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To try to make a model of an atom by studying its spectrum is like trying to make a model of a grand piano by listening to the noise it makes when thrown downstairs.

— William Kingdon Clifford

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More quotes by William Kingdon Clifford

It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.

The Ethics of Belief (1877)

Our lives are guided by that general conception of the course of things which has been created by society for social purposes.

The Ethics of Belief (1877)

No mathematician can give any meaning to the language about matter, force, inertia used in current text-books of mechanics.

It is the sense of power attached to a sense of knowledge that makes men desirous of believing, and afraid of doubting.

The Ethics of Belief (1877)

Force is not a fact at all, but an idea embodying what is approximately the fact.

The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences (1885)

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Attribution

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