[When thinking about the new relativity and quantum theories] I have felt a homesickness for the paths of physical science where there are ore or less discernible handrails to keep us from the worst morasses of foolishness. Arthur Eddington More Quotes by Arthur Eddington More Quotes From Arthur Eddington The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory. Arthur Eddington design ideas thinking The physical world is entirely abstract and without actuality apart from its linkage to consciousness. Arthur Eddington abstract consciousness world Whatever else there may be in our nature, responsibility toward truth is one of its attributes. Arthur Eddington responsibility truth may You cannot disturb the tiniest petal of a flower without the troubling of a distant star. Arthur Eddington petals stars flower An ocean traveler has even more vividly the impression that the ocean is made of waves than that it is made of water. Arthur Eddington engineering ocean science The pursuit of truth in science transcends national boundaries. It takes us beyond hatred and anger and fear. It is the best of us. Arthur Eddington anger-and-fear hatred boundaries If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations - then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation - well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation. Arthur Eddington errors hope science Do not put too much confidence in experimental results until they have been confirmed by theory. Arthur Eddington results too-much theory Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds. Arthur Eddington nature light intellectual We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'. Arthur Eddington learning math thinking Something unknown is doing we don't know what-that is what our theory amounts to. Arthur Eddington theory science knowledge We have found that where science has progressed the farthest, the mind has but regained from nature that which the mind has put into nature. We have found a strange foot-print on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origin. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the foot-print. And Lo! it is our own. Arthur Eddington nature success science I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars. Arthur Eddington atoms stars important We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident, bits of a star gone wrong. Arthur Eddington atheism stars gone Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth. It is a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in a theory until it has been confirmed by observation. I hope I shall not shock the experimental physicists too much if I add that it is also a good rule not to put overmuch confidence in the observational results that are put forward until they have been confirmed by theory. Arthur Eddington together add science Every body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, except insofar as it doesn't. Arthur Eddington uniforms lines body If an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters, they might write all the books in the British Museum. Arthur Eddington army writing book Life would be stunted and narrow if we could feel no significance in the world around us beyond that which can be weighed and measured with the tools of the physicist or described by the metrical symbols of the mathematician. Arthur Eddington nature tools would-be It is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star. Arthur Eddington future stars simple Events do not happen; they are just there, and we come across them. Arthur Eddington events grace happens
