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: “God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index D > Category: Directly

Directly Quotes (25 quotes)

Apprehension by the senses supplies, directly or indirectly, the material of all human knowledge; or, at least, the stimulus necessary to develop every inborn faculty of the mind.
In 'The Theory of Vision', collected in Science and Culture: Popular and Philosophical Essays (), 127.
Science quotes on:  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Develop (278)  |  Education (423)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inborn (4)  |  Indirectly (7)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Material (366)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Sense (785)  |  Stimulus (30)  |  Supply (100)

Everything material which is the subject of knowledge has number, order, or position; and these are her first outlines for a sketch of the universe. If our feeble hands cannot follow out the details, still her part has been drawn with an unerring pen, and her work cannot be gainsaid. So wide is the range of mathematical sciences, so indefinitely may it extend beyond our actual powers of manipulation that at some moments we are inclined to fall down with even more than reverence before her majestic presence. But so strictly limited are her promises and powers, about so much that we might wish to know does she offer no information whatever, that at other moments we are fain to call her results but a vain thing, and to reject them as a stone where we had asked for bread. If one aspect of the subject encourages our hopes, so does the other tend to chasten our desires, and he is perhaps the wisest, and in the long run the happiest, among his fellows, who has learned not only this science, but also the larger lesson which it directly teaches, namely, to temper our aspirations to that which is possible, to moderate our desires to that which is attainable, to restrict our hopes to that of which accomplishment, if not immediately practicable, is at least distinctly within the range of conception.
From Presidential Address (Aug 1878) to the British Association, Dublin, published in the Report of the 48th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1878), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Actual (118)  |  Ask (420)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Attainable (3)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bread (42)  |  Call (781)  |  Chasten (2)  |  Conception (160)  |  Desire (212)  |  Detail (150)  |  Distinctly (5)  |  Down (455)  |  Draw (140)  |  Encourage (43)  |  Everything (489)  |  Extend (129)  |  Fall (243)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Fellow (88)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Hand (149)  |  Happy (108)  |  Hope (321)  |  Immediately (115)  |  In The Long Run (18)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Indefinitely (10)  |  Information (173)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Least (75)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Manipulation (19)  |  Material (366)  |  Moderate (6)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Namely (11)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Number (710)  |  Offer (142)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outline (13)  |  Part (235)  |  Pen (21)  |  Position (83)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Practicable (2)  |  Presence (63)  |  Promise (72)  |  Range (104)  |  Reject (67)  |  Restrict (13)  |  Result (700)  |  Reverence (29)  |  Sketch (8)  |  Still (614)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strictly (13)  |  Subject (543)  |  Teach (299)  |  Temper (12)  |  Tend (124)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Unerring (4)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vain (86)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wide (97)  |  Wise (143)  |  Wish (216)  |  Work (1402)

Everything that you read influences you one way or another, imperceptibly or directly or whatever it is, most likely imperceptibly.
In 'An Interview between Joseph Brodsky and Czesław Miłosz' (Autumn 1989) reprinted in Czesław Miłosz and Cynthia L. Haven (ed.), Czesław Miłosz: Conversations (2006), 106.
Science quotes on:  |  Everything (489)  |  Imperceptible (8)  |  Influence (231)  |  Most (1728)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whatever (234)

Firefly meteorites blazed against a dark background, and sometimes the lightning was frighteningly brilliant. Like a boy, I gazed open-mouthed at the fireworks, and suddenly, before my eyes, something magical occurred. A greenish radiance poured from Earth directly up to the station, a radiance resembling gigantic phosphorescent organ pipes, whose ends were glowing crimson, and overlapped by waves of swirling green mist.
“Consider yourself very lucky, Vladimir,” I said to myself, “to have watched the northern lights.”
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Background (44)  |  Blaze (14)  |  Boy (100)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crimson (4)  |  Dark (145)  |  Earth (1076)  |  End (603)  |  Eye (440)  |  Firefly (8)  |  Firework (2)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Glow (15)  |  Green (65)  |  Light (635)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Lucky (13)  |  Magic (92)  |  Meteorite (9)  |  Mist (17)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Myself (211)  |  Northern Lights (2)  |  Occur (151)  |  Open (277)  |  Organ (118)  |  Overlap (9)  |  Phosphorescent (3)  |  Pipe (7)  |  Pour (9)  |  Radiance (7)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Say (989)  |  Something (718)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Station (30)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Swirl (10)  |  Watch (118)  |  Wave (112)

For Linnaeus, Homo sapiens was both special and not special ... Special and not special have come to mean nonbiological and biological, or nurture and nature. These later polarizations are nonsensical. Humans are animals and everything we do lies within our biological potential ... the statement that humans are animals does not imply that our specific patterns of behavior and social arrangements are in any way directly determined by our genes. Potentiality and determination are different concepts.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Biological (137)  |  Both (496)  |  Concept (242)  |  Determination (80)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Everything (489)  |  Gene (105)  |  Homo Sapiens (23)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imply (20)  |  Late (119)  |  Lie (370)  |  Carolus Linnaeus (36)  |  Mean (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nurture (17)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Polarization (4)  |  Potential (75)  |  Potentiality (9)  |  Social (261)  |  Special (188)  |  Specific (98)  |  Statement (148)  |  Way (1214)

Google can aggregate all web and paper-based information, and they can build fantastic search engines, but that will not directly lead to truth or wisdom. For that we will continue to need education, training in critical thought, and good editors who can help us winnow the fact from the fiction.
From post 're:The Pursuit of Knowledge, from Genesis to Google' to the 'Interesting People' List (6 Jan 2005) maintained by David J. Farber, now archived at interesting-people.org website.
Science quotes on:  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Build (211)  |  Continue (179)  |  Critical (73)  |  Editor (10)  |  Education (423)  |  Engine (99)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fantastic (21)  |  Fiction (23)  |  Good (906)  |  Google (4)  |  Information (173)  |  Lead (391)  |  Need (320)  |  Paper (192)  |  Search (175)  |  Thought (995)  |  Training (92)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Web (17)  |  Will (2350)  |  Winnow (4)  |  Wisdom (235)

He seemed to approach the grave as an hyperbolic curve approaches a line, less directly as he got nearer, till it was doubtful if he would ever reach it at all.
In Far from the Madding Crowd (1874, 1909), Chap. 15, 117. In the 1874 edition, “—sheering off” were the original words, replaced by “less directly” by the 1909 edition.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Curve (49)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Grave (52)  |  Line (100)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Reach (286)  |  Seem (150)

Historical science is not worse, more restricted, or less capable of achieving firm conclusions because experiment, prediction, and subsumption under invariant laws of nature do not represent its usual working methods. The sciences of history use a different mode of explanation, rooted in the comparative and observational richness in our data. We cannot see a past event directly, but science is usually based on inference, not unvarnished observation (you don’t see electrons, gravity, or black holes either).
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Badly (32)  |  Base (120)  |  Black Hole (17)  |  Black Holes (4)  |  Capable (174)  |  Comparative (14)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Data (162)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Electron (96)  |  Event (222)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Firm (47)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Historical (70)  |  History (716)  |  Inference (45)  |  Invariant (10)  |  Law (913)  |  Less (105)  |  Method (531)  |  Mode (43)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observational (15)  |  Past (355)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Represent (157)  |  Restrict (13)  |  Richness (15)  |  Root (121)  |  See (1094)  |  Subsumption (3)  |  Unvarnished (2)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Work (1402)

I shuddered when I saw a crimson flame through the porthole instead of the usual starry sky at the night horizon of the planet. Vast pillars of light were bursting into the sky, melting into it, and flooding over with all the colors of the rainbow. An area of red luminescence merged smoothly into the black of the cosmos. The intense and dynamic changes in the colors and forms of the pillars and garlands made me think of visual music. Finally, we saw that we had entered directly into the aurora borealis.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Area (33)  |  Aurora (3)  |  Aurora Borealis (2)  |  Black (46)  |  Burst (41)  |  Change (639)  |  Color (155)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Crimson (4)  |  Dynamic (16)  |  Enter (145)  |  Finally (26)  |  Flame (44)  |  Flood (52)  |  Form (976)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Instead (23)  |  Intense (22)  |  Light (635)  |  Luminescence (2)  |  Melt (16)  |  Merge (3)  |  Music (133)  |  Night (133)  |  Pillar (10)  |  Planet (402)  |  Rainbow (17)  |  Red (38)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Shudder (2)  |  Sky (174)  |  Smoothly (2)  |  Starry (2)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Vast (188)  |  Visual (16)

Iconography becomes even more revealing when processes or concepts, rather than objects, must be depicted–for the constraint of a definite ‘thing’ cedes directly to the imagination. How can we draw ‘evolution’ or ‘social organization,’ not to mention the more mundane ‘digestion’ or ‘self-interest,’ without portraying more of a mental structure than a physical reality? If we wish to trace the history of ideas, iconography becomes a candid camera trained upon the scholar’s mind.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Camera (7)  |  Candid (3)  |  Concept (242)  |  Constraint (13)  |  Definite (114)  |  Depict (3)  |  Digestion (29)  |  Draw (140)  |  Evolution (635)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mention (84)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Mundane (2)  |  Must (1525)  |  Object (438)  |  Organization (120)  |  Physical (518)  |  Portray (6)  |  Process (439)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Scholar (52)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Interest (3)  |  Social (261)  |  Structure (365)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Trace (109)  |  Train (118)  |  Wish (216)

If you defend a behavior by arguing that people are programmed directly for it, then how do you continue to defend it if your speculation is wrong, for the behavior then becomes unnatural and worthy of condemnation. Better to stick resolutely to a philosophical position on human liberty: what free adults do with each other in their own private lives is their business alone. It need not be vindicated–and must not be condemned–by genetic speculation.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Adult (24)  |  Alone (324)  |  Argue (25)  |  Become (821)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Better (493)  |  Business (156)  |  Condemn (44)  |  Condemnation (16)  |  Continue (179)  |  Defend (32)  |  Do (1905)  |  Free (239)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Human (1512)  |  Liberty (29)  |  Live (650)  |  Must (1525)  |  Need (320)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosophical (24)  |  Position (83)  |  Private (29)  |  Program (57)  |  Resolutely (3)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Stick (27)  |  Unnatural (15)  |  Vindicate (4)  |  Worthy (35)  |  Wrong (246)

It [the value of building Fermilab’s first accelerator] only has to do with the respect with which we regard one another, the dignity of men, our love of culture. It has to do with those things. It has nothing to do with the military, I am sorry. … It has to do with: Are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things that we really venerate and honor in our country and are patriotic about. In that sense, this new knowledge has all to do with honor and country but it has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to help make it worth defending.
In testimony to a Congressional Committee, answering a question on how the new accelerator will affect the nation’s security (17 Apr 1968). On record in AEC Authorizing Legislation, Fiscal Year 1970: Part 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Accelerator (11)  |  Country (269)  |  Culture (157)  |  Defence (16)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Help (116)  |  Honor (57)  |  Love (328)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Painter (30)  |  Patriotism (9)  |  Poet (97)  |  Regard (312)  |  Respect (212)  |  Sculptor (10)  |  Venerate (3)  |  Worth (172)

It is one of the little ironies of our times that while the layman was being indoctrinated with the stereotype image of black holes as the ultimate cookie monsters, the professionals have been swinging round to the almost directly opposing view that black holes, like growing old, are really not so bad when you consider the alternative.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alternative (32)  |  Bad (185)  |  Being (1276)  |  Black Hole (17)  |  Black Holes (4)  |  Consider (428)  |  Cookie (2)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growing (99)  |  Image (97)  |  Irony (9)  |  Layman (21)  |  Little (717)  |  Monster (33)  |  Old (499)  |  Oppose (27)  |  Professional (77)  |  Really (77)  |  Round (26)  |  Stereotype (4)  |  Swing (12)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  View (496)

Man cannot afford to be a naturalist, to look at Nature directly, but only with the side of his eye. He must look through and beyond her, to look at her is fatal as to look at the head of Medusa. It turns the man of science to stone. I feel that I am dissipated by so many observations. I should be the magnet in the midst of all this dust and filings.
From Journal entry (23 Mar 1953), in Henry David Thoreau and Bradford Torrey (ed.), Journal (1906), Vol. 5, 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Afford (19)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Dust (68)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feel (371)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Magnet (22)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Only (2)  |  Side (236)  |  Stone (168)  |  Through (846)  |  Turn (454)

Mathematics associates new mental images with ... physical abstractions; these images are almost tangible to the trained mind but are far removed from those that are given directly by life and physical experience. For example, a mathematician represents the motion of planets of the solar system by a flow line of an incompressible fluid in a 54-dimensional phase space, whose volume is given by the Liouville measure
Mathematics and Physics (1981), Foreward. Reprinted in Mathematics as Metaphor: Selected Essays of Yuri I. Manin (2007), 90.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Associate (25)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Example (98)  |  Experience (494)  |  Far (158)  |  Flow (89)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Give (208)  |  Image (97)  |  Life (1870)  |  Line (100)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motion (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Phase (37)  |  Phase Space (2)  |  Physical (518)  |  Planet (402)  |  Remove (50)  |  Represent (157)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  System (545)  |  Tangible (15)  |  Train (118)  |  Volume (25)

Nature only shows us the tail of the lion. I am convinced, however, that the lion is attached to it, even though he cannot reveal himself directly because of his enormous size.
Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 41
Science quotes on:  |  Attach (57)  |  Attached (36)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Himself (461)  |  Lion (23)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Show (353)  |  Size (62)  |  Tail (21)

Nobody knows more than a tiny fragment of science well enough to judge its validity and value at first hand. For the rest he has to rely on views accepted at second hand on the authority of a community of people accredited as scientists. But this accrediting depends in its turn on a complex organization. For each member of the community can judge at first hand only a small number of his fellow members, and yet eventually each is accredited by all. What happens is that each recognizes as scientists a number of others by whom he is recognized as such in return, and these relations form chains which transmit these mutual recognitions at second hand through the whole community. This is how each member becomes directly or indirectly accredited by all. The system extends into the past. Its members recognize the same set of persons as their masters and derive from this allegiance a common tradition, of which each carries on a particular strand.
Personal Knowledge (1958), 163.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Allegiance (5)  |  Authority (99)  |  Become (821)  |  Carrying (7)  |  Chain (51)  |  Common (447)  |  Community (111)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependance (4)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Derive (70)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extension (60)  |  Fellow (88)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happening (59)  |  Indirectly (7)  |  Judge (114)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Master (182)  |  Member (42)  |  More (2558)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Number (710)  |  Organization (120)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  Past (355)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Rest (287)  |  Return (133)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Secondhand (6)  |  Set (400)  |  Small (489)  |  Strand (9)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Turn (454)  |  Validity (50)  |  Value (393)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)

Peter Atkins, in his wonderful book Creation Revisited, uses a … personification when considering the refraction of a light beam, passing into a medium of higher refractive index which slows it down. The beam behaves as if trying to minimize the time taken to travel to an end point. Atkins imagines it as a lifeguard on a beach racing to rescue a drowning swimmer. Should he head straight for the swimmer? No, because he can run faster than he can swim and would be wise to increase the dry-land proportion of his travel time. Should he run to a point on the beach directly opposite his target, thereby minimizing his swimming time? Better, but still not the best. Calculation (if he had time to do it) would disclose to the lifeguard an optimum intermediate angle, yielding the ideal combination of fast running followed by inevitably slower swimming. Atkins concludes:
That is exactly the behaviour of light passing into a denser medium. But how does light know, apparently in advance, which is the briefest path? And, anyway, why should it care?
He develops these questions in a fascinating exposition, inspired by quantum theory.
In 'Introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition', The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition (1976, 2006), xi-xii.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Angle (25)  |  Anyway (3)  |  Apparently (22)  |  Peter William Atkins (43)  |  Beach (23)  |  Beam (26)  |  Behave (18)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Book (413)  |  Brief (37)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Care (203)  |  Combination (150)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Consider (428)  |  Creation (350)  |  Develop (278)  |  Drown (14)  |  Exposition (16)  |  Fascinating (38)  |  Fast (49)  |  Head (87)  |  High (370)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lifeguard (2)  |  Light (635)  |  Medium (15)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Optimum (2)  |  Pass (241)  |  Path (159)  |  Personification (4)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Question (649)  |  Race (278)  |  Refraction (13)  |  Rescue (14)  |  Revisit (3)  |  Run (158)  |  Slow (108)  |  Straight (75)  |  Swim (32)  |  Swimmer (4)  |  Target (13)  |  Time (1911)  |  Travel (125)  |  Try (296)  |  Wise (143)

The amount of knowledge which we can justify from evidence directly available to us can never be large. The overwhelming proportion of our factual beliefs continue therefore to be held at second hand through trusting others, and in the great majority of cases our trust is placed in the authority of comparatively few people of widely acknowledged standing.
Personal Knowledge (1958), 208.
Science quotes on:  |  Acknowledgment (13)  |  Amount (153)  |  Authority (99)  |  Availability (10)  |  Available (80)  |  Belief (615)  |  Case (102)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Continuation (20)  |  Continue (179)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Few (15)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hold (96)  |  Justification (52)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Majority (68)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  People (1031)  |  Place (192)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Secondhand (6)  |  Standing (11)  |  Through (846)  |  Trust (72)  |  Widely (9)

The results of mathematics are seldom directly applied; it is the definitions that are really useful. Once you learn the concept of a differential equation, you see differential equations all over, no matter what you do. This you cannot see unless you take a course in abstract differential equations. What applies is the cultural background you get from a course in differential equations, not the specific theorems. If you want to learn French, you have to live the life of France, not just memorize thousands of words. If you want to apply mathematics, you have to live the life of differential equations. When you live this life, you can then go back to molecular biology with a new set of eyes that will see things you could not otherwise see.
In 'A Mathematician's Gossip', Indiscrete Thoughts (2008), 213.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Application (257)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Back (395)  |  Background (44)  |  Biology (232)  |  Concept (242)  |  Course (413)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Definition (238)  |  Differential Equation (18)  |  Do (1905)  |  Equation (138)  |  Eye (440)  |  France (29)  |  French (21)  |  Learn (672)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Memorize (4)  |  Molecular Biology (27)  |  New (1273)  |  Result (700)  |  See (1094)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Set (400)  |  Specific (98)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Useful (260)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

The understanding of a complex problem such as atherosclerosis requires the tools of basic science. We are fortunate to live at a time when the methods of basic science are so powerful that they can be applied directly to clinical problems. … [T]he two attributes that are required – basic training and technical courage.
In Banquet Speech, 'The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1985', on website nobelprize.org. Published in Les Prix Nobel, 1985: Nobel Prizes, Presentations, Biographies and Lectures (1986).
Science quotes on:  |  Apply (170)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Basic (144)  |  Basic Science (5)  |  Clinical (18)  |  Complex (202)  |  Courage (82)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Method (531)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Problem (731)  |  Require (229)  |  Technical (53)  |  Tool (129)  |  Training (92)  |  Understand (648)

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can’t solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.
[Answer to question: What is the value in knowing “Why are we here?”]
'Stephen Hawking: "There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story"', interview in newspaper The Guardian (15 May 2011).
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Answer (389)  |  Assignment (12)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Effective (68)  |  Equation (138)  |  Govern (66)  |  Governing (20)  |  Higher (37)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Likely (36)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Need (320)  |  Question (649)  |  Selection (130)  |  Society (350)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  Survival (105)  |  Survive (87)  |  Tell (344)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Why (491)

There is no gene ‘for’ such unambiguous bits of morphology as your left kneecap or your fingernail ... Hundreds of genes contribute to the building of most body parts and their action is channeled through a kaleidoscopic series of environmental influences: embryonic and postnatal, internal and external. Parts are not translated genes, and selection doesn’t even work directly on parts.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Bit (21)  |  Body (557)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Embryonic (6)  |  Environment (239)  |  External (62)  |  Gene (105)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hundreds (6)  |  Influence (231)  |  Internal (69)  |  Leave (138)  |  Morphology (22)  |  Most (1728)  |  Part (235)  |  Selection (130)  |  Series (153)  |  Through (846)  |  Translate (21)  |  Unambiguous (6)  |  Work (1402)

Thus, we have three principles for increasing adequacy of data: if you must work with a single object, look for imperfections that record historical descent; if several objects are available, try to render them as stages of a single historical process; if processes can be directly observed, sum up their effects through time. One may discuss these principles directly or recognize the ‘little problems’ that Darwin used to exemplify them: orchids, coral reefs, and worms–the middle book, the first, and the last.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Adequacy (10)  |  Available (80)  |  Book (413)  |  Coral Reef (15)  |  Darwin (14)  |  Data (162)  |  Descent (30)  |  Discuss (26)  |  Effect (414)  |  Exemplify (5)  |  First (1302)  |  Historical (70)  |  Imperfection (32)  |  Increase (225)  |  Last (425)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Middle (19)  |  Must (1525)  |  Object (438)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Orchid (4)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Record (161)  |  Render (96)  |  Several (33)  |  Single (365)  |  Stage (152)  |  Sum (103)  |  Sum Up (3)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Try (296)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worm (47)

When Cayley had reached his most advanced generalizations he proceeded to establish them directly by some method or other, though he seldom gave the clue by which they had first been obtained: a proceeding which does not tend to make his papers easy reading. …
His literary style is direct, simple and clear. His legal training had an influence, not merely upon his mode of arrangement but also upon his expression; the result is that his papers are severe and present a curious contrast to the luxuriant enthusiasm which pervades so many of Sylvester’s papers. He used to prepare his work for publication as soon as he carried his investigations in any subject far enough for his immediate purpose. … A paper once written out was promptly sent for publication; this practice he maintained throughout life. … The consequence is that he has left few arrears of unfinished or unpublished papers; his work has been given by himself to the world.
In Proceedings of London Royal Society (1895), 58, 23-24.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Arrears (2)  |  Carry (130)  |  Arthur Cayley (17)  |  Clear (111)  |  Clue (20)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Curious (95)  |  Direct (228)  |  Easy (213)  |  Enough (341)  |  Enthusiasm (59)  |  Establish (63)  |  Expression (181)  |  Far (158)  |  First (1302)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Give (208)  |  Himself (461)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Influence (231)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Leave (138)  |  Legal (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Literary (15)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  Mode (43)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Pervade (10)  |  Practice (212)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Present (630)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Proceeding (38)  |  Prompt (14)  |  Publication (102)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reach (286)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Result (700)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Send (23)  |  Severe (17)  |  Simple (426)  |  Soon (187)  |  Style (24)  |  Subject (543)  |  James Joseph Sylvester (58)  |  Tend (124)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Training (92)  |  Unfinished (4)  |  Unpublished (2)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Write (250)


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.