The New Quotable Einstein
1950s, Essay to Leo Baeck (1953)
“While there is such a persistency to ordinary observation, it would also appear that nature has a power of producing new varieties, though this is only done rarely. Such novelties of type abound in the vegetable world, are seen more rarely in the animal circle, and perhaps are least frequent of occurrence in our own race.”
Source: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), p. 281-282
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Robert Chambers (publisher, born 1802) 100
Scottish publisher and writer 1802–1871Related quotes
As quoted in Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources (1893) selected and compiled by James Wood.
Source: What is Property? (1840), Ch.IV
Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature, Paul & Co Pub Consortium, June, 1978.
No. 15
On the Interpretation of Nature (1753)
Context: There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.
As quoted in "Score another for Armstrong" in VeloNews (22 July 2004)