“The poem or the discovery exists in two moments of vision: the moment of appreciation as much as that of creation; for the appreciator must see the movement, wake to the echo which was started in the creation of the work. In the moment of appreciation we live again the moment when the creator saw and held the hidden likeness. When a simile takes us aback and persuades us together, when we find a juxtaposition in a picture both odd and intriguing, when a theory is at once fresh and convincing, we do not merely nod over someone else's work. We re-enact the creative act, and we ourselves make the discovery again... ...Reality is not an exhibit for man's inspection, labeled: "Do not touch." There are no appearances to be photographed, no experiences to be copied, in which we do not take part. We re-make nature by the act of discovery, in the poem or in the theorem. And the great poem and the deep theorem are new to every reader, and yet are his own experiences, because he himself re-creates them. They are the marks of unity in variety; and in the instant when the mind seizes this for itself, in art or in science, the heart misses a beat.” ReadingUnderstandingCreativityCommunicationDiscoverySharing Author:Jacob Bronowski
“The discoveries of science, the works of art are explorations - more, are explosions, of a hidden likeness. The discoverer or artist presents in them two aspects of nature and fuses them into one. This is the act of creation, in which an original thought is born, and it is the same act in original science and original art.” ArtTwoScienceArtistBornCreationDiscoveryAspectOriginalsWorks Of ArtExplorationExplosionsFuseOriginal ThoughtOriginal Art Author:Jacob Bronowski
“We re-make nature by the act of discovery, in the poem or in the theorem. And the great poem and the deep theorem are new to every reader, and yet are his own experiences, because he himself re-creates them. They are the marks of unity in variety; and in the instant when the mind seizes this for itself, in art or in science, the heart misses a beat.” MindHeartArtMissingReaderBeatsDiscoveryMarkUnityVarietyInstantTheorems Book:Science and Human Values Source: Science and Human Values
“The progress of science is the discovery at each step of a new order which gives unity to what had seemed unlike.” GivingOrderStepsProgressDiscoveryUnity Book:Science and Human Values Source: Science and Human Values
“The act of imagination is the opening of the system so that it shows new connections. Every act of act of imagination is the discovery of likenesses between two things which were thought unlike. An example is Newton’s thinking of the likeness between the thrown apple and moon sailing majestically in the sky. Hence, the ‘discovery’ of the laws of gravity.” ThinkingTwoShowsLawImaginationSkyExampleMoonDiscoveryConnectionsOpeningApplesTwo ThingsThrownGravitySailingNewton Author:Jacob Bronowski
“The most remarkable discovery ever made by scientists is science itself. The discovery must be compared in importance with the invention of cave-painting and of writing.” MadeScienceDiscoveryScientistRemarkable Author:Jacob Bronowski
“The basis for poetry and scientific discovery is the ability to comprehend the unlike in the like and the like in the unlike.” ArtAbilityBeautyDiscoveryBasesStatisticsAestheticScientific Discovery Author:Jacob Bronowski
“Progress is the exploration of our own error. Evolution is a consolidation of what have always begun as errors. And errors are of two kinds: errors that turn out to be true and errors that turn out to be false (which are most of them). But they both have the same character of being an imaginative speculation. I say all this because I want very much to talk about the human side of discovery and progress, and it seems to me terribly important to say this in an age in which most non-scientists are feeling a kind of loss of nerve.” WantHumansKindTwoImportantCharacterFeelingsSeemsAgeTurnsSidesLossProgressEvolutionDiscoveryScientistErrorsBeing TrueExplorationNervesSpeculationImaginativeConsolidation Book:The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination Source: The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination
“The most remarkable discovery made by scientists is science itself. The discovery must be compared in importance with the invention of cave-painting and of writing. Like these earlier human creations, science is an attempt to control our surroundings by entering into them and understanding them from inside. And like them, science has surely made a critical step in human development which cannot be reversed. We cannot conceive a future society without science.” WritingHumansMadeScienceUnderstandingStepsCreationPaintingDevelopmentDiscoveryScientistAccountsImportanceCriticalInventionRemarkableEnteringCavesSurroundingsHuman DevelopmentCreation ScienceDiscovery And InventionFuture SocietyCave Paintings Author:Jacob Bronowski
