V S Ramachandran - H G Wells - Louis Pasteur - Richard Feynman - Albert Einstein - Carl Sagan - Sammy Davis - Anais Nin - Rene Magreitte - Back to the Future II 1989 - Clement to Theodore - William Cowper - I Corinthians 4:1 - Edgar Allan Poe - Oscar Wilde - Max Planck - Salvador Dali - Aleister Crowley - Democritus - Agatha Christie - Neil Armstrong - Tennessee Williams - Jorge Luis Borges - Ken Kesey - Laozi - Bertrand Russell - Evil Under the Sun 1982 - Mystery of the Man on the Moor TV - The Art Mysteries with Waldamar Januszczak TV - Agatha Christie’s England - Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery TV - History's Greatest Mysteries TV - History's Greatest Myths TV - Strange Universe: In Outer Space Nothing is Normal TV -
How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate – your brain – that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all. V S Ramachandran, The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest For What Makes Us Human
We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery. H G Wells
I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner. Louis Pasteur, letter December 1851
God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Richard Feynman
One thing is that I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs, in different degrees of certainty, about different things. But I’m not absolutely sure of anything and of many things I don’t know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we’re here and what the question might mean. I might think about it a little bit, if I can’t figure it out, then I go onto something else. But I don’t have to know an answer. I don’t feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn’t frighten me. Richard Feynman, interview BBC Horizon 1981
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious – the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Albert Einstein
Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centred on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries. Carl Sagan
The ultimate mystery is one’s own self. Sammy Davis junior
The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery. Anais Nin
Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist. Rene Magritte
Ah yes, we are all mysteries. We are part of the world and the world itself is a mystery. Rene Magritte, televised interview
The other great mystery of the universe – women. Back to the Future II 1989 starring Michael J Fox & Christopher Lloyd & Lea Thompson & Thomas F Wilson & James Tolkan & Jeffrey Weissman & Elisabeth Shue & Billy Zane & Charles Fleischer et al, director Robert Zemeckis, Doc
Why do we make mysteries where none exist? Christopher Hitchens, Collision: Christopher Hitchens v Douglas Wilson
He composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected ... Most carefully guarded, being read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries. Clement to Theodore
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform. William Cowper, 1731-1800
Stewards of the mysteries of God. I Corinthians 4:1
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their gray visions they obtain glimpses of eternity, and thrill, in waking, to find that they have been upon the verge of the great secret. In snatches, they learn something of the wisdom which is of good, and more of the mere knowledge which is of evil. Edgar Allan Poe, Complete Tales & Poems
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. Oscar Wilde
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. Max Planck, Where is Science Going?
People love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings. Salvador Dalí
But it so happens that everything on this planet is, ultimately, irrational; there is not, and cannot be, any reason for the causal connexion of things, if only because our use of the word ‘reason’ already implies the idea of causal connexion. But, even if we avoid this fundamental difficulty, Hume said that causal connexion was not merely unprovable, but unthinkable; and, in shallower waters still, one cannot assign a true reason why water should flow downhill, or sugar taste sweet in the mouth. Attempts to explain these simple matters always progress into a learned lucidity, and on further analysis retire to a remote stronghold where everything is irrational and unthinkable. Aleister Crowley
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion. Democritus
‘It often seems to me that’s all detective work is, wiping out your false starts and beginning again.’
‘Yes, it is very true, that. And it is just what some people will not do. They conceive a certain theory, and everything has to fit into that theory. If one little fact will not fit it, they throw it aside. But it is always the facts that will not fit in that are significant.’ Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile
Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand. Neil Armstrong
Some mystery should be left in the revelation of character in a play, just as a great deal of mystery is always left in the revelation of character in life, even in one’s own character to himself. Tennessee Williams
I have sometimes suspected that the only thing that holds no mystery is happiness, because it is its own justification. Jorge Luis Borges, ‘Unworthy, In Praise of Darkness’
I’m for mystery, not interpretive answers ... The answer is never the answer. What’s really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you’ll always be seeking. I’ve never seen anybody really find the answer, but they think they have. So they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer. Ken Kesey
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Laozi, Tao Te Ching
Mystery is delightful, but unscientific, since it depends upon ignorance. Bertrand Russell, The Analysis
With Hercule Poirot mysteries never last for long. Evil Under the Sun 1982 starring Peter Ustinov & Jane Birkin & Colin Blakely & Nicholas Clay & James Mason & Roddy McDowall & Sylvia Miles & Denis Quilley & Diana Rigg & Maggie Smith & Emily Hone et al, director Guy Hamilton, Poirot to insurance bloke
On a cold December morning CCTV captures fleeting images of a man in London. Within twenty-four-hours he is dead, his body discovered two hundred miles away on a Pennine moor. Mystery of the Man on the Moor, Channel 4 2017
A natural death, suicide or natural murder? ibid.
High in the Pennines sits Saddleworth moor. A dramatic landscape and at times a desolate and dangerous place. ibid.
Strychnine poisoning … They need to find his name … A steel plate discovered in ‘Neil’s’ leg was manufactured in Pakistan. The bottle containing the poison was from there too. ibid.
The investigation is running out of options. Eleven months on … His name is David Lytton. Aged 67, he flew into the UK from Pakistan two days before he died. ibid.