Humphry Davy Quotes

Quotes about:

• Nothing is so dangerous to the progress of the human mind than to assume that our views of science are ultimate, that there are no mysteries in nature, that our triumphs are complete and that there are no new worlds to conquer.

  Humphry Davy

  Views, Mind, Progress

  51 Copy quote

• Fortunately science, like that nature to which it belongs, is neither limited by time nor by space. It belongs to the world, and is of no country and no age. The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance; the more we feel how much remains unknown.

  Humphry Davy

  Country, Ignorance, Space

  Humphry Davy (1840). “The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy (etc.)”, p.88

  64 Copy quote

• The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by failures.

  Humphry Davy

  Failure, Discovery, Important

  "Self Help; With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance". Book by Sameul Smiles, Arc Manor LLC, p. 240, 2008.

  48 Copy quote

• Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort.

  Humphry Davy

  Life, Family, Smile

  Sir Humphry Davy, John Davy (1839). “The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. ...: Memoirs of the life of Sir Humphry Davy, by his brother, John Davy”, p.448

  53 Copy quote

• I have learned more from my mistakes than from my successes.

  Humphry Davy

  Sports, Mistake, Enough Chances

  30 Copy quote

• Nothing tends so much to the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument.

  Humphry Davy

  Knowledge, Science, Advancement

  Sir Humphry Davy (1812). “Elements of Chemical Philosophy”, p.54

  16 Copy quote

• The three states of the caterpillar, larva, and butterfly have, since the time of the Greek poets, been applied to typify the human being,--its terrestrial form, apparent death, and ultimate celestial destination.

  Humphry Davy

  Butterfly, Greek, Three

  Sir Humphry Davy (1870). “Salmonia: Or, Days of Fly Fishing. With Some Account of the Habits of Fishes Belonging to the Genus Salmo”, p.218

  31 Copy quote

• The ideal life is that which has few friends, but many acquaintances.

  Humphry Davy

  Friends, Life Is, Ideal Life

  8 Copy quote

• I envy no quality of the mind or intellect in others; not genius, power, wit, nor fancy; but, if I could choose what would be most delightful, and, I believe, most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing.

  Humphry Davy

  Religious, Believe, Blessing

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 241, 1895.

  9 Copy quote

• Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.

  Humphry Davy

  Thinking, Statistics, Language

  13 Copy quote

• Every discovery opens a new field for investigation of facts, shows us the imperfection of our theories. It has justly been said, that the greater the circle of light, the greater the boundary of darkness by which it is surrounded.

  Humphry Davy

  Science, Light, Discovery

  Sir Humphry Davy (1840). “The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy ...: Salmonia, or Days of fly-fishing. Consolation in travel, or The last days of a philosopher”, p.362

  22 Copy quote

• Consistency in opinion is the slow poison of intellectual life, the destroyer of its vividness and energy.

  Humphry Davy

  Consistency, Intellectual, Energy

  Sir Humphry Davy (1858). “Fragmentary remains, literary and scientific, of Sir Humphry, Davy, bart., late president of the Royal society, etc: with a sketch of his life and selections from his correspondence”, p.53

  9 Copy quote

• Experimental science hardly ever affords us more than approximations to the truth; and whenever many agents are concerned we are in great danger of being mistaken.

  Humphry Davy

  Agents, Danger, Mistaken

  18 Copy quote

• The whole language of nature informs us, that in animated beings there is something above our powers of investigation; something which employs, combines, and arranges the gross elements of matter - a spark of celestial fire, by which life is kindled and preserved, and which, if even the instruments it employs are indestructible in their essence, must itself, of necessity, be immortal.

  Humphry Davy

  Nature, Fire, Essence

  Humphry Davy (1840). “The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy (etc.)”, p.352

  12 Copy quote

• We must reason in natural philosophy not from what we hope, or even expect, but from what we perceive.

  Humphry Davy

  Philosophy, Reason, Natural

  Humphry Davy (1840). “The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy (etc.)”, p.303

  16 Copy quote

• We can trace back our existence almost to a point. Former time presents us with trains of thoughts gradually diminishing to nothing. But our ideas of futurity are perpetually expanding. Our desires and our hopes, even when modified by our fears, seem to grasp at immensity. This alone would be sufficient to prove the progressiveness of our nature, and that this little earth is but a point from which we start toward a perfection of being.

  Humphry Davy

  Train Of Thought, Ideas, Perfection

  "emoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy". Book by John Davy, p. 130, 1836.

  19 Copy quote

• Oh, most magnificent and noble Nature!
  Have I not worshipped thee with such a love
  As never mortal man before displayed?
  Adored thee in thy majesty of visible creation,
  And searched into thy hidden and mysterious ways
  As Poet, as Philosopher, as Sage?

  Humphry Davy

  Science, Men, Mysterious Ways

  Sir Humphry Davy, John DAVY (M.D., F.R.S.) (1858). “Fragmentary Remains, Literary and Scientific, of Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. ... With a sketch of his life, and selections from his correspondence. Edited by his brother John Davy”, p.14

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• The ready apology covers a multitude of social sins.

  Humphry Davy

  Apology, Sin, Social

  4 Copy quote

• And by the influence of heat, light, and electrical powers, there is a constant series of changes; matter assumes new forms, the destruction of one order of beings tends to the conservation of another; solution and consolidation, decay and renovation, are connected; and whilst the parts of the system continue in a state of fluctuation and change, the order and harmony of the whole remain unalterable.

  Humphry Davy

  Change, Science, Animal

  "The Collected Works: Discourses delivered before the Royal Society".

  10 Copy quote

• What is politeness in the home but the outcome of affection and self-respect, and the suppression of all those natural instincts of self-seeking that, allowed their way, produce the worst manners in the world?

  Humphry Davy

  Home, Self, Outcomes

  4 Copy quote

• Nothing tends so much to the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument. The native intellectual powers of men in different times are not so much the causes of the different success of their labours, as the peculiar nature of the means and artificial resources in their possession.

  Humphry Davy

  Mean, Men, Intellectual

  Sir Humphry Davy (1812). “Elements of Chemical Philosophy”, p.54

  8 Copy quote

• Gay-Lussac was quick, lively, ingenious and profound, with great activity of mind and great facility of manipulation. I should place him at the head of all the living chemists in France.

  Humphry Davy

  Gay, Science, Profound

  Humphry Davy (1839). “The Collected Works: Memoirs of the life of Sir Humphry Davy”, p.167

  52 Copy quote

• Cavendish was a great Man with extraordinary singularities-His voice was squeaking his manner nervous He was afraid of strangers & seemed when embarrassed to articulate with difficulty-He wore the costume of our grandfathers. Was enormously rich but made no use of his wealth... He Cavendish lived latterly the life of a solitary, came to the Club dinner & to the Royal Society: but received nobody at his home. He was acute sagacious & profound & I think the most accomplished British Philosopher of his time.

  Humphry Davy

  Home, Men, Thinking

  20 Copy quote

• The beginning of civilisation is the discovery of some useful arts, by which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries. The necessity or desire of preserving them leads to laws and social institutions. The discovery of peculiar arts gives superiority to particular nations ... to subjugate other nations, who learn their arts, and ultimately adopt their manners;- so that in reality the origin as well as the progress and improvement of civil society is founded in mechanical and chemical inventions.

  Humphry Davy

  Art, Science, Reality

  Sir Humphry Davy (1840). “Salmonia: or, Days of fly-fishing; in a series of conversations: with some account of the habits of fishes belonging to the genus Salmo. Consolation in travel, or, The last days of a philosopher”, p.351

  7 Copy quote

• To me there never has been a higher source of honour or distinction than that connected with advances in science. I have not possessed enough of the eagle in my character to make a direct flight to the loftiest altitudes in the social world; and I certainly never endeavored to reach those heights by using the creeping powers of the reptile, who in ascending, generally chooses the dirtiest path, because it is the easiest.

  Humphry Davy

  Character, Ambition, Science

  9 Copy quote

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