There is much that is true which does not admit of being calculated; just as there are a great many things that cannot be brought to the test of a decisive experiment.
It is just for this that man stands so high, that what could not otherwise be brought to light should be brought to light in him.
What is a musical string, and all its mechanical division, in comparison with the musician's ear? May we not also say, what are the elementary phenomena of nature itself compared with man, who must control and modify them all before he can in any way assimilate them to himself?
To a new truth there is nothing more hurtful than an old error.
The ultimate origin of things is completely beyond our faculties; hence when we see anything come into being, we look upon it as having been already there. This is why we find the theory of emboîtement intelligible.