The 2nd law of thermodynamics has the same degree of truth as the statement that if you throw a tumblerful of water into the sea, you cannot get the same tumblerful of water out again.

— James Clerk Maxwell, Letter to Lord Rayleigh

Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=cKk5AAAAMAAJ

From a letter to Lord Rayleigh, quoted in a 1924 work (p. 47).

Topics: physics