We must reason in natural philosophy not from what we hope, or even expect, but from what we perceive. — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
Geology, perhaps more than any other department of natural philosophy, is a science of contemplation. It requires no experience or complicated apparatus, no minute processes upon the unknown processes of matter. It demands only an enquiring mind and senses alive… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually,… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
But if the two countries or governments are at war, the men of science are not. That would, indeed be a civil war of… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
This sentiment of self-contempt is a frequent one in young people of both sexes. Their valuation of themselves varies as much as the barometer,… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
Consistency in opinion is the slow poison of intellectual life, the destroyer of its vividness and energy. — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
Nothing is so dangerous to the progress of the human mind than to assume that our views of science are ultimate, that there are… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
Every discovery opens a new field for investigation of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It has justly been said, that the… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
If I am allowed to give a metaphorical allusion to the future state of the blessed, I should imagine it by the orange-grove in… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
The beginning of civilisation is the discovery of some useful arts, by which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries. The necessity or desire of… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
Natural science is founded on minute critical views of the general order of events taking place upon our globe, corrected, enlarged, or exalted by… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
The three states of the caterpillar, larva, and butterfly have, since the time of the Greek poets, been applied to typify the human being,--its… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
James Watt was equally distinguished as a natural philosopher and chemist; his inventions demonstrate his profound knowledge of those sciences, and that peculiar characteristic… — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by my failures. — Humphry Davy Copy Share Image
