge expanses of monotonous, mottled dark green. During the day they are frequently covered with enormous thunderstorms that extend for hundreds of miles. The view has an air of fantasy about it, and you grope for words to describe what you see. My personal reaction was one of feeling humble, awed, and privileged to be witness to such a scene.
In How Do You Go To The Bathroom In Space?: All the Answers to All the Questions You Have About Living in Space (1999), 107.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Awe (43)  |  Covered (5)  |  Dark (145)  |  Describe (132)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Equatorial (3)  |  Expanse (6)  |  Extend (129)  |  Fantasy (15)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Forest (161)  |  Green (65)  |  Grope (5)  |  Humble (54)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Mile (43)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Rain (70)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Thunderstorm (7)  |  Tropical (9)  |  View (496)  |  Visible (87)  |  Witness (57)  |  Word (650)

Vous avez trouve par de long ennuis
Ce que Newton trouva sans sortir de chez lui.
In Letter to La Condamine, whose surveying expedition (after Newton’s death) had measured the arc at the equator. As Newton had calculated, the Earth was a flattened sphere, due to the effects of rotation and gravitational pull. Roughly translates as, “You have found by prolonged difficulty / What Newton found without leaving home.” In The Royal Society Newton Tercentenary Celebrations: 15-19 July 1946 (1946), 15. [Newton was born in 1642; the tercentenary celebration was delayed by WW II —Webmaster.]
Science quotes on:  |  Arc (14)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Equator (6)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Home (184)  |  Long (778)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Survey (36)  |  Theory (1015)

War rages on the teeming earth;
The hot and sanguinary fight
Begins with each new creature’s birth:
A dreadful war where might is right;
Where still the strongest slay and win,
Where weakness is the only sin.
In The Ascent of Man (1889), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Birth (154)  |  Creature (242)  |  Dreadful (16)  |  Hot (63)  |  Man (2252)  |  New (1273)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Right (473)  |  Sin (45)  |  Still (614)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Teeming (5)  |  War (233)  |  Weakness (50)  |  Win (53)

We are a plague on the Earth. It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. It’s not just climate change; it’s sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now.
As quoted and cited from Radio Times in Louise Gray, 'David Attenborough - Humans are Plague on Earth', The Telegraph (22 Jan 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Change (639)  |  Climate (102)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Coming (114)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Food (213)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Home (184)  |  Limit (294)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural World (33)  |  Next (238)  |  Overpopulation (6)  |  Plague (42)  |  Population (115)  |  Population Growth (9)  |  Right (473)  |  Roost (3)  |  Space (523)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

We are already farming more than the Earth can afford, and if we attempt to farm the whole Earth to feed people, even with organic farming, it would make us like sailors who burnt the timbers and rigging of their ship to keep warm.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 15-16.
Science quotes on:  |  Afford (19)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Burn (99)  |  Farm (28)  |  Feed (31)  |  Keep (104)  |  Organic (161)  |  People (1031)  |  Sailor (21)  |  Ship (69)  |  Timber (8)  |  Warm (74)  |  Whole (756)

We are living beyond our means. As a people we have developed a life-style that is draining the earth of its priceless and irreplaceable resources without regard for the future of our children and people all around the world.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Child (333)  |  Develop (278)  |  Drain (12)  |  Environment (239)  |  Future (467)  |  Irreplaceable (3)  |  Live (650)  |  Means (587)  |  People (1031)  |  Priceless (9)  |  Regard (312)  |  Resource (74)  |  World (1850)

We are no more qualified to be the stewards or developers of the Earth than are goats to be gardeners.
In The Revenge of Gaia: Earth’s Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity (2006, 2007), 176.
Science quotes on:  |  Developer (2)  |  Environmentalism (9)  |  Gardener (6)  |  Goat (9)  |  Qualify (6)  |  Steward (4)

We are not at the end of our progress but at the beginning. We have but reached the shores of a great unexplored continent. We cannot turn back. … It is man’s destiny to ponder on the riddle of existence and, as a by-product of his wonderment, to create a new life on this earth.
As quoted in book review, T.A. Boyd, 'Charles F. Kettering: Prophet of Progress', Science (30 Jan 1959), 255.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Continent (79)  |  Create (245)  |  Destiny (54)  |  End (603)  |  Existence (481)  |  Great (1610)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  New (1273)  |  Ponder (15)  |  Product (166)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reach (286)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Shore (25)  |  Turn (454)  |  Turn Back (2)  |  Unexplored (15)  |  Wonderment (2)

We are not to suppose, that there is any violent exertion of power, such as is required in order to produce a great event in little time; in nature, we find no deficiency in respect of time, nor any limitation with regard to power. But time is not made to flow in vain; nor does there ever appear the exertion of superfluous power, or the manifestation of design, not calculated in wisdom to effect some general end.
'Theory of the Earth', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1788, 1, 294.
Science quotes on:  |  Deficiency (15)  |  Design (203)  |  Effect (414)  |  End (603)  |  Event (222)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flow (89)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  Great (1610)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Little (717)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Power (771)  |  Regard (312)  |  Required (108)  |  Respect (212)  |  Superfluous (21)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vain (86)  |  Wisdom (235)

We are the generation that searched on Mars for evidence of life, but couldn’t rouse enough moral sense to stop the destruction of even the grandest manifestations of life on earth. In that sense, we are like the Romans whose works of an, architecture, and engineering inspire our awe but whose traffic in slaves and gladiatorial combat is mystifying and loathsome.
[Co-author with Anna Sequoia.]
67 Ways to Save the Animals
Science quotes on:  |  Architecture (50)  |  Author (175)  |  Awe (43)  |  Co-Author (2)  |  Combat (16)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Enough (341)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Generation (256)  |  Grand (29)  |  Grandest (10)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Loathsome (3)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Mars (47)  |  Moral (203)  |  Roman (39)  |  Rouse (4)  |  Search (175)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sequoia (4)  |  Slave (40)  |  Stop (89)  |  Traffic (10)  |  Work (1402)

We are the intelligent elite among animal life on earth and whatever our mistakes, [Earth] needs us. This may seem an odd statement after … the way 20th century humans became almost a planetary disease organism. But it has taken [Earth] 2.5 billion years to evolve an animal that can think and communicate its thoughts. If we become extinct she has little chance of evolving another.
In The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning (2010), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  20th Century (40)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Life (21)  |  Become (821)  |  Billion (104)  |  Chance (244)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Disease (340)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Elite (6)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Human (1512)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Little (717)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Need (320)  |  Odd (15)  |  Organism (231)  |  Planet (402)  |  Statement (148)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Year (963)

We are the only species that can destroy the Earth or take care of it and nurture all that live on this very special planet. I’m urging you to look on these things. For whatever reason, this planet was built specifically for us. Working on this planet is an absolute moral code. … Let’s go out and do what we were put on Earth to do.
Address at Tuskegee University, 79th Annual Scholarship Convocation/Parents Recognition Program. Published in News Release (3 Oct 2004). Previously on the university website.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Care (203)  |  Code (31)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Do (1905)  |  Live (650)  |  Look (584)  |  Moral (203)  |  Nurture (17)  |  Planet (402)  |  Reason (766)  |  Special (188)  |  Species (435)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Whatever (234)

We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth’s creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives, fearing the future, discontent with the present, unable to take in the idea of dying, unable to sit still.
In The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974, 1995), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Creature (242)  |  Future (467)  |  Idea (881)  |  Live (650)  |  Present (630)  |  Still (614)  |  Worry (34)

We believe that interest in nature leads to knowledge,
which is followed by understanding,
and later, appreciation.
Once respect is gained
it is a short step to responsibility,
and ultimately action
to preserve our Earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Belief (615)  |  Follow (389)  |  Gain (146)  |  Interest (416)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Late (119)  |  Lead (391)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Respect (212)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Short (200)  |  Step (234)  |  Ultimately (56)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

We call this planet Earth, yet this is the only planet that has a sea. I think we should have called it “sea”, of course, but the naming is already done.
From 'Remarks Delivered at Symposium', after Ray’s paper, 'The Scientific Need for Shallow-Water Marine Sanctuaries,' collected as Article VI, in Julia Allen Field and Henry Field (eds.), Scientific Use of Natural Areas: Symposium (1965), 92. The Symposium was the XVI International Congress of Zoology, Washington (Aug 1963). Arthur C. Clarke is attributed by James Lovelock, with a similar quote using the name “Ocean” in place of “sea”.
Science quotes on:  |  Limitless (14)  |  Name (359)  |  Planet (402)  |  Sea (326)  |  Wilderness (57)

We can only penetrate the rind of the earth.
'Second Discours: Histoire & Théorie de la Terre', Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Parliculière, Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi (1749),Vol. I, 70; Natural History, General and Particular (1785), Vol. I, trans. W. Smellie, 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Geology (240)  |  Penetrate (68)

We cannot conceive how the Foetus is form'd in the Womb, nor as much as how a Plant springs from the Earth we tread on ... And if we are ignorant of the most obvious things about us, and the most considerable within our selves, 'tis then no wonder that we know not the constitution and powers of the creatures, to whom we are such strangers.
Saducismus Triumphatus or Full and Plain Evidence Concerning Witches and Apparitions (1689),72-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Conceive (100)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Creature (242)  |  Form (976)  |  Growth (200)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Plant (320)  |  Power (771)  |  Spring (140)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tread (17)  |  Womb (25)  |  Wonder (251)

We cannot see how the evidence afforded by the unquestioned progressive development of organised existence—crowned as it has been by the recent creation of the earth's greatest wonder, MAN, can be set aside, or its seemingly necessary result withheld for a moment. When Mr. Lyell finds, as a witty friend lately reported that there had been found, a silver-spoon in grauwacke, or a locomotive engine in mica-schist, then, but not sooner, shall we enrol ourselves disciples of the Cyclical Theory of Geological formations.
Review of Murchison's Silurian System, Quarterly Review (1839), 64, 112-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Afford (19)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crown (39)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Development (441)  |  Disciple (8)  |  Engine (99)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Existence (481)  |  Find (1014)  |  Formation (100)  |  Friend (180)  |  Geology (240)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Locomotive (8)  |  Sir Charles Lyell (42)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Moment (260)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Organization (120)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Progress (492)  |  Recent (78)  |  Report (42)  |  Result (700)  |  Schist (4)  |  See (1094)  |  Seemingly (28)  |  Set (400)  |  Silver (49)  |  Spoon (5)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unquestioned (7)  |  Wit (61)  |  Wonder (251)

We claim to be more moral than other nations, and to conquer and govern and tax and plunder weaker peoples for their good! While robbing them we actually claim to be benefactors! And then we wonder, or profess to wonder, why other Governments hate us! Are they not fully justified in hating us? Is it surprising that they seek every means to annoy us, that they struggle to get navies to compete with us, and look forward to a time when some two or three of them may combine together and thoroughly humble and cripple us? And who can deny that any just Being, looking at all the nations of the earth with impartiality and thorough knowledge, would decide that we deserve to be humbled, and that it might do us good?
In 'Practical Politics', The Clarion (30 Sep 1904), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Benefactor (6)  |  Claim (154)  |  Combine (58)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Deny (71)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Do (1905)  |  Forward (104)  |  Good (906)  |  Govern (66)  |  Government (116)  |  Hate (68)  |  Humble (54)  |  Impartiality (7)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Nation (208)  |  Navy (10)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Plunder (6)  |  Profess (21)  |  Seek (218)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Tax (27)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Two (936)  |  Why (491)  |  Wonder (251)

We come therefore now to that knowledge whereunto the ancient oracle directeth us, which is the knowledge of ourselves; which deserveth the more accurate handling, by how much it toucheth us more nearly. This knowledge, as it is the end and term of natural philosophy in the intention of man, so notwithstanding it is but a portion of natural philosophy in the continent of nature. And generally let this be a rule, that all partitions of knowledges be accepted rather for lines and veins, than for sections and separations; and that the continuance and entireness of knowledge be preserved. For the contrary hereof hath made particular sciences to become barren, shallow, and erroneous; while they have not been nourished and maintained from the common fountain. So we see Cicero the orator complained of Socrates and his school, that he was the first that separated philosophy and rhetoric; whereupon rhetoric became an empty and verbal art. So we may see that the opinion of Copernicus touching the rotation of the earth, which astronomy itself cannot correct because it is not repugnant to any of the phenomena, yet natural philosophy may correct. So we see also that the science of medicine, if it be destituted and forsaken by natural philosophy, it is not much better than an empirical practice. With this reservation therefore we proceed to Human Philosophy or Humanity, which hath two parts: the one considereth man segregate, or distributively; the other congregate, or in society. So as Human Philosophy is either Simple and Particular, or Conjugate and Civil. Humanity Particular consisteth of the same parts whereof man consisteth; that is, of knowledges that respect the Body, and of knowledges that respect the Mind. But before we distribute so far, it is good to constitute. For I do take the consideration in general and at large of Human Nature to be fit to be emancipate and made a knowledge by itself; not so much in regard of those delightful and elegant discourses which have been made of the dignity of man, of his miseries, of his state and life, and the like adjuncts of his common and undivided nature; but chiefly in regard of the knowledge concerning the sympathies and concordances between the mind and body, which, being mixed, cannot be properly assigned to the sciences of either.
The Advancement of Learning (1605) in James Spedding, Robert Ellis and Douglas Heath (eds.), The Works of Francis Bacon (1887-1901), Vol. 3, 366-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Accurate (88)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Art (680)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Barren (33)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Better (493)  |  Body (557)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Civil (26)  |  Common (447)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Continent (79)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Delightful (18)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Distribute (16)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elegant (37)  |  Empirical (58)  |  Empty (82)  |  End (603)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  First (1302)  |  Fit (139)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Intention (46)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Man (2252)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Portion (86)  |  Practice (212)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Regard (312)  |  Repugnant (8)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rhetoric (13)  |  Rotation (13)  |  Rule (307)  |  School (227)  |  See (1094)  |  Separation (60)  |  Simple (426)  |  Society (350)  |  State (505)  |  Term (357)  |  Touching (16)  |  Two (936)  |  Vein (27)

We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new materials which were cooked in vats, long complex derivatives of urine which we called plastic. They had no odor of the living, ... their touch was alien to nature. ... [They proliferated] like the matastases of cancer cells.
The Idol and the Octopus: political writings (1968), 83 and 118.
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  Call (781)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Cook (20)  |  Derivative (6)  |  Iron (99)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Material (366)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Odor (11)  |  Ore (14)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Plastic (30)  |  Rock (176)  |  Touch (146)  |  Urine (18)  |  Vat (2)  |  Wood (97)

We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Anonymous
Widely seen quoted in various sources, attributed to various origins (Native Indian proverb, or Amish, or Kenyan, etc.). For example, in the Canadian House of Commons Debates, Official Report (1987), Vol. 5, 6088, it is given a “The Haidas said…” Webmaster has so far found no earlier example. This suggests its origin is relatively recent, and not an ancient proverb. If you know of an earlier source, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Borrow (31)  |  Children (201)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Do (1905)  |  Inherit (35)

We entered into shadow. Contact with Moscow was gone. Japan floated by beneath us and I could clearly see its cities ablaze with lights. We left Japan behind to face the dark emptiness of the Pacific Ocean. No moon. Only stars, bright and far away. I gripped the handle like a man hanging onto a streetcar. Very slowly, agonizingly, half an hour passed, and with that, dawn on Earth. First, a slim greenish-blue line on the farthest horizon turning within a couple of minutes into a rainbow that hugged the Earth and in turn exploded into a golden sun. You’re out of your mind, I told myself, hanging onto a ship in space, and to your life, and getting ready to admire a sunrise.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Admire (19)  |  Behind (139)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Bright (81)  |  City (87)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Contact (66)  |  Couple (9)  |  Dark (145)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Emptiness (13)  |  Enter (145)  |  Explode (15)  |  Exploded (11)  |  Face (214)  |  Far (158)  |  First (1302)  |  Float (31)  |  Golden (47)  |  Grip (10)  |  Half (63)  |  Handle (29)  |  Hang (46)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Hour (192)  |  Hug (3)  |  Japan (9)  |  Leave (138)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Line (100)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minute (129)  |  Moon (252)  |  Moscow (5)  |  Myself (211)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Pacific Ocean (5)  |  Pass (241)  |  Rainbow (17)  |  Ready (43)  |  See (1094)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Ship (69)  |  Slim (2)  |  Slowly (19)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Streetcar (2)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunrise (14)  |  Tell (344)  |  Turn (454)

We expect that the study of lunar geology will help to answer some longstanding questions about the early evolution of the earth. The moon and the earth are essentially a two-planet system, and the two bodies are probably closely related in origin. In this connection the moon is of special interest because its surface has not been subjected to the erosion by running water that has helped to shape the earth’s surface.
In Scientific American (Sep 1964). As cited in '50, 100 & 150 Years Ago', Scientific American (Dec 2014), 311, No. 6, 98.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Body (557)  |  Connection (171)  |  Early (196)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Geology (240)  |  Help (116)  |  Interest (416)  |  Lunar (9)  |  Moon (252)  |  Origin (250)  |  Planet (402)  |  Question (649)  |  Relation (166)  |  Running (61)  |  Shape (77)  |  Special (188)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Surface (223)  |  System (545)  |  Two (936)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)

We find it hard to picture to ourselves the state of mind of a man of older days who firmly believed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe, and that all the heavenly bodies revolved around it. He could feel beneath his feet the writhings of the damned amid the flames; very likely he had seen with his own eyes and smelt with his own nostrils the sulphurous fumes of Hell escaping from some fissure in the rocks. Looking upwards, he beheld ... the incorruptible firmament, wherein the stars hung like so many lamps.
The Garden of Epicurus (1894) translated by Alfred Allinson, in The Works of Anatole France in an English Translation (1920), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Beneath (68)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Flame (44)  |  Fume (7)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hell (32)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Looking (191)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Picture (148)  |  Rock (176)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  State (505)  |  Sulphur (19)  |  Universe (900)  |  Upward (44)

We had various kinds of tape-recorded concerts and popular music. But by the end of the flight what we listened to most was Russian folk songs. We also had recordings of nature sounds: thunder, rain, the singing of birds. We switched them on most frequently of all, and we never grew tired of them. It was as if they returned us to Earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bird (163)  |  Concert (7)  |  End (603)  |  Flight (101)  |  Folk (10)  |  Frequently (21)  |  Grow (247)  |  Kind (564)  |  Listen (81)  |  Most (1728)  |  Music (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Popular (34)  |  Rain (70)  |  Record (161)  |  Recording (13)  |  Return (133)  |  Russian (3)  |  Sing (29)  |  Singing (19)  |  Song (41)  |  Sound (187)  |  Switch (10)  |  Thunder (21)  |  Tired (13)  |  Various (205)

We have come to look at our planet as a resource for our species, which is funny when you think that the planet has been around for about five billion years, and Homo sapiens for perhaps one hundred thousand. We have acquired an arrogance about ourselves that I find frightening. We have come to feel that we are so far apart from the rest of nature that we have but to command.
'The Human Environment', Horace M. Albright Conservation Lectureship, Berkeley, California (23 Apr 1962).
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Arrogance (22)  |  Billion (104)  |  Command (60)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Funny (11)  |  Homo Sapiens (23)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Look (584)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rest (287)  |  Species (435)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Year (963)

We have dominated and overruled nature, and from now on the earth is ours, a kitchen garden until we learn to make our own chlorophyll and float it out in the sun inside plastic mebranes. We will build Scarsdale on Mount Everest.
In The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974, 1979), 108.
Science quotes on:  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Chlorophyll (5)  |  Domination (12)  |  Float (31)  |  Garden (64)  |  Kitchen (14)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Making (300)  |  Membrane (21)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Everest (6)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Plastic (30)  |  Sun (407)  |  Will (2350)

We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.
The Stockholm Conference: Only One Earth (1972), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Creature (242)  |  Do (1905)  |  Forgetting (13)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Good (906)  |  Guest (5)  |  Lightly (2)  |  Other (2233)  |  Walk (138)

We have not been seeing our Spaceship Earth as an integrally-designed machine which to be persistently successful must be comprehended and serviced in total.
In Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1969), 52.
Science quotes on:  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Design (203)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Integral (26)  |  Machine (271)  |  Must (1525)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Service (110)  |  Spaceship Earth (3)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  Total (95)

We have now felled forest enough everywhere, in many districts far too much. Let us restore this one element of material life to its normal proportions, and devise means for maintaining the permanence of its relations to the fields, the meadows and the pastures, to the rain and the dews of heaven, to the springs and rivulets with which it waters down the earth.
From Man and Nature (1864), 328-329.
Science quotes on:  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Devise (16)  |  Dew (10)  |  District (11)  |  Down (455)  |  Element (322)  |  Enough (341)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Field (378)  |  Forest (161)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Life (1870)  |  Material (366)  |  Meadow (21)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Normal (29)  |  Pasture (15)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Rain (70)  |  Reforestation (6)  |  Relation (166)  |  Restore (12)  |  Rivulet (5)  |  Spring (140)  |  Water (503)  |  Water Conservation (3)

We have the satisfaction to find, that in nature there is wisdom, system and consistency. For having, in the natural history of this earth, seen a succession of worlds, we may from this conclude that, there is a system in nature; in like manner as, from seeing revolutions of the planets, it is concluded, that there is a system by which they are intended to continue those revolutions. But if the succession of worlds is established in the system of nature, it is vain to look for anything higher in the origin of the earth. The result, therefore, of our present enquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,-no prospect of an end.
'Theory of the Earth', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1788, 1, 304.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Consistency (31)  |  Continue (179)  |  End (603)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Find (1014)  |  History (716)  |  Look (584)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Planet (402)  |  Present (630)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Result (700)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Succession (80)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Vain (86)  |  Vestige (11)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  World (1850)

We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the Earth. Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.
In Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life (1992), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Foot (65)  |  Kiss (9)  |  Peace (116)  |  Print (20)  |  Serenity (11)  |  Walk (138)

We humans are the greatest of earth’s parasites
Science quotes on:  |  Greatest (330)  |  Human (1512)  |  Parasite (33)

We love to discover in the cosmos the geometrical forms that exist in the depths of our consciousness. The exactitude of the proportions of our monuments and the precision of our machines express a fundamental character of our mind. Geometry does not exist in the earthly world. It has originated in ourselves. The methods of nature are never so precise as those of man. We do not find in the universe the clearness and accuracy of our thought. We attempt, therefore, to abstract from the complexity of phenomena some simple systems whose components bear to one another certain relations susceptible of being described mathematically.
In Man the Unknown (1935), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Bear (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Certain (557)  |  Character (259)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Component (51)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Depth (97)  |  Describe (132)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exact (75)  |  Exactitude (10)  |  Exist (458)  |  Express (192)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Love (328)  |  Machine (271)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Monument (45)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Originate (39)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Precise (71)  |  Precision (72)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Relation (166)  |  Simple (426)  |  Susceptible (8)  |  System (545)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

We maintain that there are two exhalations, one vaporous the other smoky, and these correspond to two kinds of bodies that originate in the earth, things quarried and things mined. The heat of the dry exhalation is the cause of all things quarried. Such are the kinds of stones that cannot be melted, and realgar, and ochre, and ruddle, and sulphur, and the other things of that kind, most things quarried being either coloured lye or, like cinnabar, a stone compounded of it. The vaporous exhalation is the cause of all things mined—things which are either fusible or malleable such as iron, copper, gold.
Aristotle
Meteorology, 378a, 19-28. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. I, 607.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Cause (561)  |  Compound (117)  |  Copper (25)  |  Dry (65)  |  Geology (240)  |  Gold (101)  |  Heat (180)  |  Iron (99)  |  Kind (564)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Most (1728)  |  Originate (39)  |  Other (2233)  |  Stone (168)  |  Sulphur (19)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)

We may affirm of Mr. Buffon, that which has been said of the chemists of old; though he may have failed in attaining his principal aim, of establishing a theory, yet he has brought together such a multitude of facts relative to the history of the earth, and the nature of its fossil productions, that curiosity finds ample compensation, even while it feels the want of conviction.
In History of the Earth and Animated Nature (1774, 1847), Vol. 1, 73.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Comte Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (37)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Compensation (8)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fail (191)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fossil (143)  |  History (716)  |  History Of The Earth (3)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Old (499)  |  Principal (69)  |  Production (190)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Together (392)  |  Want (504)

We may conclude, that the flux and reflux of the ocean have produced all the mountains, valleys, and other inequalities on the surface of the earth; that currents of the sea have scooped out the valleys, elevated the hills, and bestowed on them their corresponding directions; that that same waters of the ocean, by transporting and depositing earth, &c., have given rise to the parallel strata; that the waters from the heavens gradually destroy the effects of the sea, by continually diminishing the height of the mountains, filling up the valleys, and choking the mouths of rivers; and, by reducing every thing to its former level, they will, in time, restore the earth to the sea, which, by its natural operations, will again create new continents, interspersed with mountains and valleys, every way similar to those we inhabit.
'Second Discours: Histoire et Théorie de la Terre', Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière, Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi (1749), Vol. I, 124; Natural History, General and Particular (1785), Vol. I, Irans. W. Smellie, 57-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Bestow (18)  |  Choking (3)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Continent (79)  |  Create (245)  |  Current (122)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Direction (185)  |  Effect (414)  |  Flux (21)  |  Former (138)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Natural (810)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Produced (187)  |  Rain (70)  |  Reflux (2)  |  Rise (169)  |  River (140)  |  Sea (326)  |  Strata (37)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Valley (37)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

We may therefore say in the future, strictly within the limits of observation, that in certain respects the fossil species of a class traverse in their historical succession metamorphoses similar to those which the embryos undergo in themselves. … The development of a class in the history of the earth offers, in many respects, the greatest analogy with the development of an individual at different periods of his life. The demonstration of this truth is one of the most beautiful results of modern paleontology.
Carl Vogt
From Embryologie des Salmones, collected in L. Agassiz, Poissons d'Eau Douce de l’Europe Centrale (1842), 260. Translated by Webmaster using Google Translate, from the original French, “On pourra donc dire à l'avenir, en restant rigoureusement dans les limites de l'observation, qu'à certains égards, les espèces fossiles d'une classe parcourent dans leur succession historique des métamorphoses semblables à celles que subissent les embryons en se développant … Le développement d’une classe dans l’histoire de la terre offre, à divers égards, la plus grande analogie avec le dévelopment d’un individu aux différentes époques de sa vie. La démonstration de cette vérité est un des plus beaux résultat de la paléontologie moderne.”
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Certain (557)  |  Class (168)  |  Classification (102)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Development (441)  |  Different (595)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Future (467)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Historical (70)  |  History (716)  |  History Of The Earth (3)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Metamorphosis (5)  |  Modern (402)  |  Most (1728)  |  Observation (593)  |  Offer (142)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Period (200)  |  Respect (212)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Species (435)  |  Succession (80)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Truth (1109)

We might expect … in the summer of the “great year,” which we are now considering, that there would be a great predominance of tree-ferns and plants allied to the palms and arborescent grasses in the isles of the wide ocean, while the dicotyledenous plants and other forms now most common in temperate regions would almost disappear from the earth. Then might these genera of animals return, of which the memorials are preserved in the ancient rocks of our continents. The huge iguanodon might reappear in the woods, and the ichthyosaur in the sea, while the pterodactyle might flit again through umbrageous groves of tree-ferns. Coral reefs might be prolonged beyond the arctic circle, where the whale and narwal [sic] now abound. Turtles might deposit their eggs in the sand of the sea beach, where now the walrus sleeps, and where the seal is drifted on the ice-floe.
In Principles of Geology (1830-3), Vol. 1, 123.
Science quotes on:  |  Abound (17)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arctic (10)  |  Beach (23)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Circle (117)  |  Common (447)  |  Continent (79)  |  Coral Reef (15)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Egg (71)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fern (10)  |  Floe (3)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ice (58)  |  Iceberg (4)  |  Most (1728)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Palm (5)  |  Plant (320)  |  Prolong (29)  |  Pterodactyl (2)  |  Return (133)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sea (326)  |  Seal (19)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Summer (56)  |  Through (846)  |  Tree (269)  |  Turtle (8)  |  Walrus (4)  |  Whale (45)  |  Wide (97)  |  Wood (97)  |  Year (963)

We must be part not only of the human community, but of the whole community; we must acknowledge some sort of oneness not only with our neighbors, our countrymen and our civilization but also some respect for the natural as well as for the man-made community. Ours is not only “one world” in the sense usually implied by that term. It is also “one earth”. Without some acknowledgement of that fact, men can no more live successfully than they can if they refuse to admit the political and economic interdependency of the various sections of the civilized world. It is not a sentimental but a grimly literal fact that unless we share this terrestrial globe with creatures other than ourselves, we shall not be able to live on it for long.
The Voice of the Desert (1956), 194-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Acknowledge (33)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Community (111)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Creature (242)  |  Economic (84)  |  Environment (239)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Human (1512)  |  Literal (12)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Man-Made (10)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Oneness (6)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Political (124)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Respect (212)  |  Sense (785)  |  Share (82)  |  Term (357)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Usually (176)  |  Various (205)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

We must in imagination sweep off the drifted matter that clogs the surface of the ground; we must suppose all the covering of moss and heath and wood to be torn away from the sides of the mountains, and the green mantle that lies near their feet to be lifted up; we may then see the muscular integuments, and sinews, and bones of our mother Earth, and so judge of the part played by each of them during those old convulsive movements whereby her limbs were contorted and drawn up into their present posture.
Letter 2 to William Wordsworth. Quoted in the appendix to W. Wordsworth, A Complete Guide to the Lakes, Comprising Minute Direction for the Tourist, with Mr Wordsworth's Description of the Scenery of the County and Three Letters upon the Geology of the Lake District (1842), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Bone (101)  |  Clog (5)  |  Convulsion (5)  |  Covering (14)  |  Drift (14)  |  Feet (5)  |  Green (65)  |  Ground (222)  |  Heath (5)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Integument (4)  |  Judge (114)  |  Lie (370)  |  Lift (57)  |  Limb (9)  |  Mantle (4)  |  Matter (821)  |  Moss (14)  |  Mother (116)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Movement (162)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Must (1525)  |  Old (499)  |  Part (235)  |  Play (116)  |  Posture (7)  |  Present (630)  |  See (1094)  |  Side (236)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Surface (223)  |  Sweep (22)  |  Torn (17)  |  Wood (97)

We must look to the heavens... for the measure of the earth.
Mesure de la terre (1671), 165. Trans. J. L. Heilbron, Weighing Imponderables and Other Quantitative Science around 1800 (1993), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Look (584)  |  Measure (241)  |  Must (1525)

We must regard it rather as an accident that the Earth (and presumably the whole solar system) contains a preponderance of negative electrons and positive protons. It is quite possible that for some of the stars it is the other way about.
(1902)
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Antimatter (4)  |  Electron (96)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Negative (66)  |  Other (2233)  |  Positive (98)  |  Possible (560)  |  Preponderance (2)  |  Proton (23)  |  Regard (312)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  System (545)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.
The Outermost House (1928), 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Attain (126)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Complete (209)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Concept (242)  |  Creature (242)  |  Distortion (13)  |  Extension (60)  |  Fate (76)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Finish (62)  |  Form (976)  |  Gift (105)  |  Gifted (25)  |  Glass (94)  |  Hear (144)  |  Image (97)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Remote (86)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Splendour (8)  |  Survey (36)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tragic (19)  |  Universal (198)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

We need another, wiser, and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. For the animal shall not be measured by man....They are not underlings. They are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of Earth.
The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod (2003), 24-25.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Catch (34)  |  Concept (242)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Mystic (23)  |  Mystical (9)  |  Nation (208)  |  Need (320)  |  Net (12)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Prisoner (8)  |  Splendor (20)  |  Time (1911)  |  Travail (5)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)

We need go back only a few centuries to find the great mass of people depending on religion for the satisfaction of practically all their wishes. From rain out of the sky to good health on earth, they sought their desires at the altars of their gods. Whether they wanted large families, good crops, freedom from pestilence, or peace of mind, they conceived themselves as dependent on the favor of heaven. Then science came with its alternative, competitive method of getting what we want. That is science’s most important attribute. As an intellectual influence it is powerful enough, but as a practical way of achieving man’s desires it is overwhelming.
In 'The Real Point of Conflict between Science and Religion', collected in Living Under Tension: Sermons On Christianity Today (1941), 140-141.
Science quotes on:  |  Achieving (3)  |  Altar (11)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Back (395)  |  Century (319)  |  Conceived (3)  |  Crop (26)  |  Desire (212)  |  Enough (341)  |  Family (101)  |  Favor (69)  |  Find (1014)  |  Freedom (145)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Health (210)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Important (229)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Large (398)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mass (160)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Peace (116)  |  Peace Of Mind (4)  |  People (1031)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Practical (225)  |  Rain (70)  |  Religion (369)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sky (174)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wish (216)

We rest in the immense and complete order of the earth. And then it may well happen that what we have been seeing as beautiful repose changes into motions; lines seem to rise and fall, surfaces wave and swing. Folding, which long ago buckled horizontal strata into huge subterranean waves of stone (folds) is revived. The rounded crests of folds rise and fall rhythmically. Giant smoking volcanoes stand in a row like the pipes of a cosmic organ through which the earth’s mighty breath blows its roaring music. Granite domes in the deserts, the broadly arched shields of the Rocky Mountains become the chimes waiting only for the earthquake’s stroke to awaken the mighty symphony that drowns out all human tones and resounds throughout the world.
In 'Prologue', Conversation with the Earth (1954), 4. As translated by E.B. Garside from Gespräch mit der Erde (1947).
Science quotes on:  |  Breath (61)  |  Buckle (5)  |  Dome (9)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Geology (240)  |  Granite (8)  |  Motion (320)  |  Music (133)  |  Repose (9)  |  Resound (2)  |  Rhythm (21)  |  Rocky Mountains (2)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strata (37)  |  Surface (223)  |  Swing (12)  |  Symphony (10)  |  Volcano (46)  |  Wave (112)

We say in general that the material of all stone is either some form of Earth or some form of Water. For one or the other of these elements predominates in stones; and even in stones in which some form of Water seems to predominate, something of Earth is also important. Evidence of this is that nearly all kinds of stones sink in water.
From De Mineralibus (c.1261-1263), as translated by Dorothy Wyckoff, Book of Minerals (1967), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Element (322)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Important (229)  |  Kind (564)  |  Material (366)  |  Mineralogy (24)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Other (2233)  |  Predominate (7)  |  Say (989)  |  Sink (38)  |  Something (718)  |  Stone (168)  |  Water (503)

We say that, in very truth the productive cause is a mineralizing power which is active in forming stones… . This power, existing in the particular material of stones, has two instruments according to different natural conditions.
One of these is heat, which is active in drawing out moisture and digesting the material and bringing about its solidification into the form of stone, in Earth that has been acted upon by unctuous moisture… .
The other instrument is in watery moist material that has been acted upon by earthy dryness; and this [instrument] is cold, which … is active in expelling moisture.
From De Mineralibus (c.1261-1263), as translated by Dorothy Wyckoff, Book of Minerals (1967), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Act (278)  |  Active (80)  |  Cause (561)  |  Cold (115)  |  Condition (362)  |  Different (595)  |  Digest (10)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Dryness (5)  |  Exist (458)  |  Expel (4)  |  Form (976)  |  Forming (42)  |  Heat (180)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Material (366)  |  Mineralize (2)  |  Mineralogy (24)  |  Moist (13)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Natural (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  Power (771)  |  Productive (37)  |  Say (989)  |  Solidification (2)  |  Stone (168)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)

We see only the simple motion of descent, since that other circular one common to the Earth, the tower, and ourselves remains imperceptible. There remains perceptible to us only that of the stone, which is not shared by us; and, because of this, sense shows it as by a straight line, always parallel to the tower, which is built upright and perpendicular upon the terrestrial surface.
Dialogue on the Great World Systems (1632). Revised and Annotated by Giorgio De Santillana (1953), 177.
Science quotes on:  |  Circular (19)  |  Common (447)  |  Descent (30)  |  Fall (243)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Motion (320)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Remain (355)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Show (353)  |  Simple (426)  |  Stone (168)  |  Straight (75)  |  Straight Line (34)  |  Surface (223)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Tower (45)

We share the Earth not only with our fellow human beings, but with all the other creatures that live on the land, in the sea or in the air.
In Julia Martin, Ecological Responsibility: A Dialogue With Buddhism: A Collection of Essays & Talks (1997), viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Being (1276)  |  Creature (242)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Live (650)  |  Other (2233)  |  Sea (326)  |  Share (82)

We should have positive expectations of what is in the universe, not fears and dreads. We are made with the realization that we’re not Earthbound, and that our acceptance of the universe offers us room to explore and extend outward. It’s like being in a dark room and imagining all sorts of terrors. But when we turn on the light – technology - suddenly it’s just a room where we can stretch out and explore. If the resources here on Earth are limited, they are not limited in the universe. We are not constrained by the limitations of our planet. As children have to leave the security of family and home life to insure growth into mature adults, so also must humankind leave the security and familiarity of Earth to reach maturity and obtain the highest attainment possible for the human race.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Adult (24)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Being (1276)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Constrain (11)  |  Dark (145)  |  Dread (13)  |  Earthbound (4)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Extend (129)  |  Familiarity (21)  |  Family (101)  |  Fear (212)  |  Growth (200)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Humankind (15)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Insure (4)  |  Leave (138)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mature (17)  |  Maturity (14)  |  Must (1525)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Offer (142)  |  Outward (7)  |  Planet (402)  |  Positive (98)  |  Possible (560)  |  Race (278)  |  Reach (286)  |  Realization (44)  |  Resource (74)  |  Room (42)  |  Security (51)  |  Sort (50)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Technology (281)  |  Terror (32)  |  Turn (454)  |  Universe (900)

We sound the future, and learn that after a period, long compared with the divisions of time open to our investigation, the energies of our system will decay, the glory of the sun will be dimmed and the earth, tideless and inert, will no longer tolerate the race which has for a moment disturbed its solitude. Man will go down into the pit, and all his thoughts will perish.
The Foundations of Belief: Being Notes Introductory to the Study of Theology (1895), 30-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Decay (59)  |  Disturb (31)  |  Disturbed (15)  |  Division (67)  |  Down (455)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Future (467)  |  Inert (14)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Learn (672)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moment (260)  |  Open (277)  |  Period (200)  |  Perish (56)  |  Pit (20)  |  Race (278)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Solitude (20)  |  Sound (187)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

We still view the sea as a limitless wilderness, which of course, it is not. We view the sea apart from the earth.
From 'Remarks Delivered at Symposium', after Ray’s paper, 'The Scientific Need for Shallow-Water Marine Sanctuaries,' collected as Article VI, in Julia Allen Field and Henry Field (eds.), Scientific Use of Natural Areas: Symposium (1965), 92. The Symposium was the XVI International Congress of Zoology, Washington (Aug 1963). Ray’s remark continues with, “We call this planet Earth…” quoted separately on this web page.
Science quotes on:  |  Limitless (14)  |  Sea (326)  |  View (496)  |  Wilderness (57)

We tried to transform Tarmac playgrounds into places with pools, and earth where children could grow things. Now the Government is saying we need more classroom space so the schools are building them on the very nature habitats we’ve been working to provide.
Despairing at the loss of green spaces at schools. He was patron of the charity Learning Through Landscapes which worked to create green spaces. As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
Science quotes on:  |  Asphalt (2)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Classroom (11)  |  Government (116)  |  Grow (247)  |  Habitat (17)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Playground (6)  |  Pool (16)  |  School (227)  |  Space (523)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transform (74)  |  Try (296)

We were flying over America and suddenly I saw snow, the first snow we ever saw from orbit. I have never visited America, but I imagined that the arrival of autumn and winter is the same there as in other places, and the process of getting ready for them is the same. And then it struck me that we are all children of our Earth.
As quoted in Kevin W. Kelley (ed.), The Home Planet (1988). Source cited as “submitted by Lev Demin”.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Arrival (15)  |  Autumn (11)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  First (1302)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Never (1089)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Place (192)  |  Process (439)  |  Ready (43)  |  Same (166)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Snow (39)  |  Strike (72)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Visit (27)  |  Winter (46)

We will look upon the earth and her sister planets as being with us, not for us.
From Ch. 6, 'Sisterhood as Cosmic Covenant', Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation (1973), 178.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Planet (402)  |  Sister (8)  |  Will (2350)

We’ve lost all geographical frontiers on Earth, but new and far larger ones exist at Earth’s doorstep.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 301.
Science quotes on:  |  Doorstep (2)  |  Exist (458)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Geographical (6)  |  Lost (34)  |  New (1273)  |  Space Exploration (15)

Well beyond the tropostrata
There is a region stark and stellar
Where, on a streak of anti-matter
Lived Dr. Edward anti-Teller.

Remote from Fusion’s origin,

He lived unguessed and unawares
With all his antikith and kin,
And kept macassars on his chairs.

One morning, idling by the sea,
He spied a tin of monstrous girth
That bore three letters: A. E. C.
Out stepped a visitor from Earth.

Then, shouting gladly o’er the sands,
Met two who in their alien ways
Were like as lentils. Their right hands
Clasped, and the rest was gamma rays.
In 'Perils of Modern Living', The New Yorker (10 Nov 1956), 56. Reprinted in Edward Teller with Judith Schoolery, Memoirs: A Twentieth Century Journey in Science and Politics (2002), 428. Webmaster supposes the initials 'A.E.C.' might be for the Atomic Energy Commission.
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  Anti-Matter (4)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Chair (25)  |  Fusion (16)  |  Gamma Ray (3)  |  Kin (10)  |  Letter (117)  |  Matter (821)  |  Morning (98)  |  Origin (250)  |  Ray (115)  |  Remote (86)  |  Rest (287)  |  Right (473)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sea (326)  |  Edward Teller (43)  |  Tin (18)  |  Two (936)  |  Way (1214)

What a chimera ... is man ! What a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depository of the truth, cloacae of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe!
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Chaos (99)  |  Chimera (10)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Error (339)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Glory (66)  |  Judge (114)  |  Man (2252)  |  Monster (33)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Prodigy (5)  |  Shame (15)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Uncertainty (58)  |  Universe (900)  |  Worm (47)

What a splendid perspective contact with a profoundly different civilization might provide! In a cosmic setting vast and old beyond ordinary human understanding we are a little lonely, and we ponder the ultimate significance, if any, of our tiny but exquisite blue planet, the Earth… In the deepest sense the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Blue (63)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Contact (66)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Deep (241)  |  Different (595)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Extraterrestrial (6)  |  Human (1512)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Little (717)  |  Lonely (24)  |  Old (499)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Planet (402)  |  Ponder (15)  |  Profoundly (13)  |  Provide (79)  |  Search (175)  |  Sense (785)  |  Set (400)  |  Setting (44)  |  Significance (114)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vast (188)

What beauty. I saw clouds and their light shadows on the distant dear earth…. The water looked like darkish, slightly gleaming spots…. When I watched the horizon, I saw the abrupt, contrasting transition from the earth’s light-colored surface to the absolutely black sky. I enjoyed the rich color spectrum of the earth. It is surrounded by a light blue aureole that gradually darkens, becomes turquoise, dark blue, violet, and finally coal black.
Describing his view while making the first manned orbit of the earth (12 Apr 1961). As quoted in Don Knefel, Writing and Life: A Rhetoric for Nonfiction with Readings (1986), 93. Front Cover
Science quotes on:  |  Abrupt (6)  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Become (821)  |  Black (46)  |  Blue (63)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Coal (64)  |  Color (155)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Dark (145)  |  Distant (33)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Gleam (13)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Light (635)  |  Look (584)  |  Rich (66)  |  Saw (160)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Sky (174)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Spot (19)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surround (33)  |  Transition (28)  |  Violet (11)  |  Watch (118)  |  Water (503)

What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad.
In Geoff Tibballs, The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners (2004), 502.
Science quotes on:  |  Asteroid (19)  |  Bad (185)  |  Common (447)  |  Frog (44)  |  Hammer (26)  |  Happen (282)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Realistic (6)  |  Simulation (7)  |  Sledge Hammer (3)  |  Strike (72)  |  Will (2350)

What is it to see, in an Eagle glide
Which fills a human heart with so much pride?
Is it that it soars effortless above the Earth
That steals us from our own limits & dearth?
Trapped in our seas of befuddling sludge
We try and try but cannot budge.
And then to see a mortal; with such ease take wing
Up in a breeze that makes our failing spirits sing?
Do we, vicarious birds, search in it our childishness -
When we too were young & yearned in heart to fly?
Taking flights of fancy through adolescent nights
Listening little, heeding less, knowing not why?
From its highest perch in the forest of snow
Majestic - the Eagle soars alone.
Riding thermals, lording clouds
Till dropping silent from the sky as a stone
But we, so quick and ready to fold
Give up our wings at the whiff of age
Losing years, cursing time, wasting spirit
Living out entire lives in futile rage!
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Adolescent (4)  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Bird (163)  |  Breeze (8)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Curse (20)  |  Dearth (2)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drop (77)  |  Dropping (8)  |  Eagle (20)  |  Ease (40)  |  Effortless (3)  |  Entire (50)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Fill (67)  |  Flight (101)  |  Fly (153)  |  Fold (9)  |  Forest (161)  |  Futile (13)  |  Give Up (10)  |  Glide (4)  |  Heart (243)  |  Heed (12)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Less (105)  |  Limit (294)  |  Listen (81)  |  Listening (26)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Lord (97)  |  Lose (165)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Night (133)  |  Perch (7)  |  Pride (84)  |  Quick (13)  |  Rage (10)  |  Ready (43)  |  Ride (23)  |  Sea (326)  |  Search (175)  |  See (1094)  |  Silent (31)  |  Sing (29)  |  Sky (174)  |  Sludge (3)  |  Snow (39)  |  Soar (23)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Steal (14)  |  Stone (168)  |  Thermal (15)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trap (7)  |  Try (296)  |  Vicarious (2)  |  Waste (109)  |  Whiff (2)  |  Why (491)  |  Wing (79)  |  Year (963)  |  Yearn (13)  |  Young (253)

What makes the beauty of this flower which blows?
 Not nourishing earth, nor air, nor heaven’s blue,
 Nor sun, nor soil, nor the translucent dew;
But that which held in combination grows
Whole in each part, and perfect at the close.
 Chemist nor botanist no more than you
Can see that pure necessity wherethrough
Beauty is born—a rose within the rose.
In 'A Rose', Memorial Volume: Selections from the Prose and Poetical Writings of the Late John Savary (1912), 41. The quoted lines begin the first stanza, which ends similarly: “Upon the shooting of a seed
Our world depends for daily bread.”
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Blow (45)  |  Blue (63)  |  Born (37)  |  Botanist (25)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Close (77)  |  Combination (150)  |  Dew (10)  |  Flower (112)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Horticulture (10)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Nourish (18)  |  Part (235)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Rose (36)  |  Soil (98)  |  Sun (407)  |  Translucent (2)  |  Whole (756)

What marvel is this? We begged you for drinkable springs,
O earth, and what is your lap sending forth?
Is there life in the deeps as well? A race yet unknown
Hiding under the lava? Are they who had fled returning?
Come and see, Greeks; Romans, come! Ancient Pompeii Is found again, the city of Hercules rises!
Translation as given, without citation, as epigraph in C.W. Ceram, Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology (1986), 1. There are other translations of the Schiller’s original German, for example, in 'Pompeii and Herculaneum', Life of Schiller: Poetical Works (1902), 249.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Archaeology (51)  |  City (87)  |  Deep (241)  |  Drink (56)  |  Greek (109)  |  Herculaneum (4)  |  Hercules (9)  |  Hiding (12)  |  Lap (9)  |  Lava (12)  |  Life (1870)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Pompeii (6)  |  Race (278)  |  Return (133)  |  Rise (169)  |  Roman (39)  |  See (1094)  |  Spring (140)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Water (503)

What more pleasing prospect can be opened to our view than the boundless field of nature? not only comprehending the inhabitants of earth, sea, and air; but earth, sea and air themselves—presenting an inexhaustible fund for amusing and useful enquiry.
From Introduction to a Course of Lectures on Natural History: Delivered in the University of Pennsylvania, Nov. 16, 1799 (1800), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Inexhaustible (26)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Sea (326)  |  Useful (260)

What others strive to see dimly and blindly, like bats in twilight, he [Petrus Peregrinus] gazes at in the full light of day, because he is a master of experiment. Through experiment he gains knowledge of natural things, medical, chemical, and indeed of everything in the heavens or earth. … He has even taken note of the remedies, lot casting, and charms used by old women and by wizards and magicians, and of the deceptions and devices of conjurors, so that nothing which deserves inquiry should escape him, and that he may be able to expose the falsehoods of magicians.
Science quotes on:  |  Bat (10)  |  Casting (10)  |  Charm (54)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Deception (9)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Device (71)  |  Escape (85)  |  Everything (489)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Expose (28)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Gain (146)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Light (635)  |  Lot (151)  |  Magician (15)  |  Master (182)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Scientist (881)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)

What shall be done with nature to reclaim
 The herbless, treeless waste? those dead seas past,
 Dried summer lands, deserts and “antres vast,”
The earth’s reproach, her barrenness and shame.
Can human toil and foresight help the same?
 Science, of soils declares with grand forecast,
 Last shall be first, and first shall be the last
To come to fruit in Irrigation’s name!
In 'Arid Lands', Poems of Expansion (1898), 108.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Barren (33)  |  Dead Sea (2)  |  Declare (48)  |  Desert (59)  |  Dry (65)  |  First (1302)  |  Forecast (15)  |  Foresight (8)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Grand (29)  |  Help (116)  |  Human (1512)  |  Irrigation (12)  |  Land (131)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Past (355)  |  Reproach (4)  |  Shame (15)  |  Soil (98)  |  Soil Science (4)  |  Summer (56)  |  Toil (29)  |  Treeless (2)  |  Vast (188)  |  Waste (109)

What strange wonder is this? Our prayer to thee was for water,
Earth! What is this that thou now send’st from thy womb in reply?
In the abyss is there life ? Or hidden under the lava
Dwelleth some race now unknown? Does what hath fled e’er return?
Greeks and Romans, oh come! Oh, see the ancient Pompeii
Here is discover’d again,—Hercules’ town is rebuilt!
Beginning lines of poem, 'Pompeii and Herculaneum', in Edgar A. Bowring (trans.), The Poems of Schiller (1875), 237.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Archaeology (51)  |  Discover (571)  |  Dwell (19)  |  Flee (9)  |  Greek (109)  |  Herculaneum (4)  |  Hercules (9)  |  Hide (70)  |  Lava (12)  |  Life (1870)  |  Pompeii (6)  |  Prayer (30)  |  Race (278)  |  Rebuild (4)  |  Reply (58)  |  Return (133)  |  Roman (39)  |  See (1094)  |  Strange (160)  |  Town (30)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Water (503)  |  Womb (25)  |  Wonder (251)

What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that man set foot on the Moon but that they set eye on the earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Eye (440)  |  Foot (65)  |  Lunar (9)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Set (400)  |  Significant (78)  |  Voyage (13)

What, then, shall we say about the receipts of alchemy, and about the diversity of its vessels and instruments? These are furnaces, glasses, jars, waters, oils, limes, sulphurs, salts, saltpeters, alums, vitriols, chrysocollae, copper greens, atraments, auripigments, fel vitri, ceruse, red earth, thucia, wax, lutum sapientiae, pounded glass, verdigris, soot, crocus of Mars, soap, crystal, arsenic, antimony, minium, elixir, lazarium, gold leaf salt niter, sal ammoniac, calamine stone, magnesia, bolus armenus, and many other things. Then, again, concerning herbs, roots, seeds, woods, stones, animals, worms, bone dust, snail shells, other shells, and pitch. These and the like, whereof there are some very farfetched in alchemy, are mere incumbrances of work; since even if Sol and Luna [gold and silver] could be made by them they rather hinder and delay than further one’s purpose.
In Paracelsus and Arthur Edward Waite (ed.), The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus (1894), Vol. 1, 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Alchemy (31)  |  Animal (651)  |  Antimony (7)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Arsenic (10)  |  Bone (101)  |  Copper (25)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Delay (21)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Dust (68)  |  Elixir (6)  |  Encumbrance (5)  |  Furnace (13)  |  Glass (94)  |  Gold (101)  |  Green (65)  |  Herb (6)  |  Hinder (12)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Jar (9)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Lime (3)  |  Mars (47)  |  Oil (67)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pitch (17)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Red (38)  |  Root (121)  |  Sal Ammoniac (2)  |  Salt (48)  |  Say (989)  |  Seed (97)  |  Shell (69)  |  Silver (49)  |  Snail (11)  |  Soap (11)  |  Soot (11)  |  Stone (168)  |  Sulphur (19)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Water (503)  |  Wax (13)  |  Wood (97)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worm (47)

Whatever terrain the environmental historian chooses to investigate, he has to address the age-old predicament of how humankind can feed itself without degrading the primal source of life. Today as ever, that problem is the fundamental challenge in human ecology, and meeting it will require knowing the earth well—knowing its history and knowing its limits.
In 'Transformations of the Earth: toward an Agroecological Perspective in History', Journal of American History (Mar 1990), 76, No. 4, 1106.
Science quotes on:  |  Address (13)  |  Age (509)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Choose (116)  |  Degrade (9)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Feed (31)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Historian (59)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humankind (15)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Old (499)  |  Primal (5)  |  Problem (731)  |  Require (229)  |  Source (101)  |  Terrain (6)  |  Today (321)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.
Leviathan (1651), ed. C. B. Macpherson (1968), Part 1, Chapter 13, 186.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Art (680)  |  Building (158)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequent (19)  |  Continual (44)  |  Culture (157)  |  Danger (127)  |  Death (406)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Face (214)  |  Fear (212)  |  Force (497)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Industry (159)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Letter (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Navigation (26)  |  Other (2233)  |  Require (229)  |  Sea (326)  |  Security (51)  |  Short (200)  |  Society (350)  |  Strength (139)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Uncertain (45)  |  Use (771)  |  War (233)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Worst (57)

When April wind wakes the call for the soil, I hold the plough as my only hold upon the earth, and, as I follow through the fresh and fragrant furrow, I am planted with every foot-step, growing, budding, blooming in a spirit of spring.
Science quotes on:  |  April (9)  |  Biography (254)  |  Call (781)  |  Follow (389)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Growing (99)  |  Plant (320)  |  Plough (15)  |  Soil (98)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spring (140)  |  Step (234)  |  Through (846)  |  Wind (141)

When I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers lying in ambuscade among the dishes. Nature delights in the most plain and simple diet. Every animal but man keeps to one dish. Herbs are the food of this species, fish of that, and flesh of a third. Man falls upon everything that comes in his way; not the smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or a mushroom can escape him.
Spectator, No. 195. In Samuel Austin Allibone, Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay (1880), 363.
Science quotes on:  |  Ambuscade (2)  |  Animal (651)  |  Berry (3)  |  Delight (111)  |  Diet (56)  |  Distemper (5)  |  Dropsy (2)  |  Escape (85)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Fashionable (15)  |  Fever (34)  |  Fish (130)  |  Flesh (28)  |  Food (213)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Gluttony (6)  |  Gout (5)  |  Herb (6)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Lying (55)  |  Magnificence (14)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mushroom (4)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  See (1094)  |  Set (400)  |  Simple (426)  |  Species (435)  |  Table (105)  |  Way (1214)

When I orbited the Earth in a spaceship, I saw for the first time how beautiful our planet is. Mankind, let us preserve and increase this beauty, and not destroy it!
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Destroy (189)  |  First (1302)  |  First Time (14)  |  Increase (225)  |  Let (64)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Planet (402)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Spaceship (5)  |  Time (1911)

When I read an Italian letter [Saggio by Voltaire] on changes which had occurred on the surface of the earth, published in Paris this year (1746), I believed that these facts were reported by La Loubère. Indeed, they correspond perfectly with the author’s ideas. Petrified fish are according to him merely rare fish thrown away by Roman cooks because they were spoiled; and with respect to shells, he said that they were from the sea of the Levant and brought back by pilgrims from Syria at the time of the crusades. These shells are found today petrified in France, in Italy and in other Christian states. Why did he not add that monkeys transported shells on top of high mountains and to every place where humans cannot live? It would not have harmed his story but made his explanation even more plausible.
In 'Preuves de la Théorie de la Terre', Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particuliere, Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi (1749), Vol. I, 281. Trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Author (175)  |  Back (395)  |  Change (639)  |  Christian (44)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fossil (143)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Italian (13)  |  Letter (117)  |  Live (650)  |  Merely (315)  |  Monkey (57)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Rare (94)  |  Read (308)  |  Respect (212)  |  Roman (39)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shell (69)  |  State (505)  |  Story (122)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Top (100)  |  Transport (31)  |  Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire (42)  |  Why (491)  |  Year (963)

When I touch that flower, I am not merely touching that flower. I am touching infinity. That little flower existed long before there were human beings on this earth. It will continue to exist for thousands, yes millions of years to come.
As quoted from a first-person conversation with the author, in Glenn Clark, The Man Who Talked With the Flowers: The Intimate Life Story of Dr. George Washington Carver (1939), 39.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Continue (179)  |  Exist (458)  |  Flower (112)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Mere (86)  |  Merely (315)  |  Million (124)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Touch (146)  |  Touching (16)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Being (1276)  |  Brilliantly (2)  |  Creative (144)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Fool (121)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Hell (32)  |  Idiot (22)  |  Leap (57)  |  Line (100)  |  Most (1728)  |  Thin (18)

When Newton saw an apple fall, he found
In that slight startle from his contemplation—
'Tis said (for I'll not answer above ground
For any sage's creed or calculation)—
A mode of proving that the earth turn'd round
In a most natural whirl, called 'gravitation';
And this is the sole mortal who could grapple,
Since Adam, with a fall, or with an apple.
Don Juan (1821), Canto 10, Verse I. In Jerome J. McGann (ed.), Lord Byron: The Complete Poetical Works (1986), Vol. 5, 437.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Apple (46)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Call (781)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Creed (28)  |  Fall (243)  |  Grapple (11)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Ground (222)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Sage (25)  |  Saw (160)  |  Sole (50)  |  Turn (454)  |  Whirl (10)

When scientists discovered that liquid water, which brought forth life on Earth, exists nowhere else in great quantities in the solar system, the most significant lesson they taught was not that water, or the life that depends on it, is necessarily the result of some chemical accident in space; their most important revelation was that water is rare in infinity, that we should prize it, preserve it, conserve it.
In Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein, The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World (2007), 201-202.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Conserve (7)  |  Depend (238)  |  Discover (571)  |  Exist (458)  |  Great (1610)  |  Important (229)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Life (1870)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Most (1728)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Prize (13)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Rare (94)  |  Result (700)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Significant (78)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  System (545)  |  Teach (299)  |  Water (503)

When the climbers in 1953 planted their flags on the highest mountain, they set them in snow over the skeletons of creatures that had lived in the warm clear ocean that India, moving north, blanked out. Possibly as much as twenty thousand feet below the seafloor, the skeletal remains had turned into rock. This one fact is a treatise in itself on the movements of the surface of the earth. If by some fiat I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence, this is the one I would choose: The summit of Mt. Everest is marine limestone.
Annals of the Former World
Science quotes on:  |  Below (26)  |  Blank (14)  |  Choose (116)  |  Clear (111)  |  Climber (7)  |  Creature (242)  |  Everest (10)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fiat (7)  |  Flag (12)  |  Foot (65)  |  High (370)  |  India (23)  |  Limestone (6)  |  Live (650)  |  Marine (9)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Move (223)  |  Movement (162)  |  North (12)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Plant (320)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Remain (355)  |  Restrict (13)  |  Rock (176)  |  Seafloor (2)  |  Sentence (35)  |  Set (400)  |  Skeletal (2)  |  Skeleton (25)  |  Snow (39)  |  Summit (27)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Turn (454)  |  Warm (74)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)

When the earth came alive it began constructing its own membrane, for the general purpose of editing the sun.
In The Lives of a Cell (1974), 171.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Begin (275)  |  Construct (129)  |  Edit (2)  |  General (521)  |  Membrane (21)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Sun (407)

When the fossil bones of animals belonging to civilisations before the Flood are turned up in bed after bed and layer upon layer of the quarries of Montmartre or among the schists of the Ural range, the soul receives with dismay a glimpse of millions of peoples forgotten by feeble human memory and unrecognised by permanent divine tradition, peoples whose ashes cover our globe with two feet of earth that yields bread to us and flowers.
From 'La Peau de Chagrin' (1831). As translated by Ellen Marriage in The Wild Ass’s Skin (1906), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Bone (101)  |  Bread (42)  |  Civilisation (23)  |  Dismay (5)  |  Divine (112)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Flood (52)  |  Flower (112)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Glimpse (16)  |  Human (1512)  |  Layer (41)  |  Memory (144)  |  Million (124)  |  Montmartre (3)  |  People (1031)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Quarry (14)  |  Range (104)  |  Receive (117)  |  Schist (4)  |  Soul (235)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Yield (86)

When the history of our galaxy is written, and for all any of us know it may already have been, if Earth gets mentioned at all it won’t be because its inhabitants visited their own moon. That first step, like a newborn’s cry, would be automatically assumed. What would be worth recording is what kind of civilization we earthlings created and whether or not we ventured out to other parts of the galaxy.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Assume (43)  |  Automatically (5)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Create (245)  |  Cry (30)  |  First (1302)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  History (716)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mention (84)  |  Moon (252)  |  Newborn (5)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Record (161)  |  Recording (13)  |  Step (234)  |  Venture (19)  |  Visit (27)  |  Worth (172)  |  Write (250)

When the last Puritan has disappeared from the earth, the man of science will take his place as a killjoy, and we shall be given the same old advice but for different reasons.
Attributed.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Different (595)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Last (425)  |  Man (2252)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Old (499)  |  Puritan (3)  |  Reason (766)  |  Will (2350)

When the moon is ninety degrees away from the sun it sees but half the earth illuminated (the western half). For the other (the eastern half) is enveloped in night. Hence the moon itself is illuminated less brightly from the earth, and as a result its secondary light appears fainter to us.
The Starry Messenger (1610), trans. Stillman Drake, Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo (1957), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Degree (277)  |  Light (635)  |  Moon (252)  |  Other (2233)  |  Result (700)  |  See (1094)  |  Sun (407)  |  Western (45)

When the movement of the comets is considered and we reflect on the laws of gravity, it will be readily perceived that their approach to Earth might there cause the most woeful events, bring back the deluge, or make it perish in a deluge of fire, shatter it into small dust, or at least turn it from its orbit, drive away its Moon, or, still worse, the Earth itself outside the orbit of Saturn, and inflict upon us a winter several centuries long, which neither men nor animals would be able to bear. The tails even of comets would not be unimportant phenomena, if in taking their departure left them in whole or part in our atmosphere
From Cosmologische Briefe über die Einrichtung des Weltbaues (1761). As quoted in Carl Sagan, Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1986), 95.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Approach (112)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Back (395)  |  Bear (162)  |  Cause (561)  |  Comet (65)  |  Consider (428)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Dust (68)  |  Event (222)  |  Fire (203)  |  Flood (52)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Law (913)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Outside (141)  |  Perish (56)  |  Saturn (15)  |  Small (489)  |  Still (614)  |  Turn (454)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Winter (46)

When the practice of farming spread over the earth, mankind experienced its first population explosion.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Experience (494)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Farming (8)  |  First (1302)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Population (115)  |  Population Explosion (2)  |  Practice (212)  |  Spread (86)

When we trace the part of which this terrestrial system is composed, and when we view the general connection of those several parts, the whole presents a machine of a peculiar construction by which it is adapted to a certain end. We perceive a fabric, erected in wisdom, to obtain a purpose worthy of the power that is apparent in the production of it.
'Theory of the Earth', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1788), 1, 209.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Certain (557)  |  Connection (171)  |  Construction (114)  |  End (603)  |  Fabric (27)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  Machine (271)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Production (190)  |  Purpose (336)  |  System (545)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Trace (109)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wisdom (235)

When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.
From interview by John B. Kennedy, in 'When Woman is Boss', Collier’s Magazine (30 Jan 1926), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Being (1276)  |  Brain (281)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Convert (22)  |  Distance (171)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Huge (30)  |  Instantly (20)  |  Irrespective (3)  |  Particle (200)  |  Perfectly (10)  |  Real (159)  |  Rhythmic (2)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wireless (7)

When you are risen on the eastern horizon
You have filled every land with your beauty…
Though you are far away, your rays are on Earth.
Akhenaten
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Eastern (3)  |  Far (158)  |  Fill (67)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Land (131)  |  Ray (115)  |  Rise (169)

Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt, Science will often reveal exquisite possibilities. The mud we tread under our feet in the street is a grimy mixture of clay and sand, soot and water. Separate the sand, however, as Ruskinn observes—let the atoms arrange themselves in peace according to their nature—and you have the opal. Separate the clay, and it becomes a white earth, fit for the finest porcelain; or if it still further purifies itself, you have a sapphire. Take the soot, and it properly treated it will give you a diamond. While lastly, the water, purified and distilled, will become a dew-drop, or crystallize into a lovely star. Or, again, you may see as you will in any shallow pool either the mud lying at the bottom, or the image of the heavens above.
The Pleasures of Life (1887, 2007), 63.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Arrange (33)  |  Atom (381)  |  Become (821)  |  Crystallize (12)  |  Dew (10)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Dirt (17)  |  Drop (77)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fit (139)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Image (97)  |  Lying (55)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Mud (26)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Peace (116)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sapphire (4)  |  See (1094)  |  Separate (151)  |  Soot (11)  |  Star (460)  |  Still (614)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Tread (17)  |  Untrained (2)  |  Water (503)  |  White (132)  |  Will (2350)

Whereas you have a very expensive dept. for destroying human life, would it not be for the honour of the New World to have a little national establishment for the preservation of human life; more especially as the devouring monster, small pox, has already destroyed many millions (some say 40) more lives than there are people now on the face of the earth.
(Conclusion of a letter (14 Dec 1826) to Massachusetts Congressman Edward Everett (1794-1865), in which he outlined his experience with vaccination.)
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Experience (494)  |  Face (214)  |  Honour (58)  |  Human (1512)  |  Letter (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Monster (33)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  People (1031)  |  Say (989)  |  Small (489)  |  Vaccination (7)  |  World (1850)

Wherefore also these Kinds [elements] occupied different places even before the universe was organised and generated out of them. Before that time, in truth, all these were in a state devoid of reason or measure, but when the work of setting in order this Universe was being undertaken, fire and water and earth and air, although possessing some traces of their known nature, were yet disposed as everything is likely to be in the absence of God; and inasmuch as this was then their natural condition, God began by first marking them out into shapes by means of forms and numbers.
Plato
Timaeus 53ab, trans. R. G. Bury, in Plato: Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles (1929), 125-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Being (1276)  |  Condition (362)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Element (322)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Generation (256)  |  God (776)  |  Kind (564)  |  Known (453)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Measure (241)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Order (638)  |  Organization (120)  |  Place (192)  |  Reason (766)  |  Setting (44)  |  State (505)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Water (503)  |  Work (1402)

Wherever possible, scientists experiment. Which experiments suggest themselves often depends on which theories currently prevail. Scientists are intent of testing those theories to the breaking point. They do not trust what is intuitively obvious. That the Earth is flat was once obvious. That heavy bodies fall faster than light ones was once obvious. That bloodsucking leeches cure most diseases was once obvious. That some people are naturally and by divine decree slaves was once obvious. That there is such a place as the center of the Universe, and that the Earth sits in that exalted spot was once obvious. That there is an absolute standard of rest was once obvious. The truth may be puzzling or counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held beliefs. Experiment is how we get a handle on it.
In The Demon-Haunted World: Science As A Candle in the Dark (1995), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Belief (615)  |  Contradict (42)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Counterintuitive (4)  |  Cure (124)  |  Decree (9)  |  Depend (238)  |  Disease (340)  |  Divine (112)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Exalted (22)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fall (243)  |  Faster (50)  |  Flat (34)  |  Handle (29)  |  Leech (6)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obvious (128)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Prevailing (3)  |  Puzzling (8)  |  Rest (287)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Slave (40)  |  Test (221)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Trust (72)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wherever (51)

Whether a man is on the earth, or the sun, or some other star, it will always seem to him that the position that he occupies is the motionless center, and that all other things are in motion.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Frame of Reference (5)  |  Man (2252)  |  Motion (320)  |  Motionless (4)  |  Other (2233)  |  Position (83)  |  Star (460)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)

Whether science is seen as genie or devil, the attitude is wrong. We need to get some sort of perspective, so that people understand science is just one more intellectual tool, one more way of knowing enough things to give society a means of living on Earth.
From interview with Graham Chedd, 'The Lady Gets Her Way', New Scientist (5 Jul 1973), 59, No. 853, 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Attitude (84)  |  Devil (34)  |  Enough (341)  |  Genie (2)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Living (492)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Need (320)  |  People (1031)  |  Perceive (46)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Society (350)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tool (129)  |  Understand (648)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wrong (246)

While a glacier is moving, it rubs and wears down the bottom on which it moves, scrapes its surface (now smooth), triturates the broken-off material that is found between the ice and the rock, pulverizes or reduces it to a clayey paste, rounds angular blocks that resist its pressure, and polishes those having a larger surface. At the surface of the glacier, other processes occur. Fragments of rocks that are broken-off from the neighbouring walls and fall on the ice, remain there or can be transported to the sides; they advance in this way on the top of the glacier, without moving or rubbing against each other … and arrive at the extremity of the glacier with their angles, sharp edges, and their uneven surfaces intact.
La théorie des glaciers et ses progrès les plus récents. Bibl. universelle de Genève, (3), Vol. 41, p.127. Trans. Karin Verrecchia.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Against (332)  |  Broken (56)  |  Down (455)  |  Edge (51)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Extremity (7)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Geology (240)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Ice (58)  |  Intact (9)  |  Material (366)  |  Move (223)  |  Occur (151)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paste (4)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rock (176)  |  Side (236)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Surface (223)  |  Top (100)  |  Transport (31)  |  Wall (71)  |  Way (1214)

While all bodies are composed of the four elements, that is, of heat, moisture, the earthy, and air, yet there are mixtures according to natural temperament which make up the natures of all the different animals of the world, each after its kind.
Vitruvius
In De Architectura, Book 1, Chap 4, Sec. 5. As translated in Morris Hicky Morgan (trans.), Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (1914), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Different (595)  |  Element (322)  |  Heat (180)  |  Kind (564)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Phlogiston Theory (2)  |  Temperament (18)  |  World (1850)

While there is still much to learn and discover through space exploration, we also need to pay attention to our unexplored world here on earth. Our next big leap into the unknown can be every bit as exciting and bold as our pioneering work in space. It possesses the same “wow” factor: alien worlds, dazzling technological feats and the mystery of the unknown.
In 'Why Exploring the Ocean is Mankind’s Next Giant Leap', contributed to CNN 'Lightyears Blog' (13 Mar 2012)
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  Attention (196)  |  Bold (22)  |  Dazzling (13)  |  Discover (571)  |  Excite (17)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Factor (47)  |  Feat (11)  |  Leap (57)  |  Learn (672)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Next (238)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Possess (157)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Exploration (15)  |  Still (614)  |  Technological (62)  |  Technology (281)  |  Through (846)  |  Unexplored (15)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost between two spiral arms in the outskirts of a galaxy, tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
Cosmos (1985), 160.
Science quotes on:  |  Arm (82)  |  Arms (37)  |  Corner (59)  |  Find (1014)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Humdrum (3)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Live (650)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Planet (402)  |  Spiral (19)  |  Star (460)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)

Who can estimate the value to civilization of the Copernican system of the sun and planets? A round earth, an earth not the centre of the universe, an earth obeying law, an earth developed by processes of evolution covering tens of millions of years, is incomparably grander than the earth which ante-Copernican imagination pictured.
In 'The Nature of the Astronomer’s Work', North American Review (Jun 1908), 187, No. 631, 915.
Science quotes on:  |  Centre (31)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Copernican (3)  |  Covering (14)  |  Develop (278)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Grand (29)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Incomparable (14)  |  Law (913)  |  Millions (17)  |  Obey (46)  |  Planet (402)  |  Process (439)  |  Research (753)  |  Round (26)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)  |  Year (963)

Who shall declare the time allotted to the human race, when the generations of the most insignificant insect also existed for unnumbered ages? Yet man is also to vanish in the ever-changing course of events. The earth is to be burnt up, and the elements are to melt with fervent heat—to be again reduced to chaos—possibly to be renovated and adorned for other races of beings. These stupendous changes may be but cycles in those great laws of the universe, where all is variable but the laws themselves and He who has ordained them.
Physical Geography (1848), Vol. 1, 2-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Adornment (4)  |  Age (509)  |  Being (1276)  |  Burnt (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Course (413)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Declaration (10)  |  Declare (48)  |  Element (322)  |  Event (222)  |  Ever-Changing (2)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fervent (6)  |  Generation (256)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heat (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Insect (89)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Melt (16)  |  Most (1728)  |  Ordained (2)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Race (278)  |  Reduced (3)  |  Renovation (2)  |  Stupendous (13)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vanish (19)  |  Variability (5)  |  Variable (37)

Who, of men, can tell
That flowers would bloom, or that green fruit would swell
To melting pulp, that fish would have bright mail,
The earth its dower of river, wood, and vale,
The meadows runnels, runnels pebble-stones,
The seed its harvest, or the lute its tones,
Tones ravishment, or ravishment its sweet,
If human souls did never kiss and greet?
Endymion (1818), bk. 1, l. 835-842. In John Barnard (ed.), John Keats. The Complete Poems (1973), 129.
Science quotes on:  |  Bright (81)  |  Fish (130)  |  Flower (112)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Green (65)  |  Harvest (28)  |  Human (1512)  |  Kiss (9)  |  Meadow (21)  |  Never (1089)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Poem (104)  |  River (140)  |  Seed (97)  |  Soul (235)  |  Stone (168)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Tell (344)  |  Tone (22)  |  Wood (97)

Why Become Extinct? Authors with varying competence have suggested that dinosaurs disappeared because the climate deteriorated (became suddenly or slowly too hot or cold or dry or wet), or that the diet did (with too much food or not enough of such substances as fern oil; from poisons in water or plants or ingested minerals; by bankruptcy of calcium or other necessary elements). Other writers have put the blame on disease, parasites, wars, anatomical or metabolic disorders (slipped vertebral discs, malfunction or imbalance of hormone and endocrine systems, dwindling brain and consequent stupidity, heat sterilization, effects of being warm-blooded in the Mesozoic world), racial old age, evolutionary drift into senescent overspecialization, changes in the pressure or composition of the atmosphere, poison gases, volcanic dust, excessive oxygen from plants, meteorites, comets, gene pool drainage by little mammalian egg-eaters, overkill capacity by predators, fluctuation of gravitational constants, development of psychotic suicidal factors, entropy, cosmic radiation, shift of Earth’s rotational poles, floods, continental drift, extraction of the moon from the Pacific Basin, draining of swamp and lake environments, sunspots, God’s will, mountain building, raids by little green hunters in flying saucers, lack of standing room in Noah’s Ark, and palaeoweltschmerz.
'Riddles of the Terrible Lizards', American Scientist (1964) 52, 231.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Author (175)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Blame (31)  |  Blood (144)  |  Brain (281)  |  Building (158)  |  Calcium (8)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Change (639)  |  Climate (102)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Cold (115)  |  Comet (65)  |  Competence (13)  |  Composition (86)  |  Consequent (19)  |  Constant (148)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Development (441)  |  Diet (56)  |  Dinosaur (26)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disease (340)  |  Disorder (45)  |  Dry (65)  |  Dust (68)  |  Effect (414)  |  Egg (71)  |  Element (322)  |  Endocrine (2)  |  Enough (341)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Environment (239)  |  Excessive (24)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Extraction (10)  |  Fern (10)  |  Flood (52)  |  Fluctuation (15)  |  Flying (74)  |  Flying Saucer (3)  |  Food (213)  |  Gene (105)  |  God (776)  |  Green (65)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hormone (11)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hunter (28)  |  Lack (127)  |  Lake (36)  |  Little (717)  |  Malfunction (4)  |  Meteorite (9)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Noah�s Ark (2)  |  Oil (67)  |  Old (499)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Parasite (33)  |  Plant (320)  |  Poison (46)  |  Pole (49)  |  Predator (6)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Shift (45)  |  Sterilization (2)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Substance (253)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Sunspot (5)  |  Swamp (9)  |  System (545)  |  UFO (4)  |  Volcano (46)  |  War (233)  |  Warm (74)  |  Warm-Blooded (3)  |  Water (503)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Writer (90)

Why has not anyone seen that fossils alone gave birth to a theory about the formation of the earth, that without them, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the globe.
Discours sur les révolutions du globe, (Discourse on the Revolutions of the Surface of the Globe), originally the introduction to Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles des quadrupèdes (1812). Translated by Ian Johnston from the 1825 edition. Online at Vancouver island University website.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Birth (154)  |  Dream (222)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Successive (73)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Why (491)

Why then be concerned about the conservation of wildlife when for all practical purposes we would be much better off if humans and their domestic animals and pets were the only living creatures on the face of the earth? There is no obvious and demolishing answer to this rather doubtful logic although in practice the destruction of all wild animals would certainly bring devastating changes to our existence on this planet as we know it today… The trouble is that everything in nature is completely interdependent. Tinker with one part of it and the repercussions ripple out in all directions… Wildlife—and that includes everything from microbes to blue whales and from a fungus to a redwood tree—has been so much part of life on the earth that we are inclined to take its continued existence for granted… Yet the wildlife of the world is disappearing, not because of a malicious and deliberate policy of slaughter and extermination, but simply because of a general and widespread ignorance and neglect.
World Wildlife Fund Dinner, York, (1969). As quoted and cited in 'The Mirror of a Duke', The Dorset Eye on dorseteye.com website
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Better Off (7)  |  Blue Whale (3)  |  Bring (95)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Change (639)  |  Completely (137)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Continue (179)  |  Creature (242)  |  Deliberate (19)  |  Demolish (8)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Devastating (6)  |  Direction (185)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Domestic (27)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Everything (489)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Face (214)  |  Face Of The Earth (5)  |  Fungus (8)  |  General (521)  |  Grant (76)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Include (93)  |  Interdependent (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Logic (311)  |  Malicious (8)  |  Microbe (30)  |  Microbes (14)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Part (235)  |  Pet (10)  |  Planet (402)  |  Policy (27)  |  Practical (225)  |  Practice (212)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Redwood (8)  |  Repercussion (5)  |  Ripple (12)  |  Simply (53)  |  Slaughter (8)  |  Tinker (6)  |  Today (321)  |  Tree (269)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Whale (45)  |  Why (491)  |  Widespread (23)  |  Wild (96)  |  Wild Animal (9)  |  Wildlife (16)  |  World (1850)

Winter opened its vaults last night, flinging fistfuls of crystalline diamonds into the darkening sky. Like white-tulled ballerinas dancing gracefully on heaven’s stage, silent stars stood entranced by their intricate beauty. Motionless, I watched each lacy gem drift softly by my upturned face, as winter’s icy hands guided them gently on their swirling lazy way, and blanketed the waiting earth in cold splendor. The shivering rustling of reeds, the restless fingers of the trees snapping in the frosty air, broke the silent stillness, as winter quietly pulled up its white coverlet over the sleepy earth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Ballerina (2)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Blanket (10)  |  Break (109)  |  Cold (115)  |  Crystalline (3)  |  Dance (35)  |  Darken (2)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Drift (14)  |  Entrance (16)  |  Face (214)  |  Finger (48)  |  Fling (5)  |  Frosty (3)  |  Gem (17)  |  Guide (107)  |  Hand (149)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Icy (3)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Last (425)  |  Lazy (10)  |  Motionless (4)  |  Night (133)  |  Open (277)  |  Pull (43)  |  Quietly (5)  |  Reed (8)  |  Restless (13)  |  Rustle (2)  |  Shiver (2)  |  Silent (31)  |  Sky (174)  |  Snap (7)  |  Softly (6)  |  Splendor (20)  |  Stage (152)  |  Stand (284)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stillness (5)  |  Swirl (10)  |  Tree (269)  |  Vault (2)  |  Wait (66)  |  Waiting (42)  |  Watch (118)  |  Way (1214)  |  White (132)  |  Winter (46)

With such wisdom has nature ordered things in the economy of this world, that the destruction of one continent is not brought about without the renovation of the earth in the production of another.
Theory of the Earth, with Proofs and Illustrations, Vol. 1 (1795), 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Continent (79)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Production (190)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  World (1850)

Within a hundred years of physical and chemical science, men will know what the atom is. It is my belief when science reaches this stage, God will come down to earth with His big ring of keys and will say to humanity, 'Gentlemen, it is closing time.'
Quoted in Ralph Oesper, The Human Side of Scientists (1975), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Belief (615)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Down (455)  |  God (776)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Know (1538)  |  Physical (518)  |  Progress (492)  |  Say (989)  |  Stage (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

Without the cultivation of the earth, [man] is, in all countries, a savage. Until he gives up the chase, and fixes himself in some place and seeks a living from the earth, he is a roaming barbarian. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.
Address to the Legislature of Massachussetts, Boston, On the Agriculture of England (13 Jan 1840). Collected in The Works of Daniel Webster (1851), Vol. 1, 457.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Art (680)  |  Barbarian (2)  |  Begin (275)  |  Chase (14)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Country (269)  |  Cultivation (36)  |  Farmer (35)  |  Follow (389)  |  Founder (26)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Other (2233)  |  Roam (3)  |  Savage (33)  |  Seek (218)  |  Tillage (3)

Wood was the main source of energy in the world until the eighteen-fifties, and it still could be. Roughly a tenth of the annual growth of all the trees on earth could yield alcohol enough to run everything that now uses coal and petroleum—every airplane, every industry, every automobile.
Pieces of the Frame
Science quotes on:  |  Airplane (43)  |  Alcohol (22)  |  Annual (5)  |  Automobile (23)  |  Coal (64)  |  Energy (373)  |  Enough (341)  |  Everything (489)  |  Growth (200)  |  Industry (159)  |  Main (29)  |  Petroleum (8)  |  Run (158)  |  Source (101)  |  Still (614)  |  Tree (269)  |  Use (771)  |  Wood (97)  |  World (1850)  |  Yield (86)

Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relative to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.
In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1935), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  First (1302)  |  Kind (564)  |  Matter (821)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Surface (223)  |  Two (936)  |  Unpleasant (15)  |  Work (1402)

Xenophanes of Kolophon ... believes that once the earth was mingled with the sea, but in the course of time it became freed from moisture; and his proofs are such as these: that shells are found in the midst of the land and among the mountains, that in the quarries of Syracuse the imprints of a fish and of seals had been found, and in Paros the imprint of an anchovy at some depth in the stone, and in Melite shallow impressions of all sorts of sea products. He says that these imprints were made when everything long ago was covered with mud, and then the imprint dried in the mud.
Doxographists, Zeller, Vorsokr. Phil. 543, n. 1. Quoted in Arthur Fairbanks (ed. And trans.), The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 83.
Science quotes on:  |  Course (413)  |  Depth (97)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Impression (118)  |  Long (778)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Mud (26)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Product (166)  |  Proof (304)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Seal (19)  |  Shell (69)  |  Stone (168)  |  Time (1911)  |  Xenophanes (13)

Xenophanes of Kolophon ... says that ... [t]he sun is formed each day from small fiery particles which are gathered together: the earth is infinite, and is not surrounded by air or by sky; an infinite number of suns and moons exist, and all things come from earth. The sea, he said, is salt because so many things flow together and become mixed in it...
Doxographists, Epiph. adv. Haer. iii. 9; Dox. 590. Quoted in Arthur Fairbanks (ed. And trans.), The First Philosophers of Greece (1898), 83.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Become (821)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fiery (5)  |  Flow (89)  |  Form (976)  |  Gather (76)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Moon (252)  |  Number (710)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Particle (200)  |  Salt (48)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sky (174)  |  Small (489)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Xenophanes (13)

You can hardly imagine how I am struggling to exert my poetical ideas just now for the discovery of analogies & remote figures respecting the earth, Sun & all sorts of things—for I think it is the true way (corrected by judgement) to work out a discovery.
Letter to C. Schrenbein, 13th Nov, 1845. In Frank A. J. L. James (ed.), The Correspondence of Michael Faraday (1996), Vol. 3, 428.
Science quotes on:  |  Discovery (837)  |  Exert (40)  |  Figure (162)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Poet (97)  |  Remote (86)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

You have probably heard or said at some point, “I could not live without my cell phone.” Well, the world cannot live without the Arctic; it affects every living thing on Earth and acts as a virtual thermostat, reflecting sunlight and cooling the planet.
In 'What do the Arctic, a Thermostat and COP15 Have in Common?', Huffington Post (18 Mar 2010).
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Affect (19)  |  Arctic (10)  |  Cell Phone (6)  |  Cool (15)  |  Cooling (10)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Thermostat (2)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Virtual (5)  |  World (1850)

You will be astonished when I tell you what this curious play of carbon amounts to. A candle will burn some four, five, six, or seven hours. What, then, must be the daily amount of carbon going up into the air in the way of carbonic acid! ... Then what becomes of it? Wonderful is it to find that the change produced by respiration ... is the very life and support of plants and vegetables that grow upon the surface of the earth.
In A Course of Six Lectures on the Chemical History of a Candle (1861), 117.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Air (366)  |  Amount (153)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Become (821)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Candle (32)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbon Dioxide (25)  |  Carbonic Acid (4)  |  Change (639)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Curious (95)  |  Daily (91)  |  Find (1014)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Hour (192)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  Plant (320)  |  Play (116)  |  Produced (187)  |  Respiration (14)  |  Support (151)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tell (344)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wonderful (155)

You’ve got to be fairly solemn [about the environment]. I mean the mere notion that there are three times as many people on Earth as there were when I started making television. How can the Earth accommodate them? When people, including politicians, set their faces against looking at the consequences—it’s just unbelievable that anyone could ignore it.
In Andrew Pettie, 'Sir David Attenborough interview', The Telegraph (23 Dec 2010). [Checking one population data source, it seems that at the time of the article, in 2010 at age 84, there had been a 2.6 (rounds to roughly three) times increase since 1954 when Attenborough first broadcast. By the year of his 97th birthday, in 2023, the increase was indeed three times (2.99). —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Accommodate (17)  |  Against (332)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Environment (239)  |  Face (214)  |  Ignore (52)  |  Looking (191)  |  Making (300)  |  Mean (810)  |  Notion (120)  |  People (1031)  |  Politician (40)  |  Population (115)  |  Set (400)  |  Solemn (20)  |  Solemnity (6)  |  Start (237)  |  Television (33)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unbelievable (7)


Carl Sagan Thumbnail In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.