We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
In plain words
Science isn't just numbers. It needs imagination, like poems do.
Where these words come from
- 82% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals (ed. Phebe Mitchell Kendall, 1896), p. 186 — a compilation of her own letters/journal entries, not a pithy quote-book; passes the primary-content bar though published posthumously.
- Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters and Journals
- 1896
More from Maria Mitchell
See allBesides learning to see, there is another art to be learned,—not to see what is not.
Maria MitchellEvery formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.Maria MitchellAside from the study of astronomy, there is the same enjoyment in a night upon the housetop, with the stars, as in the midst of other grand scenery; there is the same subdued quiet and grateful seriousness; a calm to the troubled spirit, and a hope to the desponding.Maria MitchellI wonder that I have so long been insensible to this charm in the skies, the tints of the different stars are so delicate in their variety.Maria MitchellNothing comes out more clearly in astronomical observations than the immense activity of the universe.Maria MitchellThe Aurora Borealis is always a pleasant companion; a meteor seems to come like a messenger from departed spirits; and the blossoming of trees in the moonlight becomes a sight looked for with pleasure.Maria Mitchell
Maria MitchellEvery formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.Maria MitchellAside from the study of astronomy, there is the same enjoyment in a night upon the housetop, with the stars, as in the midst of other grand scenery; there is the same subdued quiet and grateful seriousness; a calm to the troubled spirit, and a hope to the desponding.Maria MitchellI wonder that I have so long been insensible to this charm in the skies, the tints of the different stars are so delicate in their variety.Maria MitchellNothing comes out more clearly in astronomical observations than the immense activity of the universe.Maria MitchellThe Aurora Borealis is always a pleasant companion; a meteor seems to come like a messenger from departed spirits; and the blossoming of trees in the moonlight becomes a sight looked for with pleasure.Maria MitchellMore on science
Truth is sought for its own sake.
Ibn al-HaythamA wonder of such nature I experienced as a child of 4 or 5 years, when my father showed me a compass.
Albert EinsteinWonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.
PlatoGive me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
ArchimedesI don't study to know more, but to ignore less.
Sor Juana Inés de la CruzThere are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
William Shakespeare
Ibn al-HaythamA wonder of such nature I experienced as a child of 4 or 5 years, when my father showed me a compass.Albert EinsteinWonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.PlatoGive me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.ArchimedesI don't study to know more, but to ignore less.Sor Juana Inés de la CruzThere are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.William Shakespeare