Gabriel Stokes Quotes

But we have reason to think that the annihilation of work is no less a physical impossibility than its creation, that is, than perpetual motion.

Talent might be a gift but it still has to be cultivated. The imagination is like a fire or furnace: it has to be stoked, fed and attended to. One thing sets another ablaze. Keep it going.

[E]volution is not a cause, but the description of a process … Can we in any way explain the origin of species? Are we to suppose that each species, or what we regard as a species, originated in the fiat of an almighty power? Or are we to suppose that we are to go indefinitely backwards, and affirm that a chain of secondary causation is to be continued indefinitely backwards? … The treatment of evolution as a cause, capable of leading us on indefinitely, tends to shut out the idea of a First Cause; its treatment as a possible mode of sequence, leading us a step or two onwards, still leaves the mind directed towards a First Cause, though ‘Clouds and darkness are round about Him.’ [cf. Psalm 97] … Remember, Evolution does not mean a cause.

Normally, Jared liked airports. He liked the different dialects, languages, clothes and customs. He liked watching people buy the last-minute tasteless souvenirs that only foreigners thought were interesting. He liked hearing people’s observations about London: how confusing the underground was, their favorite tourist destinations, and the little cultural differences in food. But he’d never before seen so many desperate-looking people, crying and tugging at their loved ones as they prepared to board the plane to the U.S. Or maybe he’d simply never paid attention. Every time he’d left England before, he knew he was coming back. Not this time. He would miss England. Jared smiled a bit to himself, remembering the miserably cold, rainy nights in Stoke. On second thought, maybe not. He glanced at his watch. The boarding would start soon. “Jared!” He froze and then turned around. Gabriel was pushing through the crowd toward him. Jared’s heart skipped a beat before starting to hammer so loudly that he could hardly concentrate on anything else. A part of him wanted to walk away. But the other part drank in the sight of him—for the last time—and the thought made his chest physically ache.