Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Newton suggests that even a simple physical sign like a thumb can serve as evidence for God's existence when no other proof is available.
In plain terms
A thumb can convince me of God if nothing else does.
What can you take from it?
Physical observations can be taken as proof of higher powers.

Where it applies

  • personal contemplation
  • philosophical debate

Putting it to work

  • reflect on everyday signs
  • discuss faith and reason

Questions to consider

  • What counts as sufficient evidence for belief?
  • Can physical signs truly indicate metaphysical truths?

Another view

Relying on a single sensory cue is not a robust argument for existence.

More from Isaac Newton

  1. If I had stayed for other people to make my tools and things for me, I had never made anything.

    Permalink to quote #12
  2. God created everything by number, weight and measure.

    Permalink to quote #14
  3. 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 wou…

    Permalink to quote #11

Related quotes

  1. Not enough evidence, God, not enough evidence.

    Bertrand RussellBertrand Russell quote #63
  2. I think I have fairly heard and fairly weighed the evidence on both sides, and I remain an utter disbeliever in almost all that you consider the most sacred tr…

    Alfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace quote #4
  3. Buddhism does not accept a theory of God, or a creator. According to Buddhism, one's own actions are the creator, ultimately. Some people say that, from a cert…

    Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama)Tenzin Gyatso (Dalai Lama) quote #69