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 was going to record talking... the foil was put on; I then shouted 'Mary had a little lamb',... and the machine reproduced it perfectly.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index I > Category: Immensity

Immensity Quotes (30 quotes)

L’Astronomie est utile, parce qu’elle nous élève au-dessus de nous-mêmes; elle est utile, parce qu’elle est grande; elle est utile, parce qu’elle est belle… C’est elle qui nous montre combien l’homme est petit par le corps et combien il est grand par l’esprit, puisque cette immensité éclatante où son corps n’est qu’un point obscur, son intelligence peut l’embrasser tout entière et en goûter la silencieuse harmonie.
Astronomy is useful because it raises us above ourselves; it is useful because it is grand[; it is useful because it is beautiful]… It shows us how small is man’s body, how great his mind, since his intelligence can embrace the whole of this dazzling immensity, where his body is only an obscure point, and enjoy its silent harmony.
In La Valeur de la Science (1904), 276, translated by George Bruce Halsted, in The Value of Science (1907), 84. Webmaster added the meaning of “elle est utile, parce qu’elle est belle,” in brackets, which was absent in Halsted’s translation.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Body (557)  |  Dazzling (13)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Grand (29)  |  Great (1610)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Obscurity (28)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Point (584)  |  Raising (4)  |  Show (353)  |  Silent (31)  |  Small (489)  |  Useful (260)  |  Whole (756)

Surtout l’astronomie et l’anatomie sont les deux sciences qui nous offrent le plus sensiblement deux grands caractères du Créateur; l’une, son immensité, par les distances, la grandeur, et le nombre des corps célestes; l’autre, son intelligence infinie, par la méchanique des animaux.
Above all, astronomy and anatomy are the two sciences which present to our minds most significantly the two grand characteristics of the Creator; the one, His immensity, by the distances, size, and number of the heavenly bodies; the other, His infinite intelligence, by the mechanism of animate beings.
Original French and translation in Craufurd Tait Ramage (ed.) Beautiful Thoughts from French and Italian Authors (1866), 119-120.
Science quotes on:  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Animate (8)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Creator (97)  |  Distance (171)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Heavenly (8)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plus (43)  |  Present (630)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Significant (78)  |  Size (62)  |  Two (936)

Although we know nothing of what an atom is, yet we cannot resist forming some idea of a small particle, which represents it to the mind ... there is an immensity of facts which justify us in believing that the atoms of matter are in some way endowed or associated with electrical powers, to which they owe their most striking qualities, and amongst them their mutual chemical affinity.
[Summarizing his investigations in electrolysis.]
Experimental Researches in Electricity (1839), section 852. Cited in Laurie M. Brown, Abraham Pais, Brian Pippard, Twentieth Century Physics (1995), Vol. 1, 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Affinity (27)  |  Atom (381)  |  Charge (63)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Electrical (57)  |  Electrolysis (8)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Forming (42)  |  Idea (881)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Owe (71)  |  Particle (200)  |  Power (771)  |  Represent (157)  |  Representation (55)  |  Small (489)  |  Striking (48)  |  Way (1214)

Armed with all the powers, enjoying all the wealth they owe to science, our societies are still trying to practice and to teach systems of values already destroyed at the roots by that very science. Man knows at last that he is alone in the indifferent immensity of the universe, whence which he has emerged by chance. His duty, like his fate, is written nowhere.
In Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1971), 171.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Already (226)  |  Arm (82)  |  Chance (244)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Fate (76)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Man (2252)  |  Owe (71)  |  Power (771)  |  Practice (212)  |  Religion (369)  |  Root (121)  |  Still (614)  |  System (545)  |  Teach (299)  |  Trying (144)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)  |  Wealth (100)

As I show you this liquid, I too could tell you, 'I took my drop of water from the immensity of creation, and I took it filled with that fecund jelly, that is, to use the language of science, full of the elements needed for the development of lower creatures. And then I waited, and I observed, and I asked questions of it, and I asked it to repeat the original act of creation for me; what a sight it would be! But it is silent! It has been silent for several years, ever since I began these experiments. Yes! And it is because I have kept away from it, and am keeping away from it to this moment, the only thing that it has not been given to man to produce, I have kept away from it the germs that are floating in the air, I have kept away from it life, for life is the germ, and the germ is life.'
Quoted in Patrice Debré, Louis Pasteur, trans. Elborg Forster (1994), 169.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Air (366)  |  Ask (420)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creature (242)  |  Development (441)  |  Drop (77)  |  Element (322)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fecund (2)  |  Float (31)  |  Germ (54)  |  Gift (105)  |  Jelly (6)  |  Language (308)  |  Life (1870)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Low (86)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moment (260)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Production (190)  |  Question (649)  |  Repetition (29)  |  Show (353)  |  Sight (135)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Use (771)  |  Wait (66)  |  Water (503)  |  Year (963)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grant (76)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Magnificence (14)  |  Outlook (32)  |  Regard (312)  |  Rest (287)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Whole (756)

Each of the major sciences has contributed an essential ingredient in our long retreat from an initial belief in our own cosmic importance. Astronomy defined our home as a small planet tucked away in one corner of an average galaxy among millions; biology took away our status as paragons created in the image of God; geology gave us the immensity of time and taught us how little of it our own species has occupied.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Average (89)  |  Belief (615)  |  Biology (232)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Corner (59)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Create (245)  |  Define (53)  |  Essential (210)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Geology (240)  |  Give (208)  |  God (776)  |  Home (184)  |  Image (97)  |  Importance (299)  |  Ingredient (16)  |  Initial (17)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Major (88)  |  Millions (17)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Occupy (27)  |  Paragon (4)  |  Planet (402)  |  Retreat (13)  |  Small (489)  |  Species (435)  |  Status (35)  |  Teach (299)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tuck (3)

Have you ever plunged into the immensity of space and time by reading the geological treatises of Cuvier? Borne away on the wings of his genius, have you hovered over the illimitable abyss of the past as if a magician’s hand were holding you aloft?
From 'La Peau de Chagrin' (1831). As translated by Herbert J. Hunt in The Wild Ass’s Skin (1977), 40-41.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Aloft (5)  |  Baron Georges Cuvier (34)  |  Genius (301)  |  Geological (11)  |  Hover (8)  |  Limitless (14)  |  Magician (15)  |  Past (355)  |  Plunge (11)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Wing (79)

Have you ever plunged into the immensity of time and space by reading the geological tracts of Cuvier? Transported by his genius, have you hovered over the limitless abyss of the past, as if held aloft by a magician’s hand?
From 'La Peau de Chagrin' (1831). As translated as by Helen Constantine The Wild Ass’s Skin (2012), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Aloft (5)  |  Baron Georges Cuvier (34)  |  Genius (301)  |  Geological (11)  |  Hand (149)  |  Hold (96)  |  Hover (8)  |  Limitless (14)  |  Magician (15)  |  Past (355)  |  Plunge (11)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Space (523)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Tract (7)  |  Transport (31)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Forest (161)  |  High (370)  |  Hymn (6)  |  Illusion (68)  |  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)

However high we climb in the pursuit of knowledge we shall still see heights above us, and the more we extend our view, the more conscious we shall be of the immensity which lies beyond.
Address to the British Association (1863), in Report of the Thirty-Third Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1864), li
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Extend (129)  |  High (370)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  More (2558)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)  |  View (496)

I will paint for [man] not only the visible universe, but all that he can conceive of nature’s immensity in the womb of an atom.
In 'The Misery of Man Without God', Blaise Pascal (1910), Vol. 48, 27, as translated by W.F. Trotter.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Paint (22)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Will (2350)  |  Womb (25)

If we consider what science already has enabled men to know—the immensity of space, the fantastic philosophy of the stars, the infinite smallness of the composition of atoms, the macrocosm whereby we succeed only in creating outlines and translating a measure into numbers without our minds being able to form any concrete idea of it—we remain astounded by the enormous machinery of the universe.
Address (10 Sep 1934) to the International Congress of Electro-Radio Biology, Venice. In Associated Press, 'Life a Closed Book, Declares Marconi', New York Times (11 Sep 1934), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Astound (9)  |  Astounding (9)  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Composition (86)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Creation (350)  |  Enabled (3)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Fantastic (21)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Idea (881)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Know (1538)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Macrocosm (2)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Number (710)  |  Outline (13)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Smallness (7)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Success (327)  |  Translation (21)  |  Universe (900)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  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)  |  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)

Looking through the telescope, one saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet swimming in the field. It seemed such a little thing, so bright and small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so silvery warm—a pin’s-head of light! It was as if it quivered, but really this was the telescope vibrating with the activity of the clockwork that kept the planet in view.
As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and smaller and to advance and recede, but that was simply that my eye was tired. Forty millions of miles it was from us—more than forty millions of miles of void. Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims.
The War of the Worlds (1898), editted by Frank D. McConnell (1977), 128.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Advance (298)  |  Bright (81)  |  Circle (117)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dust (68)  |  Eye (440)  |  Field (378)  |  Grow (247)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Looking (191)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mars (47)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Pin (20)  |  Planet (402)  |  Recede (11)  |  Saw (160)  |  Small (489)  |  Still (614)  |  Swim (32)  |  Swimming (19)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Universe (900)  |  View (496)  |  Void (31)  |  Warm (74)  |  Watch (118)

Man at last knows that he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe, out of which he emerged only by chance. Neither his destiny nor his duty have been written down. The kingdom above or the darkness below: it is for him to choose.
Concluding remarks in Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1972), 180. Also seen translated as, “The ancient covenant is in pieces; man knows at last that he is alone in the universe’s unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance. His destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty. The kingdom above or the darkness below: it is time for him to choose.”
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Chance (244)  |  Choice (114)  |  Choose (116)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Down (455)  |  Duty (71)  |  Emergence (35)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Universe (900)  |  Writing (192)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Full (68)  |  God (776)  |  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)

Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Billions (7)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Height (33)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Things (8)  |  Populate (4)  |  Presumption (15)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Universe (900)

Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains. There have been added, however, some grasp of the immensity of things, some purification of emotion by understanding.
In Modes of Thought: Six Lectures Delivered in Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and Two Lectures in the University of Chicago (1908, 1938), 168
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Best (467)  |  Emotion (106)  |  End (603)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Purification (10)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Wonder (251)

Thomas Robert Malthus quote Population…increases in a geometrical ratio
colorization © todayinsci (Terms of Use) (source)

Please respect the colorization artist’s wishes and do not copy this image for ONLINE use anywhere else.

Thank you.

For offline use, click Terms of Use tab on top menu.

Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), 1st edition, 14. As cited in James Bonar, Parson Malthus (1881), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Check (26)  |  Comparison (108)  |  First (1302)  |  Increase (225)  |  Number (710)  |  Population (115)  |  Power (771)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Show (353)  |  Subsistence (9)  |  Will (2350)

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual ... The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.
In Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995), 29.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Both (496)  |  Compatible (4)  |  Disservice (4)  |  Elation (2)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Humility (31)  |  Intricacy (8)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Light-Years (2)  |  Mutually (7)  |  Notion (120)  |  Passage (52)  |  Place (192)  |  Profound (105)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sense (785)  |  Soaring (9)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Source (101)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Spirituality (8)  |  Subtlety (19)  |  Surely (101)  |  Year (963)

Since as the Creation is, so is the Creator also magnified, we may conclude in consequence of an infinity, and an infinite all-active power, that as the visible creation is supposed to be full of siderial systems and planetary worlds, so on, in like similar manner, the endless Immensity is an unlimited plenum of creations not unlike the known Universe.… That this in all probability may be the real case, is in some degree made evident by the many cloudy spots, just perceivable by us, as far without our starry Regions, in which tho’ visibly luminous spaces, no one Star or particular constituent body can possibly be distinguished; those in all likelyhood may be external creation, bordering upon the known one, too remote for even our Telescopes to reach.
In The Universe and the Stars: Being an Original Theory on the Visible Creation, Founded on the Laws of Nature (1750, 1837), 143-144.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Body (557)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creator (97)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Endless (60)  |  Evident (92)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Known (453)  |  Luminous (19)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Plenum (2)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Power (771)  |  Probability (135)  |  Reach (286)  |  Remote (86)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  System (545)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unlimited (24)  |  Visible (87)  |  World (1850)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Environment (239)  |  Essentially (15)  |  Extend (129)  |  Historical (70)  |  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 geologist, who is blest with an assured conviction of the immensity of geological time, moves with an ease and freedom from cause to effect wholly denied to those wanting in this conviction.
In 'The Relations of Geology', Scottish Geographical Magazine (Aug 1902), 19, No. 8, 398.
Science quotes on:  |  Assured (4)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Cause (561)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Effect (414)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Geologic Time (2)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Move (223)  |  Time (1911)  |  Want (504)  |  Wholly (88)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enable (122)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Exist (458)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Growth (200)  |  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 size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home.
Cosmos (1981), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Lost (34)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Size (62)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Understanding (527)

The universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson. The mountain teaches stability and grandeur; the ocean immensity and change. Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes—every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Animate (8)  |  Bring (95)  |  Change (639)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Flower (112)  |  Forest (161)  |  Form (976)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impress (66)  |  Inanimate (18)  |  Kindergarten (5)  |  Lake (36)  |  Leave (138)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  River (140)  |  Snowflake (15)  |  Soul (235)  |  Stability (28)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stupendous (13)  |  Teach (299)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wind (141)

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)  |  Earth (1076)  |  General (521)  |  Grow (247)  |  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)

Were the succession of stars endless, then the background of the sky would present us an uniform luminosity, like that displayed by the Galaxy—since there could be absolutely no point, in all that background, at which would not exist a star. The only mode, therefore, in which, under such a state of affairs, we could comprehend the voids which our telescopes find in innumerable directions, would be by supposing the distance of the invisible background so immense that no ray from it has yet been able to reach us at all.
'Eureka: An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe' (1848). Collected in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe (1857), Vol. 2, 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Background (44)  |  Direction (185)  |  Display (59)  |  Distance (171)  |  Endless (60)  |  Exist (458)  |  Find (1014)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Immense (89)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Invisibility (5)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Luminosity (6)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Ray (115)  |  Reach (286)  |  Sky (174)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  State (505)  |  Succession (80)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Uniformity (38)  |  Void (31)

When the great truth accidentally revealed and experimentally confirmed is fully recognized, that this planet, with all its appalling immensity, is to electric currents virtually no more than a small metal ball and that by this fact many possibilities, each baffling imagination and of incalculable consequence, are rendered absolutely sure of accomplishment; when the first plant is inaugurated and it is shown that a telegraphic message, almost as secret and non-interferable as a thought, can be transmitted to any terrestrial distance, the sound of the human voice, with all its intonations and inflections, faithfully and instantly reproduced at any other point of the globe, the energy of a waterfall made available for supplying light, heat or motive power, anywhere—on sea, or land, or high in the air—humanity will be like an ant heap stirred up with a stick: See the excitement coming!
In 'The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires', Electrical World and Engineer (5 Mar 1904), 43, No. 10, 431.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Accidentally (2)  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Air (366)  |  Ant (34)  |  Anywhere (16)  |  Appalling (10)  |  Available (80)  |  Baffle (6)  |  Ball (64)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Current (122)  |  Distance (171)  |  Electric (76)  |  Energy (373)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faithful (13)  |  First (1302)  |  Globe (51)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heap (15)  |  Heat (180)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Incalculable (4)  |  Inflection (4)  |  Instantly (20)  |  Interference (22)  |  Land (131)  |  Light (635)  |  Message (53)  |  Metal (88)  |  More (2558)  |  Motive (62)  |  Planet (402)  |  Plant (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Power (771)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Render (96)  |  Reproduce (12)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Sea (326)  |  Secret (216)  |  Small (489)  |  Sound (187)  |  Stick (27)  |  Stir (23)  |  Supply (100)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Thought (995)  |  Transmit (12)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Virtually (6)  |  Voice (54)  |  Waterfall (5)


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.