Physics, beware of metaphysics. Isaac Newton More Quotes by Isaac Newton More Quotes From Isaac Newton What is there in places empty of matter? and Whence is it that the sun and planets gravitate toward one another without dense matter between them? Whence is it that Nature doth nothing in vain? and Whence arises all that order and beauty which we see in the world? To what end are comets? and Whence is it that planets move all one and the same way in orbs concentrick, while comets move all manner of ways in orbs very excentrick? and What hinders the fixed stars from falling upon one another? Isaac Newton starsfallmoving To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science. Isaac Newton distinctionsourcehonor The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intension nor remission of degrees, and which are found to belong to fill bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever. Isaac Newton qualitybodyscience 'Tis the temper of the hot and superstitious part of mankind in matters of religion ever to be fond of mysteries, and for that reason to like best what they understand least. Isaac Newton mysterymatterhot Are not gross bodies and light convertible into one another; and may not bodies receive much of their activity from the particles of light which enter into their composition? The changing of bodies into light, and light into bodies, is very conformable to the course of Nature, which seems delighted with transmutations. Isaac Newton bodylightmay God in the beginning formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in such proportion to space, as most conduced to the end for which he formed them. Isaac Newton sizespacematter I do not define time, space, place, and motion, as being well known to all. Only I must observe, that the common people conceive those quantities under no other notions but from the relation they bear to sensible objects. And thence arise certain prejudices, for the removing of which it will be convenient to distinguish them into absolute and relative, true and apparent, mathematical and common. Isaac Newton spacebearspeople The description of right lines and circles, upon which geometry is founded, belongs to mechanics. Geometry does not teach us to draw these lines, but requires them to be drawn. Isaac Newton circlesdoemath The Ignis Fatuus is a vapor shining without heat. Isaac Newton vaporheatshining The latest authors, like the most ancient, strove to subordinate the phenomena of nature to the laws of mathematics. Isaac Newton ancientlawmath When the adversaries of Erasmus had got the Trinity into his edition, they threw by their manuscript as an old almanac out of date. Isaac Newton trinityerasmusatheism Pictures, propagated by motion along the fibers of the optic nerves in the brain, are the cause of vision. Isaac Newton nervesvisionbrain I am ashamed to tell you to how many figures I carried these calculations [of Pi], having no other business at the time Isaac Newton calculationsashamedfigures Daniel was in the greatest credit amongst the Jews, till the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian . And to reject his prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his prophecy concerning the Messiah . Isaac Newton hadriancreditchristian Do not great Bodies conserve their heat the longest, their parts heating one another, and may not great dense and fix'd Bodies, when heated beyond a certain degree, emit Light so copiously, as by the Emission and Re-action of its Light, and the Reflexions and Refractions of its Rays within its Pores to grow still hotter, till it comes to a certain period of heat, such as is that of the Sun? Isaac Newton rayslightscience God who gave Animals self motion beyond our understanding is without doubt able to implant other principles of motion in bodies [which] we may understand as little. Some would readily grant this may be a Spiritual one; yet a mechanical one might be showne, did not I think it better to pass it by. Isaac Newton spiritualanimalthinking To derive two or three general Principles of Motion from Phænomena, and afterwards to tell us how the Properties and Actions of all corporeal Things follow from those manifest Principles, would be a very great step in Philosophy. Isaac Newton philosophytwoscience By such deductions the law of gravitation is rendered probable, that every particle attracts every other particle with a force which varies inversely as the square of the distance. The law thus suggested is assumed to be universally true. Isaac Newton distancesquaresscience We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. Isaac Newton razorscausesscience Qu. 31. Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers, Virtues or Forces, by which they act at a distance, not only upon the Rays of Light for reflecting, refracting and reflecting them, but also upon one another for producing a great part of the Phænomena of Nature? Isaac Newton distancenaturescience
