False Negatives

Famous quotes containing the words false and/or negatives:

    The real essence, the internal qualities, and constitution of even the meanest object, is hid from our view; something there is in every drop of water, every grain of sand, which it is beyond the power of human understanding to fathom or comprehend. But it is evident ... that we are influenced by false principles to that degree as to mistrust our senses, and think we know nothing of those things which we perfectly comprehend.
    George Berkeley (1685–1753)

    ‘Tis not such lines as almost crack the stage
    When Bajazet begins to rage;
    Nor a tall met’phor in the bombast way,
    Nor the dry chips of short-lunged Seneca.
    Nor upon all things to obtrude
    And force some odd similitude.
    What is it then, which like the power divine
    We only can by negatives define?
    Abraham Cowley (1618–1667)