Prehistoric Smith, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
“The Earth's Creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone.”
In the Introitus (Preface) from his late editions.
Original in Latin: "Finis Creationis telluris est gloria Dei ex opere Naturae per Hominem solum"
Variant translation: "The purpose of Creation is the glory of God, as can be seen from the works in nature by man alone."
Systema Naturae
1940s–present, A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
Natura abhorret vacuum.
Chapter 5 http://books.google.com/books?id=tBROAAAAcAAJ&q=%22natura+abhorret+vacuum%22&pg=PA22#v=onepage.
Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534)
Source: Green Mars (1993), Chapter 10, “Phase Change” (p. 579)
“I never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.”
No. 85
The Federalist Papers (1787–1788)
Context: I should esteem it the extreme of imprudence to prolong the precarious state of our national affairs, and to expose the Union to the jeopardy of successive experiments, in the chimerical pursuit of a perfect plan. I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man. The result of the deliberations of all collective bodies must necessarily be a compound, as well of the errors and prejudices, as of the good sense and wisdom, of the individuals of whom they are composed.
“Science, like art, is not a copy of nature but a re-creation of her.”
Part 1: "The Creative Mind", §9 (p. 20)
Science and Human Values (1956, 1965)
“Nature abhors the old, and old age seems the only disease; all others run into this one.”
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Circles
