He That In Ye Mine Of Knowledge

The Seed Of A Tree Has The Nature Of A Branch Or Twig Or Bud. It Is A Part Of The Tree, But If Separated And Set In The Earth To Be Better Nourished, The Embryo Or Young Tree Contained In It Takes Root And Grows Into A New Tree.

That One Body May Act Upon Another At A Distance Through A Vacuum, Without The Mediation Of Any Thing Else, By And Through Which Their Action And Force May Be Conveyed From One To Another, Is To Me So Great An Absurdity, That I Believe No Man, Who Has In Philosophical Matters A Compentent Faculty Of Thinking, Can Ever Fall Into It.

A Man May Imagine Things That Are False, But He Can Only Understand Things That Are True, For If The Things Be False, The Apprehension Of Them Is Not Understanding.

Do Not Bodies And Light Act Mutually Upon One Another; That Is To Say, Bodies Upon Light In Emitting, Reflecting, Refracting And Inflecting It, And Light Upon Bodies For Heating Them, And Putting Their Parts Into A Vibrating Motion Wherein Heat Consists?

A Vulgar Mechanick Can Practice What He Has Been Taught Or Seen Done, But If He Is In An Error He Knows Not How To Find It Out And Correct It, And If You Put Him Out Of His Road He Is At A Stand. Whereas He That Is Able To Reason Nimbly And Judiciously About Figure, Force, And Motion, Is Never At Rest Till He Gets Over Every Rub. (from A Letter Dated 25 May, 1694)