Quote#Poetry
Consciousness is not wholly, nor even primarily a device for…
Quote byArthur Eddington · 1882–1944
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Science and the Unseen World (1929).
English (original)
Consciousness is not wholly, nor even primarily a device for receiving sense-impressions. … there is another outlook than the scientific one, because in practice a more transcendental outlook is almost universally admitted. … who does not prize these moments that reveal to us the poetry of existence?
— Arthur Eddington
More from Arthur Eddington
We do not argue with the critic who urges that the stars are not hot enough for this process; we tell him to go and find a hotter place.
These earlier revolutions are still a source of perplexity in childhood, which we soon outgrow; and a time will come when Einstein's amazing revelations have likewise sunk into the commonplaces of educated thought.
Physics has in the main contented itself with studying the abridged edition of the book of nature.
At terrestrial temperatures matter has complex properties which are likely to prove most difficult to unravel; but it is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star.
The present revolution of scientific thought follows in natural sequence on the great revolutions at earlier epochs in the history of science
A star is drawing on some vast reservoir of energy by means unknown to us. This reservoir can scarcely be other than the sub-atomic energy which, it is known, exists abundantly in all matter; we sometimes dream that man will one day learn …