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[W]e can ascend to remote periods by a chain of causes, but in none can we ascend to a 'beginning' of the chain.

— William Whewell

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More quotes by William Whewell

And so no force however great can stretch a cord however fine into an horizontal line which is accurately straight.

An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics (1819)

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

No force however great can stretch a cord however fine into an horizontal line which is accurately straight.

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

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.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Whewell (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.