Thomas Reid Quotes on Nature
Thomas Reid was a Scottish philosopher and the founder of the Scottish school of Common Sense. This page collects quotes attributed to Thomas Reid on the topic of nature, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Thomas Reid:
“All reasoning must be from first principles; and for first principles no other reason can be given but this, that, by the constitution of our nature, we are under a necessity of assenting to them.”
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“When Thomas Edison visited the Eiffel Tower during the 1889 World's Fair , he signed the guestbook with this message, as quoted in The Tallest Tower by Joseph Harris, p. 95”
To Monsieur Eiffel the Engineer, the brave builder of so gigantic and original a specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu. -
“Through all the years of experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. I start where the last man left off. … All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention pure and simple. As quoted in Makers of the Modern World : The Lives of Ninety-two Writers, Artists, Scientists, Statesmen, Inventors, Philosophers, Composers, and Other Creators who Formed the Pattern of Our Century (1955) by Louis Untermeyer , p. 227”
During all those years of experimentation and research, I never once made a discovery. All my work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention, pure and simple. I would construct a theory and work on its lines until I found it was untenable. Then it would be discarded at once and another theory evolved. This was the only possible way for me to work out the problem. … I speak -
“Quoted in 'Edison Fears Hidden Perils of the X-Rays', New York World (3 Aug 1903), 1”
X-rays ... I am afraid of them. I stopped experimenting with them two years ago, when I came near to losing my eyesight and Dally, my assistant practically lost the use of both of his arms.