Shatter Quotes (10 quotes)
[Modern science] passed through a long period of uncertainty and inconclusive experiment, but as the instrumental aids to research improved, and the results of observation accumulated, phantoms of the imagination were exorcised, idols of the cave were shattered, trustworthy materials were obtained for logical treatment, and hypotheses by long and careful trial were converted into theories.
In The Present Relations of Science and Religion (1913, 2004), 3
Deductivism in mathematical literature and inductivism in scientific papers are simply the postures we choose to be seen in when the curtain goes up and the public sees us. The theatrical illusion is shattered if we ask what goes on behind the scenes. In real life discovery and justification are almost always different processes.
Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought (1969), 26.
I always enjoyed the hearty society of a snowstorm; glad, though solemn, when within a mile or two of safe ground where a storm-nest could be made. Now on this shattered ice I need my eyes, but the snow, gyrating, whirling, and sifting, the very incarnation of spasmodic hysterical mirth, fills them, and I am blinded as if blinded by kisses, delicious in the eye, and sweet.
Journal Entry, while camping on Muir Glacier, Alaska (19? Jul 1890). In John Muir and Linnie Marsh Wolfe (ed.), John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938, 1979), 321.
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
…...
It is a good principle in science not to believe any “fact”—however well attested—until it fits into some accepted frame of reference. Occasionally, of course, an observation can shatter the frame and force the construction of a new one, but that is extremely rare. Galileos and Einsteins seldom appear more than once per century, which is just as well for the equanimity of mankind.
In Opening of Chap 14, 'Search', 2061: Odyssey Three (1987, 1989), 62.
Researchers, with science as their authority, will be able to cut [animals] up, alive, into small pieces, drop them from a great height to see if they are shattered by the fall, or deprive them of sleep for sixteen days and nights continuously for the purposes of an iniquitous monograph... Animal trust, undeserved faith, when at last will you turn away from us? Shall we never tire of deceiving, betraying, tormenting animals before they cease to trust us?
…...
Sir Barnes Wallis, of inventive mind,
Crafted a bomb of a unique kind.
It bounced on the lake,
Caused the Möhne Dam to break,
Leaving shattered remains behind.
Crafted a bomb of a unique kind.
It bounced on the lake,
Caused the Möhne Dam to break,
Leaving shattered remains behind.
Limerick by Artificial Intelligence, very lightly edited by Webmaster, for prompt: “Write a limerick about Barnes Wallis and his Dambuster bouncing bomb.”
Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.
Address to the US after hijack attacks on the US World Trade Centers and Pentagon, September 11, 2001
The crescendo of noise—whether it comes from truck or jackhammer, siren or airplane—is more than an irritating nuisance. It intrudes on privacy, shatters serenity, and can inflict pain. We dare not be complacent about this ever mounting volume of noise. In the years ahead, it can bring even more discomfort—and worse—to the lives of people.
In 'Special Message to the Congress on Conservation: “To Renew a Nation” (8 Mar 1968). Collected in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson: 1968-69 (1970), 363.
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1623768977
Johnson, Lyndon B. - 1970
There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.
From interview, 'Atom Energy Hope is Spiked By Einstein: Efforts at Loosing Vast Force is Called Fruitless,' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (29 Dec 1934), 13. As quoted in John Finney (ed.), Hiroshima Plus 20 (1965), 16.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
