Observation Quotes - Page 16

• Sculpture and painting are very justly called liberal arts; a lively and strong imagination, together with a just observation, being absolutely necessary to excel in either; which, in my opinion, is by no means the case of music, though called a liberal art, and now in Italy placed even above the other two--a proof of the decline of that country.

  Lord Chesterfield

  Music, Country, Art

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• One of the first observations to make in conversation is the state, or the character, and the education of the person to whom we speak.

  Suzanne Curchod

  Character, Firsts, Speak

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

  Arthur Eddington

  Truth, Learning, Appeals

  Arthur Eddington (2012). “The Philosophy of Physical Science: Tarner Lectures (1938)”, p.9, Cambridge University Press

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• The human condition can almost be summed up in the observation that, whereas all experiences are of the past, all decisions are about the future. It is the great task of human knowledge to bridge this gap and to find those patterns in the past which can be projected into the future as realistic images.

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Past, Bridges, Decision

  Foreword of "The image of the future" by Fred Polak, (p. V), 1972.

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• Many concerns now make part or the whole of their dividends from by-products that formerly went to waste. How do we, as individuals, utilize our principal by-product? Our principal by-product is, of course, our leisure time. Many years of observation forces the conclusion that a man's success or failure in life is determined as much by how he acts during his leisure as by how he acts during his work hours. Tell me how a young man spends his evenings and I will tell you how he is likely to spend the latter part of his life.

  B. C. Forbes

  Men, Years, Waste

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• I don't feel myself that I Know it all, but I have enough conceit to be successful. That observation was made by a businessman in his 30s who was making notable headway, although his path bristled with difficulties. Business places no premiums on shrinking violets. Employers prefer men who have self-assurance, forcefulness, go-aheadness, men who know their jobs and know that they know it.

  B. C. Forbes

  Jobs, Pride, Successful

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• It is a curious truth - and yet a truth forced upon us by daily observation - that it is not the women who have suffered most who are the unhappy women. A state of permanent unhappiness - not the morbid, half-cherished melancholy of youth, which generally wears off with wiser years, but that settled, incurable discontent and dissatisfaction with all things and all people, which we see in some women, is, with very rare exceptions, at once the index and the exponent of a thoroughly selfish character.

  Dinah Maria Murlock Craik

  Selfish, Character, Years

  "A Woman's Thoughts About Women" by Dinah Maria Murlock Craik, (Ch. 10), 1858.

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• Astrology ... makes vague predictions that can always be adapted after the fact to fit observations, as we'll see. Astrologers don't seek causes at all, for a good reason: There isn't any cause to astrology. If you look for some underlying reason, some connection between the stars and planets and our lives, you won't find any. For astrology to sell, buyers must not seek out the fundamental principles behind it, because if they do they'll see that there is none.

  Phil Plait

  Stars, Astrology, Connections

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• From hence, no question, has sprung an observation ... confirmed now into a settled opinion, that some long experienced souls in the world, before their dislodging, arrive to the height of prophetic spirits.

  Desiderius Erasmus

  Long, Soul, World

  Desiderius Erasmus (2016). “In Praise of Folly”, p.85, Desiderius Erasmus

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• To make our position clearer, we may formulate it in another way. Let us call a proposition which records an actual or possible observation an experiential proposition. Then we may say that it is the mark of a genuine factual proposition, not that it should be equivalent to an experiential proposition, or any finite number of experiential propositions, but simply that some experiential propositions can be deduced from it in conjunction with certain other premises without being deducible from those other premises alone.

  A.J. Ayer

  Numbers, Finite Number, May

  "Language, Truth, and Logic" by A.J. Ayer, (p. 20), 1936.

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• Those who, either from their own engagements and hurry of business, or from indolence, or from conceit and vanity, have neglected looking out of themselves, as far as my experience and observation reach, have from that time not only ceased to advance, and improve in their performances, but have gone backward. They may be compared to men who have lived upon their principal, till they are reduced to beggary, and left without resources.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Men, Vanity, Gone

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• Taking experimental results and observations for granted and putting the burden of proof on the theory means taking the observational ideology for granted without having ever examined it.

  Paul Feyerabend

  Mean, Burden Of Proof, Granted

  Paul Feyerabend (1993). “Against Method”, p.52, Verso

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• There are few defects in our nature so glaring as not to be veiled from observation by politeness and good-breeding.

  Stanisław I Leszczyński

  Breeding, Politeness, Defects

  François duc de La Rochefoucauld, Stanisław I Leszczyński (King of Poland) (1851). “Moral Reflections, Sentences and Maxims of Francis, Duc de la Rochefoucauld”, p.179

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• Science is a dynamic undertaking directed to lowering the degree of the empiricism involved in solving problems; or, if you prefer, science is a process of fabricating a web of interconnected concepts and conceptual schemes arising from experiments and observations and fruitful of further experiments and observations.

  James Bryant Conant

  Science, Degrees, Problem

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• If you can't think of an observation that could disprove a theory, that theory simply isn't scientific.

  Jerry A. Coyne

  Thinking, Theory, Ifs

  Jerry A. Coyne (2009). “Why Evolution Is True”, p.148, Penguin

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• We must consider not only why the classical theory of democracy appears to be in contradiction with the observed practice, but also why the many different responses to this observation, though mutually incompatible, all share the belief that democracy is the best form of political organization.

  Moses Finley

  Practice, Organization, Political

  "Democracy Ancient And Modern". Book by Moses Finley (Second Edition). Chapter 1, Leaders and Followers, p. 10-11, 1985.

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• In each meditation session, we gather knowledge about the mind through observation, questioning, and testing. We do this over and over, until we gradually develop a meaningful understanding of our own mind.

  Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

  Meaningful, Knowledge, Meditation

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• Invention despoils observations, insinuation invalidates memory. A stewpot of bad habits, all of it - so that imaginative writers wind up, by and large, a shifty crew, sunk in distortion, misrepresentation, illusion, imposture, fakery.

  Cynthia Ozick

  Memories, Wind, Illusion

  Cynthia Ozick (1996). “Portrait of the Artist as a Bad Character: And Other Essays on Writing”

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• By means of personal experimentation and observation, we can discover certain simple and universal truths. The mind moves the body, and the body follows the mind. Logically then, negative thought patterns harm not only the mind but also the body. What we actually do builds up to affect the subconscious mind and in turn affects the conscious mind and all reactions.

  H. E Davey

  Moving, Yoga, Mean

  "Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation". Book by H. E. Davey, 2001.

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• In the theater the audience is generally riveted to a single angle of observation. The movie director, though, can rapidly shift from objective to subjective--and to any number of subjective points of view--and in so doing seem to pull the audience directly inside the frame of his picture, giving the spectator the sense of experiencing an action from the viewpoint of a participant. Identification of the viewer with the film character, then, can be much more intimate than the analogous situation in the theater.

  Ed Murray

  Character, Views, Numbers

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• My observation of the Universe convinces me that there are beings of intelligence and power of a far higher quality than anything we can conceive of as human; that they are not necessarily based on the cerebral and nervous structures that we know, and that the one and only chance for mankind to advance as a whole is for individuals to make contact with such beings.

  Aleister Crowley

  Quality, Chance, Nervous

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• I have no idea why, and this is others' observations of me - I tend to be in the realm of these very complicated personalities. I guess I enjoy corralling that.

  Susan Downey

  Ideas, Personality, Complicated

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

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• Carrying a small notebook with you always, in your pocket or purse, along with a reliable ballpoint pen will enable you to jot down spot observations and quick character sketches before the first sharp impressions fade away. You'll need all kinds of story actors, because even picture books can include a wide range of ages, relationships, occupations, and nationalities. Learn to observe and analyze swiftly, wherever you are.

  Lee Wyndham

  Notebook, Writing, Character

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• Let observation with extended observation observe extensively.

  Alfred Lord Tennyson

  Travel

  "Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir By His Son, Volume II". Book by Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson (p. 73), 1897.

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• The natural historian is not a fisherman who prays for cloudy days and good luck merely; but as fishing has been styled "a contemplative man's recreation," introducing him profitably to woods and water, so the fruit of the naturalist's observations is not in new genera or species, but in new contemplations still, and science is only a more contemplative man's recreation.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Good Luck, Men, Fishing

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.459, Simon and Schuster

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