
“Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.”
Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10202/pg10202.html (1896).
Source: An Introduction to Cybernetics (1956), Part 2: Variety, p. 130
“Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.”
Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10202/pg10202.html (1896).
Source: The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life (1999), Ch. 10: 'A Bio-Friendly Universe?', p. 271
Source: Writings, The Institutes of Biblical Law (1973), p. 113
“The laws of Nature are based upon the existence of a pattern,”
The Artful Universe (1995)
Context: The laws of Nature are based upon the existence of a pattern, linking one state of affairs to another; and where there is pattern, there is symmetry. Yet... the symmetries that the laws enshrine are broken in... outcomes. Suppose that we balance a needle on its point and then release it. The law of gravity, which governs its subsequent motion, is perfectly democratic. It has no preference for any particular direction in the Universe: it is symmetrical in this respect. Yet, when the needle falls, it must fall in a particular direction. The directional symmetry of the underlying law is broken, therefore... By the same token, the fallen needle hides the symmetry of the law... Such 'symmetry-breaking' governs much of what we see in the Universe... It allows a Universe governed by a small number of symmetrical laws to manifest an infinite diversity of complex, asymmetrical states. This is how the Universe can be at once, simple and complicated.<!-- Ch. 2, pp. 36-37
“The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it.”
Introduction, Lesson I: Definition and Sphere of the Science.
Elementary Lessons on Logic (1870)
A Vindication of Natural Society (1756)
Context: The most obvious division of society is into rich and poor; and it is no less obvious, that the number of the former bear a great disproportion to those of the latter. The whole business of the poor is to administer to the idleness, folly, and luxury of the rich; and that of the rich, in return, is to find the best methods of confirming the slavery and increasing the burdens of the poor. In a state of nature, it is an invariable law, that a man's acquisitions are in proportion to his labours. In a state of artificial society, it is a law as constant and as invariable, that those who labour most enjoy the fewest things; and that those who labour not at all have the greatest number of enjoyments. A constitution of things this, strange and ridiculous beyond expression! We scarce believe a thing when we are told it, which we actually see before our eyes every day without being in the least surprised.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, Foundress of Tenrikyo, from Anecdote 17, "The Law of Nature," p. 13.
Anecdotes of Oyasama