Fragments: Philosophy quotes

I just finished an introductory course in the Philosophy of Science (this one, if you’re interested, highly recommend). I took it because I’m just really interested in the topic and I was hoping it would make me think slightly differently about science because I’m a little tired of thinking the same way about science and also, if I’m honest, I never quite got over feeling tongue-tied and tool-less when Smart Science Boys in college said there was no reason to care about emotional or social factors because of some sort of positivist worldview I just didn’t understand and I never want to feel that dumb again and also as an ex “gifted” kid anything that promises pointless arcane knowledge is going to draw like flies to honey, so

What I got, and what I didn’t expect, was a wonderful bouquet of gemlike writing.

Little lines that hit.

So, without any context, here’s some of them.

J.S. MILL: 

“Matter, then, can be defined, the Permanent Possibility of a sensation.” 

JAMES LADYMAN:

“To be meaningful, a word must have some connection with what can be experienced.”

“Glass is fragile even if it is never broken.”

W.V. QUINE

“Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.” 

“...As long as the vaguenesses match.”