"Every river appears to consist of a main……" — John Playfair
"Every river appears to consist of a main trunk, fed from a variety of branches, each running in a valley proportional to its size, and all of them together forming a system of vallies, communicating with one another, and having such a nice adjustment of their declivities that none of them join the principal valley on too high or too low a level; a circumstance which would be infinitely improbable if each of these vallies were not the work of the stream that flows in it."
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John Playfair
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7 Quotes by John Playfair
John Playfair has 7 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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The Author of nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves…
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[To] explain the phenomena of the mineral kingdom ... systems are usually reduced to two classes, according as they refer…
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To trace the series of these revolutions, to explain their causes, and thus to connect together all the indications of…
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Amid all the revolutions of the globe, the economy of Nature has been uniform, ... and her laws are the…
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Thus we conclude, that the strata both primary and secondary, both those of ancient and those of more recent origin,…
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The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time.
See all 7 quotes by John Playfair »
More Adjustment Quotes
This quote is filed under Adjustment Quotes,
one of 180 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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The ability of a television series to make adjustments is something you've got to take advantage of.
— J. J. Abrams
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Pakistan is heir to an intellectual tradition of which the illustrious exponent was the poet and philosopher Mohammad Iqbal. He…
— Benazir Bhutto
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Compromise, n. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of thinking he has got what…
— Ambrose Bierce
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Some words, you know, it's amazing but some words would come only in French, and when I speak French, it…
— Juliette Binoche
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The degree of leverage now being reversed is staggering, and the underlying global imbalances - notably between the savers and…
— Vince Cable
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A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity…
— James Allen
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I will not accept a new wave of fiscal retrenchment, of belt-tightening, without asking people at the top to make…
— Nick Clegg
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Beauty is the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or subtract or change without impairing the…
— Leon Battista Alberti
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You can win tournaments when you're mechanical, but golf is a game of emotion and adjustment. If you're not aware…
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We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical…
— Eric Hoffer
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Those who follow the Tao are of clear mind. They do not load their mind with anxieties and are flexible…
— Zhuangzi
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America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment;…
— Calvin Coolidge
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