Do not imagine that mathematics is hard and crabbed, and repulsive to common sense. It is merely the etherealization of common sense.
Lord KelvinRead
I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Quantifying knowledge leads to a deeper understanding, while vague concepts indicate superficial knowledge.
Lord Kelvin emphasizes the importance of measurable data in understanding complex subjects. He suggests that knowledge that can be quantified is more substantial and reliable, while ideas that cannot be quantified are often less meaningful and inadequate. This highlights the value of empirical evidence in the pursuit of true comprehension.
Themes
MeasurementKnowledgeDataUnderstandingScience
In practice
Example use cases
In a scientific presentation, you can use this quote to highlight the importance of data in research.
More from Lord Kelvin
All quotes →We only know God in His works, but we are forced by science to admit and to believe with absolute confidence in a Directive Power-in an influence other than physical, or dynamical, or electrical forces.
Lord KelvinRead
In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting.
Lord KelvinRead
There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.
Lord KelvinRead
Let nobody be afraid of true freedom of thought. Let us be free in thought and criticism; but, with freedom, we are bound to come to the conclusion that science is not antagonistic to religion, but a help to it.
Lord KelvinRead
I need scarcely say that the beginning and maintenance of life on earth is absolutely and infinitely beyond the range of all sound speculation in dynamical science. The only contribution of dynamics to theoretical biology is absolute negation of automatic commencement or automatic maintenance of life.
Lord KelvinRead
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