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John Arthur Thomson Quotes
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All roads lead to Rome, and he must be a bold man who will declare any of Nature's beckonings to be unworthy of attention.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science never destroys wonder, but only shifts it, higher and deeper.
John Arthur Thomson
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Our inheritances are diverse and unequal, and they limit us; yet much can be gained by "nurture" and much lost for the lack of it.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science begins with measurement and there are some people who cannot be measurers; and just as we distinguish carpenters who can work to this or that traction of an inch of accuracy, so we must distinguish ourselves and our acquaintances as able to observe and record to this or that degree of truthfulness.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science is one of the pathways toward the truth, but there are other pathways.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science is always setting forth on Columbus voyages, discovering new worlds and conquering them by understanding.
John Arthur Thomson
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If we are to reach a coherent view of Nature, such as could be included in a philosophy, we must arrive at some discernment of the characteristics which mark off living organisms from their not-living surroundings. In the present state of science a definition of the organism cannot be more than tentative, but it must be continually attempted.
John Arthur Thomson
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The definitizing of error is often the beginning of its disappearance. When the evil genie of the Eastern tales took on definite bodily form there was some chance of tackling him; as a mere wraith he was unassailable.
John Arthur Thomson
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The living body is the theatre of many chemical and physical operations in a line with those of the inorganic domain.
John Arthur Thomson
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Complex as are the inborn variations of plants and animals, they can be treated by the same statistical methods as are used in recording the simple phenomena observed when dice are thrown ten thousand times.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science gives Man from time to time a greatly increased mastery over Nature; science, with its analytical triumphs, ever tends to diminish, in the shallowminded, the saving grace of wonder; and science is ever dispelling the darkness that oppresses the mind.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science as science never asks the question Why? That is to say, it never inquires into the meaning, or significance, or purpose of this manifold Being, Becoming, and Having Been.... Thus science does not pretend to be a bedrock of truth.
John Arthur Thomson
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Vast as is the Solar System, then, it is excessively minute in comparison with the Stellar System, the universe of the Stars, which is on a scale far transcending anything the human mind can apprehend.
John Arthur Thomson
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There is grandeur in the spectacle of the star-strewn sky, so apparently crowded, but there are thousands of worlds unseen for every one our unaided eyes can image, and yet the astronomers tell us that the emptiness of space is its most striking characteristic.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science aims at description in terms of the lowest common denominators available; while religion and philosophy aim at interpretation in terms of the greatest common measure.
John Arthur Thomson
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We must bear in mind the fact that millions of years are spent in the fashioning of minutia of perfection in types which are certainly not near the highway of evolution that led to backboned animals and eventually to man. Nothing is too remote, too minute, too trivial — everything must be finished and refined.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science is not wrapped up with any particular body of facts; it is characterized as an intellectual attitude. It is not tied down to any peculiar methods of inquiry; it is simply sincere critical thought, which admits conclusions only when these are based on evidence.
John Arthur Thomson
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The opposition between science and feeling is largely a misunderstanding. As one of our philosophers has remarked, Science is in a true sense "one of the humanities."
John Arthur Thomson
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These are the three voices of Nature. She joins hands with us; and says Struggle, Endeavor. She comes close to us, we hear her heart beating; she says Wonder, Enjoy, Revere. She whispers secrets to us, we cannot always catch her words; she says Search, Enquire. These three voices appeal to Hand and Heart and Head, to the trinity of our being.
John Arthur Thomson
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The scientific mood is especially marked by a passion for facts, by cautiousness of statement, by clearness of vision, and by a sense of the inter-relatedness of things.
John Arthur Thomson
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To see things and happenings clearly, both in themselves and in their relations to other things and happenings, is the aim of science. And no one who enjoys scientific work - whether at the humble level of accurate description, or at the high level of discovering a formula - cares to hear much about the "utility of science."
John Arthur Thomson
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To be wholly practical is to grub for edible roots and see no flowers upon the earth, no stars overhead.
John Arthur Thomson
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From age to age science has given mankind a new world, and the latest newness - which will not be the last - is perhaps the strangest of all.
John Arthur Thomson
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Science is a particular way of looking at the world, but it is not the only way.
John Arthur Thomson
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The Evolution-idea is a master-key that opens many doors. It is a luminous interpretation of the world, throwing the light of the past upon the present.
John Arthur Thomson
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Quote of the day
Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.
John Betjeman
John Arthur Thomson
Born:
July 8, 1861
Died:
February 12, 1933
(aged 71)
Bio:
Sir John Arthur Thomson was a Scottish naturalist who authored several notable books and was an expert on soft corals.
Known for:
Outline of science (1910)
Outlines of zoology (1892)
Darwinism and human life (1909)
The science of life (1899)
Science, old and new (1924)
John Arthur Thomson on Wikipedia
John Arthur Thomson works on Gutenberg Project
John Arthur Thomson works on Wikisource
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