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Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
(10 Dec 1830 - 15 May 1886)
American poet who wrote nearly 1800 poems, though only seven were published in her lifetime. When her first posthumous collection of her poetry appeared in 1890 it was received as the work of interesting but idiosyncratic minor poet. Through the 20th century, however, the originality and significance of her poetic accomplishments gained increasing recognition.
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Science Quotes by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (9 quotes)
“Arcturus” is his other name-
I’d rather call him “Star.”
It’s very mean of Science
To go and interfere!
I’d rather call him “Star.”
It’s very mean of Science
To go and interfere!
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
'Arcturus' (c.1859). The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. Thomas H. Johnson (1970), 36.
“Faith” is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
Faith is a Fine Invention (c.1860). T.W. Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd (eds.), Poems: Second Series (1892), 53.
I pull a flower from the woods,
A monster with a glass
Computes the stamens in a breath,
And has her in a class.
A monster with a glass
Computes the stamens in a breath,
And has her in a class.
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
Life is death we’re lengthy at, death the hinge to life.
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
Letter to Louise and Frances Norcross (late May 1863), in Thomas H. Johnson (ed.), Selected Letters (1986), 183.
Surgeons must be very careful
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the Culprit—Life!
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the Culprit—Life!
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
No. 108, 'Surgeons Must Be Very Careful', (1859). In The Poems of Emily Dickinson (1958), 123.
The Chemical conviction
That Nought be lost
Enable in Disaster
My fractured Trust—
The Faces of the Atoms
If I shall see
How more the Finished Creatures
Departed Me!
That Nought be lost
Enable in Disaster
My fractured Trust—
The Faces of the Atoms
If I shall see
How more the Finished Creatures
Departed Me!
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
The Chemical conviction
That Nought be lost
Enable in Disaster
My fractured Trust—
The Faces of the Atoms
If I shall see
How more the Finished Creatures
Departed Me!
That Nought be lost
Enable in Disaster
My fractured Trust—
The Faces of the Atoms
If I shall see
How more the Finished Creatures
Departed Me!
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
The farthest Thunder that I heard
Was nearer than the Sky
And rumbles still, though torrid Noons
Have lain their missiles by-
The Lightning that preceded it
Struck no one but myself-
But I would not exchange the Bolt
For all the rest of Life-
Indebtedness to Oxygen
The Happy may repay,
But not the obligation
To Electricity-
It founds the Homes and decks the Days
And every clamor bright
Is but the gleam concomitant
Of that waylaying Light-
The Thought is quiet as a Flake-
A Crash without a Sound,
How Life’s reverberation
Is Explanation found-—
Was nearer than the Sky
And rumbles still, though torrid Noons
Have lain their missiles by-
The Lightning that preceded it
Struck no one but myself-
But I would not exchange the Bolt
For all the rest of Life-
Indebtedness to Oxygen
The Happy may repay,
But not the obligation
To Electricity-
It founds the Homes and decks the Days
And every clamor bright
Is but the gleam concomitant
Of that waylaying Light-
The Thought is quiet as a Flake-
A Crash without a Sound,
How Life’s reverberation
Is Explanation found-—
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
To live is so startling it leaves little time for other occupations.
— Emily Elizabeth Dickinson
From Letter to T.W. Higginson (late 1872), in Thomas H Johnson (ed.), The Letters of Emily Dickinson (1969), 500.
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) -- 
