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Re: A quote from ?



John is right, I think. According to Bartlett's Sixteenth Edition, the
entire quote is

"Now my suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose,
but queerer than we can suppose...I suspect that there are more things in
heaven and earth than are dreamed of, in any philosophy. That is the reason
why I have no philosophy myself, and must be my excuse for dreaming."

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 than we
can imagine." Or something to this effect. And what the exact wording to
this line is? Thanks

I always find that questions like this make for interesting exercises in
searching the web and sorting fact from fantasy. I confess that I did not
know (and, perhaps, still do not know!) the answer to this question, but
because I also like the quote, I was interested enough to spend 10 minutes
on the web. Here's what I turned up:

Most people either attribute the quote to "someone," "unknown," or simply
appropriate it as their own. Many attribute it to Arthur C. Clarke, some
calling 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 it
to J.B.S Haldane, an early twentieth century British evolutionary
biologist and biochemist, who may have actually said, "the [universe?] is
not 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 they
have to..
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