--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But I must confess I am jealous of the…" description: "\"But I must confess I am jealous of the term atom; for though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their natur..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/michael-faraday-8792_atoms_but-i-must-confess-i-am-jealous-of-the-t_1121763.jpg" --- # But I must confess I am jealous of the term atom; for… ![“But I must confess I am jealous of the term atom; for though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their nature, especially when compounded bodies are under consideration.” quote by Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/michael-faraday-8792_atoms_but-i-must-confess-i-am-jealous-of-the-t_1121763.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/michael-faraday-8792_atoms_but-i-must-confess-i-am-jealous-of-the-t_1121763.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d34/michael-faraday-8792_atoms_but-i-must-confess-i-am-jealous-of-the-t_1121763.jpg) > “But I must confess I am jealous of the term atom; for though it is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear idea of their nature, especially when compounded bodies are under consideration.” [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Atoms are easy to discuss abstractly but hard to visualize when they combine into complex matter. **In simple terms:** Atoms are simple alone, complex together. Key Takeaway Use models to grasp complex structures. Themes science education complexity Mood inquisitive analytical Type educational scientific When to use this quote - classroom teaching - public outreach - research design - product development Key Concepts atomic theory systems thinking Questions to Reflect On - How can you simplify complex ideas? - What analogies help you understand? A Different Perspective Complex systems can still be oversimplified. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Consideration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consideration/) [I am jealous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-am-jealous/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/when-people-talk-of-atoms-obeying-fixed-laws-they-are-either/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [And yes, I'll admit, I am jealous. I'm jealous of every minute you spend with him, of every concerned expression you send his way,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-houck/and-yes-i-ll-admit-i-am-jealous-i-m-jealous-of-every-minute-you-spend/) [Colleen Houck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-houck/) > [I am jealous of anyone who can make other people care so much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-am-jealous-of-anyone-who-can-make-other-people-care-so-much/) [David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/) > [Don't be upset. Don't listen to me. I only meant that I am jealous of a dark, unconscious element, something irrational, unfathomable. I am…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boris-pasternak/don-t-be-upset-don-t-listen-to-me-i-only-meant-that-i-am-jealous-of-a/) [Boris Pasternak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boris-pasternak/) > [I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-am-jealous-of-everything-whose-beauty-does-not-die/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [As far as your ego is concerned and your jealousy is concerned, my whole work here is to help you become so loving that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/as-far-as-your-ego-is-concerned-and-your-jealousy-is-concerned-my/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [Too often I am jealous and my jealousy leads me to say things-things-that I regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-mosse/too-often-i-am-jealous-and-my-jealousy-leads-me-to-say-things-things/) [Kate Mosse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-mosse/) > [O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/o-beware-my-lord-of-jealousy-it-is-the-green-ey-d-monster-which-doth/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Awareness is fire; it burns all that is wrong in you. It burns your ego. It burns your greed, it burns your possessiveness, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/awareness-is-fire-it-burns-all-that-is-wrong-in-you-it-burns-your-ego/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [Is there a choice in life? It's always been like this. I am jealous that you have a lot of leisure and free time.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yao-ming/is-there-a-choice-in-life-it-s-always-been-like-this-i-am-jealous/) [Yao Ming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yao-ming/) > [I am jealous of all those people who live on the shore of Dal Lake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zubin-mehta/i-am-jealous-of-all-those-people-who-live-on-the-shore-of-dal-lake/) [Zubin Mehta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zubin-mehta/) > [As a jealous man, I suffer four times over: because I am jealous, because I blame myself for being so, because I fear that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/as-a-jealous-man-i-suffer-four-times-over-because-i-am-jealous/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-am-jealous-of-everything-whose-beauty-does-not-die-i-am-jealous-of/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [Know that whoever is trying to bring you down, is already below you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boonaa-mohammed/know-that-whoever-is-trying-to-bring-you-down-is-already-below-you/) [Boonaa Mohammed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boonaa-mohammed/) > [I'm honestly not jealous of my wife at all - when she succeeds I'm psyched. It never occurred to me to feel threatened by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-noxon/i-m-honestly-not-jealous-of-my-wife-at-all-when-she-succeeds-i-m/) [Christopher Noxon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-noxon/) ## More by Michael Faraday > [All your names I and my friend approve of or nearly all as to sense & expression, but I am frightened by their length…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/all-your-names-i-and-my-friend-approve-of-or-nearly-all-as-to-sense/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [It may be a weed instead of a fish that, after all my labour, I at last pull up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/it-may-be-a-weed-instead-of-a-fish-that-after-all-my-labour-i-at-last/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [I ... express a wish that you may, in your generation, be fit to compare to a candle; that you may, like it, shine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/i-express-a-wish-that-you-may-in-your-generation-be-fit-to-compare-to/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [All are sure in their days except the most wise ... He is the wisest philosopher who holds his theory with some doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/all-are-sure-in-their-days-except-the-most-wise-he-is-the-wisest/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [Whereas, according to the declaration of that true man of the world Talleyrand, the use of language is to conceal the thoughts; this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/whereas-according-to-the-declaration-of-that-true-man-of-the-world/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [I shall be with Christ, and that is enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/i-shall-be-with-christ-and-that-is-enough/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [Since peace is alone the gift of God, and as it is He who gives it, why should we be afraid? His unspeakable gift…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/since-peace-is-alone-the-gift-of-god-and-as-it-is-he-who-gives-it-why/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [If the term education may be understood in so large a sense as to include all that belongs to the improvement of the mind,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/if-the-term-education-may-be-understood-in-so-large-a-sense-as-to/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [I cannot conceive curved lines of force without the conditions of a physical existence in that intermediate space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/i-cannot-conceive-curved-lines-of-force-without-the-conditions-of-a/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [“To day we made the grand experiment of burning the diamond and certainly the phenomena presented were extremely beautiful and interesting... The Duke's burning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/to-day-we-made-the-grand-experiment-of-burning-the-diamond-and/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [Why will people go astray when they have this blessed Book to guide them?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/why-will-people-go-astray-when-they-have-this-blessed-book-to-guide/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [Magnetic lines of force convey a far better and purer idea than the phrase magnetic current or magnetic flood: it avoids the assumption of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/magnetic-lines-of-force-convey-a-far-better-and-purer-idea-than-the/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [ou can hardly imagine how I am struggling to exert my poetical ideas just now for the discovery of analogies and remote figures respecting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/ou-can-hardly-imagine-how-i-am-struggling-to-exert-my-poetical-ideas/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [Tyndall, ... I must remain plain Michael Faraday to the last; and let me now tell you, that if accepted the honour which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/tyndall-i-must-remain-plain-michael-faraday-to-the-last-and-let-me/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) > [I have taken your advice, and the names used are anode cathode anions cations and ions; the last I shall have but little occasion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-faraday/i-have-taken-your-advice-and-the-names-used-are-anode-cathode-anions/) [Michael Faraday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) [Explore all 78 Michael Faraday quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-faraday/) ## More Atoms quotes > [If the polymer chain assumes a helicoidal conformation in the crystalline state, and if it does not contain asymmetric carbon atoms, it can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giulio-natta/if-the-polymer-chain-assumes-a-helicoidal-conformation-in-the/) Giulio Natta > [Physicist Isador Isaac Rabi, who won a Nobel Prize for inventing a technique that permitted scientists to probe the structure of atoms and molecules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/physicist-isador-isaac-rabi-who-won-a-nobel-prize-for-inventing-a/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [A monkey is unaware that atoms exist. Likewise, our brainpower may not stretch to the deepest aspects of reality. The bedrock nature of space…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/a-monkey-is-unaware-that-atoms-exist-likewise-our-brainpower-may-not/) [Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/) > [ \[Decoding the human genome sequence\] is the most significant undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all of science.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-collins/decoding-the-human-genome-sequence-is-the-most-significant/) [Francis Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-collins/) > [Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/though-an-atom-is-invisible-unthinkable-yet-in-it-are-the-whole-power/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-chase/traditional-nationalism-cannot-survive-the-fissioning-of-the-atom-one/) [Stuart Chase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stuart-chase/) > [I am not sure why, but I have been obsessed by the Atom Bomb ever since it first happened.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lanford-wilson/i-am-not-sure-why-but-i-have-been-obsessed-by-the-atom-bomb-ever/) [Lanford Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lanford-wilson/) > [History is the short trudge from Adam to atom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/history-is-the-short-trudge-from-adam-to-atom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The dogma of the impossibility of determining the atomic constitution of substances, which until recently was advocated with such fervor by the most able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-korner/the-dogma-of-the-impossibility-of-determining-the-atomic-constitution/) Wilhelm Korner > [I have never seen what to me seemed an atom of proof that there is a future life. And yet-I am inclined to expect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-have-never-seen-what-to-me-seemed-an-atom-of-proof-that-there-is-a/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“An atom is mostly made up of empty space. If you remove the empty space from every atom, the entire world's human population could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/weike-wang/an-atom-is-mostly-made-up-of-empty-space-if-you-remove-the-empty/) [Weike Wang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/weike-wang/) > [Nature is full of wonders; every atom is a standing miracle, and endowed with such qualities, as could not be impressed on it by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/nature-is-full-of-wonders-every-atom-is-a-standing-miracle-and/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [ “\[Think\] of an experience from your childhood. 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