Revolution does not insure progress. You may overturn thrones, but what proof that anything better will grow upon the soil?
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Through every rift of discovery some seeming anomaly drops out of the darkness, and falls, as a golden link into the great chain of order.
Interpretation
Discovery often reveals surprising elements that contribute to our understanding of order in the universe.
This quote by Edwin Hubbel Chapin suggests that within the process of discovery, unexpected phenomena emerge, illuminating our understanding and adding to the larger framework of knowledge. These anomalies, when explored, not only enrich our insights but also serve as vital connections in the intricate structure of reality, reinforcing the idea that the chaotic and the unknown can lead to greater order and comprehension.
In practice
This quote could be used in a scientific presentation to encourage the exploration of unexpected results in research.
Revolution does not insure progress. You may overturn thrones, but what proof that anything better will grow upon the soil?
Do not ask if a man has been through college; ask if a college has been through him; if he is a walking university.
Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are.
Tomorrow may never come to us. We do not live in tomorrow. We cannot find it in any of our title-deeds. The man who owns whole blocks of real estate, and great ships on the sea, does not own a single minute of tomorrow. Tomorrow! It is a mysterious possibility, not yet born. It lies under the seal of midnight-behind the veil of glittering constellations.
A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.
Neutral men are the devil's allies.
We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.β
Evolution is a fact. It is the best explanation of what is known from observations. It's a theory as powerful as the theory of gravity.
After I give lectures-on almost any subject-I am often asked, "Do you believe in UFOs?" I'm always struck by how the question is phrased, the suggestion that this is a matter of belief and not evidence. I'm almost never asked, "How good is the evidence that UFOs are alien spaceships?"
If you set out in a spaceship to find the one planet in the galaxy that has life, the odds against your finding it would be so great that the task would be indistinguishable, in practice, from impossible.
It now appears that the way the universe began can indeed be determined, using imaginary time.
In physics, your solution should convince a reasonable person. In math, you have to convince a person who's trying to make trouble. Ultimately, in physics, you're hoping to convince Nature. And I've found Nature to be pretty reasonable.
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