Lord Kelvin Quotes

Quaternions came from Hamilton after his really good work had been done, and though beautifully ingenious, have been an unmixed evil to those who have touched them in any way.

We only know God in His works, but we are forced by science to admit and to believe with absolute confidence in a Directive Power-in an influence other than physical, or dynamical, or electrical forces.

You know only insofar as you can measure.

Nothing can be more fatal to progress than a too confident reliance on mathematical symbols; for the student is only too apt to take the easier course, and consider the formula not the fact as the physical reality.

There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.

Suppose that you could mark the molecules in a glass of water; then pour the contents of the glass into the ocean and stir the latter throughly so as to distribute the marked molecules uniformly throughout the seven seas; if then you took a glass of water anywhere out of the ocean, you would find in it about a hundred of your marked molecules.

When you are face to face with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery.

At what time does the dissipation of energy begin?

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.

Vortices of pure energy can exist and, if my theories are right, can compose the bodily form of an intelligent species.

When you cannot measure, your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory.

Ether is the only substance we are confident of in dynamics. One thing we are sure of and that is the reality and substantiality of the luminferous ether.