George Santayana (1863–1952) 20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with Pragmatism
Source: The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905-1906), Vol. II, Reason in Society, Ch. IV: The Aristocratic Ideal
“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.”
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.
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Denis Diderot106
French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist 1713–1784Related quotes
Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)
1920s, Whose Country Is This? (1921)
Context: From its very beginning our country has been enriched by a complete blend of varied strains in the same ethnic family. We are, in some sense, an immigrant nation, molded in the fires of a common experience. That common experience is our history. And it is that common experience we must hand down to our children, even as the fundamental principles of Americanism, based on righteousness, were handed down to us, in perpetuity, by the founders of our government.
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist
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.
Edward Jenner (1749–1823) English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination
The Life of Edward Jenner M.D. Vol. 2 (1838) by John Baron, p. 447
Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist
Source: The Courage to Create (1975), Ch. 7 : Passion for Form, p. 134
William Whewell (1794–1866) English philosopher & historian of science
The Elements of Morality, Book 1, ch. 1. (1845).
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2002, State of the Union address (January 2002)
Michael Pollan book The Omnivore's Dilemma
Source: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683–1744) French-born British natural philosopher and clergyman
Source: Course of Experimental Philosophy, 1745, p. v: Preface
Context: All the knowledge we have of nature depends upon facts; for without observations and experiments our natural philosophy would only be a science of terms and an unintelligible jargon. But then we must call in Geometry and Arithmetics, to our Assistance, unless we are willing to content ourselves with natural History and conjectural Philosophy. For, as many causes concur in the production of compound effects, we are liable to mistake the predominant cause, unless we can measure the quantity and the effect produced, compare them with, and distinguish them from, each other, to find out the adequate cause of each single effect, and what must be the result of their joint action.
Jacob Aagaard (1973) Danish-born Scottish chess grandmaster
As quoted in his Excelling at Positional Chess (2003), p. 159.