Motion

Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. ~ Isaac Newton

Motion, in physical terms, refers to changes of position of an object with respect to time and some spacial reference points, typically observed and described by measures of displacement, direction, velocity, acceleration, as well as general regions of time and spatial locality. The term can also signify a continuous changes in the configurations of a physical system involving waves or quantum particles and the probabilities of these occupying specific positions. It is also used to refer to formal political procedures of legislative motions, including parliamentary motions, as well as legal motions. Move and Movement are related words for either initiating or sustaining any of these types of physical or formal "motion", but which is also used in reference to influences upon emotional states as well.

Quotes

The motions of the heavenly bodies could be charted according to Ptolemy just as correctly as according to Copernicus. - Edwin Arthur Burtt.

Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. -Isaac Newton.

Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest. -Leonardo da Vinci.

The fate of this man or that man was less than a drop, although it was a sparkling one, in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea. ~ T. H. White

Sorted alphabetically by author or source

• Intuition is the wisdom formed by feeling and instinct - a gift of knowing without reasoning... Belief is ignited by hope and supported by facts and evidence - it builds alignment and creates confidence. Belief is what sets energy in motion and creates the success that breeds more success.
  • Angela Ahrendts in Angela Ahrendts Reveals The Secret To Burberry’s Success, Vogue, 5 August 2013

• There are as many types of motion or change as there are meanings of the word 'is'.
  • Aristotle, Physics, 201a7, in The Basic Works of Aristotle (1941), p. 253

• The fulfilment of what exists potentially, in so far as it exists potentially, is motion.
  • Aristotle, Physics, 201a10, in The Basic Works of Aristotle (1941), p. 254

• In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.
  • Zeno of Elea's dichotomy paradox as recounted by Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b15

• That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.
  • Zeno of Elea's paradox of Achilles and the tortoise as recounted by Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b10

• Questions do not change the truth. But they give it motion.
  • Giannina Braschi, Assault on Time in Empire of Dreams. (1981)

• If everything when it occupies an equal space is at rest, and if that which is in locomotion is always occupying such a space at any moment, the flying arrow is therefore motionless.
  • Zeno of Elea's paradox of the arrow, as recounted by Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b5

• Newton... not only found a precise mathematical use for concepts like force, mass, inertia; he gave new meanings to the old terms space, time, and motion, which had hitherto been unimportant but were now becoming the fundamental categories of men's thinking.
  • Edwin Arthur Burtt, in The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1924), Ch. 1 Introduction (B) The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science the Key to this Problem

• The motions of the heavenly bodies could be charted according to Ptolemy just as correctly as according to Copernicus.
  • Edwin Arthur Burtt, in The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1924), Ch. 2 Copernicus and Kepler (A) The Problem of the New Astronomy

• Nicholas of Cusa... dared to teach that there is nothing at all without motion in the universe — the latter is infinite in all directions, possessing no centre — and that the earth travels its course in common with the other stars. That this widening of the intellectual horizon of the age, with the suggestion of new centres of interest, was a decisive factor in Copernicus' personal development, the brief biographical sketch which he gives of himself in the De Revolutionibus strongly suggests.
  • Edwin Arthur Burtt, in The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1924), Ch. 2 : Copernicus and Kepler (A) The Problem of the New Astronomy

• It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn't get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.
  • Orio Giarini in: Mumpsimus Revisited: Essays on Risk Management, Xlibris Corporation, 1 May 2005, p. 41.

• Sunrise offered a very beautiful spectacle; the water was quite unruffled, but the motion communicated by the tides was so great that, although there was not a breath of air stirring, the sea heaved slowly with a grand and majestic motion.
  • George Grey in: Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1, tredition, 7 February 2012, p. 112.

• You control your future, your destiny. What you think about comes about. By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands - your own.
  • Mark Victor Hansen in: Scott Spann Tax Resolution and Financial Freedom: Using the Financial Planning Process to Resolve IRS Tax Problems, Lulu.com, 1 March 2009, p. 49.

• Something in the way she moves
  attracts me like no other lover…
  • George Harrison, in "Something" (1969)

• Movement through space is fundamental to life: movement of the entire organism, such as walking; movement of a part of the organism, such as an arm; movement of materials within the organism, such as food in the stomach; movement of offspring into the external world, as in birth. Each is a mechanism indispensable to virtually all members of the animal kingdom. In the end, it is muscle that accomplishes movement. As a consequence, muscle is the most abundant tissue in most animals and accounts for much of the energy-consuming cellular work in an active animal.
  • Joseph A. Hill and Eric N. Olson, Ch. 1 : An Introduction to Muscle, in Muscle: Fundamental Biology and Mechanisms of Disease (2012) edited by Joseph A. Hill and Eric N. Olson

• Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity.
  • Thomas Merton in: New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions Publishing, 27 November 2007, p. 81

• Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
  • Isaac Newton, in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) Laws of Motion, I

• I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.
  • Isaac Newton [widely attributed] in: Proust Was a Neuroscientist, Canongate Books, 3 February 2011, p. 27

• The alternation of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impressed; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impressed.
  • Isaac Newton, in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) Laws of Motion, II

• Whatever is always in motion is immortal.
  • Plato, Phaedrus, 245c

• The connection to place, to the land, the wind, the sun, stars, the moon... it sounds romantic, but it's true - the visceral experience of motion, of moving through time on some amazing machine - a few cars touch on it, but not too many compared to motorcycles. I always felt that any motorcycle journey was special.
  • Antoine Predock in: Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon, Meghan as FireBonnet, 26 October 2013

• Look at what you want to change, gather a few people who believe in it like you do, and start moving forward. It's important to remember that you don't always need a destination. Sometimes, you just have to make forward motion. And you absolutely can.
  • Debby Ryan in: Danica Davidson [INTERVIEW Disney Star Debby Ryan Talks About Giving Back & Her Hit Show ‘Jessie’], MTv20 September 2012

• Revenge... is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion.
  • Jeremy Taylor in: Jeremy Taylor, George Rust The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor...: With an Essay, Biographical and Critical, Volume 1, H.G. Bohn, 1851, p. 719.

• Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest.
  • Leonardo da Vinci in The Writings of Leonardo Da Vinci, Douglas Editions, 15 June 2010, p. 15.

• One purpose of physics is to study the motion of objects—how fast they move, for example, and how far they move in a given amount of time. NASCAR engineers are fanatical about this aspect of physics as they determine the performance of their cars before and during a race. Geologists use this physics to measure tectonic-plate motion as they attempt to predict earthquakes. Medical researchers need this physics to map the blood flow through a patient when diagnosing a partially closed artery, and motorists use it to determine how they might slow sufficiently when their radar detector sounds a warning.
  • Jearl Walker, David Halliday, and Robert Resnick, Fundamentals of Physics (10th ed., 2014), Ch. 2. Motion Along a Straight Line

• Sex is an emotion in motion.
  • Mae West in: Sex and Society, Volume 1, Marshall Cavendish, 2010, p. 201

• The fate of this man or that man was less than a drop, although it was a sparkling one, in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea.
  • T. H. White, in The Once and Future King (1958)Book IV: The Candle in the Wind