"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself. In all matters of discovery and invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject, and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Mary Shelley, in the Introduction to Frankenstein (1818).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Substance
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Substance
24 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Substance →
Related Quotes
"The trika is the essence of the śaiva tradition, and the Mālinī is the essence of the trika. (Abhinavagupta)"
"In the Trika the god Śiva mostly appears in the hypostasis of Bhairava."
"What matters for the progress of the myth is the fact common to all versions that the godhead, to meet the aggressor,…"
"The Divine Logos is God reflected in His own eternal Thought; in the Logos God is His own Object. This infinite Thoug…"
"This Idea of Spinoza's we must allow to be in the main true and well-grounded; absolute substance is the truth, but i…"
"The hypostasis of the particular methods of procedure employed by natural science … results in the view that all theo…"
"Spinoza redefines the problem of Modern philosophy, which is the conquest of the world and the liberation of humanity…"
"Our Substance is our Father, God Almighty, and our Substance is our Mother, God, All-wisdom; and our Substance is in …"
"The world will accept you changing your style for them, but pretty soon they’re going to demand that you change your …"
"Spinoza's use of the term finite tends to make space the only form of substance, and all existing things but affectio…"