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: “Dangerous... to take shelter under a tree, during a thunder-gust. It has been fatal to many, both men and beasts.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index A > Category: Aesthetic

Aesthetic Quotes (48 quotes)

Les mathématique sont un triple. Elles doivent fournir un instrument pour l'étude de la nature. Mais ce n'est pas tout: elles ont un but philosophique et, j'ose le dire, un but esthétique.
Mathematics has a threefold purpose. It must provide an instrument for the study of nature. But this is not all: it has a philosophical purpose, and, I daresay, an aesthetic purpose.
La valeur de la science. In Anton Bovier, Statistical Mechanics of Disordered Systems (2006), 161.
Science quotes on:  |  Dire (6)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Study (701)

A troubling question for those of us committed to the widest application of intelligence in the study and solution of the problems of men is whether a general understanding of the social sciences will be possible much longer. Many significant areas of these disciplines have already been removed by the advances of the past two decades beyond the reach of anyone who does not know mathematics; and the man of letters is increasingly finding, to his dismay, that the study of mankind proper is passing from his hands to those of technicians and specialists. The aesthetic effect is admittedly bad: we have given up the belletristic “essay on man” for the barbarisms of a technical vocabulary, or at best the forbidding elegance of mathematical syntax.
Opening paragraph of 'The Study of Man: Sociology Learns the Language of Mathematics' in Commentary (1 Sep 1952). Reprinted in James Roy Newman, The World of Mathematics (1956), Vol. 2, 1294.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Already (226)  |  Application (257)  |  Bad (185)  |  Barbarism (8)  |  Best (467)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Decade (66)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Dismay (5)  |  Effect (414)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Essay (27)  |  General (521)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Know (1538)  |  Letter (117)  |  Man (2252)  |  Man Of Letters (6)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Passing (76)  |  Past (355)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proper (150)  |  Question (649)  |  Reach (286)  |  Remove (50)  |  Significant (78)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Solution (282)  |  Specialist (33)  |  Study (701)  |  Syntax (2)  |  Technical (53)  |  Technician (9)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vocabulary (10)  |  Will (2350)

Aesthetic considerations are a matter of luxury and indulgence rather than of necessity.
A New Jersey Court decision confirming an existing billboard to be exempted from retrospective application of a city ordinance restricting billboard location. From 'City of Passaic v. Paterson Bill Posting, Etc., Co. (Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey, November 20, 1905)', The New Jersey Law Journal (1906), 29, 244. The court wrote that the effect of the ordinance was to take private property without compensation, and could not be justified as an exercise of the police power because public safety was not unreasonably compromised by the billboard, and thus the ordinance exceeded necessity.
Science quotes on:  |  Billboard (2)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Environment (239)  |  Indulgence (6)  |  Law (913)  |  Luxury (21)  |  Matter (821)  |  Necessity (197)

After all, most men are incapable of deciding for themselves, and have got to have a leader somewhere. If the new discoveries in mass suggestion enable us to make government easier, not only political, but moral and aesthetic, why not welcome them like other useful inventions? Why should science be limited to improvements in our control over nature, and exclude the most important part of our environment, our fellows? Get on the inside, join, as I used to be told, some party, and learn where the ropes come down within your reach. Adopt the high calling of Manipulator and save the State.
Such Machiavellis are not confined to Russia and Italy; one may find them all about even in this Land of the Free. … Still there remains in me a strange misgiving about making use of one’s fellows through an appeal to their weaknesses, even when all you do is to select their objects for them. In the elegant diction of Mr. Mencken, and in spite of the great weight of his authority, a government of the boobs, for the boobs and by the boobs to me still has its morbid charms.
In Learned Hand and Irving Dilliard (ed.), The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses of Learned Hand (1952), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Authority (99)  |  Charm (54)  |  Control (182)  |  Decision (98)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Government (116)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Incapable (41)  |  Italy (6)  |  Leader (51)  |   Niccolò Machiavelli (6)  |  Manipulator (5)  |  H. L. Mencken (86)  |  Misgiving (3)  |  Morality (55)  |  Morbid (5)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Politics (122)  |  Russia (14)  |  State (505)  |  Weakness (50)

Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy. Between aesthetic and religious rapture there is a family alliance. Art and Religion are means to similar states of mind.
In Art (1913), 92.
Science quotes on:  |  Alliance (5)  |  Art (680)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Ecstasy (9)  |  Escape (85)  |  Family (101)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Rapture (8)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Road (71)  |  Similar (36)  |  State (505)  |  Two (936)

Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
In letter to Harmann Huth (27 Dec 1930). Presumably published in Vegetarische Warte (Vegetarian Watch, some time before 1935), a German magazine published by the society Vegetarier-Bund of which Harmann Huth was vice-president. As cited by Alice Calaprice (ed.) in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein (2010), 453. This might be the inspiration for a much-circulated and much-elaborated version attributed, but apparently wrongly, to Einstein. The questionable quote appears as: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet,” but no reliable source has been found for this as Einstein’s own words. Calaprice included this quote in her earlier edition of The Quotable Einstein (1996) in a final section of “Attributed to Einstein,” but it was removed from the final edition (2010), presumably because after much effort, it remained unsubstantiated.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Aim (175)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Effect (414)  |  Health (210)  |  Human (1512)  |  Influence (231)  |  Living (492)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Moral (203)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physical (518)  |  Purely (111)  |  Reason (766)  |  Temperament (18)  |  Vegetarian (13)  |  View (496)

Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before. Some day, I doubt not, we shall arrive at an understanding of the evolution of the aesthetic faculty; but all the understanding in the world will neither increase nor diminish the force of the intuition that this is beautiful and that is ugly.
'Evolution and Ethics' (1893). In Collected Essays (1894), Vol. 9, 80.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Better (493)  |  Call (781)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Evil (122)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Force (497)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Good (906)  |  Increase (225)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Man (2252)  |  Reason (766)  |  Teach (299)  |  Ugly (14)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Darwin grasped the philosophical bleakness with his characteristic courage. He argued that hope and morality cannot, and should not, be passively read in the construction of nature. Aesthetic and moral truths, as human concepts, must be shaped in human terms, not ‘discovered’ in nature. We must formulate these answers for ourselves and then approach nature as a partner who can answer other kinds of questions for us–questions about the factual state of the universe, not about the meaning of human life. If we grant nature the independence of her own domain–her answers unframed in human terms–then we can grasp her exquisite beauty in a free and humble way. For then we become liberated to approach nature without the burden of an inappropriate and impossible quest for moral messages to assuage our hopes and fears. We can pay our proper respect to nature’s independence and read her own ways as beauty or inspiration in our different terms.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Approach (112)  |  Argue (25)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Become (821)  |  Bleakness (2)  |  Burden (30)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Concept (242)  |  Construction (114)  |  Courage (82)  |  Darwin (14)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Domain (72)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Factual (8)  |  Fear (212)  |  Formulate (16)  |  Free (239)  |  Grant (76)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Humble (54)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Inappropriate (5)  |  Independence (37)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Kind (564)  |  Liberate (10)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Message (53)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Partner (5)  |  Passively (3)  |  Pay (45)  |  Philosophical (24)  |  Proper (150)  |  Quest (39)  |  Question (649)  |  Read (308)  |  Respect (212)  |  Shape (77)  |  State (505)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)

Doubtless it is true that while consciousness is occupied in the scientific interpretation of a thing, which is now and again “a thing of beauty,” it is not occupied in the aesthetic appreciation of it. But it is no less true that the same consciousness may at another time be so wholly possessed by the aesthetic appreciation as to exclude all thought of the scientific interpretation. The inability of a man of science to take the poetic view simply shows his mental limitation; as the mental limitation of a poet is shown by his inability to take the scientific view. The broader mind can take both.
In An Autobiography (1904), Vol. 1, 485.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Both (496)  |  Broader (3)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Doubtless (8)  |  Exclusion (16)  |  Inability (11)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Man (2252)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Poet (97)  |  Possess (157)  |  Possession (68)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Show (353)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  View (496)  |  Wholly (88)

Frequently, I have been asked if an experiment I have planned is pure or applied science; to me it is more important to know if the experiment will yield new and probably enduring knowledge about nature. If it is likely to yield such knowledge, it is, in my opinion, good fundamental research; and this is more important than whether the motivation is purely aesthetic satisfaction on the part of the experimenter on the one hand or the improvement of the stability of a high-power transistor on the other.
Quoted in Richard R. Nelson, 'The Link Between Science and Invention: The Case of the Transistor,' The Rate and Direction of the Inventive Activity (1962). In Daniel S. Greenberg, The Politics of Pure Science (1999), 32, footnote.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Enduring (6)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimenter (40)  |  Frequently (21)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Good (906)  |  High (370)  |  Importance (299)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Likelihood (10)  |  More (2558)  |  Motivation (28)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plan (122)  |  Power (771)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Purely (111)  |  Research (753)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Stability (28)  |  Transistor (6)  |  Will (2350)  |  Yield (86)

Histology is an exotic meal, but can be as repulsive as a dose of medicine for students who are obliged to study it, and little loved by doctors who have finished their study of it all too hastily. Taken compulsorily in large doses it is impossible to digest, but after repeated tastings in small draughts it becomes completely agreeable and even addictive. Whoever possesses a refined sensitivity for artistic manifestations will appreciate that, in the science of histology, there exists an inherent focus of aesthetic emotions.
Opening remarks of paper, 'Art and Artifice in the Science of Histology' (1933), reprinted in Histopathology (1993), 22, 515-525. Quoted in Ross, Pawlina and Barnash, Atlas of Descriptive Histology (2009).
Science quotes on:  |  Addictive (2)  |  Agreeable (20)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Artistic (24)  |  Become (821)  |  Completely (137)  |  Compulsory (8)  |  Digest (10)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Dose (17)  |  Draught (3)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Exist (458)  |  Exotic (8)  |  Finish (62)  |  Finished (4)  |  Focus (36)  |  Hastily (7)  |  Histology (4)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Inherent (43)  |  Large (398)  |  Little (717)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Meal (19)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Obliged (6)  |  Possess (157)  |  Refined (8)  |  Repeated (5)  |  Repulsive (7)  |  Sensitivity (10)  |  Small (489)  |  Student (317)  |  Study (701)  |  Whoever (42)  |  Will (2350)

I do not intend to go deeply into the question how far mathematical studies, as the representatives of conscious logical reasoning, should take a more important place in school education. But it is, in reality, one of the questions of the day. In proportion as the range of science extends, its system and organization must be improved, and it must inevitably come about that individual students will find themselves compelled to go through a stricter course of training than grammar is in a position to supply. What strikes me in my own experience with students who pass from our classical schools to scientific and medical studies, is first, a certain laxity in the application of strictly universal laws. The grammatical rules, in which they have been exercised, are for the most part followed by long lists of exceptions; accordingly they are not in the habit of relying implicitly on the certainty of a legitimate deduction from a strictly universal law. Secondly, I find them for the most part too much inclined to trust to authority, even in cases where they might form an independent judgment. In fact, in philological studies, inasmuch as it is seldom possible to take in the whole of the premises at a glance, and inasmuch as the decision of disputed questions often depends on an aesthetic feeling for beauty of expression, or for the genius of the language, attainable only by long training, it must often happen that the student is referred to authorities even by the best teachers. Both faults are traceable to certain indolence and vagueness of thought, the sad effects of which are not confined to subsequent scientific studies. But certainly the best remedy for both is to be found in mathematics, where there is absolute certainty in the reasoning, and no authority is recognized but that of one’s own intelligence.
In 'On the Relation of Natural Science to Science in general', Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects, translated by E. Atkinson (1900), 25-26.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Accordingly (5)  |  Application (257)  |  Attainable (3)  |  Authority (99)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Best (467)  |  Both (496)  |  Case (102)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Classical (49)  |  Compel (31)  |  Confine (26)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Course (413)  |  Decision (98)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Deeply (17)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Do (1905)  |  Education (423)  |  Effect (414)  |  Exception (74)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Experience (494)  |  Expression (181)  |  Extend (129)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Far (158)  |  Fault (58)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Form (976)  |  Genius (301)  |  Glance (36)  |  Grammar (15)  |  Grammatical (2)  |  Habit (174)  |  Happen (282)  |  Important (229)  |  Improve (64)  |  Inasmuch (5)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Independent (74)  |  Individual (420)  |  Indolence (8)  |  Inevitably (6)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intend (18)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Language (308)  |  Law (913)  |  Laxity (2)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  List (10)  |  Logical (57)  |  Long (778)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Medical (31)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Often (109)  |  Organization (120)  |  Part (235)  |  Pass (241)  |  Philological (3)  |  Place (192)  |  Position (83)  |  Possible (560)  |  Premise (40)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Question (649)  |  Range (104)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Refer (14)  |  Rely (12)  |  Remedy (63)  |  Representative (14)  |  Rule (307)  |  Sadness (36)  |  School (227)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Strict (20)  |  Strictly (13)  |  Strike (72)  |  Student (317)  |  Study (701)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Supply (100)  |  System (545)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Traceable (5)  |  Training (92)  |  Trust (72)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universal Law (4)  |  Vagueness (15)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

I have long aspired to make our company a noble prototype of industry, penetrating in science, reliable in engineering, creative in aesthetics and wholesomely prosperous in economics.
In Alan R. Earls and Nasrin Rohani, Polaroid (2005), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Company (63)  |  Creative (144)  |  Creativity (84)  |  Economic (84)  |  Economics (44)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Industry (159)  |  Long (778)  |  Noble (93)  |  Penetration (18)  |  Prototype (9)  |  Reliability (18)  |  Wholesome (12)

I have long recognized the theory and aesthetic of such comprehensive display: show everything and incite wonder by sheer variety. But I had never realized how power fully the decor of a cabinet museum can promote this goal until I saw the Dublin [Natural History Museum] fixtures redone right ... The exuberance is all of one piece–organic and architectural. I write this essay to offer my warmest congratulations to the Dublin Museum for choosing preservation–a decision not only scientifically right, but also ethically sound and decidedly courageous. The avant-garde is not an exclusive locus of courage; a principled stand within a reconstituted rear unit may call down just as much ridicule and demand equal fortitude. Crowds do not always rush off in admirable or defendable directions.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Admirable (20)  |  Cabinet (5)  |  Call (781)  |  Choose (116)  |  Comprehensive (29)  |  Congratulation (5)  |  Congratulations (3)  |  Courage (82)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Decidedly (2)  |  Decision (98)  |  Demand (131)  |  Direction (185)  |  Display (59)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Dublin (3)  |  Equal (88)  |  Essay (27)  |  Ethically (4)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Exuberance (3)  |  Fixture (2)  |  Fortitude (2)  |  Fully (20)  |  Goal (155)  |  History (716)  |  Incite (3)  |  Locus (5)  |  Long (778)  |  Museum (40)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Never (1089)  |  Offer (142)  |  Organic (161)  |  Piece (39)  |  Power (771)  |  Preservation (39)  |  Principle (530)  |  Promote (32)  |  Realize (157)  |  Rear (7)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Reconstitute (2)  |  Ridicule (23)  |  Right (473)  |  Rush (18)  |  Saw (160)  |  Scientifically (3)  |  See (1094)  |  Sheer (9)  |  Show (353)  |  Sound (187)  |  Stand (284)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unit (36)  |  Variety (138)  |  Warm (74)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Write (250)

I will try to account for the degree of my aesthetic emotion. That, I conceive, is the function of the critic.
In Art (1913), 169.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Critic (21)  |  Degree (277)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Function (235)  |  Try (296)  |  Will (2350)

If texts are unified by a central logic of argument, then their pictorial illustrations are integral to the ensemble, not pretty little trifles included only for aesthetic or commercial value. Primates are visual animals, and (particularly in science) illustration has a language and set of conventions all its own.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Argument (145)  |  Central (81)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Convention (16)  |  Ensemble (8)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Include (93)  |  Integral (26)  |  Language (308)  |  Little (717)  |  Logic (311)  |  Particularly (21)  |  Pictorial (2)  |  Pretty (21)  |  Primate (11)  |  Set (400)  |  Text (16)  |  Trifle (18)  |  Unified (10)  |  Value (393)  |  Visual (16)

If we work, it is less to obtain those positive results the common people think are our only interest, than to feel that aesthetic emotion and communicate it to those able to experience it.
From the original French, “Si nous travaillons, c’est moins pour obtenir ces résultats auxquels le vulgaire nous croit uniquement attachés, que pour ressentir cette émotion esthétique et la communiquer à ceux qui sont capables de l’éprouver,” quoted in Henri Poincaré,'Notice sur Halphen', Journal de l’École Polytechnique (1890), 60, 143, cited in Oeuvres de G.H. Halphen (1916), Vol. 1, xxiv. As translated in Armand Borel, 'On the Place of Mathematics in Culture', in Armand Borel: Œvres: Collected Papers (1983), Vol. 4, 421.
Science quotes on:  |  Common (447)  |  Common People (2)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Experience (494)  |  Feel (371)  |  Interest (416)  |  Obtain (164)  |  People (1031)  |  Positive (98)  |  Result (700)  |  Think (1122)  |  Work (1402)

In addition to this it [mathematics] provides its disciples with pleasures similar to painting and music. They admire the delicate harmony of the numbers and the forms; they marvel when a new discovery opens up to them an unexpected vista; and does the joy that they feel not have an aesthetic character even if the senses are not involved at all? … For this reason I do not hesitate to say that mathematics deserves to be cultivated for its own sake, and I mean the theories which cannot be applied to physics just as much as the others.
(1897) From the original French, “Et surtout, leurs adeptes y trouvent des jouissances analogues á celles que donnent la peinture et la musique. Ils admirent la délicate harmonie des nombres et des formes; ils s’émerveillent quand une découverte nouvelle leur ouvre une perspective inattendue; et la joie qu’ils éprouvent ainsi n’a-t-elle pas le caractère esthétique, bien que les sens n’y prennent aucune part?...C’est pourquoi je n’hésite pas à dire que les mathématiques méritent d’être cultivées pour elles-mêmes et que les théories qui ne peuvent être appliquées á la physique doivent l’être comme les autres.” Address read for him at the First International Congress of Mathematicians in Zurich: '‘Sur les rapports de l’analyse pure et de la physique', in Proceedings of that Congress 81-90, (1898). Also published as 'L’Analyse et la Physique', in La Valeur de la Science (1905), 137-151. As translated in Armand Borel, 'On the Place of Mathematics in Culture', in Armand Borel: Œvres: Collected Papers (1983), Vol. 4, 420-421.
Science quotes on:  |  Addition (70)  |  Admire (19)  |  Applied (176)  |  Character (259)  |  Cultivate (24)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Disciple (8)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Feel (371)  |  Form (976)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Hesitate (24)  |  Involved (90)  |  Joy (117)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Music (133)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Painting (46)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sake (61)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Vista (12)

In its earliest development knowledge is self-sown. Impressions force themselves upon men’s senses whether they will or not, and often against their will. The amount of interest in which these impressions awaken is determined by the coarser pains and pleasures which they carry in their train or by mere curiosity; and reason deals with the materials supplied to it as far as that interest carries it, and no further. Such common knowledge is rather brought than sought; and such ratiocination is little more than the working of a blind intellectual instinct. It is only when the mind passes beyond this condition that it begins to evolve science. When simple curiosity passes into the love of knowledge as such, and the gratification of the æsthetic sense of the beauty of completeness and accuracy seems more desirable that the easy indolence of ignorance; when the finding out of the causes of things becomes a source of joy, and he is accounted happy who is successful in the search, common knowledge passes into what our forefathers called natural history, whence there is but a step to that which used to be termed natural philosophy, and now passes by the name of physical science.
In this final state of knowledge the phenomena of nature are regarded as one continuous series of causes and effects; and the ultimate object of science is to trace out that series, from the term which is nearest to us, to that which is at the farthest limit accessible to our means of investigation.
The course of nature as it is, as it has been, and as it will be, is the object of scientific inquiry; whatever lies beyond, above, or below this is outside science. But the philosopher need not despair at the limitation on his field of labor; in relation to the human mind Nature is boundless; and, though nowhere inaccessible, she is everywhere unfathomable.
The Crayfish: an Introduction to the Study of Zoölogy (1880), 2-3. Excerpted in Popular Science (Apr 1880), 16, 789-790.
Science quotes on:  |  Accessible (27)  |  Account (195)  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Against (332)  |  Amount (153)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Become (821)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Blind (98)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Call (781)  |  Carry (130)  |  Cause (561)  |  Cause And Effect (21)  |  Common (447)  |  Completeness (19)  |  Condition (362)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Course (413)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Deal (192)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Despair (40)  |  Determination (80)  |  Development (441)  |  Easy (213)  |  Effect (414)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Field (378)  |  Final (121)  |  Finding (34)  |  Force (497)  |  Forefather (4)  |  Gratification (22)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Happy (108)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Impression (118)  |  Inaccessible (18)  |  Indolence (8)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Interest (416)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Joy (117)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Labor (200)  |  Lie (370)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Little (717)  |  Love (328)  |  Material (366)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Name (359)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Outside (141)  |  Pain (144)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Ratiocination (4)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regard (312)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Search (175)  |  Self (268)  |  Sense (785)  |  Series (153)  |  Simple (426)  |  State (505)  |  Step (234)  |  Successful (134)  |  Term (357)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Trace (109)  |  Tracing (3)  |  Train (118)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Unfathomable (11)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)

In scientific thought we adopt the simplest theory which will explain all the facts under consideration and enable us to predict new facts of the same kind. The catch in this criterion lies in the world “simplest.” It is really an aesthetic canon such as we find implicit in our criticisms of poetry or painting. The layman finds such a law as dx/dt = κ(d²x/dy²) much less simple than “it oozes,” of which it is the mathematical statement. The physicist reverses this judgment, and his statement is certainly the more fruitful of the two, so far as prediction is concerned. It is, however, a statement about something very unfamiliar to the plain man, namely the rate of change of a rate of change.
In 'Science and Theology as Art-Forms', Possible Worlds (1927), 227.
Science quotes on:  |  Adopt (22)  |  Catch (34)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Change (639)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Criterion (28)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Differential Equation (18)  |  Enable (122)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Implicit (12)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Kind (564)  |  Law (913)  |  Layman (21)  |  Lie (370)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Ooze (2)  |  Painting (46)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Predict (86)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Reverse (33)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Thought (17)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplest (10)  |  Something (718)  |  Statement (148)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)  |  Unfamiliar (17)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

In the conception of a machine or the product of a machine there is a point where one may leave off for parsimonious reasons, without having reached aesthetic perfection; at this point perhaps every mechanical factor is accounted for, and the sense of incompleteness is due to the failure to recognize the claims of the human agent. Aesthetics carries with it the implications of alternatives between a number of mechanical solutions of equal validity; and unless this awareness is present at every stage of the process … it is not likely to come out with any success in the final stage of design.
From 'The Esthetic Assimilation of the Machine', Technics and Civilization (1934), 349.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  Agent (73)  |  Awareness (42)  |  Claim (154)  |  Conception (160)  |  Design (203)  |  Due (143)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Failure (176)  |  Final (121)  |  Human (1512)  |  Machine (271)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Number (710)  |  Parsimonious (3)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Process (439)  |  Product (166)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Sense (785)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Stage (152)  |  Success (327)  |  Validity (50)

In the secondary schools mathematics should be a part of general culture and not contributory to technical training of any kind; it should cultivate space intuition, logical thinking, the power to rephrase in clear language thoughts recognized as correct, and ethical and esthetic effects; so treated, mathematics is a quite indispensable factor of general education in so far as the latter shows its traces in the comprehension of the development of civilization and the ability to participate in the further tasks of civilization.
The purposes of instruction in mathematics in secondary schools formulated by the German Society for the Advancement of Instruction. From Unterrichtsblätter fur Mathematik und Naturwissenschaft (1904), 128. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 72-73.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Clear (111)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Correct (95)  |  Cultivate (24)  |  Culture (157)  |  Development (441)  |  Education (423)  |  Effect (414)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Factor (47)  |  General (521)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Kind (564)  |  Language (308)  |  Logical (57)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Part (235)  |  Participate (10)  |  Power (771)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Rephrase (2)  |  School (227)  |  Secondary School (4)  |  Show (353)  |  Space (523)  |  Task (152)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Technical (53)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Trace (109)  |  Training (92)  |  Treat (38)

It [mathematics] is in the inner world of pure thought, where all entia dwell, where is every type of order and manner of correlation and variety of relationship, it is in this infinite ensemble of eternal verities whence, if there be one cosmos or many of them, each derives its character and mode of being,—it is there that the spirit of mathesis has its home and its life.
Is it a restricted home, a narrow life, static and cold and grey with logic, without artistic interest, devoid of emotion and mood and sentiment? That world, it is true, is not a world of solar light, not clad in the colours that liven and glorify the things of sense, but it is an illuminated world, and over it all and everywhere throughout are hues and tints transcending sense, painted there by radiant pencils of psychic light, the light in which it lies. It is a silent world, and, nevertheless, in respect to the highest principle of art—the interpenetration of content and form, the perfect fusion of mode and meaning—it even surpasses music. In a sense, it is a static world, but so, too, are the worlds of the sculptor and the architect. The figures, however, which reason constructs and the mathematic vision beholds, transcend the temple and the statue, alike in simplicity and in intricacy, in delicacy and in grace, in symmetry and in poise. Not only are this home and this life thus rich in aesthetic interests, really controlled and sustained by motives of a sublimed and supersensuous art, but the religious aspiration, too, finds there, especially in the beautiful doctrine of invariants, the most perfect symbols of what it seeks—the changeless in the midst of change, abiding things hi a world of flux, configurations that remain the same despite the swirl and stress of countless hosts of curious transformations.
In 'The Universe and Beyond', Hibbert Journal (1904-1906), 3, 314.
Science quotes on:  |  Abide (12)  |  Alike (60)  |  Architect (32)  |  Art (680)  |  Artistic (24)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Behold (19)  |  Being (1276)  |  Change (639)  |  Changeless (2)  |  Character (259)  |  Cold (115)  |  Color (155)  |  Configuration (8)  |  Construct (129)  |  Content (75)  |  Control (182)  |  Correlation (19)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Countless (39)  |  Curious (95)  |  Delicacy (8)  |  Derive (70)  |  Despite (7)  |  Devoid (12)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Dwell (19)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Ensemble (8)  |  Especially (31)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flux (21)  |  Form (976)  |  Fusion (16)  |  Glorify (6)  |  Grace (31)  |  Grey (10)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Host (16)  |  Hue (3)  |  Illuminate (26)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Inner (72)  |  Interest (416)  |  Intricacy (8)  |  Invariant (10)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Logic (311)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Midst (8)  |  Mode (43)  |  Mood (15)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motive (62)  |  Music (133)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Order (638)  |  Paint (22)  |  Pencil (20)  |  Penetration (18)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Poise (4)  |  Principle (530)  |  Psychic (15)  |  Pure (299)  |  Radiant (15)  |  Really (77)  |  Reason (766)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remain (355)  |  Respect (212)  |  Restrict (13)  |  Rich (66)  |  Same (166)  |  Sculptor (10)  |  Seek (218)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sensuous (5)  |  Sentiment (16)  |  Silent (31)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Solar (8)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Static (9)  |  Statue (17)  |  Stress (22)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Swirl (10)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Temple (45)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Tint (3)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Transformation (72)  |  True (239)  |  Type (171)  |  Variety (138)  |  Verity (5)  |  Vision (127)  |  World (1850)

It is true that the trees are for human use. But these are aesthetic uses as well as commercial uses—uses for the spiritual wealth of all, as well as the material wealth of some.
In an early issue of the Sierra Club Bulletin. Quoted in Stephen Fox, John Muir and His Legacy (1981), 115. As cited in Bryan G. Norton, Toward Unity Among Environmentalists (), 32. 317
Science quotes on:  |  Aestheticism (2)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Human (1512)  |  Material (366)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Tree (269)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Wealth (100)

It was not alone the striving for universal culture which attracted the great masters of the Renaissance, such as Brunellesco, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and especially Albrecht Dürer, with irresistible power to the mathematical sciences. They were conscious that, with all the freedom of the individual fantasy, art is subject to necessary laws, and conversely, with all its rigor of logical structure, mathematics follows aesthetic laws.
From Lecture (5 Feb 1891) held at the Rathhaus, Zürich, printed as Ueber den Antheil der mathematischen Wissenschaft an der Kultur der Renaissance (1892), 19. (The Contribution of the Mathematical Sciences to the Culture of the Renaissance.) As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Art (680)  |  Attract (25)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Culture (157)  |  Leonardo da Vinci (87)  |  Albrecht Dürer (5)  |  Especially (31)  |  Fantasy (15)  |  Follow (389)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Great (1610)  |  Individual (420)  |  Irresistible (17)  |  Law (913)  |  Logic (311)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |   Michelangelo, (3)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Power (771)  |  Raphael (2)  |  Renaissance (16)  |  Rigor (29)  |  Strive (53)  |  Structure (365)  |  Subject (543)  |  Universal (198)

It would seem that more than function itself, simplicity is the deciding factor in the aesthetic equation. One might call the process beauty through function and simplification.
As quoted in Christian Science Monitor (7 May 1952).
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Call (781)  |  Decision (98)  |  Equation (138)  |  Factor (47)  |  Function (235)  |  Invention (400)  |  More (2558)  |  Process (439)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Simplification (20)  |  Through (846)

Mathematical knowledge, therefore, appears to us of value not only in so far as it serves as means to other ends, but for its own sake as well, and we behold, both in its systematic external and internal development, the most complete and purest logical mind-activity, the embodiment of the highest intellect-esthetics.
In 'Ueber Wert und angeblichen Unwert der Mathematik', Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker Vereinigung, Bd. 13, 381.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Appear (122)  |  Both (496)  |  Complete (209)  |  Development (441)  |  Embodiment (9)  |  End (603)  |  External (62)  |  High (370)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Internal (69)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Logical (57)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pure (299)  |  Sake (61)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Value (393)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)

Mathematicians attach great importance to the elegance of their methods and their results. This is not pure dilettantism. What is it indeed that gives us the feeling of elegance in a solution, in a demonstration? It is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details. But this is exactly what yields great results, in fact the more we see this aggregate clearly and at a single glance, the better we perceive its analogies with other neighboring objects, consequently the more chances we have of divining the possible generalizations. Elegance may produce the feeling of the unforeseen by the unexpected meeting of objects we are not accustomed to bring together; there again it is fruitful, since it thus unveils for us kinships before unrecognized. It is fruitful even when it results only from the contrast between the simplicity of the means and the complexity of the problem set; it makes us then think of the reason for this contrast and very often makes us see that chance is not the reason; that it is to be found in some unexpected law. In a word, the feeling of mathematical elegance is only the satisfaction due to any adaptation of the solution to the needs of our mind, and it is because of this very adaptation that this solution can be for us an instrument. Consequently this esthetic satisfaction is bound up with the economy of thought.
In 'The Future of Mathematics', Monist, 20, 80. Translated from the French by George Bruce Halsted.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Attach (57)  |  Balance (82)  |  Better (493)  |  Both (496)  |  Bound (120)  |  Chance (244)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Detail (150)  |  Dilettante (2)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Due (143)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Ensemble (8)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Glance (36)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happy (108)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Meeting (22)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Neighboring (5)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Permit (61)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  See (1094)  |  Set (400)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Single (365)  |  Solution (282)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Unforeseen (11)  |  Unity (81)  |  Word (650)  |  Yield (86)

Mathematics as an expression of the human mind reflects the active will, the contemplative reason, and the desire for aesthetic perfection. Its basic elements are logic and intuition, analysis and construction, generality and individuality. Though different traditions may emphasize different aspects, it is only the interplay of these antithetic forces and the struggle for their synthesis that constitute the life, usefulness, and supreme value of mathematical science.
As co-author with Herbert Robbins, in What Is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods (1941, 1996), x.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Activity (218)  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Antithesis (7)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Basic (144)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Construction (114)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Desire (212)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Element (322)  |  Emphasis (18)  |  Emphasize (25)  |  Expression (181)  |  Force (497)  |  Generality (45)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Individuality (25)  |  Interplay (9)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Life (1870)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)

Mathematics is not only one of the most valuable inventions—or discoveries—of the human mind, but can have an aesthetic appeal equal to that of anything in art. Perhaps even more so, according to the poetess who proclaimed, “Euclid alone hath looked at beauty bare.”
From 'The Joy of Maths'. Collected in Arthur C. Clarke, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays, 1934-1998, 460.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Alone (324)  |  Art (680)  |  Bare (33)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Invention (400)  |  Look (584)  |  Mathematical Beauty (19)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Value (393)

Science, philosophy, religion and art are forms of knowledge. The method of science is experiment; the method of philosophy is speculation; the method of religion and art is moral or esthetic emotional inspiration.
In 'Forms of Knowledge', Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought; a Key to the Enigmas of the World (1922), 231.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Form (976)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Method (531)  |  Moral (203)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Religion (369)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Speculation (137)

Surely the claim of mathematics to take a place among the liberal arts must now be admitted as fully made good. Whether we look at the advances made in modern geometry, in modern integral calculus, or in modern algebra, in each of these three a free handling of the material employed is now possible, and an almost unlimited scope is left to the regulated play of fancy. It seems to me that the whole of aesthetic (so far as at present revealed) may be regarded as a scheme having four centres, which may be treated as the four apices of a tetrahedron, namely Epic, Music, Plastic, and Mathematic. There will be found a common plane to every three of these, outside of which lies the fourth; and through every two may be drawn a common axis opposite to the axis passing through the other two. So far is certain and demonstrable. I think it also possible that there is a centre of gravity to each set of three, and that the line joining each such centre with the outside apex will intersect in a common point the centre of gravity of the whole body of aesthetic; but what that centre is or must be I have not had time to think out.
In 'Proof of the Hitherto Undemonstrated Fundamental Theorem of Invariants', Collected Mathematical Papers (1909), Vol. 3, 123.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Apex (6)  |  Art (680)  |  Body (557)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Centre Of Gravity (4)  |  Certain (557)  |  Claim (154)  |  Common (447)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Employ (115)  |  Epic (12)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Free (239)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Good (906)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Integral (26)  |  Integral Calculus (7)  |  Intersect (5)  |  Joining (11)  |  Liberal Arts (5)  |  Lie (370)  |  Look (584)  |  Material (366)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics As A Fine Art (23)  |  Modern (402)  |  Music (133)  |  Must (1525)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  Passing (76)  |  Place (192)  |  Plane (22)  |  Plastic (30)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Regard (312)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Scope (44)  |  Set (400)  |  Surely (101)  |  Tetrahedron (4)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Unlimited (24)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

The analogies between science and art are very good as long as you are talking about the creation and the performance. The creation is certainly very analogous. The aesthetic pleasure of the craftsmanship of performance is also very strong in science.
As quoted in Robert S. Root-Bernstein, Michele M. Root-Bernstein, Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People (2013), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Art (680)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Craftsmanship (4)  |  Creation (350)  |  Good (906)  |  Long (778)  |  Performance (51)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Strong (182)  |  Talking (76)

The creative scientist studies nature with the rapt gaze of the lover, and is guided as often by aesthetics as by rational considerations in guessing how nature works.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Creative (144)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Guess (67)  |  Guide (107)  |  Lover (11)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Often (109)  |  Rapt (5)  |  Rational (95)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Study (701)  |  Work (1402)

The forms of art are inexhaustible; but all lead by the same road of aesthetic emotion to the same world of aesthetic ecstasy.
In Art (1913), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Ecstasy (9)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Form (976)  |  Inexhaustible (26)  |  Lead (391)  |  Road (71)  |  Same (166)  |  World (1850)

The Japanese are, to the highest degree, both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways.
In The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture (1946, 2006), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Adaptable (2)  |  Aggressive (4)  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Brave (16)  |  Conservative (16)  |  Degree (277)  |  Hospitable (3)  |  Insolent (2)  |  Japanese (7)  |  Loyal (5)  |  Military (45)  |  New (1273)  |  Polite (9)  |  Push (66)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Submissive (2)  |  Timid (6)  |  Treacherous (2)  |  Way (1214)

The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can be economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music.
The Art of Computer Programming (1968), Vol. 1, v.
Science quotes on:  |  Attractive (25)  |  Computer (131)  |  Digital (10)  |  Experience (494)  |  Music (133)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Preparing (21)  |  Process (439)  |  Programming (2)  |  Reward (72)  |  Software (14)  |  Writing (192)

The scientific value of truth is not, however, ultimate or absolute. It rests partly on practical, partly on aesthetic interests. As our ideas are gradually brought into conformity with the facts by the painful process of selection,—for intuition runs equally into truth and into error, and can settle nothing if not controlled by experience,—we gain vastly in our command over our environment. This is the fundamental value of natural science
In The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory (1896), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Command (60)  |  Conformity (15)  |  Control (182)  |  Environment (239)  |  Equally (129)  |  Error (339)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Gain (146)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Idea (881)  |  Interest (416)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Painful (12)  |  Practical (225)  |  Process (439)  |  Rest (287)  |  Run (158)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Selection (130)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Value (393)

The sense for style … is an aesthetic sense, based on admiration for the direct attainment of a foreseen end, simply and without waste. Style in art, style in literature, style in science, style in logic, style in practical execution have fundamentally the same aesthetic qualities, namely, attainment and restraint. The love of a subject in itself and for itself, where it is not the sleepy pleasure of pacing a mental quarter-deck, is the love of style as manifested in that study. Here we are brought back to the position from which we started, the utility of education. Style, in its finest sense, is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also the most useful. It pervades the whole being. The administrator with a sense for style hates waste; the engineer with a sense for style economises his material; the artisan with a sense for style prefers good work. Style is the ultimate morality of the mind.
In 'The Aims of Education', The Aims of Education and Other Essays (1929), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Administrator (11)  |  Admiration (61)  |  Art (680)  |  Artisan (9)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Back (395)  |  Being (1276)  |  Direct (228)  |  Economy (59)  |  Education (423)  |  End (603)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Execution (25)  |  Good (906)  |  Hate (68)  |  Last (425)  |  Literature (116)  |  Logic (311)  |  Love (328)  |  Material (366)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Morality (55)  |  Most (1728)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Practical (225)  |  Restraint (16)  |  Sense (785)  |  Start (237)  |  Study (701)  |  Style (24)  |  Subject (543)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Useful (260)  |  Utility (52)  |  Waste (109)  |  Whole (756)  |  Work (1402)

The tragedy of deforestation in Amazonia as well as elsewhere in the tropics is that its costs, in... economic, social, cultural, and aesthetic terms, far outweigh its benefits. In many cases, destruction of the region’s rainforests is motivated by short-term gains rather than the long-term productive capacity of the land. And, as a result, deforestation usually leaves behind landscapes that are economically as well as ecologically impoverished.
From Anthony Bennett Anderson (ed.), Alternatives to Deforestation: Steps Toward Sustainable Use of the Amazon Rain Forest (1990), xi. As cited in Lykke E. Andersen (ed.), The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brazilian Amazon (2002), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Amazon (11)  |  Behind (139)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Cost (94)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Economic (84)  |  Economy (59)  |  Gain (146)  |  Impoverished (3)  |  Landscape (46)  |  Long (778)  |  Long-Term (11)  |  Motivate (8)  |  Motivated (14)  |  Outweigh (2)  |  Productive (37)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Result (700)  |  Short (200)  |  Short-Term (3)  |  Social (261)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Tragedy (31)  |  Tropic (2)  |  Usually (176)

The Unexpected stalks a farm in big boots like a vagrant bent on havoc. Not every farmer is an inventor, but the good ones have the seeds of invention within them. Economy and efficiency move their relentless tinkering and yet the real motive often seems to be aesthetic. The mind that first designed a cutter bar is not far different from a mind that can take the intractable steel of an outsized sickle blade and make it hum in the end. The question is how to reduce the simplicity that constitutes a problem (“It's simple; it’s broke.”) to the greater simplicity that constitutes a solution.
In Making Hay (2003), 33-34.
Science quotes on:  |  Aestheticism (2)  |  Blade (11)  |  Boot (5)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Cutter (2)  |  Design (203)  |  Different (595)  |  Economy (59)  |  Efficiency (46)  |  End (603)  |  Farm (28)  |  Farmer (35)  |  First (1302)  |  Good (906)  |  Greater (288)  |  Havoc (7)  |  Hum (4)  |  Intractable (3)  |  Invention (400)  |  Inventor (79)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motive (62)  |  Move (223)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Relentless (9)  |  Seed (97)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Solution (282)  |  Stalk (6)  |  Steel (23)  |  Tinkering (6)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Vagrant (5)

There are few humanities that could surpass in discipline, in beauty, in emotional and aesthetic satisfaction, those humanities which are called mathematics, and the natural sciences.
'Scientist and Citizen', Speech to the Empire Club of Canada (29 Jan 1948), The Empire Club of Canada Speeches (29 Jan 1948), 209-221.
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Call (781)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Humanities (21)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Surpassing (12)

There is a case for saying that the creation of new aesthetic forms has been the most fundamentally productive of all forms of human activity. Whoever creates new artistic conventions has found methods of interchange between people about matters which were incommunicable before. The capacity to do this has been the basis of the whole of human history.
An Introduction to the Study of Man (1971), 519. As quoted and cited in Andrée Grau, 'Dance as Part of the Infrastructure of Social Life', The World of Music (1995), 37, No. 2, 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Communication (101)  |  Creativity (84)  |  Human History (7)

There is a great deal of emotional satisfaction in the elegant demonstration, in the elegant ordering of facts into theories, and in the still more satisfactory, still more emotionally exciting discovery that the theory is not quite right and has to be worked over again, very much as any other work of art—a painting, a sculpture has to be worked over in the interests of aesthetic perfection. So there is no scientist who is not to some extent worthy of being described as artist or poet.
'Scientist and Citizen', Speech to the Empire Club of Canada (29 Jan 1948), The Empire Club of Canada Speeches (29 Jan 1948), 209-221.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Being (1276)  |  Deal (192)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Elegant (37)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Great (1610)  |  Interest (416)  |  More (2558)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Painting (46)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Poet (97)  |  Right (473)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Still (614)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Work (1402)

To appreciate a work of art we need bring with us nothing from life, no knowledge of its ideas and affairs, no familiarity with its emotions. Art transports us from the world of man’s activity to a world of æsthetic exaltation. For a moment we are shut off from human interests; our anticipations and memories are arrested; we are lifted above the stream of life. The pure mathematician rapt in his studies knows a state of mind which I take to be similar, if not identical. He feels an emotion for his speculations which arises from no perceived relation between them and the lives of men, but springs, inhuman or super-human, from the heart of an abstract science. I wonder, sometimes, whether the appreciators of art and of mathematical solutions are not even more closely allied.
In Art (1913), 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Activity (218)  |  Anticipation (18)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Arise (162)  |  Art (680)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Exaltation (5)  |  Familiarity (21)  |  Feel (371)  |  Heart (243)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Identical (55)  |  Interest (416)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lift (57)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pure (299)  |  Shut (41)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Spring (140)  |  State (505)  |  Stream (83)  |  Transport (31)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

We are concerned to understand the motivation for the development of pure mathematics, and it will not do simply to point to aesthetic qualities in the subject and leave it at that. It must be remembered that there is far more excitement to be had from creating something than from appreciating it after it has been created. Let there be no mistake about it, the fact that the mathematician is bound down by the rules of logic can no more prevent him from being creative than the properties of paint can prevent the artist. … We must remember that the mathematician not only finds the solutions to his problems, he creates the problems themselves.
In A Signpost to Mathematics (1951), 19. As quoted and cited in William L. Schaaf, 'Memorabilia Mathematica', The Mathematics Teacher (Mar 1957), 50, No. 3, 230. Note that this paper incorrectly attributes “A.H. Head”.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Artist (97)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bound (120)  |  Concern (239)  |  Create (245)  |  Creative (144)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Far (158)  |  Find (1014)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mistake (180)  |  More (2558)  |  Motivation (28)  |  Must (1525)  |  Paint (22)  |  Point (584)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Problem (731)  |  Property (177)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Quality (139)  |  Remember (189)  |  Rule (307)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Something (718)  |  Subject (543)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)

What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions? Only one answer seems possible—significant form. In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way; certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions. These relations and combinations of lines and colours, these æsthetically moving forms, I call “Significant Form”; and “Significant Form” is the one quality common to all works of visual art.
In Art (1913), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Art (680)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Color (155)  |  Combination (150)  |  Combine (58)  |  Common (447)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Form (976)  |  Line (100)  |  Move (223)  |  Object (438)  |  Particular (80)  |  Possible (560)  |  Provoke (9)  |  Quality (139)  |  Relation (166)  |  Seem (150)  |  Share (82)  |  Significant (78)  |  Stir (23)  |  Visual (16)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

You may object that by speaking of simplicity and beauty I am introducing aesthetic criteria of truth, and I frankly admit that I am strongly attracted by the simplicity and beauty of mathematical schemes which nature presents us. You must have felt this too: the almost frightening simplicity and wholeness of the relationship, which nature suddenly spreads out before us.
Letter to Albert Einstein. In Ian Stewart, Why Beauty is Truth (), 278.
Science quotes on:  |  Attract (25)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Criteria (6)  |  Frightening (3)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Present (630)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Spread (86)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Wholeness (9)


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.