--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When people talk of atoms obeying fixed…" description: "\"When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or they are talking nonsense. ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/163/samuel-butler-823_atoms_when-people-talk-of-atoms-obeying-fixed_596268.jpg" --- # When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are… ![“When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or they are talking nonsense. There is no obedience unless there is at any rate a potentiality of disobeying.” quote by Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/163/samuel-butler-823_atoms_when-people-talk-of-atoms-obeying-fixed_596268.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/163/samuel-butler-823_atoms_when-people-talk-of-atoms-obeying-fixed_596268.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/163/samuel-butler-823_atoms_when-people-talk-of-atoms-obeying-fixed_596268.jpg) > “When people talk of atoms obeying fixed laws, they are either ascribing some kind of intelligence and free will to atoms or they are talking nonsense. There is no obedience unless there is at any rate a potentiality of disobeying.” [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage argues that attributing fixed, obedient laws to atoms is mistaken; atoms, like humans, possess potential for disobedience, implying that determinism is flawed. **In simple terms:** Atoms are not strictly obedient; they have potential to act unpredictably. Key Takeaway Recognize the limits of deterministic thinking. Themes science philosophy determinism free will logic Mood thought‑provoking skeptical analytical Type philosophical scientific When to use this quote - laboratory research - ethical debates - technological forecasting - educational curricula - policy making Key Concepts potentiality law of nature ontological uncertainty Questions to Reflect On - Can we ever fully predict atomic behavior? - How does this view affect our understanding of free will? A Different Perspective Deterministic models still useful in many practical applications despite philosophical critiques. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Disobeying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disobeying/) [Free will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/free-will/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Nonsense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nonsense/) [Obedience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obedience/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) ## Related quotes > [The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. 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Apart from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/unless-we-believe-the-gospel-we-will-be-driven-in-all-we-do-whether/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/we-should-never-forget-that-everything-adolf-hitler-did-in-germany/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [If I tell you that I would be disobeying the god and on that account it is impossible for me to keep quiet, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/if-i-tell-you-that-i-would-be-disobeying-the-god-and-on-that-account/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [Do not fancy, as too many do, that thou canst praise God by singing hymns to Him in church once a week, and disobeying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-kingsley/do-not-fancy-as-too-many-do-that-thou-canst-praise-god-by-singing/) [Charles Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-kingsley/) > [I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to "rejoice" as much as by anything else](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/i-think-we-all-sin-by-needlessly-disobeying-the-apostolic-injunction/) [C. 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Only to the Cross. But if I am disobeying God in my life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-redpath/how-far-must-a-christian-go-in-order-to-be-saved-only-to-the-cross/) [Alan Redpath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-redpath/) > [“By disobeying immoral orders, that individual preserves the institution's highest rank - dignity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/by-disobeying-immoral-orders-that-individual-preserves-the/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [“But he asked himself now if he would not be disobeying God. And does not God permit love, since He surrounds it with such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-de-maupassant/but-he-asked-himself-now-if-he-would-not-be-disobeying-god-and-does/) [Guy de Maupassant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-de-maupassant/) ## More by Samuel Butler > [Is life worth living? This is a question for an embryo not for a man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/is-life-worth-living-this-is-a-question-for-an-embryo-not-for-a-man/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [I am the enfant terrible of literature and science. 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Whether it is or is not more efficacious I do not know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/vaccination-is-the-medical-sacrament-corresponding-to-baptism-whether/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [“Having, then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent not to be inconsistent consistently, and he lapsed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/having-then-once-introduced-an-element-of-inconsistency-into-his/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [Brigands demand your money or your life; women require both.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/brigands-demand-your-money-or-your-life-women-require-both/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [A man who lets himself be bored is even more contemptible than the bore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/a-man-who-lets-himself-be-bored-is-even-more-contemptible-than-the/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [It is not sufficiently considered in the hour of exultation, that all human excellence is comparative; that no man performs much but in proportion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/it-is-not-sufficiently-considered-in-the-hour-of-exultation-that-all/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) > [“The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-butler/the-oldest-books-are-still-only-just-out-to-those-who-have-not-read/) [Samuel Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) [Explore all 355 Samuel Butler quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-butler/) ## 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. 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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. 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