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Sir Isaac Newton
(25 Dec 1642 - 20 Mar 1727)
English physicist and mathematician who made seminal discoveries in several areas of science, and was the leading scientist of his era.
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Sir Isaac Newton Quotes on Motion (20 quotes)
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A Vulgar Mechanick can practice what he has been taught or seen done, but if he is in an error he knows not how to find it out and correct it, and if you put him out of his road, he is at a stand; Whereas he that is able to reason nimbly and judiciously about figure, force and motion, is never at rest till he gets over every rub.
— Sir Isaac Newton
Letter (25 May 1694) to Nathaniel Hawes. In J. Edleston (ed.), Correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Cotes (1850), 284.
Absolute, true, and mathematical time, in and of itself and of its own nature, without reference to anything external, flows uniformly and by another name is called duration. Relative, apparent, and common time is any sensible and external measure (precise or imprecise) of duration by means of motion; such as a measure—for example, an hour, a day, a month, a year—is commonly used instead of true time.
— Sir Isaac Newton
The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), 3rd edition (1726), trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman (1999), Definitions, Scholium, 408.
Against filling the Heavens with fluid Mediums, unless they be exceeding rare, a great Objection arises from the regular and very lasting Motions of the Planets and Comets in all manner of Courses through the Heavens.
— Sir Isaac Newton
From Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light (1718), 339.
And thus Nature will be very conformable to her self and very simple, performing all the great Motions of the heavenly Bodies by the Attraction of Gravity which intercedes those Bodies, and almost all the small ones of their Particles by some other attractive and repelling Powers which intercede the Particles. The Vis inertiae is a passive Principle by which Bodies persist in their Motion or Rest, receive Motion in proportion to the Force impressing it, and resist as much as they are resisted. By this Principle alone there never could have been any Motion in the World. Some other Principle was necessary for putting Bodies into Motion; and now they are in Motion, some other Principle is necessary for conserving the Motion.
— Sir Isaac Newton
From Opticks, (1704, 2nd ed. 1718), Book 3, Query 31, 372-3.
Are not all Hypotheses erroneous, in which Light is supposed to consist in Pression or Motion, propagated through a fluid Medium? For in all these Hypotheses the Phaenomena of Light have been hitherto explain'd by supposing that they arise from new Modifications of the Rays; which is an erroneous Supposition.
— Sir Isaac Newton
Opticks, 2nd edition (1718), Book 3, Query 28, 337.
Ax: 100 Every thing doth naturally persevere in yt state in wch it is unlesse it bee interrupted by some externall cause, hence… [a] body once moved will always keepe ye same celerity, quantity & determination of its motion.
— Sir Isaac Newton
Newton’s 'Waste Book' (1665). Quoted in Richard Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1980), 145.
Do not Bodies and Light act mutually upon one another; that is to say, Bodies upon Light in emitting, reflecting, refracting and inflecting it, and Light upon Bodies for heating them, and putting their parts into a vibrating motion wherein heat consists?
— Sir Isaac Newton
Opticks (1704), Book 3, Query 5, 133.
I do not define time, space, place, and motion, as being well known to all. … [However] it will be convenient to distinguish them into Absolute and Relative, True and Apparent, Mathematical and Common.
— Sir Isaac Newton
Scholium following opening section of Definitions, Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) as translated from the original Latin, in Andrew Motte, Newton's Principia: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1729), Vol. 1, 9.
I have presented principles of philosophy that are not, however, philosophical but strictly mathematical—that is, those on which the study of philosophy can be based. These principles are the laws and conditions of motions and of forces, which especially relate to philosophy.
— Sir Isaac Newton
... It still remains for us to exhibit system of the world from these same principles.
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.
— Sir Isaac Newton
In 'General Scholium' from The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1729), Vol. 2, Book 3, 388.
It seems to me farther, that these Particles have not only a Vis inertiae, accompanied with such passive Laws of Motion as naturally result from that Force, but also that they are moved by certain active Principles, such as that of Gravity, and that which causes Fermentation, and the Cohesion of Bodies. These Principles I consider, not as occult Qualities, supposed to result from the specifick Forms of Things, but as general Laws of Nature, by which the Things themselves are form'd; their Truth appearing to us by Phaenomena, though their Causes be not yet discover'd. For these are manifest Qualities, and their Causes only are occult.
— Sir Isaac Newton
From Opticks, (1704, 2nd ed. 1718), Book 3, Query 31, 376-377.
Law 2: A change in motion is proportional to the motive force impressed and takes place along the straight line in which that force is impressed.
— Sir Isaac Newton
The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), 3rd edition (1726), trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman (1999), Axioms, or Laws of Motion, Law 2, 416.
Our present work sets forth mathematical principles of philosophy. For the basic problem of philosophy seems to be to discover the forces of nature from the phenomena of motions and then to demonstrate the other phenomena from these forces. It is to these ends that the general propositions in books 1 and 2 are directed, while in book 3 our explanation of the system of the world illustrates these propositions.
— Sir Isaac Newton
The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), 3rd edition (1726), trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman (1999), Preface to the first edition, 382.
Pictures, propagated by motion along the fibers of the optic nerves in the brain, are the cause of vision.
— Sir Isaac Newton
In Opticks: or, a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light (3rd ed., corrected, 1721), 12.
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.
— Sir Isaac Newton
From Opticks, (1704, 2nd ed. 1718), Book 3, Query 31, 375.
So then Gravity may put ye Planets into Motion, but without ye divine Power it could never put them into such a Circulating Motion as they have about ye Sun; & therefore, for this, as well as other Reasons, I am compelled to ascribe ye Frame of this Systeme to an intelligent agent.
— Sir Isaac Newton
Letter to Richard Bently (17 Jan 1693). 189.R.4.47, f. 5A, Trinity College Library, Cambridge.
The motions of the Comets are exceeding regular, are govern’d by the same laws with the motions of the Planets,… with very eccentric motions through all parts of the heavens indifferently.
— Sir Isaac Newton
In 'General Scholium' from The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1729), Vol. 2, Book 3, 387.
To derive two or three general Principles of Motion from Phænomena, and afterwards to tell us how the Properties and Actions of all corporeal Things follow from those manifest Principles, would be a very great step in Philosophy.
— Sir Isaac Newton
From 'Query 31', Opticks (1704, 2nd ed., 1718), 377.
To vary the compression of the muscle therefore, and so to swell and shrink it, there needs nothing but to change the consistency of the included ether… . Thus may therefore the soul, by determining this ethereal animal spirit or wind into this or that nerve, perhaps with as much ease as air is moved in open spaces, cause all the motions we see in animals.
— Sir Isaac Newton
From 'An Hypothesis explaining the Properties of Light, discoursed of in my several Papers', in Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society (1757), Vol. 3, 252. This was from Newton’s Second Paper on Color and Light, read at the Royal Society (9 Dec 1675).
Who, by vigor of mind almost divine, the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the tides of the seas, his mathematics first demonstrated.
— Sir Isaac Newton
English translation of the epitaph inscribed in Latin on the monument beside his grave in Westminster Abbey. Seen, for example as epigraph, without citation, in Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (1972), 342. The original Latin is, “Qui, animi vi prope divinâ, Planetarum Motus, Figuras, Cometarum semitas, Oceanique Aestus, Suâ Mathesi facem praeferente Primus demonstravit:” as given in Le journal des sçavans, pour l'année MDCCXXXI (Jul 1731), 438. The words “his mathematics” are missing from most quotes of this epitaph, but have been added by Webmaster for the Latin words “Suâ Mathesi” which are present in the verbatim epitaph.
See also:
- 25 Dec - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Newton's birth.
- Isaac Newton - Comments on his “Playing on the Seashore” Quote
- Isaac Newton - “Playing on the Seashore” illustrated quote - Medium 500px.
- Isaac Newton - “Playing on the Seashore” illustrated quote - Large 800px.
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “A change in motion” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “A change in motion” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “In experimental philosophy” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “In experimental philosophy” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Standing on the shoulders of giants” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Standing on the shoulders of giants” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Impressed force is the action” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Impressed force is the action” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Inherent force of matter is the power of resisting…” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Inherent force of matter is the power of resisting…” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Plato is my friend” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - biography from Famous Men of Science (1889)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Plato is my friend” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Colours which appear through the Prism ” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Colours which appear through the Prism ” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Nature does nothing in vain” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Nature does nothing in vain” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “No more causes of natural things should be admitted” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “No more causes of natural things should be admitted” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “God, in the beginning, formed matter” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “God, in the beginning, formed matter” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “The cause of gravity is what I do not pretend to know” - Medium image (500 x 250 px)
- Isaac Newton - context of quote “The cause of gravity is what I do not pretend to know” - Large image (800 x 400 px)
- Sir Isaac Newton’s Apple-Tree - debunking the myth, from Historic Ninepins: A Book of Curiosities by John Timbs (1869)
- Newton and the Dog - debunking the myth about Newton’s dog Diamond.
- Booklist for Isaac Newton.
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) -- 
