"In proportion, therefore, as a system is of vast extent and made for duration, the more it requires to be governed by a simple and general law. We have only to attend to the solar system, and we shall perceive the utility of a central body on which the whole depends. In virtue of this body, it rarely happens that the planets and comets disturb each other, and these extraordinary instances form but trifling exceptions. But were we to retrench the central body, the general law would be destroyed, and the exceptions alone would remain. Harmony, in that case, must be the result of an infinite combination, of individual and discordant impulsions; insomuch, that the more our view of the whole became comprehensive, the more we should find the system, instead of tending to simplicity, confused and perplexed."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728 to 1777). The system of the world. p. 128. (Translated from the French by James Jacque)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/System
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
System
108 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by System →
Related Quotes
"By the term architectonic I mean the art of constructing a system. Without systematic unity, our knowledge cannot bec…"
"Systems seem, like certain worms, to be formed by a kind of generatio aequivoca--by the mere confluence of conception…"
"Some writers have exclaimed bitterly against systems of divinity, others have exaggerated the utility of them. Perhap…"
"When a system is brought before the public, professing to be new, and claiming to be considered as peculiarly useful,…"
"M. Fries, who is the founder of the system of quaternary arrangement, and the authority to which the most philosophic…"
"The different progress of opulence in different ages and nations, has given occasion to two different systems of poli…"
"The sun, as we have already said, is placed in the middle of our system, as a source of light and heat, to illuminate…"
"According to the common system, before the creation of Matter, there was nothing but God, whose essence is immutable,…"
"Systems... resemble the similar parts or muscles of a body natural. By systemes; I understand any numbers of men joyn…"
"When Newton first discovered the property of attraction, and settled its laws, he found it served very well to explai…"