Simon Newcomb Quotes

Quotes about:

• Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.

  Simon Newcomb

  Airplane, Space, Machines

  13 Copy quote

• As years passed away I have formed the habit of looking back upon that former self as upon another person, the remembrance of whose emotions has been a solace in adversity and added zest to the enjoyment of prosperity.

  Simon Newcomb

  New Year, Memorial Day, Adversity

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  18 Copy quote

• We are probably nearing the limit of all we can know about astronomy.

  Simon Newcomb

  Knowledge, Science, Limits

  11 Copy quote

• If my impressions are correct, our educational planing mill cuts down all the knots of genius, and reduces the best of the men who go through it to much the same standard.

  Simon Newcomb

  Education, Cutting, Science

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  8 Copy quote

• All attempts at artificial aviation are not only dangerous to human life, but foredoomed to failure from the engineering standpoint.

  Simon Newcomb

  Engineering, Aviation, Human Life

  4 Copy quote

• I had not yet gotten into the world of light. But I felt as one who, standing outside, could knock against the wall and hear an answering knock from within.

  Simon Newcomb

  Wall, Light, World

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  7 Copy quote

• Whenever a total eclipse of the sun was visible in an accessible region parties were sent out to observe it.

  Simon Newcomb

  Party, Eclipse Of The Sun, Regions

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  76 Copy quote

• The time was not yet ripe for the growth of mathematical science among us, and any development that might have taken place in that direction was rudely stopped by the civil war.

  Simon Newcomb

  War, Taken, Rude

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  5 Copy quote

• Aerial flight is one of that class of problems with which man will never be able to cope. . . . The example of the bird does not prove that man can fly. Imagine the proud possessor of the aeroplane darting through the air at a speed of several hundred feet per second. It is the speed alone that sustains him. How is he ever going to stop?

  Simon Newcomb

  Future, Men, Air

  4 Copy quote

• Construction of an aerial vehicle which can carry even a single man . . . requires the discovery of some new metal or force. Even with such a discovery, we could not expect one to do more than carry its owner.

  Simon Newcomb

  Men, Discovery, Flight

  7 Copy quote

• Ten decimal places of π are sufficient to give the circumference of the earth to a fraction of an inch, and thirty decimal places would give the circumference of the visible universe to a quantity imperceptible to the most powerful microscope.

  Simon Newcomb

  Powerful, Giving, Earth

  4 Copy quote

• Quite likely the twentieth century is destined to see the natural forces which will enable us to fly from continent to continent with a speed far exceeding that of a bird.

  Simon Newcomb

  Airplane, Bird, Speed

  11 Copy quote

• One of the most beautiful hypotheses ever propounded in physics is ... the Dynamical Theory of Gases

  Simon Newcomb

  Beautiful, Science, Physics

  4 Copy quote

• As the existence of a corps of professors of mathematics is peculiar to our navy, as well as an apparent, perhaps a real, anomaly, some account of it may be of interest.

  Simon Newcomb

  Real, Sensual, Navy

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  23 Copy quote

• The result was that, if it happened to clear off after a cloudy evening, I frequently arose from my bed at any hour of the night or morning and walked two miles to the observatory to make some observation included in the programme.

  Simon Newcomb

  Morning, Night, Two

  7 Copy quote

• Aerial flight is one of that class of problems with which man will never be able to cope.

  Simon Newcomb

  Science, Men, Class

  8 Copy quote

• I finally reached the conclusion that mathematics was the study I was best fitted to follow, though I did not clearly see in what way I should turn the subject to account.

  Simon Newcomb

  Way, Study, Mathematics

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  7 Copy quote

• The demonstration that no possible combination of known substances, known forms of machinery and known forms of force, can be united in a practical machine by which men shall fly along distances through the air, seems to the writer as complete as it is possible for the demonstration to be.

  Simon Newcomb

  Distance, Future, Airplane

  6 Copy quote

• What we now call school training, the pursuit of fixed studies at stated hours under the constant guidance of a teacher, I could scarcely be said to have enjoyed.

  Simon Newcomb

  Teacher, School, Training

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  8 Copy quote

• So far as the economic condition of society and the general mode of living and thinking were concerned, I might claim to have lived in the time of the American Revolution.

  Simon Newcomb

  Thinking, Might, Revolution

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  8 Copy quote

• My first undertaking in the way of scientific experiment was in the field of economics and psychology.

  Simon Newcomb

  Psychology, Way, Fields

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  8 Copy quote

• The reports of the eclipse parties not only described the scientific observations in great detail, but also the travels and experiences, and were sometimes marked by a piquancy not common in official documents.

  Simon Newcomb

  Party, Sea, Swag

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  15 Copy quote

• The mathematician of to-day admits that he can neither square the circle, duplicate the cube or trisect the angle. May not our mechanicians, in like manner, be ultimately forced to admit that aerial flight is one of that great class of problems with which men can never cope... I do not claim that this is a necessary conclusion from any past experience. But I do think that success must await progress of a different kind from that of invention.

  Simon Newcomb

  Airplane, Past, Men

  4 Copy quote

• One hardly knows where, in the history of science, to look for an important movement that had its effective start in so pure and simple an accident as that which led to the building of the great Washington telescope, and went on to the discovery of the satellites of Mars.

  Simon Newcomb

  Knowledge, Science, Simple

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  8 Copy quote

• My father was the most rational and the most dispassionate of men.

  Simon Newcomb

  Boyfriend, Dad, Father

  Simon Newcomb (1903). “The reminiscences of an astronomer”, Harper and Brothers

  68 Copy quote

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