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Frederick Soddy
107 quotes
“As scientific men we have all, no doubt, felt that our work has been put often to base uses, which must lead to disaster. But what sin is to the moralist and crime to the jurist so to the scientific man is ignorance. On our plane knowledge and ignorance are the immemorial adversaries. Scientific men can hardly escape the charge of ignorance with regard to the precise effect of the impact of modern science upon the mode of living of the people and upon their civilisation. For them, such a charge is worse than that of crime.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Frederick Soddy's speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm (10 December 1922)
“Chemistry has been termed by the physicist as the messy part of physics, but that is no reason why the physicists should be permitted to make a mess of chemistry when they invade it.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in American Journal of Physics, Vol. 14 | (1946), p. 248
“Some of the beliefs and legends bequethed to us by Antquity are so universally and firmly established that we have become accustomed to consider them as being almost as ancient as humanity itself. Nevertheless we are tempted to inquire how far the fact that some of these beliefs and legends have so many features in common is due to chance, and wether the similarity between them may not point to the exestience of an ancient, totally unknown and unsuspected civilization of which all other traces have disappeared.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Morning of the Magicians (1963) by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Berger, p. 181
“Do not draw the hasty conclusion that, because the clarity and unanimity reached in the study of inanimate nature have not been approached in the study of life, they have... no application... to the higher aspects of life. ...[A]s regards what it is impossible to believe.., they effect a not inconsiderable simplification, and... pave the way... for a more definite and truer... philosophy to replace the old.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Life... is lived in an intimate relation with the external physical universe, and the breaking of that connection is death. ...[M]en ...have contended that life transcends the breaking of the bond between it and the external world and persists ...”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Amid a world of appearance and change, science seeks the fundamental and abiding realities, and... applies... the test of "conservation." Whatever is conserved unchanged during all possible changes is regarded as real.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We speak of the , meaning that in the... interplay of matter, motion and force.., however complicated.., or... violent and catastrophic.., something is unchanged and remains the same.., and that... is termed energy. ...[N]othing, not even money, has a more real existence.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is the priests, not religion, [that] it is difficult for scientific men to live with... [S]cience cannot coexist with priest-craft.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The scientific man seeks truth as a continually developing revelation, and he changes his outlook on the world... as it unfolds itself before his eyes. The priest teaches that in some remote period... God... revealed Truth once and for all time, and his profession is to guard it against all comers.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not believe that the soul any more than the mind can stagnate. It must grow or decay.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world... has changed.., not on account of anything... in the Mosaic or Christian s, but on account of the new revelations of science. ...[T]hese have come... by... the reverse of supernatural, by laborious experiment and measurement, by slow accumulation of knowledge and honest and unbiassed weighing of the evidence... [T]hey constitute an essential part of the whole truth, be our religious convictions what they may.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A truth... [by] divine revelation must... be supposed... the absolute or ultimate truth... unattainable by... human inquiry.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What a scientific man conceives to be the truth is... distinct. He is not concerned.., not... greatly interested, in ultimate, absolute and unattainable truth. He frames a hypothesis and tests it in every possible way. So long as... fact is in accord with the hypothesis, and no other hypothesis is in accord.., it is all he seeks to know.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If, in the external universe, every event and phenomenon occurs in the precise and often predictable way it would occur if the hypothesis were true, that hypothesis is regarded as the truth, until something occurs which proves it to be in error.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is sometimes loose talk—even among scientific men attempting to generalise concerning other subjects...—that the scientific hypotheses of one age become the laughing stock of the next, but such talkers are often the laughing stock of their own age to those best qualified... [T]here is a steady.., increasingly rapid advance being made into the foundations of knowledge.., impressive... in the continuous evidence... that these foundations have been well and truly laid.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one desires to suppose that... [the methods of science] are the only methods by which Truth is to be sought or found. But when it comes to... imparting knowledge.., to educating the growing citizen to a knowledge of himself and his environment.., differences... [are] great.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A... mystic or a ... who has withdrawn himself from the world and practised starvation, celibacy and general mortification of the body, aspires to reach a spiritual plane from which the world, either... [the] mechanical or... vital aspect, can be left behind and forgotten as a distraction and a curse. ...My criticism ...is concerned with the value to humanity of the results... [W]hatever pinnacle of pure contemplative philosophy... ultimately... reached, little... communicable or of general value to the life or thought of the world seems... [to] result.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His scientific analogue is... equally selfish. He... must utterly immerse himself in his own plane of thought, and... investigate... without... consideration... to the existence of any other plane, or to whether his work be... good or evil.., valuable or useless... But such a man, unconsciously... but... infallibly, has taken the one... real method of discovery.., and his work... has been such as to change the mode of living and mental outlook of his kind.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cold, soulless mechanism of the cosmos invades the living organism, and the principles of energy and matter... in the inanimate world govern man...”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All that we can learn by science of the... processes... of the living body has been learned in those deep foundations of knowledge appertaining to the simplest state... wherein phenomena and events are unobscured by... life.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mechanics, the science of moving masses of matter, has been extended to... masses... not individually capable of being apprehended..: molecules and atoms.., the mechanics of which constitute chemistry and physics.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[C]larification of thought... from the occupation and interpretation of the mechanical world, whether of cosmical systems or of the body of a man, is unique. For from this world mystery in any real sense has been banished. ...Our knowledge of matter and energy ...is far from complete. But in this field we can move with an assurance, and a power of predicting... true of no other realm of study.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Absolute or Ultimate Truth... may be for ever unattainable... [T]he fundamentals of to-day—matter, electricity, the ether and energy — may in the fullness of time be displaced by still more fundamental conceptions.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We... have acquired the sense of direction, though whole territories may await exploration. Though the road... forever recedes, we know the direction... is definitely away from, and not towards the mysteries of life and spirit.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The path hewn by knowledge through ignorance points two ways in the direction of the absolute unattainable truth. Man has always tended to confound these two classes of the ultimately unknowable.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Heaven is at once the abode of the s, which obey the laws of mechanics with undeviating precision, and where events and consequences are predicted.., and also the abode of God, and the heavenly host of disembodied spirits.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Magnetism is in a different world from the "animal magnetism" of Mesmer, and the that transmits messages through space affords no justification for believing, or otherwise, in .”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he further one advances towards the ultimate insoluble problems of physics, the more completely one leaves... the phenomenon of life and... its mysteries. The advance... has been from life and not towards it, and the clouded horizons.., whatever they... contain of wonder and revelation, are likely to afford little... to the... mystery of life.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In engineering we draw upon the of , and by combustion convert it into —the chaotic rush of molecules in every direction...—and from this chaos, by... prime-mover, we produce... orderly motion of... ... to lighten the heavy labour... and perform tasks which before would have been done by draught cattle or slaves.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]erms "vital energy" or "vital force" have disappeared. Energy, like money, has many denominations, but... fixed exchange ratios throughout the universe, whether in the living organism or... non-living world.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The power by which we live and move and have our being is... that which drives on the stars... Science now takes it... whether in fuel, waterfall or sunshine—...all one—and uses it to do... labour of men.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science can... transfer energy... into living bodies, so that... two may live where before one would have struggled miserably for an existence. A simple people, who confused power with deity, like the ancient Greeks or primitive Vikings, would have seen, in this control... the act of a god, and from their... view... the most god-like achievement man has ever accomplished.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A]ll... principles that govern chemical phenomena in inanimate matter are observed in the processes peculiar to life.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[L]imited, but... significant, control over the processes of inanimate nature... to make them proceed to ends different from... natur[e]... especially, in directions... useful, or... otherwise only attainable by... living organism[s], enables us to construct... a model of the living organism. It is a machine, or mechanical microcosm, under continuous and varying control, by... an internally resident directing intelligence or personality.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For ages Niagara roared over its gorge in accordance with the laws of nature, uncontrolled. ...Now tunnels have been drilled in the rock, through which a part of the water falls, no longer to run riot in commotion at the bottom, but smoothly... deprived of its energy in a , to... a ... the transformed energy flows out as capable of lightening the labours of men. Niagara... is a mechanism as before, but... linked to... intelligence... guiding and varying its action... It is... one step nearer to being a living organism than before.., a rough and partial model of... the living organism...”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no life—body, mind or soul...— no birth, growth or even existence, without a continuous supply and expenditure of energy.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For good or evil, man has geared his own mechanism with the unbounded machinery of inanimate Nature, and... made possible... elimination of the ugliest features of his existence...”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Man is... able to project out of himself the personality... in control of his... body, into the mechanism of Nature, so... without violating any law or principle, a process that goes naturally in a useless direction may be made to go in a direction... useful.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the control of his own mechanism, similarly, it is the energy of the external inanimate universe which is guided, not coerced, and still less created.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[G]uidance withdrawn.., processes of life resume their uncontrolled natural direction.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In low organisms the guidance seems... largely automatic, a response to stimuli... Even in man.., important routine functions of life are performed, asleep and awake, by a subconscious regulation, or.., a subconscious personality. But... higher animals... developed a consciousness or awareness of... individual existence and... existence of its environment, which intelligently... directs... acts of life at will.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mystery is in... the combination of the intelligent guidance with... a perfectly understandable machine. Separately the two functions are... comprehensible. Their combination in a single self-contained is the... mystery of life.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The self-contained organism is not comprehensible, but the combination of an inanimate mechanism and an external will is more intelligible.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]here is in man a conscience as well as a consciousness, an ineradicable aspiration towards virtue, which is certainly no less difficult to understand.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The combination of the machine and soul is as much a riddle as the combination of machine and mind. Theology has striven to separate the two, has abstracted the soul as... independent.., and regarded it as a projection from and part of a general soul of humanity, existing distinct from and outside of individual men. For the mechanism of Niagara we have the bodily mechanism, and for the personality in control, instead of the humble representative of applied science, the humble individual soul, acting upon orders received from and owing allegiance to an external deity of which it forms a part.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The engineers in the power-house of Niagara are... not isolated existences actuating their machinery out of their own self-sufficiency. They take their instructions from a superior, and the science and practice... in those orders are an accumulation of... that... best in the labours of many men, alive and dead. No single mind could create that knowledge, even if one could... fully... comprehend it.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you talk to these men at their work, you would find... they were... self-contained, knowing little of and caring less for the mere theoretical amateurs who, with... sealing-wax.., wire and.., crude home-made machines, created their livelihood.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[M]uch the same... the religious philosopher holds that the benevolent atheist attributes to himself and his... innate self-righteousness a... great deal... He prefers to believe himself the humble subordinate of a superior being that combines, in one personality, the best of all beings that ever lived.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is common ground in the position, that even though a single mind might be able to comprehend all that has gone to the evolution and survival of the essentially humane type of man, no single personality could, if isolated, arrive at it by himself.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a continuity that endures in the creative achievements of humanity, whether, as the theist believes, in... a personal Deity, or whether as a collective memory, engraved in type or ancient saga... from which... we can hardly escape.”
Frederick Soddy (1877–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source