Quotes About Observation

love of science—unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject—industry in observing and collecting facts—and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense. With such moderate abilities as I possess, it is truly surprising that I should have influenced to a considerable extent the belief of scientific men on some important points.

Therefore a man should examine for himself the great piles of superimposed strata, and watch the rivulets bringing down mud, and the waves wearing away the sea-cliffs, in order to comprehend something about the duration of past time, the monuments of which we see all around us.

I find I look at this province with very different eyes then when I arrived. I recollect I then thought of it as singularly level, but now after galloping over the montañas my own only surprise is what could have induced me to have ever called it level!

But when on shore, & wandering in the sublime forests, surrounded by views more gorgeous than even Claude ever imagined, I enjoy a delight which none but those who have experienced it can understand - If it is to be done, it must be by studying Humboldt.

What an extraordinary thing it is, Mr. Darwin seems to spend hours in cracking a horse-whip in his room, for I often hear the crack when I pass under his windows.

La belleza, en muchos casos, parece ser debida por completo a la simetría del crecimiento. Las flores se clasifican entre las producciones más hermosas de la naturaleza; pero se han hecho visibles por contraste con las hojas verdes, y por consiguiente hermosas, al mismo tiempo para que puedan ser fácilmente observadas por los insectos.

When on board H.M.S. 'Beagle,' as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America

Alexander von Humboldt was the] greatest scientific traveller who ever lived.

Travelling ought also to teach him distrust; but at the same time he will discover, how many trully goodnatured people there are.

On the other hand, I am not very sceptical,—a frame of mind which I believe to be injurious to the progress of science. A good deal of scepticism in a scientific man is advisable to avoid much loss of time, but I have met with not a few men, who, I feel sure, have often thus been deterred from experiment or observations, which would have proved directly or indirectly serviceable.

I abhor the man whose first remark after being introduced is "How warm, or how cold, it is." It proves either that he is a fool, or that he thinks I am one. This one expatiated on the weather. "Insufferable" I said, which might be applied to both himself and the heat.

They did not talk much while they ate, other than for Ada to say that the Georgia boy did not seem like much of a one as far as men went. Ruby said she found him not particularly worse than the general order of men, which is to say that he would greatly benefit from having someone's foot in his back every waking minute.

so all you can hear is just general leaves?

presented in an honest and straightforward manner. A little mathematical sophistication—and a little practice—allows you to recognize errors of randumbness, causuistry, and regression to the moon; once you get used to spotting phony patterns and false connections, you'll begin to see them everywhere.

Georgina darts forward, grabs my hand, and pumps it up and down while peering at my face as if she's wondering why water isn't gushing from my mouth.

I notice that Andy is watching our exchange with the still, silent fascination of a fly on the wall that is canny enough to be aware of the existence of swatters.

the first law of demonology is that if you can see it, it can see you. But

when you're sentenced to drive a Smart car on a road where everything else has a speed best described by its mach number, you tend to pay attention.

Not our circus, not our monkeys," I murmur, and he nods.

I'm lurking in the shubbery behind an industrial unit, armed with a clipboard, a pager, and a pair of bulbous night-vision goggles that drench the scenery in ghastly emeralt tones. The bloody thing make me look like a train-spotter with a gas-mask fetish, and wearing them is giving me a headache

and she has yet to see any eunuchs or freemartins at all

Neither of them noticed the pair of polka-dotted knickers hiding behind the ventilation duct overhead, listening patiently and recording everything.

Nicholas was already tall for his age, dark unruly hair and dark eyes, although in the photograph you couldn't tell if they were brown or dark blue.

By the time we made our way through the crowded tables and reached the hotel lobby, the two men were nowhere to be seen. Lucy pressed on to the front entrance, and we followed. On the steps in front of the hotel, we looked across the boulevard to a vast green expanse of trees, shrubs, and lawns. There was still no sign of the two men. We looked up and down the wide pavement, again without seeing either Dietrich or Richter