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Observation and theory get on...

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 98 quotes

On one occasion when [William...

On one occasion when [William] Smart found him engrossed with his fundamental theory, he asked Eddington how many people he thought would understand what he was writing-after a pause came the reply, 'Perhaps seven.'

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

Science is one thing, wisdom ...

Science is one thing, wisdom is another. Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

Falling in love is one of the...

Falling in love is one of the activities forbidden that tiresome person, the consistently reasonable man.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

It is one thing for the human...

It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

To the pure geometer the radi...

To the pure geometer the radius of curvature is an incidental characteristic - like the grin of the Cheshire cat. To the physicist it is an indispensable characteristic. It would be going too far to say that to the physicist the cat is merely incidental to the grin. Physics is concerned with interrelatedness such as the interrelatedness of cats and grins. In this case the "cat without a grin" and the "grin without a cat" are equally set aside as purely mathematical phantasies.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

In the most modern theories o...

In the most modern theories of physics probability seems to have replaced aether as "the nominative of the verb 'to undulate'."

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

Proof is an idol before which...

Proof is an idol before which the mathematician tortures himself.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

Never accept a fact until it ...

Never accept a fact until it has been verified by theory.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

You cannot disturb the tinies...

You cannot disturb the tiniest petal of a flower without the troubling of a distant star.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

Something unknown is doing we...

Something unknown is doing we don't know what-that is what our theory amounts to.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

It cannot be denied that for ...

It cannot be denied that for a society which has to create scarcity to save its members from starvation, to whom abundance spells disaster, and to whom unlimited energy means unlimited power for war and destruction, there is an ominous cloud in the distance though at present it be no bigger than a man's hand.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

It is reasonable to hope that...

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 98 quotes

I believe there are 15, 747, ...

I believe there are 15, 747, 724, 136, 275, 002, 577, 605, 653, 961, 181, 555, 468, 044, 717, 914, 527, 116, 709, 366, 231, 425, 076, 185, 631, 031, 296 protons in the universe and the same number of electrons.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

For the truth of the conclusi...

For the truth of the conclusions of physical science, observation is the supreme Court of Appeal.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

There is only one law of Natu...

There is only one law of Nature-the second law of thermodynamics-which recognises a distinction between past and future more profound than the difference of plus and minus. It stands aloof from all the rest. ... It opens up a new province of knowledge, namely, the study of organisation; and it is in connection with organisation that a direction of time-flow and a distinction between doing and undoing appears for the first time.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

It is a primitive form of tho...

It is a primitive form of thought that things exist or do not exist.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

I am aware that many critics ...

I am aware that many critics consider the conditions in the stars not sufficiently extreme . . . the stars are not hot enough. The critics lay themselves open to an obvious retort: we tell them to go and find a hotter place.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

[When thinking about the new ...

[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 98 quotes

The word reality frightens me...

The word reality frightens me.

Arthur Eddington 98 quotes

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