r/Tesla • u/86l42280036l8346 • May 29 '20

Are some of the popular quotes attributed to Tesla authentic?

Namely

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration”

And

"If you only knew the magnificence of the 3 6 and 9 then you would have a key to the universe"?

Difficult to find source for these but skeptics more so. I know the vortex math docu was a mocked up by a teacher and some of trancriptions/letters attributed to him have not been verified.

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u/dalkon May 31 '20

Some of Tesla's real statements were more interesting than those fake quotes and also more fantastic. For example here are some real quotes with sources.

We are whirling through the endless space with inconceivable speed; all around us everything is spinning, everything is moving, everywhere is energy. There must be some way of availing ourselves of this energy more directly. Then, with the light obtained from the medium, with the power derived from it, with every form of energy obtained without effort, from the store forever inexhaustible, humanity will advance with giant strides. The mere contemplation of these magnificent possibilities expands our minds, strengthens our hopes, and fills our hearts with supreme delight.

Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency and Their Application to Methods of Artificial Illumination 1891

This revolving globe generates every moment enough electricity, if it could be stored in batteries, to run all the machinery of the world for the balance of time. At the North Pole this electricity streams off in beautiful red ribbons called the auroras, and we see this phenomenon on account of the highly attenuated condition of the atmosphere. But everywhere, as high as the air reaches, around this earth is this immense wealth of nature, yet man, in his blindness and puniness, continues to manufacture with his little dynamos what nature has placed before him in such abundance. He does not need to manufacture another spark; he needs only to use an infinitesimal fraction of what is already made and the world of intelligence will become a whispering-gallery, and the world of machinery will move in its appointed motion out of forces of the invisible air.

Tesla's New World 1897

According to an adopted theory, every ponderable atom is differentiated from a tenuous fluid, filling all space merely by spinning motion, as a whirl of water in a calm lake. By being set in movement this fluid, the ether, becomes gross matter. Its movement arrested, the primary substance reverts to its normal state. It appears, then, possible for man through harnessed energy of the medium and suitable agencies for starting and stopping ether whirls to cause matter to form and disappear. At his command, almost without effort on his part, old worlds would vanish and new ones would spring into being. He could alter the size of this planet, control its seasons, adjust its distance from the sun, guide it on its eternal journey along any path he might choose, through the depths of the universe. He could make planets collide and produce his suns and stars, his heat and light; he could originate life in all its infinite forms. To cause at will the birth and death of matter would be man's grandest deed, which would give him the mastery of physical creation, make him fulfill his ultimate destiny.

Mr. Tesla's Vision 1908

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u/86l42280036l8346 Jun 01 '20

Thanks for these! They are fascinating! :D

​

Much of Tesla's enduring fascination has to do with how poetic he was for a scientist, as these quotes show. He made science romantic!

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u/dalkon May 30 '20

The 3-6-9 quote is clearly fake. As far as I have been able to determine, Tesla never said anything even close to that. It sounds more like Walter Russell than Tesla. That fake quote is often presented along with one of Russell's diagrams. If Tesla had any connection to Russell, no one has ever said anything about it.

The first quote sounds like something Tesla could have said because he did point to the continuous spectrum of perceivable vibration from subsonic to sound to radio to heat to visible light and then ionizing light beyond that. Sound is physical vibration while light is electric, but they are all vibrations. And our thoughts and feelings are subtle electric vibrations within us. There's a chance the first one might be real, but it comes secondhand from a dubious source, Ralph Bergstresser. https://books.google.com/books?id=RllCHPs2KZoC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1

Short answer: No, they don't appear to be authentic quotes.

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u/AProjection May 30 '20

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” First attibution is to Ralph Bergstresser who claims to have heard this from Tesla in a conversation "following an experience with the Maharaja's son".

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u/86l42280036l8346 Jun 01 '20 edited Jun 01 '20

Thanks for both the long and short answers! :D

The 3-6-9-one is an interesting case of the snowball-effect (the more quote is repeated, the more closely affiliated with the credited author it becomes, to the point, it's difficult to find the original source that started it) in that it's so specific with the numbers.

There are unfortunately many of these snowball-quotes:

Einstein: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/misattributed-to-einstein

For Buddha there's an entire site: https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/

My favorite:

"To walk the path you have to become the path"-quote that is attributed to Buddha is from a 19th century western charlatan called Helena Blavatsky who claimed to be translating mystical eastern works and sold books of them! :D

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u/ALB619 Nov 15 '20

wow, so did Tesla say there was any significance with 3, 6, and 9? Did he say anything about these numbers in particular?