87 Quotes by Arthur Eddington

The quest of the absolute leads into the four-dimensional world.

Proof is an idol before whom the pure mathematician tortures himself.

It is one thing for the human mind to extract from the phenomena of nature the laws which it has itself put into them; it may be a far harder thing to extract laws over which it has no control. It is even possible that laws which have not their origin in the mind may be irrational, and we can never succeed in formulating them.

[When thinking about the new relativity and quantum theories] I have felt a homesickness for the paths of physical science where there are ore or less discernible handrails to keep us from the worst morasses of foolishness.

The electron, as it leaves the atom, crystallises out of Schrödinger's mist like a genie emerging from his bottle.

In Einstein's theory of relativity the observer is a man who sets out in quest of truth armed with a measuring-rod. In quantum theory he sets out with a sieve.

Falling in love is one of the activities forbidden that tiresome person, the consistently reasonable man.

The word reality frightens me.

I am aware that many critics consider the conditions in the stars not sufficiently extreme . . . the stars are not hot enough. The critics lay themselves open to an obvious retort: we tell them to go and find a hotter place.