Observation Quotes - Page 10

• A scientist is only a human being, a particle in the whole universe. How can the observations and logic of a particle measure the life and size of a phenomenon that is limitless?

  Avtarjeet Singh Dhanjal

  Size, Logic, Limitless

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• Man is aware; he perceives and interprets the world around him. When he uses logic as a tool for interpretation, it becomes science; when he uses feelings for interpretation, it becomes poetry; when he takes a longer view of his observations, it becomes wisdom.

  Avtarjeet Singh Dhanjal

  Wisdom, Men, Views

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• My observation continues to confirm me more and more in the opinion, that to experience religion is to experience the truth of the great doctrines of Divine grace.

  Ichabod Spencer

  Grace, Doctrine, Opinion

  Ichabod Smith Spencer (1851). “A Pastor's Sketches”, p.177

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• We doubt that any facts actually exist. We only have observations and interpretations. Most of the interpretations remain questionable.

  Peter J. Carroll

  Doubt, Facts, Interpretation

  "Psybermagick: Advanced Ideas in Chaos Magick". Book by Peter J. Carroll, 1995.

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• It is a commonplace observation that liberals believe in the perfectibility of man while conservatives believe in the endurance of original sin. Superficially, that would suggest that conservatives take a more understanding and indulgent view of individual lapses, while liberals take a more harshly judgmental one. In fact, we know, quite the opposite is the case.

  William A. Henry III

  Believe, Men, Views

  William A. Henry, III (2015). “In Defense of Elitism”, p.157, Anchor

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• Whatever their limitations, Freud and Marx developed complex and subtle theories of human nature grounded in their observation of individual and social behavior. The crackpot rationalism of free-market economics merely relies on an abstract model of how people "must" behave.

  Ellen Willis

  People, Social Behavior, Human Nature

  Letter to "The New York Times", February 27, 1997.

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• At any one time there is a natural tendency among physicists to believe that we already know the essential ingredients of a comprehensive theory . But each time a new frontier of observation is broached we inevitably discover new phenomena which force us to modify substantially our previous conceptions. I believe this process to be unending, that the delights and challenges of unexpected discovery will continue always.

  Val Logsdon Fitch

  Believe, Discovery, Challenges

  "Les Prix Nobel" ("The Nobel Prizes 1980") edited by Wilhelm Odelberg, Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, www.nobelprize.org. 1981.

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• It is possible to express the laws of thermodynamics in the form of independent principles , deduced by induction from the facts of observation and experiment, without reference to any hypothesis as to the occult molecular operations with which the sensible phenomena may be conceived to be connected; and that course will be followed in the body of the present treatise. But, in giving a brief historical sketch of the progress of thermodynamics, the progress of the hypothesis of thermic molecular motions cannot be wholly separated from that of the purely inductive theory.

  William John Macquorn Rankine

  Independent, Law, Giving

  William John Macquorn Rankine (1869). “A Manual of the Steam Engine and Other Prime Movers by William John Macquorn Rankine”, p.28

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• Biochemists and biologists who adhere blindly to the Darwinism theory search for results that will be in agreement with their theories and consequently orient their research in a given direction, whether it be in the field of ecology, ethology, sociology, demography (dynamics of populations), genetics (so-called evolutionary genetics), or paleontology. This intrusion of theories has unfortunate results: it deprives observations and experiments of their objectivity, makes them biased, and, moreover, creates false problems.

  Pierre-Paul Grasse

  Knowledge, Objectivity, Agreement

  "Evolution of living organisms: evidence for a new theory of transformation" by Pierre-Paul Grasse, Academic Press, (p. 7), 1977.

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• The philosopher forms his principles on an infinity of particular observations. He does not confuse truth with plausibility, he takes for truth what is true, for false what is false, for doubtful what is doubtful, and probable what is probable. The philosophical spirit is thus a spirit of observation and accuracy.

  Denis Diderot

  Philosophical, Objectivity, Infinity

  "L'Encyclopédie", Article on Philosophy, Volume 25, 1766.

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• All mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ.

  Eric Hoffer

  Reality, Faithful, Doctrine

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• It seems a shallow observation, but... the Tory Conference are not an attractive lot, are they? I mean, if all those people were born in the same village, you'd blame pollution, wouldn't you?

  Jeremy Hardy

  Mean, People, Village

  "The News Quiz". BBC Radio 4, October 1998.

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• It is an assumption brought forth countless of times in various contexts that the world would be better, drifting slower towards the ruin, if women had the "power"; if political leadership, decision making, government and economic life was in the hands of women. I think reality, the observation material, supports the assumption.

  Pentti Linkola

  Reality, Thinking, Government

  "Women As The Protectors Of Life II". Essay by Pentti Linkola, 1996.

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• Although my view is a world-wide one and my area of observation is Europe, the nation closest to my heart is, understandably, my homeland. And it is a fortunate coincidence, fortunate in terms of the explanation of the world, that it is this country which is the clearest example of the playground of destructive development in the whole world.

  Pentti Linkola

  Country, Heart, Views

  "Can Life Prevail?: A Radical Approach to the Environmental Crisis". Book by Pentti Linkola, 2004.

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• Certainly it is permitted to anyone to put forward whatever hypotheses he wishes, and to develop the logical consequences contained in those hypotheses. But in order that this work merit the name of Geometry, it is necessary that these hypotheses or postulates express the result of the more simple and elementary observations of physical figures.

  Giuseppe Peano

  Simple, Order, Names

  "The Mathematical Philosophy of Giuseppe Peano". Philosophy of Science Vol. 30, No. 3, July 1963.

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• There are no accidents in Nature. Every motion of the constantly shifting bodies in the world is timed to the occasion for some definite, fore-ordered end. The flowers blossom in obedience to the same law that marks the course of constellations, and the song of a bird is the echo of a universal symphony. Nature is one, and to me the greatest delight of observation and study is to discover new unities in this all-embracing and eternal harmony.

  John Muir

  Song, Flower, Echoes

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• My paintings and comedy have a lot in common. They are both improvisations based on observation.

  Jonathan Winters

  Comedy, Common, Painting

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• If those persons, who fancy themselves gifted with both the power and the right to define and punish other men's vices, would but turn their thoughts inwardly, they would probably find that they have a great work to do at home; and that, when that shall have been completed, they will be little disposed to do more towards correcting the vices of others, than simply to give to others the results of their experience and observation.

  Lysander Spooner

  Home, Men, Giving

  Lysander Spooner (2006). “Vices Are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty”, p.16, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• If the subject is in a suffering circumstance, it is all the more preferable to apply craft to the utmost. Call it art or not, we photographers should always try to pass on our observations with the utmost clarity.

  Dennis Stock

  Art, Suffering, Trying

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Science is not infallible, but it has something religion lacks: a process of testing claims against real-world observations.

  PZ Myers

  Real, World, Claims

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• Over the years, whenever I've felt that little twinkle in the hairs on the back of my neck., as I encountered an original thought or observation in a fishing book, I've turned the corner of the page down.

  Arnold Gingrich

  Book, Lakes, Hair

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• I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.

  Arthur Conan Doyle

  Art, Brother, Book

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, David Stuart Davies (1998). “The Best of Sherlock Holmes”, p.200, Wordsworth Editions

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• Part of what we seek in Buddhism is the sense of quiet observation. We don't get so involved in a state of mind that we forget that it's just another transient state of mind, no matter how much ecstasy or agony is involved.

  Frederick Lenz

  Buddhism, Agony, Mind

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• An ideologue - one who thinks ideologically - can't lose. He can't lose because his answer, his interpretation and his attitude have been determined in advance of the particular experience or observation. They are derived from the ideology, and not subject to the facts.

  James Burnham

  Attitude, Thinking, Experience

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• Religion is based upon blind faith supported by no evidence. Science is based upon confidence that results from evidence - and that confidence can be modified and/or reversed by further observations and experimentation. Science approaches truth, closer and closer, by hard dedicated work. Religion already has it all decided, and it's in the book. It's dogma, unchangeable, and unaffected by reality and whatever facts we come upon in the real world.

  James Randi

  Real, Book, Atheism

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