
The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination (1978)
The Second Part, Chapter 26, p. 143.
Leviathan (1651)
Context: The Interpretation of the Laws of Nature in a Common-wealth, dependeth not on the books of Moral Philosophy. The Authority of writers, without the Authority of the Commonwealth, maketh not their opinions Law, be they never so true.
The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination (1978)
Source: Laws of Media: The New Science (with Eric McLuhan) (1988), p. 217
Preface.
A Treatise on Language: Or, The Relation which Words Bear to Things, in Four Parts (1836)
Context: All that the book contains is the elucidation of but one precept: namely, to interpret language by nature. We [generally and incorrectly] reverse the rule and interpret nature by language.
Opening lines, p. 104
Variant translations:
What is God-given is called nature; to follow nature is called Tao (the Way); to cultivate the Way is called culture.
As translated by Lin Yutang in The Importance of Living (1937), p. 143
What is God-given is called human nature.
To fulfill that nature is called the moral law (Tao).
The cultivation of the moral law is called culture.
As translated by Lin Yutang in From Pagan to Christian (1959), p. 85
The Doctrine of the Mean
On the basis of his legal decisions, in Ch. 9
A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (1834)
“Philosophy is empty if it isn't based on science. Science discovers, philosophy interprets.”
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 98