Observation
Observation is either an activity of a living being, such as a human, consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments. The term may also refer to any data collected during this activity.
Read more about Observation.
Famous quotes containing the word observation:
“It is, in both cases, that a spiritual life has been imparted to nature; that the solid seeming block of matter has been pervaded and dissolved by a thought; that this feeble human being has penetrated the vast masses of nature with an informing soul, and recognised itself in their harmony, that is, seized their law. In physics, when this is attained, the memory disburthens itself of its cumbrous catalogues of particulars, and carries centuries of observation in a single formula.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“It is a great pitybut tis certain from every days observation of man, that he may be set on fire like a candle, at either endprovided there is a sufficient wick standing out.”
—Laurence Sterne (17131768)
“One mans observation is another mans closed book or flight of fancy.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)