Science and Reason

The light and heat of the universe comes from the sun, and its cold and darkness from the withdrawal of the sun.

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

And wisely tell what hour o’ th’ day The clock doth strike, by algebra.

Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night: God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

Printing, gunpowder, and the mariner’s needle [compass] … these three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world.

‘What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,

Philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe … This book is written in mathematical language and its characters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help … one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth.

Eppur si muove.

Hypotheses non fingo.

During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.

A theorist goes astray in two ways: 1) The devil leads him by the nose with a false hypothesis. (For this he deserves our pity.) 2) His arguments are erroneous and sloppy. (For this he deserves a beating.)

The unified field theory has been put into retirement. It is so difficult to employ mathematically that I have not been able to verify it somehow, in spite of all my efforts. This state of affairs will no doubt last many more years, mostly because physicists have little understanding of logical-philosophical arguments.

The statue stood

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

I like the scientific spirit – the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them.

What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.

All sciences are now under the obligation to prepare the ground for the future task of the philosopher, which is to solve the problem of value, to determine the true hierarchy of values.

Freedom of thought is the only guarantee of the feasibility of a scientific democratic approach to politics, economy, and culture.

Our world is dominated by the extreme, the unknown, and the very improbable(improbable according to our current knowledge)—and all the while we spend our time engaged in small talk, focusing on the known, and the repeated.

When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles ofa real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, butthrough television and telephony we shall seeand hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instrumentsthrough which we shall be able to do thiswill be amazingly simple compared with ourpresent telephone. A man will be able to carryone in his vest pocket.

Weight is caused by one element being situated in another; and it moves by the shortest line towards its centre, not by its own choice, not because the centre draws it to itself, but because the other intervening element cannot withstand it.

The painter who draws by practice and judgment of the eye without the use of reason is like the mirror which reproduces within itself all the objects which are set opposite to it without knowledge of the same.

Data is like garbage. You'd better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.