quote · Legacy record
The principle of vis inertiae (...) seems to be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more true in the former, that a large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress
The principle of vis inertiae (...) seems to be identical in physics and metaphysics. It is not more true in the former, that a large body is with more difficulty set in motion than a smaller one, and that its subsequent momentum is commensurate with this difficulty, than it is, in the latter, that intellects of the vaster capacity, while more forcible, more constant, and more eventful in their movements than those of inferior grade, are yet the less readily moved, and more embarrassed, and full of hesitation in the first few steps of their progress
Approximate author period: c. 1829 AD · industrial
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- Author or tradition
- Edgar Allan Poe
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1829 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1809 to 1849; Wikidata Q16867, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16867 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 239697; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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