--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When we contemplate the world of…" description: "\"When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive the universe to be a fortuitous jumble of atoms, there is nothing grand in this idea. The clash..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/thomas-reid-22153_admiration_when-we-contemplate-the-world-of-epicuru_475253.jpg" --- # When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive… ![“When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive the universe to be a fortuitous jumble of atoms, there is nothing grand in this idea. The clashing of atoms by blind chance has nothing in it fit to raise our conceptions, or to elevate the mind. But the regular structure of a vast system of…” quote by Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/thomas-reid-22153_admiration_when-we-contemplate-the-world-of-epicuru_475253.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/thomas-reid-22153_admiration_when-we-contemplate-the-world-of-epicuru_475253.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/758/thomas-reid-22153_admiration_when-we-contemplate-the-world-of-epicuru_475253.jpg) > “When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive the universe to be a fortuitous jumble of atoms, there is nothing grand in this idea. The clashing of atoms by blind chance has nothing in it fit to raise our conceptions, or to elevate the mind. But the regular structure of a vast system of beings, produced by creating power, and governed by the best laws which perfect wisdom and goodness could contrive, is a spectacle which elevates the understanding, and fills the soul with devout admiration.” [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The universe may be random atoms, but a purposeful, law‑governed order inspires awe and reverence. **In simple terms:** Random atoms vs. purposeful order; awe. Key Takeaway Recognize the wonder of an ordered cosmos. Themes philosophy metaphysics spirituality Mood wonderful reverent Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - scientific contemplation - religious reflection - nature study Key Concepts atomism teleology beauty Questions to Reflect On - Do you see order in chaos? - What elevates your soul? A Different Perspective The claim of randomness may overlook unseen design. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Admiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/admiration/) [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Blind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blind/) [Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Conception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conception/) [Creating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creating/) [Epicurus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/epicurus/) [Fortuitous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fortuitous/) [Goodness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goodness/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Spirituality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirituality/) [Structure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure/) [Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding/) [Universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universe/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“Elevate your mind and you elevate your world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/elevate-your-mind-and-you-elevate-your-world/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [“Excellent friend! how sincerely did you love me, and endeavour to elevate my mind until it was on a level with your own. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-shelley/excellent-friend-how-sincerely-did-you-love-me-and-endeavour-to/) [Mary Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-shelley/) > [Give yourself a break and med-it-tate. Elevate your mind to find what lies behind the wall of mind. No need to rewind just.climb. JourneyofMind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonny-long/give-yourself-a-break-and-med-it-tate-elevate-your-mind-to-find-what/) [Sonny Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonny-long/) > [The natural effect of sorrow over the dead is to refine and elevate the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/the-natural-effect-of-sorrow-over-the-dead-is-to-refine-and-elevate/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Love is blind. It will take over your mind. What you think is love, is truly not. You need to elevate your mind.à](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-blind-it-will-take-over-your-mind-what-you-think-is-love-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Elevate yourself keep your mind ever ready steady.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caleb/elevate-yourself-keep-your-mind-ever-ready-steady/) [Caleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caleb/) > [The greatest formula that can liberate, cleanse and elevate the mind is Rama-Name, the Name of Rama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sathya-sai-baba/the-greatest-formula-that-can-liberate-cleanse-and-elevate-the-mind/) [Sathya Sai Baba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sathya-sai-baba/) > [After upwards of two thousand years Epicurus has been exonerated from the reproach that the doctrines of his philosophy recommended the pleasures of sensuality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-benton-clulow/after-upwards-of-two-thousand-years-epicurus-has-been-exonerated-from/) [William Benton Clulow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-benton-clulow/) > [“Epicurus was a philosopher who asserted a deistic worldview, i.e. one in which the gods are wholly separate from the universe and human affairs.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yaakov-malkin/epicurus-was-a-philosopher-who-asserted-a-deistic-worldview-i-e-one/) Yaakov Malkin > [“When Epicurus defined happiness as the supreme good, he warned his disciples that it is hard work to be happy. Material achievements alone will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/when-epicurus-defined-happiness-as-the-supreme-good-he-warned-his/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [“Companionship was at the top of Epicurus's list of life's pleasures. He wrote, 'Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-klein/companionship-was-at-the-top-of-epicurus-s-list-of-life-s-pleasures/) [Daniel Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-klein/) > [“Epicurus said you should live for pleasure - adding that nothing brings more pleasure than a little sun and a glass of water. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beno-t-duteurtre/epicurus-said-you-should-live-for-pleasure-adding-that-nothing-brings/) Benoît Duteurtre > [Epicurus thought that friendship and conviviality, which require present attention rather than being in an alcoholic stupor, as well as trying to understand and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-wilson/epicurus-thought-that-friendship-and-conviviality-which-require/) [Catherine Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-wilson/) > [“Contemplating Clodia I find scarcely a drop in my heart of that compassion which Epicurus enjoins us to extend toward the erring.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thornton-wilder/contemplating-clodia-i-find-scarcely-a-drop-in-my-heart-of-that/) [Thornton Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thornton-wilder/) > [I was still more concerned (a preference which you may be far from resenting) to strike a blow for Epicurus, that great man whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucian/i-was-still-more-concerned-a-preference-which-you-may-be-far-from/) [Lucian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucian/) ## More by Thomas Reid > [The want of faith, as well as faith itself, is best shewn by works. If a sceptic avoid the fire as much as those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/the-want-of-faith-as-well-as-faith-itself-is-best-shewn-by-works-if-a/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/every-man-feels-that-perception-gives-him-an-invincible-belief-of-the/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [We find sects and parties in most branches of science; and disputes which are carried on from age to age, without being brought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/we-find-sects-and-parties-in-most-branches-of-science-and-disputes/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [Every conjecture we can form with regard to the works of God has as little probability as the conjectures of a child with regard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/every-conjecture-we-can-form-with-regard-to-the-works-of-god-has-as/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [It is a question of fact, whether the influence of motives be fixed by laws of nature, so that they shall always have the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/it-is-a-question-of-fact-whether-the-influence-of-motives-be-fixed-by/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [The rules of navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of architecture never built a house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/the-rules-of-navigation-never-navigated-a-ship-the-rules-of/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words. To this chiefly it is owing that we find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/there-is-no-greater-impediment-to-the-advancement-of-knowledge-than/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [But when, in the first setting out, he takes it for granted without proof, that distinctions found in the structure of all languages, have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/but-when-in-the-first-setting-out-he-takes-it-for-granted-without/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [For, until the wisdom of men bear some proportion to the wisdom of God, their attempts to find out the structure of his works,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/for-until-the-wisdom-of-men-bear-some-proportion-to-the-wisdom-of-god/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [For the perception of the beautiful we have the term "taste"--a metaphor taken from that which is passive in the body and transferred to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/for-the-perception-of-the-beautiful-we-have-the-term-taste-a-metaphor/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [And, if we have any evidence that the wisdom which formed the plan is in the man, we have the very same evidence, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/and-if-we-have-any-evidence-that-the-wisdom-which-formed-the-plan-is/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [must acknowledge, that to act properly is much more valuable than to think justly or reason acutely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/must-acknowledge-that-to-act-properly-is-much-more-valuable-than-to/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [I sit in my loft with the haves and look out at the have-nots - the bottom of the bottom - and I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/i-sit-in-my-loft-with-the-haves-and-look-out-at-the-have-nots-the/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [ \[I\]f a man bred to the seafaring life, and accustomed to think and talk only of matters relating to navigation, enters into discourse upon… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/i-f-a-man-bred-to-the-seafaring-life-and-accustomed-to-think-and-talk/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) > [It is the invaluable merit of the great Basle mathematician Leonard Euler, to have freed the analytical calculus from all geometric bounds, and thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-reid/it-is-the-invaluable-merit-of-the-great-basle-mathematician-leonard/) [Thomas Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) [Explore all 28 Thomas Reid quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-reid/) ## More Admiration quotes > [I have tremendous admiration for companies with the kind of pioneering spirit and innovation eBay has demonstrated from day one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-hammer/i-have-tremendous-admiration-for-companies-with-the-kind-of/) [Bonnie Hammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-hammer/) > [The older you've gotten, the more respect and admiration you've received.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jupp-heynckes/the-older-you-ve-gotten-the-more-respect-and-admiration-you-ve/) [Jupp Heynckes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jupp-heynckes/) > [I still don't feel I know Hitchcock at all. I find that the more one looks, the more elusive he becomes. But my admiration…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toby-jones/i-still-don-t-feel-i-know-hitchcock-at-all-i-find-that-the-more-one/) [Toby Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toby-jones/) > [“There have been those among us who have been so dazzled by the might and technological wizardy of Europe that they have been rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ahdaf-soueif/there-have-been-those-among-us-who-have-been-so-dazzled-by-the-might/) [Ahdaf Soueif](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ahdaf-soueif/) > [I want to thank the Greek people publicly for their humanitarian response to the crisis of so many migrants and refugees seeking safety in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/i-want-to-thank-the-greek-people-publicly-for-their-humanitarian/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Humor is the opposite of all self-admiration and self-praise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/humor-is-the-opposite-of-all-self-admiration-and-self-praise/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [“A warm, trustworthy person who is also strong elicits admiration, but only after you’ve established trust does your strength become a gift rather than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-cuddy/a-warm-trustworthy-person-who-is-also-strong-elicits-admiration-but/) [Amy Cuddy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-cuddy/) > [The book it reminded me of most is Henry Miller’s The Books in My Life. Like Miller, Shields manages to convey his affection for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-alexis/the-book-it-reminded-me-of-most-is-henry-miller-s-the-books-in-my/) [Andre Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-alexis/) > [... we need to interrogate "reverence," for idolization can be another way one is objectified and not really taken seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/we-need-to-interrogate-reverence-for-idolization-can-be-another-way/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/it-may-be-important-to-great-thinkers-to-examine-the-world-to-explain/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“There must be a reason to smile, Miss François. Will you supply one?" It was Daisy's turn to stare. For a long moment they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaime-jo-wright/there-must-be-a-reason-to-smile-miss-fran-ois-will-you-supply-one-it/) [Jaime Jo Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaime-jo-wright/) > [“Let me make two remarks. First I concentrate on the task ahead for 2016. I’m quite busy with that—thank you very much. And I’m…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claudia-clark/let-me-make-two-remarks-first-i-concentrate-on-the-task-ahead-for/) [Claudia Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claudia-clark/) > [The holiness of the church means that life, as well as truth, marks Christ’s church; the behavior of Christians in the world must be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-clowney/the-holiness-of-the-church-means-that-life-as-well-as-truth-marks/) [Edmund Clowney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-clowney/) > [Admittedly great though these reasons be, they are not the principal grounds, that is, those which may rightfully claim for themselves the privilege of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giovanni-pico-della-mirandola/admittedly-great-though-these-reasons-be-they-are-not-the-principal/) [Giovanni Pico della Mirandola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giovanni-pico-della-mirandola/) > [Doctor Who' is a great part and I grew up with the series, but I've never done anything more than express my admiration for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-lester/doctor-who-is-a-great-part-and-i-grew-up-with-the-series-but-i-ve/) [Adrian Lester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrian-lester/) [Browse all 1,179 Admiration quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/admiration/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive the universe to be a fortuitous jumble of atoms, there is nothing grand in this idea. 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