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John is right, I think. According to Bartlett's Sixteenth Edition, thesuppose,
entire quote is
"Now my suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we
but queerer than we can suppose...I suspect that there are more thingsin
heaven and earth than are dreamed of, in any philosophy. That is thereason
why I have no philosophy myself, and must be my excuse for dreaming."than we
The quote is taken from his work "Possible Worlds," from 1927
Hugh
On Sat, 3 Oct 1998, Tom McCarthy wrote:
Does anyone know who said the line that, ... nature is stranger
wording tocan imagine." Or something to this effect. And what the exact
inthis line is? Thanks
I always find that questions like this make for interesting exercises
notsearching the web and sorting fact from fantasy. I confess that I did
butknow (and, perhaps, still do not know!) the answer to this question,
minutesbecause I also like the quote, I was interested enough to spend 10
simplyon the web. Here's what I turned up:
Most people either attribute the quote to "someone," "unknown," or
someappropriate it as their own. Many attribute it to Arthur C. Clarke,
itcalling it "Clarke's Law." Some attribute it to Isaac Asimov. Several
quote it as a characterization of the revelations of scripture.
However, the most authoritative sounding sources consistently attribute
isto J.B.S Haldane, an early twentieth century British evolutionary
biologist and biochemist, who may have actually said, "the [universe?]
theynot only queerer than we suppose, it is queerer than we can suppose."
John
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A. John Mallinckrodt http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm
Professor of Physics mailto:ajmallinckro@csupomona.edu
Physics Department voice:909-869-4054
Cal Poly Pomona fax:909-869-5090
Pomona, CA 91768-4031 office:Building 8, Room 223
Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>
Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because
have to..
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