In a sense, knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows: for details are swallowed up in principles.

The point about zero is that we do not need to use it in the operations of daily life. No one goes out to buy zero fish. It is in a way the most civilised of all the cardinals, and its use is only forced on us by the needs of cultivated modes of thought.

The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity.

Many a scientist has patiently designed experiments for the purpose of substantiating his belief that animal operations are motivated by no purposes. He has perhaps spent his spare time in writing articles to prove that human beings are as other animals so that 'purpose' is a category irrelevant for the explanation of their bodily activities, his own activities included. Scientists animated by the purpose of proving that they are purposeless constitute an interesting subject for study.

To see what is general in what is particular, and what is permanent in what is transitory, is the aim of scientific thought.

Every epoch has its character determined by the way its population reacts to the material events which they encounter.

The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanation of complex facts... Seek simplicity and distrust it.