Albertus Magnus

Natural History German 1200 – 1280 98 quotes

Medieval scholar who integrated Aristotelian philosophy with empirical observation, writing on plants and minerals with the quote that nature is the art of God.

Quotes by Albertus Magnus

The study of nature is the study of God's handiwork.

De animalibus 1250

In every natural thing there is something marvelous.

De mineralibus 1250

Science does not consist in knowing what has been said, but in understanding what is true.

Commentary on the Sentences 1260

The aim of natural science is not simply to know the facts, but to know the causes of the facts.

Physics 1250

Truth is the conformity of the intellect to the thing.

Summa Theologiae 1260

All knowledge begins in the senses.

De anima 1250

Nature does nothing in vain.

De animalibus 1250

The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics.

De caelo et mundo 1250

To understand is to know the cause.

Posterior Analytics 1260

The wise man seeks not to know the number of things, but their nature.

De mineralibus 1250

Experience is the best teacher.

De animalibus 1250

The more we know, the more we realize how much we don't know.

Commentary on the Sentences 1260

Every agent acts for an end.

Summa Theologiae 1260

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Metaphysics 1250

The greatest good is the knowledge of God.

Summa Theologiae 1260

Nature is the art of God.

De animalibus 1250

The human intellect is capable of knowing all things.

De anima 1260

There is no knowledge without sensation.

De anima 1250

The end of all things is to return to their beginning.

Summa Theologiae 1260

The universe is a book written by the hand of God.

De caelo et mundo 1250