Names and attributes must be accommodated to the essence of things, and not the essence to the names, since things come first and names afterwards.

About This Quote

In most cases, we don’t know the true meaning of the words we use. For example, how many of you know what is meant by “accommodate” and “essence.” When we say, “I am feeling accommodating today,” we may not really know what we mean. We just say it because we think we know what we mean – and then someone asks us how we are feeling and we say that we feel accommodating. The message may be lost on the other person. It would have been better if you could have told them that you are feeling “like a rock!” or “a panda!”

Source: Discoveries And Opinions Of Galileo

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More Quotes By Galileo Galilei

1. I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.

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2. See now the power of truth; the same experiment which at first glance seemed to show one thing, when more carefully examined, assures us of the contrary.

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3. I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

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4. You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.

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5. By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox.

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