Quote
By Isaac Newton
...For Nature is pleas'd with simplicity, and affects not the pomp of superfluous causes.
- Source
- The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, translated by Andrew Motte, vol. 2, 1729 · Book III, Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy, Rule I, p. 202
- Read at
- Internet Archive (scan of the 1729 Motte edition, London: Benjamin Motte)
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About this quote
From Rule I of the Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy, Book III of the Principia, in Andrew Motte's English translation of 1729 (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, London: Benjamin Motte). Rule I reads "We are to admit no more causes of natural things, than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances." Newton then adds that philosophers say Nature does nothing in vain, and more is in vain when less will serve. The words "And nature is no dummy" in popular versions are not Newton's.