At the present juncture, it is obviously very doubtful whether this task could be accomplished in a similar way, even by a mind with gifts so peculiarly suited for the purpose as Humboldt's was, and if all his time and work were devoted to the purpose.

Hermann von Helmholtz

A raised weight can produce work, but in doing so it must necessarily sink from its height, and, when it has fallen as deep as it can fall, its gravity remains as before, but it can no longer do work.

Hermann von Helmholtz

The smallest quantity of alcohol scares away novel ideas.

Hermann von Helmholtz

They only become valuable in a theoretical or practical point of view when they make us acquainted with the law of a series of uniformly recurring phenomena, or, it may be.

Hermann von Helmholtz

I then endeavoured to show that it is more especially in the thorough conformity with law which natural phenomena and natural products exhibit, and in the comparative ease with which laws can be stated, that this difference exists.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Each individual fact, taken by itself, can indeed arouse our curiosity or our astonishment, or be useful to us in its practical applications.

Hermann von Helmholtz

A moving body whose motion was not retarded by any resisting force would continue to move to all eternity.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Music stands in a much closer connection with pure sensation than any of the other arts.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Whoever, in the pursuit of science, seeks after immediate practical utility, may generally rest assured that he will seek in vain.

Hermann von Helmholtz

A metaphysical conclusion is either a false conclusion or a concealed experimental conclusion.

Hermann von Helmholtz

All that science can achieve is a perfect knowledge and a perfect understanding of the action of natural and moral forces.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Isolated facts and experiments have in themselves no value, however great their number may be.

Hermann von Helmholtz