Quotes from book

Man a Machine

“In general, the form and the structure of the brains of quadrupeds are almost the same as those of the brain of man…”

“If there is a revelation, it can not then contradict nature.”

“I reduce to two the systems of philosophy which deal with man's soul. The first and older system is materialism; the second is spiritualism.”

“A mere nothing, a tiny fibre, something that could never be found by the most delicate anatomy, would have made of Erasmus and Fontenelle two idiots, and Fontenelle himself speaks of this very fact in one of his best dialogues.”

“[W]hy should we divide the sensitive principle which thinks in man? …For a thing that is divided can no longer without absurdity be regarded as indivisible.”

“A geometrician has learned to perform the most difficult demonstrations and calculations, as a monkey has learned to take his little hat off and on…”

“One needs only eyes to see the necessary influence of old age on reason.”

“The soul is… but an empty word, of which no one has any idea, and which an enlightened man should use only to signify the part in us that thinks…”

“Man has been trained in the same way as animals. He has become an author, as they became beasts of burden.”

“Let us not limit the resources of nature; they are infinite, especially when reinforced by great art.”

“The soul follows the progress of the body, as it does the progress of education.”

“Man's preeminent advantage is his organism. …Only through nature do we have any good qualities; to her we owe all that we are.”

“[E]verything is the work of imagination, and… all the faculties of the soul can be correctly reduced to pure imagination…”

“If one's organism is… the preeminent advantage, and the source of all others, education is the second. The best made brain would be a total loss without it…”

“[H]e who has the most imagination should be regarded as having the most intelligence or genius, for all these words are synonymous…”

“[M]an… whatever the origin of his soul, if it is pure, noble, and lofty, it is a beautiful soul which dignifies the man endowed with it.”

“[A] brilliant man is his own best company, unless he can find other company of the same sort.”

“What was man before the invention of words and the knowledge of language? An animal..”

“[T]he sciences that are expressed by numbers or by other small signs, are easily learned; and… this facility rather than its demonstrability is what has made the fortune of algebra.”