“It is only mental habit that prevents us from realizing how miraculous it is that motion can be passed from one body to another. Once our eyes have opened, nothing is so striking. For those who have never thought about it, it doesn't seem mysterious; by contrast, those who have meditated on it may despair of ever understanding it.”

Les Loix du Mouvement et du Repos, déduites d'un Principe Métaphysique (1746)

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Pierre Louis Maupertuis 24
French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters 1698–1759

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