Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Volume 1writing · 1845; English translation 1858DirectVerified quotation — claim 01“The principal impulse by which I was directed was the earnest endeavor to comprehend the phenomena of physical objects in their general connection, and to represent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal forces.” — Alexander von Humboldt · trans. E. C. Otté, 1858Verified quotation — claim 01“Nature considered rationally, that is to say, submitted to the process of thought, is a unity in diversity of phenomena; a harmony blending together all created things, however dissimilar in form and attributes” — Alexander von Humboldt · trans. E. C. Otté, 1858Verified quotation — claim 01“On being first examined, all phenomena appear to be isolated, and it is only by the result of a multiplicity of observations, combined by reason, that we are able to trace the mutual relations existing between them.” — Alexander von Humboldt · trans. E. C. Otté, 1858
Sources supporting claim 01
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America 1799-1804, Volume 1writing · 1814-1829; English translation 1852DirectVerified quotation — claim 01“but preferring the connection of facts which have been long observed, to the knowledge of insulated facts, although new, the discovery of an unknown genus seemed to me far less interesting than an observation on the geographical relations of the vegetable world” — Alexander von Humboldt · trans. Thomasina Ross, 1852