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: “Environmental extremists ... wouldn�t let you build a house unless it looked like a bird�s nest.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index B > Category: Brightness

Brightness Quotes (12 quotes)

[Man] … his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labour of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins…
From 'A Free Man's Worship', Independent Review (Dec 1903). Collected in Mysticism and Logic: And Other Essays (1918), 47-48.
Science quotes on:  |  Accidental (31)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Age (509)  |  Atom (381)  |  Belief (615)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Death (406)  |  Destined (42)  |  Devotion (37)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Fear (212)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fire (203)  |  Genius (301)  |  Grave (52)  |  Growth (200)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Individual (420)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Origin (250)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Solar System (81)  |  System (545)  |  Temple (45)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Whole (756)

I came to biochemistry through chemistry; I came to chemistry, partly by the labyrinthine routes that I have related, and partly through the youthful romantic notion that the natural sciences had something to do with nature. What I liked about chemistry was its clarity surrounded by darkness; what attracted me, slowly and hesitatingly, to biology was its darkness surrounded by the brightness of the givenness of nature, the holiness of life. And so I have always oscillated between the brightness of reality and the darkness of the unknowable. When Pascal speaks of God in hiding, Deus absconditus, we hear not only the profound existential thinker, but also the great searcher for the reality of the world. I consider this unquenchable resonance as the greatest gift that can be bestowed on a naturalist.
Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life before Nature (1978), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Bestow (18)  |  Biochemist (9)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Biology (232)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Consider (428)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Do (1905)  |  Gift (105)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hiding (12)  |  Holiness (7)  |  Life (1870)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Notion (120)  |  Blaise Pascal (81)  |  Profound (105)  |  Reality (274)  |  Resonance (7)  |  Romantic (13)  |  Something (718)  |  Speak (240)  |  Thinker (41)  |  Through (846)  |  World (1850)

It is no secret that the moon has no light of her own, but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the influence of the sun
Vitruvius
In De Architectura, Book 9, Chap 2, Sec.3. As translated in Morris Hicky Morgan (trans.), Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (1914), 263.
Science quotes on:  |  Influence (231)  |  Light (635)  |  Mirror (43)  |  Moon (252)  |  Secret (216)  |  Sun (407)

My amateur interest in astronomy brought out the term “magnitude,” which is used for the brightness of a star.
From interview with Henry Spall, as in an abridged version of Earthquake Information Bulletin (Jan-Feb 1980), 12, No. 1, that is on the USGS website.
Science quotes on:  |  Amateur (22)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Classification (102)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Interest (416)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Richter Scale (4)  |  Star (460)  |  Term (357)

The days of my youth extend backward to the dark ages, for I was born when the rush-light, the tallow-dip or the solitary blaze of the hearth were common means of indoor lighting, and an infrequent glass bowl, raised 8 or 10 feet on a wooden post, and containing a cup full of evil-smelling train-oil with a crude cotton wick stuck in it, served to make the darkness visible out of doors. In the chambers of the great, the wax candle or, exceptionally, a multiplicity of them, relieved the gloom on state occasions, but as a rule, the common people, wanting the inducement of indoor brightness such as we enjoy, went to bed soon after sunset.
Reminiscence written by Swan “in his old age”, as quoted in Kenneth Raydon Swan, Sir Joseph Swan (1946), 1-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Bed (25)  |  Biography (254)  |  Birth (154)  |  Blaze (14)  |  Candle (32)  |  Common (447)  |  Crude (32)  |  Dark (145)  |  Dark Ages (10)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Door (94)  |  Evil (122)  |  Extend (129)  |  Glass (94)  |  Gloom (11)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hearth (3)  |  Indoor (2)  |  Light (635)  |  Lighting (5)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Multiplicity (14)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Oil (67)  |  People (1031)  |  Rule (307)  |  Soon (187)  |  State (505)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Tallow (2)  |  Train (118)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wax (13)  |  Wick (4)  |  Youth (109)

The earth in its rapid motion round the sun possesses a degree of living force so vast that, if turned into the equivalent of heat, its temperature would be rendered at least one thousand times greater than that of red-hot iron, and the globe on which we tread would in all probability be rendered equal in brightness to the sun itself.
'On Matter, Living Force, and Heat' (1847). In The Scientific Papers of James Prescott Joule (1884), Vol. 1, 271.
Science quotes on:  |  Degree (277)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Equivalent (46)  |  Force (497)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hot (63)  |  Iron (99)  |  Living (492)  |  Motion (320)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Probability (135)  |  Render (96)  |  Sun (407)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tread (17)  |  Turn (454)  |  Vast (188)

The most striking impression was that of an overwhelming bright light. I had seen under similar conditions the explosion of a large amount—100 tons—of normal explosives in the April test, and I was flabbergasted by the new spectacle. We saw the whole sky flash with unbelievable brightness in spite of the very dark glasses we wore. Our eyes were accommodated to darkness, and thus even if the sudden light had been only normal daylight it would have appeared to us much brighter than usual, but we know from measurements that the flash of the bomb was many times brighter than the sun. In a fraction of a second, at our distance, one received enough light to produce a sunburn. I was near Fermi at the time of the explosion, but I do not remember what we said, if anything. I believe that for a moment I thought the explosion might set fire to the atmosphere and thus finish the earth, even though I knew that this was not possible.
In Enrico Fermi: Physicist (1970), 147.
Science quotes on:  |  Accommodation (9)  |  Amount (153)  |  April (9)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Bright (81)  |  Condition (362)  |  Dark (145)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Daylight (23)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Enough (341)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Explosive (24)  |  Eye (440)  |  Enrico Fermi (20)  |  Finish (62)  |  Fire (203)  |  Flabbergast (2)  |  Flash (49)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Glasses (2)  |  Impression (118)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Light (635)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Moment (260)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Remember (189)  |  Saw (160)  |  Second (66)  |  Set (400)  |  Sky (174)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Spite (55)  |  Striking (48)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Sun (407)  |  Test (221)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ton (25)  |  Unbelievable (7)  |  Whole (756)

The Sun is no lonelier than its neighbors; indeed, it is a very common-place star,—dwarfish, though not minute,—like hundreds, nay thousands, of others. By accident the brighter component of Alpha Centauri (which is double) is almost the Sun's twin in brightness, mass, and size. Could this Earth be transported to its vicinity by some supernatural power, and set revolving about it, at a little less than a hundred million miles' distance, the star would heat and light the world just as the Sun does, and life and civilization might go on with no radical change. The Milky Way would girdle the heavens as before; some of our familiar constellations, such as Orion, would be little changed, though others would be greatly altered by the shifting of the nearer stars. An unfamiliar brilliant star, between Cassiopeia and Perseus would be—the Sun. Looking back at it with our telescopes, we could photograph its spectrum, observe its motion among the stars, and convince ourselves that it was the same old Sun; but what had happened to the rest of our planetary system we would not know.
The Solar System and its Origin (1935), 2-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Alpha Centauri (2)  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Altered (32)  |  Back (395)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Cassiopeia (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Common (447)  |  Component (51)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Convince (43)  |  Distance (171)  |  Double (18)  |  Dwarf (7)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Heat (180)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Loneliness (6)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mile (43)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Million (124)  |  Minute (129)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Nearness (3)  |  Neighbor (14)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Perseus (2)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Power (771)  |  Radical (28)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Set (400)  |  Shift (45)  |  Size (62)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supernatural (26)  |  System (545)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Transport (31)  |  Transportation (19)  |  Twin (16)  |  Unfamiliar (17)  |  Unfamiliarity (5)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

There are so many stars shining in the sky, so many beautiful things winking at you, but when Venus comes out, all the others are waned, they are pushed to the background.
From the play Galileo Galilei (2001) .
Science quotes on:  |  Background (44)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Other (2233)  |  Push (66)  |  Shine (49)  |  Shining (35)  |  Sky (174)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Venus (21)  |  Wink (3)

What caused me to undertake the catalog was the nebula I discovered above the southern horn of Taurus on September 12, 1758, while observing the comet of that year. ... This nebula had such a resemblance to a comet in its form and brightness that I endeavored to find others, so that astronomers would not confuse these same nebulae with comets just beginning to shine. I observed further with suitable refractors for the discovery of comets, and this is the purpose I had in mind in compiling the catalog.
After me, the celebrated Herschel published a catalog of 2000 which he has observed. This unveiling the sky, made with instruments of great aperture, does not help in the perusal of the sky for faint comets. Thus my object is different from his, and I need only nebulae visible in a telescope of two feet [focal length].
Connaissance des Temps for 1800/1801. In Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1974), Vol. 9, 330.
Science quotes on:  |  2000 (15)  |  Aperture (5)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Catalog (5)  |  Comet (65)  |  Compilation (3)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Find (1014)  |  Focal Length (2)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Sir William Herschel (14)  |  Horn (18)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nebula (16)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perusal (2)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Sky (174)  |  Taurus (2)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Two (936)  |  Undertake (35)  |  Undertaking (17)  |  Unveiling (2)  |  Visibility (6)  |  Visible (87)  |  Year (963)

When God makes his presence felt through us, we are like the burning bush: Moses never took any heed what sort of bush it was—he only saw the brightness of the Lord.
In Adam Bede (1859), Vol. 1, 167.
Science quotes on:  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Bush (11)  |  Feel (371)  |  God (776)  |  Heed (12)  |  Lord (97)  |  Moses (8)  |  Never (1089)  |  Presence (63)  |  Religion (369)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Sort (50)  |  Through (846)

When the sun is covered by clouds, objects are less conspicuous, because there is little difference between the light and shade of the trees and the buildings being illuminated by the brightness of the atmosphere which surrounds the objects in such a way that the shadows are few, and these few fade away so that their outline is lost in haze.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Being (1276)  |  Building (158)  |  Buildings (5)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Conspicuous (13)  |  Cover (40)  |  Difference (355)  |  Fade (12)  |  Haze (3)  |  Illuminate (26)  |  Less (105)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Lose (165)  |  Object (438)  |  Outline (13)  |  Shade (35)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surround (33)  |  Tree (269)  |  Way (1214)


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.