William Whewell Quotes

Quotes about:

• Every failure is a step to success.

  William Whewell

  Moving On, Success, Congratulations

  William Whewell (1852). “Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England”, p.101, London : J.W. Parker ; Cambridge : J. Deighton

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• Those who have obtained the farthest insight into Nature have been, in all ages, firm believers in God.

  William Whewell

  Faith, Age, Insight

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• We cannot observe external things without some degree of Thought; nor can we reflect upon our Thoughts, without being influenced in the course of our reflection by the Things which we have observed.

  William Whewell

  Reflection, Degrees, Courses

  William Whewell (1848). “Elements of morality incluiding polity”, p.1

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• The hypotheses we accept ought to explain phenomena which we have observed. But they ought to do more than this: our hypotheses ought to foretell phenomena which have not yet been observed.

  William Whewell

  Science, Accepting, Hypothesis

  William Whewell (1968). “Theory of Scientific Method”, p.151, Hackett Publishing

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• In art, truth is a means to an end; in science, it is the only end.

  William Whewell

  Art, Mean, Truth Is

  William Whewell (1840). “Aphorisms Concerning Ideas, Science & the Language of Science”, p.25

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• Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error. Not only so; but scarcely any attempt is entirely a failure; scarcely any theory, the result of steady thought, is altogether false; no tempting form of Error is without some latent charm derived from Truth.

  William Whewell

  Failure, Errors, Trials

  William Whewell (1852). “Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England”, p.101, London : J.W. Parker ; Cambridge : J. Deighton

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• We need very much a name to describe a cultivator of science in general. I should incline to call him a scientist. [The first use of the word.]

  William Whewell

  Names, Needs, Use

  The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences vol. 1 (1840). Whewell coined scientist at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in the early 1830s.

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• The catastrophist constructs theories, the uniformitarian demolishes them.

  William Whewell

  Theory, Constructs, Demolish

  William Whewell (1858). “Novum organon renovatum”, p.25

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• The main object of the work was to present such a survey of the advances already made in physical knowledge, and of the mode in which they have been made, as might serve as a real and firm basis for our speculations concerning the progress of human knowledge, and the processes by which sciences are formed.

  William Whewell

  Real, Progress, Might

  William Whewell (1847). “History of the Inductive Sciences: I. The Greek school philosophy, with reference to physical science. II. The physical sciences in ancient Greece. III. Greek astronomy. IV. Physical science in the middle ages. V. Formal astronomy after the stationary period”, p.10

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• Man is the interpreter of nature, science the right interpretation.

  William Whewell

  Men, Interpretation, Interpreter

  William Whewell (1847). “The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon Their History: In Two Volumes”, p.443

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• The earlier truths are not expelled but absorbed, not contradicted but extended; and the history of each science, which may thus appear like a succession of revolutions, is, in reality, a series of developements.

  William Whewell

  Reality, May, Revolution

  William Whewell (1858). “History of Inductive Sciences”, p.45

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• There is a mask of theory over the whole face of nature.

  William Whewell

  Nature, Faces, Mask

  William Whewell (1847). “The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences: Founded Upon Their History”, p.42

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• Every man has obligations which belong to his station. Duties extend beyond obligations, and direct the affections, desires, and intentions, as well as the actions.

  William Whewell

  Men, Desire, Action

  William Whewell (1845). “The Elements of Morality, Including Polity”, p.172

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• Conscience is the reason employed about questions of right and wrong.

  William Whewell

  Reason, Employed, Conscience

  William Whewell (1846). “Lectures on Systematic Morality Delivered in Lent Term, 1846”, p.144, London, J. W. Parker

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• In order that the facts obtained by observation and experiment may be capable of being used in furtherance of our exact and solid knowledge, they must be apprehended and analysed according to some Conceptions which, applied for this purpose, give distinct and definite results, such as can be steadily taken hold of and reasoned from.

  William Whewell

  Taken, Knowledge, Science

  William Whewell (1858). “Novum Organon Renovatum”, p.63

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• It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.

  William Whewell

  Tests, Theory, Accounts

  William Whewell (1840). “The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences: Founded Upon Their History”, p.39

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• Fundamental ideas are not a consequence of experience, but a result of the particular constitution and activity of the mind, which is independent of all experience in its origin, though constantly combined with experience in its exercise.

  William Whewell

  Independent, Exercise, Ideas

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• The system becomes more coherent as it is further extended. The elements which we require for explaining a new class of facts are already contained in our system. In false theories, the contrary is the case.

  William Whewell

  Class, Elements, Facts

  William Whewell (1968). “Theory of Scientific Method”, p.155, Hackett Publishing

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• According to the technical language of old writers, a thing and its qualities are described as subject and attributes; and thus a man's faculties and acts are attributes of which he is the subject. The mind is the subject in which ideas inhere. Moreover, the man's faculties and acts are employed upon external objects; and from objects all his sensations arise. Hence the part of a man's knowledge which belongs to his own mind, is subjective: that which flows in upon him from the world external to him, is objective.

  William Whewell

  Knowledge, Men, Ideas

  William Whewell (1858). “History of Scientific Ideas: Being the First Part of The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences”, p.35

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• Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error.

  William Whewell

  Errors, Excellence, Trials

  William Whewell (1852). “Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England”, p.101, London : J.W. Parker ; Cambridge : J. Deighton

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• Gold and iron at the present day, as in ancient times, are the rulers of the world; and the great events in the world of mineral art are not the discovery of new substances, but of new and rich localities of old ones.

  William Whewell

  Art, Science, Discovery

  William Whewell (1856). “Lectures on the Progress of Arts and Science, Resulting from the Great Exhibition in London ...”, p.22

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• Prudence supposes the value of the end to be assumed, and refers only to the adaptation of the means. It is the relation of right means for given ends.

  William Whewell

  Mean, Adaptation, Given

  William Whewell (1845). “The Elements of Morality, Including Polity”, p.157

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• Astronomy is ... the only progressive Science which the ancient world produced.

  William Whewell

  Science, World, Astronomy

  William Whewell (1847). “History of the Inductive Sciences: I. The Greek school philosophy, with reference to physical science. II. The physical sciences in ancient Greece. III. Greek astronomy. IV. Physical science in the middle ages. V. Formal astronomy after the stationary period”, p.96

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• Geometry in every proposition speaks a language which experience never dares to utter; and indeed of which she but halfway comprehends the meaning.

  William Whewell

  Language, Speak, Dare

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• A man really and practically looking onwards to an immortal life, on whatever grounds, exhibits to us the human soul in an enobled attitude.

  William Whewell

  Attitude, Men, Soul

  "Platonic Dialogues for English Readers, Vol. 1". Book by William Whewell, "Remarks on the Phaedo", pp. 441-2, 1859.

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