It is the perfection of God's works that they are all done with the greatest simplicity. He is the God of order and not of confusion. And therefore as they would understand the frame of the world must endeavor to reduce their knowledge to all possible simplicity, so must it be in seeking to understand these visions.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Newton sees God's work as ordered and simple, urging us to reduce knowledge to simplicity to understand visions.
- In plain terms
- God's order is simple; we should simplify our understanding.
- What can you take from it?
- Aim for simple, orderly comprehension.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does simplicity relate to truth?
- Can simplicity obscure nuance?
Another view
Not all phenomena can be reduced without loss.
More from Isaac Newton
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
Permalink to quote #10 If I had stayed for other people to make my tools and things for me, I had never made anything.
Permalink to quote #12 By always thinking unto them. ... I keep the subject constantly before me and wait till the first dawnings open little by little into the full light.
Permalink to quote #9
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