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Geology Quotes

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Geology Quotes

“Notwithstanding, therefore, that we have not witnessed of a large continent, yet, as we may predict the future occurrence of such catastrophes, we are authorized to regard them as part of the present order of Nature.”

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Book:Principles of Geology0: Being an Inquiry how Far the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface are Referable to Causes Now in Operation : In 4 Volumes
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“The course of the line we indicated as forming our grandest terrestrial fold [along the shores of Japan] returns upon itself. It is an endless fold, an endless band, the common possession of two sciences. It is geological in origin, geographical in effect. It is the wedding ring of geology and geography, uniting them at once and for ever in indissoluble union.”

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Author:Charles Lapworth
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“The six thousand years of human history form but a portion of the geologic day that is passing over us: they do not extend into the yesterday of the globe, far less touch the myriads of ages spread out beyond.”

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Book:An Autobiography: My Schools and Schoolmasters; Or, The Story of My Education
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“There is no foundation in geological facts, for the popular theory of the successive development of the animal and vegetable world, from the simplest to the most perfect forms.”

WorldFactsFormSciencePerfectAnimalTheoryDevelopmentFoundationVegetablesSimplestGeology
Book:Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth's Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation
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“We cannot take one step in geology without drawing upon the fathomless stores of by-gone time.”

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Book:A complete guide to the Lakes, comprising minute directions for the tourist, with mr. Wordsworth's Description of the scenery of the country, &c. and Three letters upon the geology of the Lake district, by prof. Sedgwick
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“[Vestiges begins] from principles which are at variance with all sober inductive truth. The sober facts of geology shuffled, so as to play a rogue's game; phrenology (that sinkhole of human folly and prating coxcombry); spontaneous generation; transmutation of species; and I know not what; all to be swallowed, without tasting and trying, like so much horse-physic!! Gross credulity and rank infidelity joined in unlawful marriage, and breeding a deformed progeny of unnatural conclusions!”

KnowsTryingHumansPlayFactsScienceGamesPrinciplesGenerationsHorseSpeciesConclusionFollyInfidelitySpontaneousSoberGrossUnnaturalBreedingGeologyRoguesTastingCredulityUnlawfulVarianceProgenyTransmutationPhrenologyHuman FollySinkholes
Author:Adam Sedgwick
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“[My Book] will endeavour to establish the principle[s] of reasoning in ... [geology]; and all my geology will come in as illustration of my views of those principles, and as evidence strengthening the system necessarily arising out of the admission of such principles, which... are neither more nor less than that no causes whatever have from the earliest time to which we can look back, to the present, ever acted, but those now acting; and that they never acted with different degrees of energy from that which they now exert.”

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Author:Charles Lyell
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“[To] explain the phenomena of the mineral kingdom ... systems are usually reduced to two classes, according as they refer to the origin of terrestrial bodies to FIRE or to WATER; and ... their followers have of late been distinguished by the fanciful names of Vulcanists and Neptunists. To the former of these Dr HUTTON belongs much more than to the latter; though, as he employs the agency both of fire and water in his system, he cannot, in strict propriety, be arranged with either.”

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Author:John Playfair
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“Combining in our survey then, the whole range of deposits from the most recent to the most ancient group, how striking a succession do they present:- so various yet so uniform-so vast yet so connected. In thus tracing back to the most remote periods in the physical history of our continents, one system of operations, as the means by which many complex formations have been successively produced, the mind becomes impressed with the singleness of nature's laws; and in this respect, at least, geology is hardly inferior in simplicity to astronomy.”

MindMeanHas BeensWholeLawScienceNatureHistoryGroupsPeriodsComplexesSimplicityAncientProductionsVariousConnectedAstronomyRangeOperationsContinentsUniformsInferiorsImpressedFormationSuccessionSurveysGeologyCombiningDepositsSinglenessTracing
Book:The silurian system, founded on geological researches in the counties of Salop, Hereford etc
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“When autumn returns with its long anticipated holidays, and preparations are made for a scamper in some distant locality, hammer and notebook will not occupy much room in the portmanteau, and will certainly be found most entertaining company.”

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Book:The Story of a Boulder: Or, Gleanings from the Note-book of a Field Geologist
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“Lately we have been getting facts pointing to the "oceanic" nature of the floor of so-called inland seas. Through geological investigations it has been definitely established that in its deepest places, for instance, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the Earth's crust is devoid of granite stratum. The same may be said quite confidently about the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Could the interpretation of these data be that inland seas were the primary stage of the formation of oceanic basins?”

MayHas BeensSaidFactsEarthScienceBlackSeaStageOceanInstanceDataPrimariesInterpretationMexicoInvestigationPointingFormationGeologyCaribbeanGraniteGulf Of Mexico
Author:Vladimir Belousov
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“Nature uncovers the inner secrets of nature in two ways: one by the force of bodies operating outside it; the other by the very movements of its innards. The external actions are strong winds, rains, river currents, sea waves, ice, forest fires, floods; there is only one internal force-earthquake.”

WayTwoBodyActionScienceStrongForceSecretFireSeaMovementWindRainRiversWaveCurrentsForestsIceInternalsFloodTwo WaysEarthquakesGeologyForest FiresStrong Winds
Author:Mikhail Lomonosov
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“Geology is rapidly taking its place as an introduction to the higher history of man. If the author has sought to exalt a favorite science, it has been with the desire that man-in whom geological history had its consummation, the prophecies of the successive ages their fulfilment-might better comprehend his own nobility and the true purpose of his existence.”

IfsMenHas BeensMightAgeScienceDesirePurposeExistenceHistoryHigherProphecyNobilityIntroductionGeologyFulfilmentTrue Purpose
Book:Manual of Geology: Treating of the Principles of the Science, with Special Reference to American Geological History, for the Use of Colleges, Academies, and Schools of Science
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“If catastrophic geology had at times pushed Nature to almost indecent extremes of haste, uniformitarian geology, on the other hand, had erred in the opposite direction, and pictured Nature when she was 'young and wantoned [sic] in her prime', as moving with the lame sedateness of advanced middle age. It became necessary, therefore, as Dr. [Samuel] Haughton expresses it, 'to hurry up the phenomena'.”

IfsHandsAgeMovingYoungScienceNatureMiddleOppositesExtremesPrimeDrsMiddle AgesHasteLameGeology
Author:William Johnson Sollas
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“Experiments in geology are far more difficult than in physics and chemistry because of the greater size of the objects, commonly outside our laboratories, up to the earth itself, and also because of the fact that the geologic time scale exceeds the human time scale by a million and more times. This difference in time allows only direct observations of the actual geologic processes, the mind having to imagine what could possibly have happened in the past.”

MindHumansFactsEarthPastScienceProcessDifficultDifferencesMillionsGreaterImagineHappenedObjectsDirectSizePhysicsScalesExperimentsObservationMore TimeChemistryExceedLaboratoryGeologyGeologic Time
Author:Reinout Willem van Bemmelen
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“Geological facts being of an historical nature, all attempts to deduce a complete knowledge of them merely from their still, subsisting consequences, to the exclusion of unexceptionable testimony, must be deemed as absurd as that of deducing the history of ancient Rome solely from the medals or other monuments of antiquity it still exhibits, or the scattered ruins of its empire, to the exclusion of a Livy, a Sallust, or a Tacitus.”

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Book:Geological essays
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“Geology is part of that remarkable dynamic process of the human mind which is generally called science and to which man is driven by an inquisitive urge. By noticing relationships in the results of his observations, he attempts to order and to explain the infinite variety of phenomena that at first sight may appear to be chaotic.”

MenMindFirstsHumansMayHas BeensScienceOrderProcessResultsFireTreeTypeCivilizationEatingScientistSightInfiniteDrivenStealingObservationVarietyRemarkableHeavenlyUrgesProgressiveHuman MindAdamAcheChaoticNoticingGeologyInquisitivePrometheusTree Of Knowledge
Author:Reinout Willem van Bemmelen
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“Shall it any longer be said that a science [geology], which unfolds such abundant evidence of the Being and Attributes of God, can reasonably be viewed in any other light than as the efficient Auxiliary and Handmaid of Religion?”

SaidGodLightScienceEvidenceAttributesEfficientGeologyHandmaidsAttributes Of God
Book:Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology
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“A rock or stone is not a subject that, of itself, may interest a philosopher to study; but, when he comes to see the necessity of those hard bodies, in the constitution of this earth, or for the permanency of the land on which we dwell, and when he finds that there are means wisely provided for the renovation of this necessary decaying part, as well as that of every other, he then, with pleasure, contemplates this manifestation of design, and thus connects the mineral system of this earth with that by which the heavenly bodies are made to move perpetually in their orbits.”

WellsMayMeanMadeHardBodyEarthMovingScienceInterestPleasureStudyLandSubjectsRocksDesignStonesConstitutionPhilosopherManifestationHeavenlyContemplatingGeologyOrbitMineralsRenovationHeavenly Bodies
Book:Theory of the Earth: With Proofs and Illustrations
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“Anyone who has examined into the history of the theories of earth evolution must have been astounded to observe the manner in which the unique and the difficultly explainable has been made to take the place of the common and the natural in deriving the framework of these theories.”

Has BeensMadeEarthScienceNaturalCommonTheoryEvolutionUniqueFrameworkGeologyAstounded
Book:Earth Evolution and Its Facial Expression
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“Geology has shared the fate of other infant sciences, in being for a while considered hostile to revealed religion; so like them, when fully understood, it will be found a potent and consistent auxiliary to it, exalting our conviction of the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness of the Creator.”

ScienceReligionFoundFateGoodnessUnderstoodConvictionCreatorConsistentHostileInfantGeology
Book:The Evolution Debate, 1813-1870: Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology
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“Geology holds the keys of one of the kingdoms of nature; and it cannot be said that a science which extends our Knowledge, and by consequence our Power, over a third part of nature, holds a low place among intellectual employments.”

SaidScienceKnowledgeKeysIntellectualLowsConsequenceThirdsKingdomsEmploymentGeology
Book:Vindiciæ Geologicæ: The Connexion of Geology with Religion, Explained in an Inaugural Lecture Delivered Before University of Oxford, May 15, 1819, on the Endowment of Readership in Geology
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“It is demonstrable from Geology that there was a period when no organic beings had existence: these organic beings must therefore have had a beginning subsequently to this period; and where is that beginning to be found, but in the will and fiat of an intelligent and all-wise Creator?”

ScienceFoundExistenceWisePeriodsIntelligentCreatorGeology
Book:The Evolution Debate, 1813-1870: Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology
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“My two Jamaican cousins ... were studying engineering. 'That's where the money is,' Mom advised. ... I was to be an engineering major, despite my allergy to science and math. ... Those who preceded me at CCNY include the polio vaccine discoverer, Dr. Jonas Salk ... and eight Nobel Prize winners. ... In class, I stumbled through math, fumbled through physics, and did reasonably well in, and even enjoyed, geology. All I ever looked forward to was ROTC. Autobiographical comments on his original reason for going to the City College of New York, where he shortly turned to his military career.”

WellsTwoReasonScienceCitiesClassCareersStudyMilitaryNew YorkCollegeMomMajorsOriginalsEightMathPhysicsDespiteEnjoyedWinnerPrizeCommentEngineeringDrsCousinNobelVaccinesGeologyNobel PrizeAllergiesPolioJamaicansPolio VaccineNobel Prize Winners
Author:Colin Powell
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“One of the grandest figures that ever frequented Eastern Yorkshire was William Smith, the distinguished Father of English Geology. My boyish reminiscence of the old engineer, as he sketched a triangle on the flags of our yard, and taught me how to measure it, is very vivid. The drab knee-breeches and grey worsted stockings, the deep waistcoat, with its pockets well furnished with snuff-of which ample quantities continually disappeared within the finely chiselled nostril-and the dark coat with its rounded outline and somewhat quakerish cut, are all clearly present to my memory.”

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Author:William Crawford Williamson
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“The field of the Geologist's inquiry is the Globe itself, ... [and] it is his study to decipher the monuments of the mighty revolutions and convulsions it has suffered.”

ScienceStudyFieldsRevolutionGlobesInquiryMonumentGeologyDecipherGeologist
Book:Vindiciæ Geologicæ: The Connexion of Geology with Religion, Explained in an Inaugural Lecture Delivered Before University of Oxford, May 15, 1819, on the Endowment of Readership in Geology
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“The human mind has a natural tendency to explore what has passed in distant ages in scenes with which it is familiar: hence the taste for National and Local Antiquities. Geology gratifies a larger taste of this kind; it inquires into what may appropriately be termed the Antiquities of the Globe itself, and collects and deciphers what may be considered as the monuments and medals of its remoter eras.”

MindHumansKindMayAgeScienceNaturalTasteSceneLocalsFamiliarTendenciesErasHuman MindGlobesMedalMonumentAntiquityGeologyDecipher
Book:Vindiciæ Geologicæ: The Connexion of Geology with Religion, Explained in an Inaugural Lecture Delivered Before University of Oxford, May 15, 1819, on the Endowment of Readership in Geology
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“This boulder seemed like a curious volume, regularly paged, with a few extracts from older works. Bacon tells us that "some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." Of the last honour I think the boulder fully worthy.”

ThinkingBookLastsScienceWorthyCuriousHonourVolumeGeologyBoulders
Book:The Story of a Boulder: Or, Gleanings from the Note-book of a Field Geologist
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“We are not to suppose, that there is any violent exertion of power, such as is required in order to produce a great event in little time; in nature, we find no deficiency in respect of time, nor any limitation with regard to power. But time is not made to flow in vain; nor does there ever appear the exertion of superfluous power, or the manifestation of design, not calculated in wisdom to effect some general end.”

LittlesDoeMadeEndsEarthScienceOrderNaturePowerEffectsEventsDesignProduceFlowRegardViolentLimitationVainManifestationDeficiencyLittle TimeGeologyExertionSuperfluousGreat Events
Book:Theory of the earth; or an investigation of the laws observable in the composition, dissolution and restoration of land upon the globe. (From. the Trans., Roy. soc. of Edinb.).
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