Quotessence
Home / Topics / Discoveries Quotes

Discoveries Quotes

Browse 82 quotes about Discoveries.

Discoveries Quotes

“The moment after, I began to respire 20 quarts of unmingled nitrous oxide. A thrilling, extending from the chest to the extremities, was almost immediately produced. I felt a sense of tangible extension highly pleasurable in every limb; my visible impressions were dazzling, and apparently magnified, I heard distinctly every sound in the room and was perfectly aware of my situation. By degrees, as the pleasurable sensations increased, I last all connection with external things; trains of vivid visible images rapidly passed through my mind, and were connected with words in such a manner, as to produce perceptions perfectly novel. I existed in a world of newly connected and newly modified ideas. I theorised—I imagined that I made discoveries. When I was awakened from this semi-delirious trance by Dr. Kinglake, who took the bag from my mouth, indignation and pride were the first feelings produced by the sight of the persons about me. My emotions were enthusiastic and sublime; and for a minute I walked round the room, perfectly regardless of what was said to me. As I recovered my former state of mind, I felt an inclination to communicate the discoveries I had made during the experiment. I endeavoured to recall the ideas, they were feeble and indistinct; one collection of terms, however, presented itself: and with the most intense belief and prophetic manner, I exclaimed to Dr Kinglake, 'Nothing exists but thoughts!—the universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures and pains!”

UniversePleasurePerceptionThoughtsDiscoveriesAlexander William KinglakeKinglake
Book:Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or Dephlogisticated Nitrous Air, and Its Respiration.
Create image

“During periods of root expansion things have always looked as confused and topsy-turvy and purposeless as they do now. The whole Renaissance is supposed to have resulted from the topsy-turvy feeling caused by Columbus’ discovery of a new world. It just shook people up. The topsy-turviness of that time is recorded everywhere. There was nothing in the flat-earth views of the Old and New Testaments that predicted it. Yet people couldn’t deny it. The only way they could assimilate it was to abandon the entire medieval outlook and enter into a new expansion of reason.”

PhilosophyAmericaEvolutionCivilizationRenaissanceDiscoveries
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Create image

“One of the greatest discoveries you could actually discover in life is the treasure of solitude.”

WorldLifePurposeTimeHumanityWorkWealthPovertyGreatnessProduceCallingSolitudeWasteValueProductivityTreasureConversionGiftGreatProductConvertDiscoveriesTreasure Of Solitude
Book:How To Become Great Through Time Conversion: Are you wasting time, spending time or investing time?
Create image

“If you want to give birth to any discoveries or inventions, you must start practicing solitude.”

WorldLifePurposeTimeHumanityWorkWealthPovertyGreatnessProduceCallingSolitudeWasteValueProductivityConversionGiftGreatProductConvertDiscoveriesInventionsPractices
Book:How To Become Great Through Time Conversion: Are you wasting time, spending time or investing time?
Create image

“All things vibrate, and they vibrate at their own frequencies. When you understand this, you will significantly broaden your understanding of the universe. With this understanding, your eyes will open to things you've never seen before-things previously pushed to the back of your consciousness- and these discoveries and feelings will give new life to your soul. (p42)”

SoulUniverseDiscoveriesVibrational EnergyFrequenciesConsciousness Expansion
Book:The Hidden Messages in Water
Create image

“We only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about and don’t understand. [...] There are always new things to find out if you go looking for them.”

LifeFactsWisdomTruthUnderstandingGrowthKnowledgeLearningDiscoveryExperienceExplorationLearnLife ExperienceDiscoveringNew ThingsExploringExpansionGrowth MindsetNoveltyKnowExploreDiscoverUnderstanding OthersMore To LifePioneeringDiscoveriesUnderstanding LifeFinding Your WayExplorerUnderstanding Oneself And OthersFinding Out The TruthDiscoveredPioneerExperiencedUnderstanding YourselfLearning The TruthUnderstanding PeopleFind OutDiscovery QuotesPioneer SpiritExpansion Of ConsciousnessMore Than ThisGrowth IdeologyMore Than You KnowUnderstanding OneselfUndiscoveredDiscovering LifeExploredPioneer Of The FutureWhat I KnowExpansion Of ThoughtWhat We Know
Author:David Attenborough
Create image

“The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced.”

TruthScienceTimeKnowledgeResearchLiesMemoryAstronomyDiligenceMisinformationDiscoveriesDisinformationPropoganda
Book:Natural Questions
Create image

“A lot of the mathematics discoveries occur through lucky accidents like that, [Calabi notes]. It's often a matter of connecting up ideas that might seem unrelated and then exploiting the newfound connection.”

LearningInnovationMathematicsDiscoveriesInventionsEugenio Calabi
Book:The Shape of Inner Space: String Theory and the Geometry of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
Create image

“I know not what discoveries, what inventions, what thoughts may leap from the brain of the world. I know not what garments of glory may be woven by the years to come. I cannot dream of the victories to be won upon the fields of thought; but I do know, that coming from the infinite sea of the future, there will never touch this 'bank and shoal of time' a richer gift, a rarer blessing than liberty for man, for woman, and for child.”

LibertySeaFutureGloryThoughtsGiftDiscoveriesInventionsVictories
Book:The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child
Create image

“Father Bertrand stood at the window, gazing out through the sea oats at the wild ocean in the distance. There was such peace in something as big and powerful, as independent and majestic as the ocean. U-boats could travel through it and do their dirty work, but they, too, were at the mercy of the hapless wrath of such a body should God decide it was time to speak directly. Some people felt there were still enemy patrols out there, and maybe there were. But there was also Coast Guard, Navy Patrol, and our own variety of covert water travel, he thought. There was no sense in wondering why man had a persistent desire for dominance. It was clear that man would carry on until at that final call, when God would say, “Enough!” And no more.”

LoveWarNazisDiscoveries
Book:Glorious Christmas
Create image

“To prove to an indignant questioner on the spur of the moment that the work I do was useful seemed a thankless task and I gave it up. I turned to him with a smile and finished, 'To tell you the truth we don't do it because it is useful but because it's amusing.' The answer was thought of and given in a moment: it came from deep down in my mind, and the results were as admirable from my point of view as unexpected. My audience was clearly on my side. Prolonged and hearty applause greeted my confession. My questioner retired shaking his head over my wickedness and the newspapers next day, with obvious approval, came out with headlines 'Scientist Does It Because It's Amusing!' And if that is not the best reason why a scientist should do his work, I want to know what is. Would it be any good to ask a mother what practical use her baby is? That, as I say, was the first evening I ever spent in the United States and from that moment I felt at home. I realised that all talk about science purely for its practical and wealth-producing results is as idle in this country as in England. Practical results will follow right enough. No real knowledge is sterile. The most useless investigation may prove to have the most startling practical importance: Wireless telegraphy might not yet have come if Clerk Maxwell had been drawn away from his obviously 'useless' equations to do something of more practical importance. Large branches of chemistry would have remained obscure had Willard Gibbs not spent his time at mathematical calculations which only about two men of his generation could understand. With this trust in the ultimate usefulness of all real knowledge a man may proceed to devote himself to a study of first causes without apology, and without hope of immediate return.”

ReasonSciencePurposeUnderstandingKnowledgeStudyDiscoveryChemistryAmusingPragmaticScientistsDiscoveriesPracticalElectromagnetismApplicationsJames Clerk MaxwellJames MaxwellWillard GibbsPractical Application
Author:A.V. Hill
Create image

“Don't keep forever on the public road,going only where others have gone, and following one after the other like a flock of sheep. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. 'Every time you do so you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before. Of course it will be a little thing, but do not ignore it. Follow it up, explore all around it; one discovery will lead to another, and before you know it you will have something worth thinking about to occupy your mind. All really big discoveries are the results of thought.”

ThoughtSearchDiscoveries
Author:Alexander Graham Bell
Create image

“The world is changing rapidly, and everyone changes along with the world. Discoveries is now becoming rampant; intellectually, technologically,etc, each having its advantage and disadvantage.”

WorldAgeChangeKnowledgeCreativityTechnologyCreativeComputerDiscoveryAdvantageIncreaseIntellectMichael Bassey JohnsonComputersMetamorphosisEpochChangingFruitsFastThe WorldDiscoveriesMultiplyingEraFruitfulMultiplyThe End Of The WorldDisadvantageEnd TimeComputer AgeBearing FruitsFast Changing WorldJet AgeMake Hay While Sun ShinesThe Great Change
Author:Michael Bassey Johnson
Create image

“To understand this new frontier, I will have to try to master one of the most difficult and counterintuitive theories ever recorded in the annals of science: quantum physics. Listen to those who have spent their lives immersed in this world and you will have a sense of the challenge we face. After making his groundbreaking discoveries in quantum physics, Werner Heisenberg recalled, "I repeated to myself again and again the question: Can nature possibly be so absurd as it seemed to us in these atomic experiments?" Einstein declared after one discovery, "If it is correct it signifies the end of science." Schrödinger was so shocked by the implications of what he'd cooked up that he admitted, "I do not like it and I am sorry I had anything to do with it." Nevertheless, quantum physics is now one of the most powerful and well-tested pieces of science on the books. Nothing has come close to pushing it off its pedestal as one of the great scientific achievements of the last century. So there is nothing to do but to dive headfirst into this uncertain world. Feynman has some good advice for me as I embark on my quest: "I am going to tell you what nature behaves like. If you will simply admit that maybe she does behave like this, you will find her a delightful, entrancing thing. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, 'But how can it be like that?' because you will get 'down the drain,' into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.”

WorldScienceDifficultNaturePowerfulAdviceCenturyBooksTheoryBehaviorDiscoveryBlindExperimentsAbsurdUncertaintyUncertainShockedDelightfulChallengeEndUnderstandImplicationsQuestionQuantum PhysicsLivesMasterQuestPedestalAchievementsAvoidExperimentDiscoveriesNobodyTheoriesFrontierGroundbreakingPossiblyQuantum Field TheoryDiveImmersedEmbarkAlleyCounterintuitiveBehavesAnnalsEntrancingHeadfirstWell Tested
Book:The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science
Create image