...I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
-- Isaac Newton, Brewster's Memoirs of Newton. Vol. ii. Chap. xxvii.
I am reading James Gleick's biography of Isaac Newton and am just a little way in so far. Being reminded of the above quote was worth the cost of the book but there's also another bit of a bonus--if you buy now ... and I did. From the book (page 8):
"His name betokens a system of the world. ... He sought order and believed in order but never averted his eyes from the chaos. He of all people was no Newtonian."
I think this is Emersonian with a capital Emer. No secondary experience is adequate to such a man. Should it be for us?
"His name betokens a system of the world. ... He sought order and believed in order but never averted his eyes from the chaos. He of all people was no Newtonian."
I think this is Emersonian with a capital Emer. No secondary experience is adequate to such a man. Should it be for us?
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