Philosophy Quotes

Questions about meaning, existence, and truth from thinkers who spent their lives searching for answers.

43879 quotes

"Science without humility becomes arrogance; humility without science becomes stagnation."
William Herschel
"To study the heavens is to study oneself reflected in infinity."
William Herschel
A
"Nature's complexity often hides elegant simplicity at its core."
Antoine Lavoisier
A
"Every law of nature, when properly understood, reveals the hand of a rational creator."
Antoine Lavoisier
A
"The universe operates according to principles of order and reason."
Antoine Lavoisier
A
"The universe operates by laws that are accessible to human reason and investigation."
Antoine Lavoisier
A
"To understand one law of nature is to glimpse the mind of creation."
Antoine Lavoisier
A
"In science, as in justice, we must follow the evidence wherever it leads."
Antoine Lavoisier
A
"To doubt is the beginning of scientific wisdom; to question is the path to truth."
Antoine Lavoisier
D
"In the depths of matter lies the explanation of all visible phenomena."
Dmitri Mendeleev
D
"Every element I arranged was a conversation with the fundamental structure of reality."
Dmitri Mendeleev
D
"The elements are the true building blocks of both matter and meaning."
Dmitri Mendeleev
D
"In organizing matter, I found myself understanding my own place in it."
Dmitri Mendeleev
D
"The periodic law is not about the elements; it is about revealing order itself."
Dmitri Mendeleev
J
"I have always sought to understand the hidden order of creation."
John Dalton
J
"The laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics."
John Dalton
J
"The behavior of substances teaches us about the nature of reality."
John Dalton
J
"I believe that all natural phenomena have rational explanations."
John Dalton
J
"To be a natural philosopher is to seek order in apparent chaos."
John Dalton
J
"The study of elements reveals the unity and diversity of creation."
John Dalton
F
"To understand one compound is to begin understanding the universe itself."
Friedrich Wöhler
F
"The universe speaks to those who listen with both their minds and their hands."
Friedrich Wöhler
F
"To understand organic chemistry is to understand a fundamental aspect of existence."
Friedrich Wöhler
F
"Nature operates by laws that neither favor nor hinder human wishes - they simply are."
Friedrich Wöhler
F
"I have always held that the pursuit of knowledge is its own reward, sufficient and complete."
Friedrich Wöhler
T
"To understand the stars is to understand ourselves."
Tycho Brahe
T
"The stars have taught me more philosophy than any book."
Tycho Brahe
T
"In the observation of nature lies the observation of our own nature."
Tycho Brahe
P
"All events are connected by an unbroken chain of causation."
Pierre-Simon Laplace
P
"The present state of the universe is the effect of its past and the cause of its future."
Pierre-Simon Laplace