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: “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index I > Category: Inexplicable

Inexplicable Quotes (8 quotes)

I accepted the Copernican position several years ago and discovered from thence the causes of many natural effects which are doubtless inexplicable by the current theories. I have written up many reasons and refutations on the subject, but I have not dared until now to bring them into the open, being warned by the fortunes of Copernicus himself, our master, who procured for himself immortal fame among a few but stepped down among the great crowd (for this is how foolish people are to be numbered), only to be derided and dishonoured. I would dare publish my thoughts if there were many like you; but since there are not, I shall forbear.
Letter to Johannes Kepler, 4 Aug 1597. Quoted in G. de Santillana, Crime of Galileo (1955), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Being (1276)  |  Cause (561)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Current (122)  |  Dare (55)  |  Discover (571)  |  Down (455)  |  Effect (414)  |  Fame (51)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Fortune (50)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heliocentric Model (7)  |  Himself (461)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Master (182)  |  Natural (810)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  People (1031)  |  Publication (102)  |  Reason (766)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thought (995)  |  Year (963)

In due time the evolution theory will have to abate its vehemence, cannot be allow’d to dominate everything else, and will have to take its place as a segment of the circle, the cluster—as but one of many theories, many thoughts, of profoundest value—and readjusting the differentiating much, yet leaving the divine secrets just as inexplicable and unreachable as before—maybe more so.
In Specimen days & Collect (1883), 326.
Science quotes on:  |  Abate (2)  |  Circle (117)  |  Cluster (16)  |  Differentiate (19)  |  Divine (112)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Due (143)  |  Everything (489)  |  Evolution (635)  |  More (2558)  |  Profound (105)  |  Secret (216)  |  Segment (6)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unreachable (2)  |  Value (393)  |  Vehemence (2)  |  Will (2350)

It is often held that scientific hypotheses are constructed, and are to be constructed, only after a detailed weighing of all possible evidence bearing on the matter, and that then and only then may one consider, and still only tentatively, any hypotheses. This traditional view however, is largely incorrect, for not only is it absurdly impossible of application, but it is contradicted by the history of the development of any scientific theory. What happens in practice is that by intuitive insight, or other inexplicable inspiration, the theorist decides that certain features seem to him more important than others and capable of explanation by certain hypotheses. Then basing his study on these hypotheses the attempt is made to deduce their consequences. The successful pioneer of theoretical science is he whose intuitions yield hypotheses on which satisfactory theories can be built, and conversely for the unsuccessful (as judged from a purely scientific standpoint).
Co-author with Raymond Arthur Lyttleton, in 'The Internal Constitution of the Stars', Occasional Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society 1948, 12, 90.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Capable (174)  |  Certain (557)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Construct (129)  |  Contradict (42)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Detail (150)  |  Development (441)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Happen (282)  |  History (716)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Insight (107)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practice (212)  |  Purely (111)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientific Theory (24)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Successful (134)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  View (496)  |  Yield (86)

The known is finite, the unknown infinite; spiritually we find ourselves on a tiny island in the middle of a boundless ocean of the inexplicable. It is our task, from generation to generation, to drain a small amount of additional land.
As given in Herbert and W. Roesky and Klaud Möckel, translated from the original German by T.N. Mitchell and W.E. Russey, Chemical Curiosities: Spectacular Experiments and Inspired Quotes (1996), 212. It is a restatement of an original quote from concluding remarks to a chapter by Thomas Huxley, 'On the Reception of the ‘Origin of Species’', the last chapter in Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887), Vol. 1, 557. Webmaster suggests, the original Huxley quote was translated for the original German text, and when that was translated for the English edition, the quote morphed into into the form above.
Science quotes on:  |  Additional (6)  |  Amount (153)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Drain (12)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finite (60)  |  Generation (256)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Island (49)  |  Known (453)  |  Land (131)  |  Middle (19)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Small (489)  |  Spiritually (3)  |  Task (152)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Unknown (195)

The more we know about this universe, the more mysterious it is. The old world that Job knew was marvelous enough, and his description of its wonders is among the noblest poetry of the race, but today the new science has opened to our eyes vistas of mystery that transcend in their inexplicable marvel anything the ancients ever dreamed.
In 'What Keeps Religion Going?', collected in Living Under Tension: Sermons On Christianity Today (1941), 53.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Description (89)  |  Dream (222)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eye (440)  |  Job (86)  |  Know (1538)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  More (2558)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Mystery (188)  |  New (1273)  |  Noblest (5)  |  Old (499)  |  Old World (9)  |  Open (277)  |  Opened (2)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Race (278)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Today (321)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vista (12)  |  Wonder (251)  |  World (1850)

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), facing p. 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Anyone (38)  |  Bizarre (6)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Discover (571)  |  Exactly (14)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Instantly (20)  |  More (2558)  |  Replace (32)  |  Something (718)  |  State (505)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)

There remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Force (497)  |  Intangible (6)  |  Religion (369)  |  Remain (355)  |  Something (718)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Veneration (2)

Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Behind (139)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Discernible (9)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Intangible (6)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Point (584)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remain (355)  |  Secret (216)  |  Something (718)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Try (296)  |  Veneration (2)  |  Will (2350)


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.