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Of the eternal corporeal substance (which is not producible ex nihilo, nor reducible ad nihilum, but rarefiable, condensable, formable, arrangeable, and 'fashionable') the composition is dissolved, the complexion is changed, the figure is modified, the being is altered, the fortune is varied, only the elements remaining what they are in substance, that same principle persevering which was always the one material principle, which is the true substance of things. eternal, ingenerable and incorruptible.

Giordano Bruno#30

PhilosophyChangeEternitySubstanceMatter

About this quote

What does it mean?
Physical substances change form but remain eternal in their fundamental material principle.
In plain terms
Things change shape and form, but the basic material they are made of never dies.
What can you take from it?
Material substance is eternal even when its form changes.

Where it applies

  • scientific study
  • philosophical inquiry

Putting it to work

  • studying physics
  • reflecting on change

Questions to consider

  • What remains constant when things change?
  • Is matter truly eternal?

Another view

Modern science views matter differently than this classical view.

More from Giordano Bruno

  1. If he is not Nature herself, he is certainly the nature of Nature, and is the soul of the Soul of the world, if he is not the soul herself.

    Permalink to quote #29
  2. Of the eternal incorporeal substance nothing is changed, is formed or deformed, but there always remains only that thing which cannot be a subject of dissoluti…

    Permalink to quote #31
  3. Those wise men knew God to be in things, and Divinity to be latent in Nature, working and glowing differently in different subjects and succeeding through dive…

    Permalink to quote #28

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