Arthur Eddington Quotes

75 quotes in 1096 categories

• There is only one law of Nature-the second law of thermodynamics-which recognises a distinction between past and future more profound than the difference of plus…
• Man is slightly nearer to the atom than to the star. ... From his central position man can survey the grandest works of Nature with…
• Something unknown is doing we don't know what-that is what our theory amounts to.
• There was a time when we wanted to be told what an electron is. The question was never answered. No familiar conceptions can be woven…
• Unless the structure of the nucleus has a surprise in store for us, the conclusion seems plain-there is nothing in the whole system if laws…
• Science is one thing, wisdom is another. Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers. If you…
• On one occasion when [William] Smart found him engrossed with his fundamental theory, he asked Eddington how many people he thought would understand what he…
• Schrodinger's wave-mechanics is not a physical theory but a dodge-and a very good dodge too.
• When an investigator has developed a formula which gives a complete representation of the phenomena within a certain range, he may be prone to satisfaction.…
• A hundred thousand million Stars make one Galaxy; A hundred thousand million Galaxies make one Universe. The figures may not be very trustworthy, but I…
• If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations-then so much the worse for Maxwell's…
• Our model of Nature should not be like a building-a handsome structure for the populace to admire, until in the course of time some one…
• A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us. This reservoir can scarcely be other than the subatomic energy…
• We have found that where science has progressed the farthest, the mind has but regained from nature that which the mind has put into nature.…
• Events do not happen; they are just there, and we come across them.
• Electrical force is defined as something which causes motion of electrical charge; an electrical charge is something which exerts electric force.
• Human life is proverbially uncertain; few things are more certain than the solvency of a life-insurance company.
• We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn…
• The mathematics is not there till we put it there.
• It is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star.

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