Christiaan Quotes & Sayings

A man that is of Copernicus' Opinion, that this Earth of ours is a Planet, carry'd round and enlightn'd by the Sun, like the rest of them, cannot but sometimes have a fancy ... that the rest of the Planets have their Dress and Furniture, nay and their Inhabitants too as well as this Earth of ours. ... But we were always apt to conclude, that 'twas in vain to enquire after what Nature had been pleased to do there, seeing there was no likelihood of ever coming to an end of the Enquiry ... but a while ago, thinking somewhat seriously on this matter (not that I count my self quicker sighted than those great Men [of the past], but that I had the happiness to live after most of them) me thoughts the Enquiry was not so impracticable nor the way so stopt up with Difficulties, but that there was very good room left for probable Conjectures. — Christiaan Huygens

There are many degrees of Probable, some nearer Truth than others, in the determining of which lies the chief exercise of our Judgment. — Christiaan Huygens

I don't believe medical discoveries are doing much to advance human life. As fast as we create ways to extend it we are inventing ways to shorten it. — Christiaan Barnard

It is surrounded by a thin flat ring, inclined to the ecliptic, and nowhere touches the body of the planet. — Christiaan Huygens

The world is my country. Science my religion. — Christiaan Huygens

These Gentlemen must be told, that they take too much upon themselves when they pretend to appoint how far and no farther Men shall go in their Searches, and to set bounds to other Mens Industry; as if they knew the Marks that God has placed to Knowledge ... — Christiaan Huygens

I had bought two male chimps from a primate colony in Holland. They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months before I used one as a [heart] donor. When we put him to sleep in his cage in preparation for the operation, he chattered and cried incessantly. We attached no significance to this, but it must have made a great impression on his companion, for when we removed the body to the operating room, the other chimp wept bitterly and was inconsolable for days. The incident made a deep impression on me. I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures. — Christiaan Barnard

I had not thought of this regular decrease of gravity, namely that it is as the inverse square of the distance; this is a new and highly remarkable property of gravity. — Christiaan Huygens

The world is my country, science is my religion. — Christiaan Huygens

One may conceive light to spread successively, by spherical waves. — Christiaan Huygens

For myself, I believed that that 13th of March should see a fight to the finish, cost what it might! for if Bloemfontein was to be taken, it would only be over our dead bodies. — Christiaan Rudolf De Wet

The condition of the wounded touched my heart deeply. — Christiaan Rudolf De Wet

These deserters were our undoing. I shall have a good deal more to say about them before I finally lay down my pen, and I shall not hesitate to call them by their true name, the name with which they will be for ever branded before all the nations of the world. — Christiaan Rudolf De Wet

I do not mind at all that [Newton] is not a Cartesian provided he does not offer us suppositions like that of attraction. — Christiaan Huygens

I believe that we do not know anything for certain, but everything probably. — Christiaan Huygens

The individual is the brain, not the heart. — Christiaan Barnard

I believe often that death is good medical treatment because it can achieve what all the medical advances and technology cannot achieve today, and that is stop the suffering of the patient. — Christiaan Barnard

Naturally our Government would not consent to such terms, and so the war had to proceed. — Christiaan Rudolf De Wet

Christiaan Huygens became simultaneously adept in languages, drawing, law, science, engineering, mathematics and music. His interests and allegiances were broad. "The world is my country," he said, "science my religion. — Carl Sagan

I esteem his understanding and subtlety highly, but I consider that they have been put to ill use in the greater part of his work, where the author studies things of little use...

{Writing about Isaac Newton} — Christiaan Huygens

We may mount from this dull Earth; and viewing it from on high, consider whether Nature has laid out all her cost and finery upon this small speck of Dirt. So, like Travellers into other distant countries, we shall be better able to judge of what's done at home, know how to make a true estimate of, and set its own value upon every thing. We shall be less apt to admire what this World calls great, shall nobly despise those Trifles the generality of Men set their Affections on, when we know that there are a multitude of such Earths inhabited and adorn'd as well as our own. — Christiaan Huygens

The prime goal is to alleviate suffering, and not to prolong life. And if your treatment does not alleviate suffering, but only prolongs life, that treatment should be stopped. — Christiaan Barnard

How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are transacted, is when compared to them. A very fit consideration, and matter of Reflection, for those Kings and Princes who sacrifice the Lives of so many People, only to flatter their Ambition in being Masters of some pitiful corner of this small Spot. — Christiaan Huygens

It is infinitely better to transplant a heart than to bury it to be devoured by worms. — Christiaan Barnard

What a wonderful and amazing Scheme have we here of the magnificent Vastness of the Universe! So many Suns, so many Earths, and every one of them stock'd with so many Herbs, Trees and Animals, and adorn'd with so many Seas and Mountains! And how must our wonder and admiration be encreased when we consider the prodigious distance and multitude of the Stars? — Christiaan Huygens

On Saturday, I was a surgeon in South Africa, very little known. On Monday, I was world renowned. — Christiaan Barnard

If the poor overweight jogger only knew how far he had to run to work off the calories in a crust of bread he might find it better in terms of pound per mile to go to a massage parlor. — Christiaan Barnard

Here we may mount from this dull Earth, and viewing it from on high, consider whether Nature has laid out all her Cost and Finery upon this small Speck of Dirt. — Christiaan Huygens

Now since in so many Things they ... agree, what can be more probable than that in others they agree too; and that the other Planets are as beautiful and as well stock'd with Inhabitants as the Earth? Or what shadow of Reason can there be why they should not? — Christiaan Huygens

Great difficulties are felt at first and these cannot be overcome except by starting from experiments .. and then be conceiving certain hypotheses ... But even so, very much hard work remains to be done and one needs not only great perspicacity but often a degree of good fortune. — Christiaan Huygens

Suffering isn't ennobling, recovery is. — Christiaan Barnard

We shall be less apt to admire what this World calls Great, shall nobly despise those Trifles the generality of Men set their Affections on, when we know that there are a multitude of such Earths inhabited and adorned as Well as our own. — Christiaan Huygens

It's evident God had no design to make a particular Enumeration in the Holy Scriptures, of all the Works of his Creation. — Christiaan Huygens

For a dying man it is not a difficult decision [to agree to become the world's first heart transplant] ... because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side. But you would not accept such odds if there were no lion. — Christiaan Barnard

The rest of the planets have their dress and furniture, nay and their inhabitants too, as well as this Earth of ours. — Christiaan Huygens