Humboldt Quotes

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

{Letter to celebrated scientist Alexander von Humboldt, 6 December, 1813}”
― Thomas Jefferson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson

“If the people of Europe had known as much of astronomy and geology when the bible was introduced among them, as they do now, there never could have been one believer in the doctrine of inspiration. If the writers of the various parts of the bible had known as much about the sciences as is now known by every intelligent man, the book never could have been written. It was produced by ignorance, and has been believed and defended by its author. It has lost power in the proportion that man has gained knowledge. A few years ago, this book was appealed to in the settlement of all scientific questions; but now, even the clergy confess that in such matters, it has ceased to speak with the voice of authority. For the establishment of facts, the word of man is now considered far better than the word of God. In the world of science, Jehovah was superseded by Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. All that God told Moses, admitting the entire account to be true, is dust and ashes compared to the discoveries of Descartes, Laplace, and Humboldt. In matters of fact, the bible has ceased to be regarded as a standard. Science has succeeded in breaking the chains of theology. A few years ago, Science endeavored to show that it was not inconsistent with the bible. The tables have been turned, and now, Religion is endeavoring to prove that the bible is not inconsistent with Science. The standard has been changed.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of Moses

“As a rule, theologians know nothing of this world, and far less of the next; but they have the power of stating the most absurd propositions with faces solemn as stupidity touched by fear.

It is a part of their business to malign and vilify the Voltaires, Humes, Paines, Humboldts, Tyndalls, Haeckels, Darwins, Spencers, and Drapers, and to bow with uncovered heads before the murderers, adulterers, and persecutors of the world. They are, for the most part, engaged in poisoning the minds of the young, prejudicing children against science, teaching the astronomy and geology of the bible, and inducing all to desert the sublime standard of reason.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of Moses

“The real discoverer of South America was [Alexander von] Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all conquerors.”
― Simón Bolívar

“But when on shore, & wandering in the sublime forests, surrounded by views more gorgeous than even Claude ever imagined, I enjoy a delight which none but those who have experienced it can understand - If it is to be done, it must be by studying Humboldt.”
― Charles Darwin

“Every scientist is a descendant of Humboldt. We are all his family.”
― Emil Heinrich Du Bois-Reymond

“Columbus gave Europe a New World; [Alexander von] Humboldt made it known in its physical, material, intellectual, and moral aspects.”
― José Cipriano de la Luz y Caballero

“He [Alexander von Humboldt] was to science what Shakespeare was to the drama.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll

“[Alexander von Humboldt was the] greatest scientific traveller who ever lived.”
― Charles Darwin

“[Alexander von] Humboldt showers us with true treasures.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“I consider him [Alexander von Humboldt] the most important scientist whom I have met.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“During the first half of the present century we had an Alexander von Humboldt, who was able to scan the scientific knowledge of his time in its details, and to bring it within one vast generalization. At the present juncture, it is obviously very doubtful whether this task could be accomplished in a similar way, even by a mind with gifts so peculiarly suited for the purpose as Humboldt's was, and if all his time and work were devoted to the purpose.”
― Hermann von Helmholtz

“Whenever he stood on a summit or a high ridge, he felt so moved by the scenery that his imagination carried him even higher. This imagination, he said, soothed the 'deep wounds' that pure 'reason' sometimes created.”
― Andrea Wulf

“Fue allí, en el lago Valencia, donde Humboldt desarrolló su idea del cambio climático provocado por el ser humano. Cuando publicó sus notas, no dejó duda alguna sobre lo que pensaba:

"Cuando los bosques se destruyen, como han hecho los cultivadores europeos en toda América, con una precipitación imprudente, los manantiales se secan por completo o se vuelven menos abundantes. Los lechos de los ríos, que permanecen secos durante parte del año, se convierten en torrentes cada vez que caen fuertes lluvias en las cumbres. La hierba y el musgo desaparecen de las laderas de las montañas con la maleza, entonces el agua lluvia ya no encuentra ningún obstáculo en su camino: y en vez de aumentar poco a poco el nivel de los ríos mediante filtraciones graduales, durante las lluvias abundantes forma surcos en las laderas, arrastra la tierra suelta y forma esas inundaciones repentinas que destruyen el país.”
― Andrea Wulf, The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

“A Humboldt, en fin, se le considerará como un nuevo descubridor de América; el verdadero, si se le compara con la avidez mercantil, el delirio mesiánico y la estulticia intelectual de Cristóbal Colón. Caldas será tan solo un mártir equívoco que los colombianos siguen homenajeando con admiración desproporcionada.”
― Pablo Montoya Campuzano, Los Derrotados

“The Defense Department doesn’t give a damn what you do most of the time – they just want to fund it, because they want to have a bigger bureaucracy or something like that. So there’s very little reporting back by the scientists, they don’t pay much attention to you, they don’t care whether you did what you said you’d do or something else, and so on. In fact, back in the Sixties, there was a guy in my lab who was working on translating Humboldt [a Prussian philosopher] – he was being funded by the Office of Naval Research, they didn’t care.”
― Noam Chomsky

“Las ideas que debatían eran las que tenían cautivados a científicos y pensadores de toda Europa: como entender la naturaleza. En términos generales, había dos corrientes de pensamiento que se disputaban la primacía: el racionalismo y el empirismo. Los racionalistas tendían a creer que todo el conocimiento procedía de la razón y el pensamiento racional, mientras que los empiristas sostenían que solo se podía “conocer” el mundo a través de la experiencia. (…) Para las ciencias, eso significaba que los empiristas siempre tenían que contrastar sus teorías con observaciones y experimentos, mientras que los racionalistas podían basar una tesis en la lógica y la razón”.”
― Andrea Wulf, The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World