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Quote by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero was a prominent philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, and writer during the late Roman Republic. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, but he was active in the 1st century BC. Known for his profound thoughts and exceptional literary style, Cicero has had a lasting impact on Western culture. more

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“The hypotheses which we accept ought to explain phenomena which we have observed. But they ought to do more than this; our hypotheses ought to foretell phenomena which have not yet been observed; ... because if the rule prevails, it includes all cases; and will determine them all, if we can only calculate its real consequences. Hence it will predict the results of new combinations, as well as explain the appearances which have occurred in old ones. And that it does this with certainty and correctness, is one mode in which the hypothesis is to be verified as right and useful.”

IfsWellsDoeRealScienceResultsAcceptingCasesAcceptanceOughtEvidenceConsequenceDetermineAppearanceObservationCertaintyCombinationHypothesisCorrectness
Author:William Whewell
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“The physicist is like someone who's watching people playing chess and, after watching a few games, he may have worked out what the moves in the game are. But understanding the rules is just a trivial preliminary on the long route from being a novice to being a grand master. So even if we understand all the laws of physics, then exploring their consequences in the everyday world where complex structures can exist is a far more daunting task, and that's an inexhaustible one I'm sure.”

PeopleIfsWorldMayLongMovingLawScienceGamesUnderstandingMastersConsequenceTasksStructureComplexesEverydayPhysicsChessObservationExploringRoutesPhysicistLaws Of PhysicsNovicesPlaying ChessDaunting Tasks
Author:Martin Rees
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“The process of tracing regularity in any complicated, and at first sight confused, set of appearances, is necessarily tentative; we begin by making any supposition, even a false one, to see what consequences will follow from it ; and by observing how these differ from the real phenomena, we learn what corrections to make in our assumption.”

FirstsRealScienceProcessConsequenceSightAppearanceComplicatedObservationConfusedAssumptionObservingCorrectionsRegularitySuppositionTracing
Book:A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, Being a Connected View of the Principles, and the Methods of Scientific Investigation
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“The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work-that is, correctly to describe phenomena from a reasonably wide area.”

TryingScienceCertainModelsEvidenceAreasAccountsMathematicsWideExpectedObservationMathematicalInterpretationJustificationConstructsMathematical Models
Book:The Neumann Compendium
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“The significance of a fact is relative to [the general body of scientific] knowledge. To say that a fact is significant in science, is to say that it helps to establish or refute some general law; for science, though it starts from observation of the particular, is not concerned essentially with the particular, but with the general. A fact, in science, is not a mere fact, but an instance. In this the scientist differs from the artist, who, if he deigns to notice facts at all, is likely to notice them in all their particularity.”

IfsArtFactsHelpingBodyLawScienceArtistKnowledgeParticularConcernedScientistMereSignificantInstanceObservationSignificanceRelativeScientific Knowledge
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“The truth is, the Science of Nature has been already too long made only a work of the Brain and the Fancy: It is now high time that it should return to the plainness and soundness of Observations on material and obvious things.”

ShouldLongHas BeensMadeScienceTimeNatureBrainMaterialsReturnTruth IsAccountsObviousObservationFancyObvious ThingsSoundnessPlainness
Book:Extracts from Micrographia: Or, Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon
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