Robert Boyle

The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical, As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is prejoyn'd Part of the Author's Preface to a Book about the Experiments of the Generation of Qualities. And lastly are subjoyn'd some notes about the Producibleness of Chymical Principles.

I am not so much a friend to the opinions of others, as to be fond of them, if I find them not agreeable to reason and experiment.

For it is not the being of a thing, but the being of it in such or such a manner, that makes it what it is.

He that knows the nature of things, knows how to apply them.

The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the wisdom of the Creator.

It is not enough to know, but we must also apply; it is not enough to will, but we must also do.

The grand design of the Royal Society is to improve natural knowledge.

I confess I have been sometimes tempted to think, that the world is a great machine, where all things are so fitted to one another, that they conspire to produce the same effect.

The knowledge of nature is the knowledge of God.

Truth is a thing that does not depend upon men's opinions, but upon the nature of things.

The more I search into the works of nature, the more I admire the wisdom of the Author of them.

The true method of studying nature is by experiments.

I am not ashamed to confess that I have learned more from experiments than from books.

The air is a fluid, consisting of parts that are elastic, and capable of being compressed and expanded.

The pressure and volume of a gas are inversely proportional, provided the temperature remains constant.

I am not apt to be much swayed by the authority of names, how great soever.

It is a great mistake to think that the knowledge of nature is to be attained by speculation only.

The more we know of nature, the more we shall admire the wisdom of God.

I am not one of those who think that the world was made by chance.

The true end of natural philosophy is to find out the causes of things.