“Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly.”
Act V, scene i.
Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
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Joseph Addison 226
politician, writer and playwright 1672–1719Related quotes
Zartheit zwischen Menschen ist nichts anderes als das Bewußtsein von der Möglichkeit zweckfreier Beziehungen.
E. Jephcott, trans. (1974), § 20
Minima Moralia (1951)
Geological Sketches (1870), ch. 2, pp. 31–32 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044018968388;view=1up;seq=49
“Nature does nothing in vain, and in the use of means to her goals she is not prodigal.”
Third Thesis
Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View (1784)
Context: Nature does nothing in vain, and in the use of means to her goals she is not prodigal. Her giving to man reason and the freedom of the will which depends upon it is clear indication of her purpose. Man accordingly was not to be guided by instinct, not nurtured and instructed with ready-made knowledge; rather, he should bring forth everything out of his own resources.
The Days of My Life : An Autobiography (1989), p. 212
Context: My first TV series on demonstrations in physics — titled Why Is It So? were now seen and heard over the land. The mail was massive. The academics were a special triumph for me. They charged me with being superficial and trivial. If I had done what they wanted my programs would be as dull as their classes! I knew my purpose well and clear: to show how Nature behaves without cluttering its beauty with abtruse mathematics. Why cloud the charm of a Chladni plate with a Bessel function?
“A god without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but Fate and Nature.”
Isaac Newton: Principia Mathematica (1687); Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy, Rule IV.
Misattributed
Source: Chemistry as an Interesting Subject for the Philosophy of Science, 2001, p. 192
“God gives us intelligence to uncover the wonders of nature. Without the gift, nothing is possible.”
André Delambre
The Fly (1958)