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We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown.
Arthur Eddington
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects the idea of discovering new and mysterious aspects of existence through scientific exploration.

Arthur Eddington's quote emphasizes the excitement and curiosity that comes with scientific discovery, highlighting the notion that each new finding reveals more about the universe and our place within it. The 'strange footprint' symbolizes the unknown territories in science that provoke further investigation and understanding.

Themes

DiscoveryScienceCuriosityUnknownExploration

In practice

Example use cases

A scientist may quote this during a lecture on the importance of exploration in their field.

More from Arthur Eddington

Whether in the intellectual pursuits of science or in the mystical pursuits of the spirit, the light beckons ahead, and the purpose surging in our nature responds.
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The physical world is entirely abstract and without actuality apart from its linkage to consciousness.
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It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.
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Whatever else there may be in our nature, responsibility toward truth is one of its attributes.
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In the world of physics we watch a shadowgraph performance of the drama of familiar life. The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow table as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It is all symbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. ... The frank realisation that physical science is concerned with a world of shadows is one of the most significant of recent advances.
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So far as physics is concerned, time's arrow is a property of entropy alone.
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