“External nature is only internal nature writ large.”

— Swami Vivekananda

Pearls of Wisdom

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Swami Vivekananda 261

Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher 1863–1902

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“The history of mankind can be seen, in the large, as the realization of Nature’s secret plan to bring forth a perfectly constituted state as the only condition in which the capacities of mankind can be fully developed, and also bring forth that external relation among states which is perfectly adequate to this end.”

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“Let there be freedom from perturbations with respect to the things which come from the external cause; and let there be justice in the things done by virtue of the internal cause, that is, let there be movement and action terminating in this, in social acts, for this is according to thy nature.”

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“The belief in an external world independent of the perceiving subject is the basis of all natural science.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Der Glaube an eine vom wahrnehmenden Subjekt unabhängige Außenwelt liegt aller Naturwissenschaft zugrunde.
First sentence of "Maxwells Einfluss auf die Entwicklung der Auffassung des Physikalisch-Realen". Manuscript at the Hebrew University Jerusalem alberteinstein.info http://alberteinstein.info/vufind1/Digital/EAR000034102#page/1/mode/2up
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“Man reacts upon and toward the external universe in three ways, namely, by his active nature; by his intellectual nature; by his moral nature — that is, he acts upon it, thinks about it, and feels toward it.”

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“Acting is all internal, but must be externalized.”

Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) French actress

“A war not only arises, but derives its nature, from the political ideas, the moral sentiments, and the international relations obtaining at the moment when it breaks out.”

Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) French soldier and military theorist

Source: Precepts and Judgments (1919), p. 211
Context: A war not only arises, but derives its nature, from the political ideas, the moral sentiments, and the international relations obtaining at the moment when it breaks out.
This amounts to saying : try and know why and with the help of what you are going to act; then you will find out how to act.

“External nature is only internal nature writ large.”

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Swami Vivekananda 261

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