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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 Matter, Energy, Consciousness and Spirit (1919)

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Space

More quotes by Frederick Soddy

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.

The world that is dead vitally and spiritually is not dead physically.

Matter, Energy, Consciousness and Spirit (1919)

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.

Matter, Energy, Consciousness and Spirit (1919)

There is no life—body, mind or soul...— no birth, growth or even existence, without a continuous supply and expenditure of energy.

Matter, Energy, Consciousness and Spirit (1919)

The self-contained organism is not comprehensible, but the combination of an inanimate mechanism and an external will is more intelligible.

Matter, Energy, Consciousness and Spirit (1919)

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Since, in the long run, every planetary society will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring — not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.

Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature (1836)

Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Einstein's space is no closer to reality than Van Gogh's sky.

Arthur Koestler The Act of Creation (1964)

Attribution

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