Existence quotes

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Isaac_Asimov

Circumstantial Evidence

“Circumstantial evidence can be overwhelming. We have never seen an atom, but we nevertheless know that it must exist.”
  • Source: Isaac Asimov, chapter epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, edited by Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman, published in 1988 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York. Chapter 8, page 31. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
Keywords: Evidence_quotes Physics_quotes Circumstance_quotes Overwhelm_quotes Atom_quotes Knowledge_quotes Existence_quotes

Augustine_of_Hippo

I Am

“But, without any delusive representation of images or phantasms, I am most certain that I am, and that I know and delight in this. In respect of these truths, I am not at all afraid of the arguments of the Academicians, who say, What if you are deceived? For if I am deceived (si fallor), I am (sum). For he who is not, cannot be deceived; and if I am deceived, by this same token I am. And since I am if I am deceived, how am I deceived in believing that I am? For it is certain that I am if I am deceived.”
  • Source: St. Augustine of Hippo (c. 400 CE). In ‘The City of God’, book 11, chapter 26.
Keywords: Reality_quotes Consciousness_quotes Delusion_quotes Belief_quotes Existence_quotes Representation_quotes Image_quotes Phantasm_quotes Certainty_quotes Truth_quotes Afraid_quotes Argument_quotes Academician_quotes Deceive_quotes Token_quotes

Jim_Baggott

The Copernican Principle

“The Copernican Principle. The universe is not organized for our benefit and we are not uniquely privileged observers. Science strives to remove ‘us’ from the centre of the picture, making our existence a natural consequence of reality rather than the reason for it. Empirical reality is therefore something that we have learned to observe with detachment, without passion. Scientists ask fundamental questions about how reality works and seek answers in the evidence from observation and experiment, irrespective of their own personal preferences, prejudices and beliefs.”
  • Source: Baggott, Jim. Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth (p. 23). Pegasus Books. New York, NY
Keywords: Copernican_quotes Principle_quotes Universe_quotes Observation_quotes Benefit_quotes Privilege_quotes Science_quotes Existence_quotes Consequence_quotes Reality_quotes Causality_quotes Empirical_quotes Detachment_quotes Passion_quotes Fundamental_quotes Question_quotes Answer_quotes Evidence_quotes Experiment_quotes Preference_quotes Prejudice_quotes Belief_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Acceptance Testing

“The very existence of an acceptance test ensures that, sooner or later, there will be pressure not to find failures, to reconcile test scenarios and the system they exercise so that the system will 'pass'. Remove this concept and testers would pursue the discovery of failures with a vengeance...”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 157.
Keywords: Acceptance_quotes Testing_quotes Pressure_quotes Bias_quotes Failure_quotes Reconciliation_quotes Scenario_quotes System_quotes Passing_quotes Success_quotes Discovery_quotes Existence_quotes Ensure_quotes Find_quotes Exercise_quotes Remove_quotes Pursue_quotes Vengeance_quotes

Richard_Clarke_Cabot

Real Life

"'Real Life,' then, if it is to mean the nourishing, sustaining, and development of existence, demands work, play, love, and so much of the material and spiritual conditions as make these possible."
Keywords: Life_quotes Existence_quotes Work_quotes Play_quotes Love_quotes Real_quotes Meaning_quotes Nourish_quotes Sustain_quotes Development_quotes Demand_quotes Material_quotes Spiritual_quotes Condition_quotes Possible_quotes

René_Descartes

I Think Therefore I Am

"I think, therefore I am."
  • Source: Descartes, R. (1649). “I think, therefore I am.” In A Discourse of a Method for the Well Guiding of Reason and the Discovery of Truth in the Sciences (p. part IIII, para. 1).
  • Notes: Latin: Cogito ergo sum.
Keywords: Thinking_quotes Existence_quotes Reality_quotes Self_quotes Certainty_quotes

David_Deutsch

Gigantic Computation

“Think of all our knowledge-generating processes, our whole culture and civilization, and all the thought processes in the minds of every individual, and indeed the entire evolving biosphere as well, as being a gigantic computation. The whole thing is executing a self-motivated, self-generating computer program. More specifically it is, as I have mentioned, a virtual-reality program in the process of rendering, with ever-increasing accuracy, the whole of existence.”
Keywords: Knowledge_quotes Culture_quotes Civilization_quotes Thinking_quotes Process_quotes Mind_quotes Evolution_quotes Biosphere_quotes Computed_Reality_quotes Computation_quotes Virtual_Reality_quotes Program_quotes Rendering_quotes Accuracy_quotes Existence_quotes Increase_quotes Generate_quotes Whole_quotes Computer_quotes Gigantic_quotes

Frank_Drake

Drake Equation

    N = R* ⋅ ƒp ⋅ ne ⋅ ƒl ⋅ ƒi ⋅ ƒc ⋅ L

  where

    • N  = the number of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy
           with which communication might be possible.
    • R* = the average rate of star formation in our Galaxy.
    • ƒp = the fraction of those stars that have planets.
    • ne = the average number of planets that can potentially
           support life per star that has planets.
    • ƒl = the fraction of planets that could support life
           that actually develops life at some point.
    • ƒi = the fraction of planets with life that go on to
           develop intelligent life (civilizations).
    • ƒc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a
           technology that releases detectable signs of
           their existence into space.
    • L =  the length of time for which such civilizations
           release detectable signals into space.
  • Notes: The original form of the equation was written by Frank Drake in 1960 in preparation for a work meeting at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)in Green Bank, West Virginia. However, he did not formally publish the equation until 1961 (see above).
Keywords: Drake(topic)_quotes Equation_quotes Civilization_quotes Milky_Way_quotes Galaxy_quotes Extraterrestrial_quotes Life_quotes Alien_quotes Communication_quotes Possibility_quotes Rate_quotes Star_quotes Formation_quotes Fraction_quotes Planet_quotes Intelligent_quotes Technology_quotes Detectable_quotes Sign_quotes Length_quotes Time_quotes Space_quotes Signal_quotes Existence_quotes

Albert_Einstein

Questioning

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ... Don't stop to marvel.”

  • Source: A statement made to William Miller, a Life Magazine editor, recorded in his personal memoirs. Reprinted in LIFE magazine 1955-05-02, in the article entitled “Death of a Genius: His Fourth Dimension, Time, Overtakes Einstein”, page 64. Online at <https://books.google.com/books?id=dlYEAAAAMBAJ>.
Keywords: Question_quotes Curiosity_quotes Spirituality_quotes Reality_quotes Comprehension_quotes Mystery_quotes Reason_quotes Existence_quotes Awe_quotes Contemplate_quotes Eternity_quotes Life_quotes Marvelous_quotes Structure_quotes Holy_quotes Stop_quotes Marvel_quotes

Dwight_D_Eisenhower

Military-Industrial Complex

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
  • Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell address (17 January 1961).
Keywords: Government_quotes Guard_quotes Acquire_quotes Unwarranted_quotes Influence_quotes Military_quotes Defense_quotes Industrial_quotes Complex_quotes Potential_quotes Disaster_quotes Rise_quotes Misplace_quotes Power_quotes Existence_quotes Persistence_quotes Weight_quotes Combination_quotes Danger_quotes Freedom_quotes Liberty_quotes Democracy_quotes Process_quotes Grant_quotes Assumption_quotes Alert_quotes Knowledge_quotes Citizen_quotes Compel_quotes Machine_quotes Peace_quotes Methodology_quotes Goal_quotes Security_quotes Prosperity_quotes Together_quotes Cooperation_quotes Regulation_quotes

Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

Science Unpoetical

“Science was false by being unpoetical. It assumed to explain a reptile or a mollusk, and isolated it — which is hunting for life in graveyards. Reptile or mollusk or man or angel only exists in system, in relation.”
  • Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson, In 'Letters and Social Aims: Poetry and Imagination', Prose works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1880), Vol. 3, 199.
Keywords: Poetry_quotes Science_quotes Explanation_quotes Reptile_quotes Life_quotes Search_quotes Hunting_quotes Graveyard_quotes Mollusk_quotes Humanity_quotes Angel_quotes Existence_quotes System_quotes Relationship_quotes

Richard_Feynman

Repeatability

“A philosopher once said, 'It is necessary for the very existence of science that the same conditions always produce the same results.' Well they don't!”
  • Source: Book/Title: “The Character of Physical Law”; Author: Richard Feynman; Publication/Date: 1965; Publisher: MIT Press; Publisher/Location: Cambridge, MA; ISBN: 978-0262533416; Chapter 6; Page: 147.
Keywords: Philosophy_quotes Existence_quotes Science_quotes Condition_quotes Repeatability_quotes Causality_quotes Materialism_quotes Result_quotes Necessary_quotes Produce_quotes Same_quotes

Thomas_Gold

Knowledge Rules

“In no subject is there a rule, compliance with which will lead to new knowledge or better understanding. Skilful observations, ingenious ideas, cunning tricks, daring suggestions, laborious calculations, all these may be required to advance a subject. Occasionally the conventional approach in a subject has to be studiously followed; on other occasions it has to be ruthlessly disregarded. Which of these methods, or in what order they should be employed is generally unpredictable. Analogies drawn from the history of science are frequently claimed to be a guide; but, as with forecasting the next game of roulette, the existence of the best analogy to the present is no guide whatever to the future. The most valuable lesson to be learnt from the history of scientific progress is how misleading and strangling such analogies have been, and how success has come to those who ignored them.”
  • Source: Thomas Gold, 'Cosmology', in Arthur Beer (ed.), Vistas in Astronomy (1956), Vol. 2, 1722.
Keywords: Rule_quotes Subject_quotes Compliance_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Skill_quotes Observation_quotes Idea_quotes Trick_quotes Courage_quotes Labor_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Creativity_quotes Prediction_quotes Analogy_quotes History_quotes Science_quotes Game_quotes Success_quotes Ingenious_quotes Cunning_quotes Daring_quotes Suggest_quotes Calculation_quotes Conventional_quotes Approach_quotes Order_quotes Follow_quotes Ruthless_quotes Disregard_quotes Method_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Guide_quotes Forecast_quotes Roulette_quotes Existence_quotes Present_quotes Future_quotes Value_quotes Learn_quotes Progress_quotes Mislead_quotes Strangle_quotes Ignore_quotes

Stephen_Hawking

Indefinite Past

“In classical physics, the past is assumed to exist as a definite series of events, but according to quantum physics, the past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities. Even the universe as a whole has no single past or history.”
  • Source: Hawking & Mlodinow, Scientific American, October 2010.
Keywords: Classical_quotes Physics_quotes Past_quotes Series_quotes Quantum_quotes Future_quotes Indefinite_quotes Existence_quotes Spectrum_quotes Possibility_quotes Probability_quotes Universe_quotes History_quotes Multiverse_quotes Assume_quotes Event_quotes

Hans_Hüttel

Chatbots and Programmers

“Even if chatbots should become a useful tool for programmers, their existence cannot mean the end of programming. It may well be the case that this combination of a built-in repository of code examples and the ability to easily retrieve code examples based on it can be used for generating ideas and for forms of ‘pair programming’.”
  • Source: Written by Hans Hüttel in the journal article entitled “On Program Synthesis and Large Language Models”, in Communications of the ACM, volume 68, number 1, 2025-01. DOI:10.1145/3680410.
Keywords: Chatbot_quotes Useful_quotes Tool_quotes Programmer_quotes Existence_quotes Mean_quotes End_quotes Programming_quotes Case_quotes Combination_quotes Built-in_quotes Repository_quotes Code_quotes Example_quotes Ability_quotes Easy_quotes Retrieve_quotes Base_quotes Use_quotes Generate_quotes Idea_quotes Form_quotes Pair_quotes

Aldous_Huxley

Time Tyrant

“Time is our tyrant. We are chronically aware of the moving minute hand, even of the moving second hand. We have to be. There are trains to be caught, clocks to be punched, tasks to be done in specified periods, records to be broken by fractions of a second, machines that set the pace and have to be kept up with. Our consciousness of the smallest units of time is now acute. To us, for example, the moment 8.17 a.m. means something — something very important, if it happens to be the starting time of our daily train. To our ancestors, such an odd eccentric instant was without significance — did not even exist. In inventing the locomotive, Watt and Stevenson were part inventors of time.”
  • Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Time and the Machine within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.
Keywords: Time_quotes Tyrant_quotes Chronic_quotes Aware_quotes Hand_quotes Train_quotes Clock_quotes Task_quotes Period_quotes Record_quotes Fraction_quotes Machine_quotes Pace_quotes Consciousness_quotes Unit_quotes Acute_quotes Start_quotes Daily_quotes Ancestor_quotes Eccentric_quotes Instant_quotes Significance_quotes Existence_quotes Invention_quotes Locomotive_quotes Watt_quotes Stevenson_quotes

Carl_Jung

Existence

“It is an almost ridiculous prejudice to assume that existence can only be physical.”
  • Source: Written by Carl Jung in the book “Psychology and Religion”. Published in New Haven, CT by Yale University Press. Published 1977. Page 11.
Keywords: Ridiculous_quotes Prejudice_quotes Assume_quotes Existence_quotes Physical_quotes

Sad Truth

“The sad truth is that man's real life consists of a complex of inexorable opposites — day and night, birth and death, happiness and misery, good and evil. We are not even sure that one will prevail against the other, that good will overcome evil, or joy defeat pain. Life is a battleground. It always has been, and always will be; and if it were not so, existence would come to an end.”
  • Source: Written by Carl G. Jung in Part 1 'Approaching the Unconscious' of the book 'Man and His Symbols' edited by Carl Jung and M.-L. von Franz. Published 1964 by J. G. Ferguson Publishing. ISBN 0-385-05221-9. Page 85.
Keywords: Sad_quotes Truth_quotes Man_quotes Humanity_quotes Real_quotes Life_quotes Complex_quotes Inexorable_quotes Opposite_quotes Day_quotes Night_quotes Birth_quotes Death_quotes Happiness_quotes Misery_quotes Good_quotes Evil_quotes Sure_quotes Prevail_quotes Against_quotes Overcome_quotes Joy_quotes Defeat_quotes Pain_quotes Battleground_quotes Always_quotes Be_quotes Existence_quotes Come_quotes End_quotes

Bernardo_Kastrup

Inner Life

“Jung’s point is that all we can ever ascertain is our own introspectively accessible phenomenal inner life, everything else being theory. However, as strictly correct as this may be, unless one is prepared to adopt solipsism — the notion that only one’s own personal experiences exist — and live accordingly, one cannot avoid metaphysical inferences of one sort or another. Even under idealism, one must metaphysically extrapolate the existence of experience beyond one’s own personal boundaries, so to account for the phenomenal inner lives of other living beings and the universe at large.”
  • Source: From “Decoding Jung's Metaphysics: The Archetypal Semantics of an Experiential Universe”. Written by Bernardo Kastrup. Published by IFF Books, Washington DC. Kindle Edition. Page 79. Chapter 5.
Keywords: Jung(topic)_quotes Ascertain_quotes Introspection_quotes Accessible_quotes Phenomenal_quotes Inner_quotes Life_quotes Solipsism_quotes Avoid_quotes Metaphysical_quotes Inference_quotes Idealism_quotes Under_quotes Extrapolate_quotes Existence_quotes Experience_quotes Personal_quotes Beyond_quotes Boundary_quotes Account_quotes Other_quotes Being_quotes Universe_quotes Large_quotes

Thomas_Robert_Malthus

Population and Subsistence

“I think I may fairly make two postulata. First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. Secondly, That the passion between the sexes is necessary, and will remain nearly in its present state... Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio... This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from the difficulty of subsistence. This difficulty must fall somewhere; and must necessarily be severely felt by a large portion of mankind... The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a few thousand years... Consequently, if the premises are just, the argument is conclusive against the perfectibility of the mass of mankind.”
  • Source: Thomas Robert Malthus. The essay: “An Essay on the Principle of Population as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Goodwin, M. Condorcet and Other Writers”. Originally published: 1798. Edition: First. Publisher: J. Johnson. Location: London, England. Chapter: 1. Retrieved From: <https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_the_Principle_of_Population>. Retrieval Date: 2024-04-03.
  • Notes: The dire predictions of Malthus have not yet been fulfilled. This is primarily due to errors in his initial assumptions (which are properly identified), not in errors in his logic. The first assumption (or postulatum) is that food production increases arithmetically (linearly). But historically, food production has increased geometrically (exponentially) due to advances in mechanical technologies and biotechnologies. The second assumption assumes passion and birth rates are directly correlated. However, technological advances in birth control, cultural advances in women's rights, and rising prosperity (which lowers birth rates) have falsified this assumption. Additional questionable assumptions are also made which are not initially specified.
Keywords: Think_quotes Fair_quotes Assumption_quotes Postulate_quotes Food_quotes Existence_quotes Passion_quotes Sex_quotes Man_quotes Woman_quotes Remain_quotes Grant_quotes Power_quotes Population_quotes Indefinite_quotes Greater_quotes Earth_quotes World_quotes Production_quotes Subsistence_quotes Uncheck_quotes Increase_quotes Geometric_quotes Exponential_quotes Ratio_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Linear_quotes Imply_quotes Strong_quotes Constant_quotes Operate_quotes Check_quotes Difficult_quotes Fall_quotes Necessary_quotes Severe_quotes Feel_quotes Large_quotes Portion_quotes Mankind_quotes Humanity_quotes Germ_quotes Contain_quotes Spot_quotes Ample_quotes Room_quotes Expand_quotes Fill_quotes Course_quotes Few_quotes Thousand_quotes Year_quotes Premises_quotes Argument_quotes Consequence_quotes Conclusive_quotes Against_quotes Perfectibility_quotes Mass_quotes Hunger_quotes Starvation_quotes Malthusian_quotes

Henry_Louis_Mencken

Explanations

“Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.”
  • Source: In the article entitled 'The Divine Afflatus' by Henry Louis Mencken, published in the New York Evening Mail, 16 November 1917.
Keywords: Explanation_quotes Existence_quotes Time_quotes Knowledge_quotes Solution_quotes Problem_quotes Humanity_quotes Neat_quotes Plausible_quotes Wrong_quotes

John_Archibald_Wheeler

It And Bit

“Every it - every particle, every field of force, even the spacetime continuum itself - derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely - even if in some contexts indirectly - from the ... answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits.”
  • Source: John Archibald Wheeler from a paper entitled ‘Information, physics, quantum: The search for links’, included in Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Tokyo, Japan. 1989.
Keywords: It_quotes Bit_quotes Every_quotes Particle_quotes Field_quotes Force_quotes Spacetime_quotes Continuum_quotes Derive_quotes Function_quotes Meaning_quotes Existence_quotes Entire_quotes Context_quotes Indirect_quotes Answer_quotes Yes_quotes No_quotes Binary_quotes Choice_quotes

E_O_Wilson

Selection Pressures of Hunter-Gatherer Existence

“The selection pressures of hunter-gatherer existence have persisted for over 99 percent of human evolution.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. On Human Nature (1978). On Human Nature; written by Edward O. Wilson; first edition; published in 1978 by Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0674634411.
Keywords: Selection_quotes Pressure_quotes Hunter_quotes Gatherer_quotes Existence_quotes Persist_quotes Over_quotes Percent_quotes Human_quotes Evolution_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Work Life Balance

“A machinist gained prominence when he debated Taylor in 1914 and remarked, 'we don't want to work as fast as we are able to. We want to work as fast as we think it's comfortable for us to work. We haven't come into existence for the purpose of seeing how great a task we can perform through a lifetime. We are trying to regulate our work so as to make it auxiliary to our lives.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 46. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Machinist_quotes Prominence_quotes Taylorism_quotes Fast_quotes Work_quotes Comfort_quotes Existence_quotes Life_quotes Purpose_quotes Regulation_quotes Auxiliary_quotes Balance_quotes Gain_quotes Taylor(topic)_quotes Able_quotes Think_quotes Task_quotes Perform_quotes Lifetime_quotes
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