"As Magnitudes themselves are absolute Quantums Independent on all Kinds of Measure, tho' indeed we cannot tell what their Quantify is, unless we measure them; so Time is likewise a Quantum in itself, tho' in Order to find the Quantity of it, we are obliged to call in Motion to our Assistance as a Measure... and thus Time as measurable signifies Motion; for if all Things were to continue at Rest, it would be impossible to find out by any Method whatsoever how much Time has elaps'd; and the several Ages wou'd roll on imperceptibly and undistinguish'd. Do I say we shou'd not perceive how Time flows? No indeed, nor any Thing else, but remain like Stocks or Stones in a continual Insensibility. We perceive nothing, unless so far as we may be instigated by some Change affecting the Senses, or that our Souls are mov'd and excited by the internal Operation of the Mind. We esteem the Quantities and different Degrees of Things according to the Extension or Intension of Motions striking upon us either interiorly or exteriorly. So that the Quantity of Time so far as we can observe; depends upon the Extension of Motion."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
University of Cambridge alumniFellows of the Royal SocietyUniversity of Cambridge facultyTheologians from EnglandMathematicians from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Barrow
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Isaac Barrow
Isaac Barrow (October 1630 β 4 May 1677) was an English Christian theologian, and mathematician who is generally given credit for his early role in the development of ; in particular, for the discovery of the .
42 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Isaac Barrow β
Related Quotes
"The Mathematics which effectually exercises, not vainly deludes or vexatiously torments studious Minds with obscure Sβ¦"
"Virtue is not a mushroom, that springeth up of itself in one night when we are asleep, or regard it not; but a delicaβ¦"
"Smiling always with a never fading serenity of countenance, and flourishing in an immortal youth."
"Among these Ways, or any other whatever, of generating Magnitudes, the Primary and Chief is, that perform'd by local β¦"
"What Mathematicians Chiefly consider in Motion is the Mode of Lation or Manner of bearing, and the Quantity of the moβ¦"
"For to pass by those Ancients, the wonderful Pythagoras, the sagacious Democritus, the divine Plato, the most subtle β¦"
"Mathematics is the fruitful Parent of, I had almost said all, Arts, the unshaken Foundation of Sciences, and the plenβ¦"
"These Disciplines [mathematics] serve to inure and corroborate the Mind to a constant Diligence in Study; to undergo β¦"
"An accomplished mathematician, i.e. a most wretched orator."
"Now pray tell me what Time is? ...Time (to speak abstractedly) is the continuance of any Thing in its own Being. But β¦"