D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson Quotes

• The harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Education, Philosophy, Heart

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1992). “On Growth and Form”, p.326, Cambridge University Press

  67 Copy quote

• Cell and tissue, shell and bone, leaf and flower, are so many portions of matter, and it is in obedience to the laws of physics that their particles have been moved, moulded and conformed. They are no exceptions to the rule that God always geometrizes. Their problems of form are in the first instance mathematical problems, their problems of growth are essentially physical problems, and the morphologist is, ipso facto, a student of physical science.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Flower, Math, Law

  40 Copy quote

• The perfection of mathematical beauty is such...that whatsoever is most beautiful and regular is also found to be most useful and excellent.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Beautiful, Perfection, Excellent

  18 Copy quote

• Numerical precision is the very soul of science.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Education, Math, Soul

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (2014). “On Growth and Form”, p.2, Cambridge University Press

  13 Copy quote

• It is success that colours all in life,
  Success makes fools admir'd, makes villains honest.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Fool, Honest, Success In Life

  10 Copy quote

• Sagging wrinkles, hanging breasts and many another sign of age are part of gravitation's slow relentless handiwork.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Wrinkles, Age, Sagging

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (2014). “On Growth and Form”, p.32, Cambridge University Press

  12 Copy quote

• We call a thing big or little with reference to what it is wont to be, as we speak of a small elephant or a big rat.

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson

  Elephants, Littles, Rats

  D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (2014). “On Growth and Form”, p.16, Cambridge University Press

  7 Copy quote

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