All Pierre-Simon Laplace Quotes
- Given for one instant an intelligence which could comprehend all the forces by which nature is animated and the respective positions of the beings which… All
- Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis. Highness
- The word 'chance' then expresses only our ignorance of the causes of the phenomena that we observe to occur and to succeed one another in… Apparent
- [It] may be laid down as a general rule that, if the result of a long series of precise observations approximates a simple relation so… Approximates
- Without any doubt, the regularity which astronomy shows us in the movements of the comets takes place in all phenomena. The trajectory of a simple… Air
- [Science] dissipates errors born of ignorance about our true relations with nature, errors the more damaging in that the social order should rest only on… Assure
- The theory of probabilities is basically only common sense reduced to a calculus. It makes one estimate accurately what right-minded people feel by a sort… Able
- The mind has its illusions as the sense of sight; and in the same manner that the sense of feeling corrects the latter, reflection and… Calculation
- The simplicity of nature is not to be measured by that of our conceptions. Infinitely varied in its effects, nature is simple only in its… Causes
- All the effects of Nature are only the mathematical consequences of a small number of immutable laws. All
- It is interesting thus to follow the intellectual truths of analysis in the phenomena of nature. This correspondence, of which the system of the world… Analysis
- We are so far from knowing all the forces of nature and their various modes of action that it would be unworthy of the philosopher… Acknowledge
- However, the small probability of a similar encounter [of the earth with a comet], can become very great in adding up over a huge sequence… Abandoning
- The most important questions of life are indeed, for the most part, really only problems of probability. Important
- If an event can be produced by a number n of different causes, the probabilities of the existence of these causes, given the event (prises… All
- Nature laughs at the difficulties of integration. Difficulties
- Probability theory is nothing but common sense reduced to calculation. Calculation
- The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness. Claim
- What we know is not much. What we don't know is enormous. Enormous
- It is India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols, each symbol receiving a value of position… Absolute
- I have no need for that hypothesis. Hypothesis
- "Read Euler: he is our master in everything." Euler
- Said about Napier's logarithms: . . . by shortening the labors doubled the life of the astronomer. Astronomer
- Such is the advantage of a well constructed language that its simplified notation often becomes the source of profound theories. Advantage
- I see with much pleasure that you are working on a large work on the integral Calculus [ ... ] The reconciliation of the methods… Arrives