TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY ®  •  TODAYINSCI ®
Celebrating 24 Years on the Web
Find science on or your birthday

Today in Science History - Quickie Quiz
Who said: “A people without children would face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as helpless.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index A > Category: Acquire

Acquire Quotes (46 quotes)

[Helmholtz] is not a philosopher in the exclusive sense, as Kant, Hegel, Mansel are philosophers, but one who prosecutes physics and physiology, and acquires therein not only skill in developing any desideratum, but wisdom to know what are the desiderata, e.g., he was one of the first, and is one of the most active, preachers of the doctrine that since all kinds of energy are convertible, the first aim of science at this time. should be to ascertain in what way particular forms of energy can be converted into each other, and what are the equivalent quantities of the two forms of energy.
Letter to Lewis Campbell (21 Apr 1862). In P.M. Harman (ed.), The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (1990), Vol. 1, 711.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Aim (175)  |  Ascertain (41)  |  Conservation Of Energy (30)  |  Conversion (17)  |  Desideratum (5)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Energy (373)  |  Equivalent (46)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Hermann von Helmholtz (32)  |  Immanuel Kant (50)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Preacher (13)  |  Prosecute (3)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Sense (785)  |  Skill (116)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wisdom (235)

A peculiar beauty reigns in the realm of mathematics, a beauty which resembles not so much the beauty of art as the beauty of nature and which affects the reflective mind, which has acquired an appreciation of it, very much like the latter.
From Berliner Monatsberichte (1867), 395. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 185.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Affect (19)  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Art (680)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Mathematical Beauty (19)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics As A Fine Art (23)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Realm (87)  |  Reflective (3)  |  Reign (24)  |  Resemble (65)

As compared with Europe, our climate and traditions all pre-dispose us to a life of inaction and ease. We are influenced either by religious sentiment, class patriotism or belief in kismet, whereas the activities of Western nations rest on an economic basis. While they think and act in conformity with economic necessities, we expect to prosper without acquiring the scientific precision, the inventive faculty, the thoroughness, the discipline and restraints of modern civilisation.
Speech (16 Mar 1912), at Central College Bangalore Visvesvaraya. Collected in Speeches: 1910-11 to 1916-17: by Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (1917), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Activity (218)  |  Belief (615)  |  Civilisation (23)  |  Class (168)  |  Climate (102)  |  Compare (76)  |  Conformity (15)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Ease (40)  |  Economics (44)  |  Europe (50)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Inaction (4)  |  Influence (231)  |  Inventive (10)  |  Modern (402)  |  Nation (208)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Patriotism (9)  |  Precision (72)  |  Prosper (8)  |  Religious (134)  |  Restraint (16)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sentiment (16)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thoroughness (4)  |  Tradition (76)  |  West (21)

Genius is supposed to be a power of producing excellences which are put of the reach of the rules of art: a power which no precepts can teach, and which no industry can acquire.
From 'A Discourse Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy, on the Distribution of Prizes' (10 Dec 1774), in Seven Discourses Delivered in the Royal Academy (1778), 202-203.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Genius (301)  |  Industry (159)  |  Power (771)  |  Precept (10)  |  Reach (286)  |  Rule (307)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)

Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one’s mind right. All of its proofs are very clear and orderly. It is hardly possible for errors to enter into geometrical reasoning, because it is well arranged and orderly. Thus, the mind that constantly applies itself to geometry is not likely to fall into error. In this convenient way, the person who knows geometry acquires intelligence.
In Ibn Khaldûn, Franz Rosenthal (trans.) and N.J. Dawood (ed.), The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History (1967, 1969), Vol. 1, 378.
Science quotes on:  |  Apply (170)  |  Arranged (4)  |  Clear (111)  |  Constantly (27)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enter (145)  |  Error (339)  |  Fall (243)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Person (366)  |  Possible (560)  |  Proof (304)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Right (473)  |  Set (400)  |  Way (1214)

Getting up too early is a vice habitual in horned owls, stars, geese, and freight trains. Some hunters acquire it from geese, and some coffee pots from hunters.
In 'Too Early', A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There (1949, 1987), 59.
Science quotes on:  |  Early (196)  |  Goose (13)  |  Habit (174)  |  Hunter (28)  |  Star (460)  |  Vice (42)

He that desireth to acquire any art or science seeketh first those means by which that art or science is obtained.
In An Apology For the True Christian Divinity (1825), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Desire (212)  |  First (1302)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Seek (218)

I acquired such skill in reading Latin and Greek that I could take a page of either, and distinguish which language it was by merely glancing at it.
Quoted, without source, in Des MacHale, Wit (1999, 2003), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Glance (36)  |  Greek (109)  |  Language (308)  |  Latin (44)  |  Merely (315)  |  Page (35)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Skill (116)

I believe that the useful methods of mathematics are easily to be learned by quite young persons, just as languages are easily learned in youth. What a wondrous philosophy and history underlie the use of almost every word in every language—yet the child learns to use the word unconsciously. No doubt when such a word was first invented it was studied over and lectured upon, just as one might lecture now upon the idea of a rate, or the use of Cartesian co-ordinates, and we may depend upon it that children of the future will use the idea of the calculus, and use squared paper as readily as they now cipher. … When Egyptian and Chaldean philosophers spent years in difficult calculations, which would now be thought easy by young children, doubtless they had the same notions of the depth of their knowledge that Sir William Thomson might now have of his. How is it, then, that Thomson gained his immense knowledge in the time taken by a Chaldean philosopher to acquire a simple knowledge of arithmetic? The reason is plain. Thomson, when a child, was taught in a few years more than all that was known three thousand years ago of the properties of numbers. When it is found essential to a boy’s future that machinery should be given to his brain, it is given to him; he is taught to use it, and his bright memory makes the use of it a second nature to him; but it is not till after-life that he makes a close investigation of what there actually is in his brain which has enabled him to do so much. It is taken because the child has much faith. In after years he will accept nothing without careful consideration. The machinery given to the brain of children is getting more and more complicated as time goes on; but there is really no reason why it should not be taken in as early, and used as readily, as were the axioms of childish education in ancient Chaldea.
In Teaching of Mathematics (1902), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Actually (27)  |  Afterlife (3)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Belief (615)  |  Boy (100)  |  Brain (281)  |  Bright (81)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Careful (28)  |  Cartesian (3)  |  Chaldea (4)  |  Child (333)  |  Childish (20)  |  Children (201)  |  Cipher (3)  |  Close (77)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Coordinate (5)  |  Depend (238)  |  Depth (97)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Doubtless (8)  |  Early (196)  |  Easily (36)  |  Easy (213)  |  Education (423)  |  Egyptian (5)  |  Enable (122)  |  Essential (210)  |  Faith (209)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Future (467)  |  Gain (146)  |  Give (208)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immense (89)  |  Invent (57)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Language (308)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Life (1870)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Memory (144)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Paper (192)  |  Person (366)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plain (34)  |  Property (177)  |  Rate (31)  |  Readily (10)  |  Reason (766)  |  Same (166)  |  Second Nature (3)  |  Simple (426)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spent (85)  |  Square (73)  |  Study (701)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unconsciously (9)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Use (771)  |  Useful (260)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)  |  Youth (109)

I had a Meccano set with which I “played” endlessly. Meccano which was invented by Frank Hornby around 1900, is called Erector Set in the US. New toys (mainly Lego) have led to the extinction of Meccano and this has been a major disaster as far as the education of our young engineers and scientists is concerned. Lego is a technically trivial plaything and kids love it partly because it is so simple and partly because it is seductively coloured. However it is only a toy, whereas Meccano is a real engineering kit and it teaches one skill which I consider to be the most important that anyone can acquire: This is the sensitive touch needed to thread a nut on a bolt and tighten them with a screwdriver and spanner just enough that they stay locked, but not so tightly that the thread is stripped or they cannot be unscrewed. On those occasions (usually during a party at your house) when the handbasin tap is closed so tightly that you cannot turn it back on, you know the last person to use the washroom never had a Meccano set.
Nobel laureate autobiography in Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures 1996 (1997), 189.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Bolt (11)  |  Call (781)  |  Closed (38)  |  Color (155)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consider (428)  |  Disaster (58)  |  Education (423)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Enough (341)  |  Extinction (80)  |  House (143)  |  Important (229)  |  Invention (400)  |  Kid (18)  |  Kit (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Lock (14)  |  Love (328)  |  Major (88)  |  Meccano (5)  |  Most (1728)  |  Need (320)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Nut (7)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Party (19)  |  Person (366)  |  Play (116)  |  Plaything (3)  |  Real (159)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Screwdriver (2)  |  Seduction (3)  |  Sensitive (15)  |  Set (400)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Skill (116)  |  Spanner (2)  |  Strip (7)  |  Tap (10)  |  Teach (299)  |  Technical (53)  |  Thread (36)  |  Tight (4)  |  Touch (146)  |  Toy (22)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Turn (454)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Young (253)

I have come to the conclusion that the exertion, without which a knowledge of mathematics cannot be acquired, is not materially increased by logical rigor in the method of instruction.
In Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker Vereinigung (1898), 143.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Exertion (17)  |  Increase (225)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Rigor (29)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)

If I had been taught from my youth all the truths of which I have since sought out demonstrations, and had thus learned them without labour, I should never, perhaps, have known any beyond these; at least, I should never have acquired the habit and the facility which I think I possess in always discovering new truths in proportion as I give myself to the search.
In Discours de la Méthode (1637). In English from John Veitch (trans.), A Discourse on Method (1912), 57.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Discover (571)  |  Facility (14)  |  Habit (174)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Labor (200)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Myself (211)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Possess (157)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Search (175)  |  Seek (218)  |  Teach (299)  |  Think (1122)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Youth (109)

If logical training is to consist, not in repeating barbarous scholastic formulas or mechanically tacking together empty majors and minors, but in acquiring dexterity in the use of trustworthy methods of advancing from the known to the unknown, then mathematical investigation must ever remain one of its most indispensable instruments. Once inured to the habit of accurately imagining abstract relations, recognizing the true value of symbolic conceptions, and familiarized with a fixed standard of proof, the mind is equipped for the consideration of quite other objects than lines and angles. The twin treatises of Adam Smith on social science, wherein, by deducing all human phenomena first from the unchecked action of selfishness and then from the unchecked action of sympathy, he arrives at mutually-limiting conclusions of transcendent practical importance, furnish for all time a brilliant illustration of the value of mathematical methods and mathematical discipline.
In 'University Reform', Darwinism and Other Essays (1893), 297-298.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Action (342)  |  Advance (298)  |  Angle (25)  |  Arrive (40)  |  Barbarous (4)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Conception (160)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Deduce (27)  |  Dexterity (8)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Empty (82)  |  Equip (6)  |  Familiarize (5)  |  Fix (34)  |  Forever (111)  |  Formula (102)  |  Habit (174)  |  Human (1512)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Known (453)  |  Limit (294)  |  Line (100)  |  Logic (311)  |  Major (88)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics And Logic (27)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minor (12)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Practical (225)  |  Proof (304)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Relation (166)  |  Repeat (44)  |  Scholastic (2)  |  Selfishness (9)  |  Adam Smith (8)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Standard (64)  |  Symbolic (16)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Training (92)  |  Transcendent (3)  |  Treatise (46)  |  True (239)  |  Trustworthy (14)  |  Twin (16)  |  Unchecked (4)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Value (393)

It is exceptional that one should be able to acquire the understanding of a process without having previously acquired a deep familiarity with running it, with using it, before one has assimilated it in an instinctive and empirical way. Thus any discussion of the nature of intellectual effort in any field is difficult, unless it presupposes an easy, routine familiarity with that field. In mathematics this limitation becomes very severe.
In 'The Mathematician', Works of the Mind (1947), 1, No. 1. Collected in James Roy Newman (ed.), The World of Mathematics (1956), Vol. 4, 2053.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Assimilate (9)  |  Become (821)  |  Deep (241)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Easy (213)  |  Effort (243)  |  Empirical (58)  |  Exceptional (19)  |  Familiarity (21)  |  Field (378)  |  Instinctive (5)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Presuppose (15)  |  Previously (12)  |  Process (439)  |  Routine (26)  |  Running (61)  |  Severe (17)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Way (1214)

It is not enough to teach man a specialty. Through it he may become a kind of useful machine, but not a harmoniously developed personality. It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he—with his specialized knowledge—more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person.
From interview with Benjamin Fine, 'Einstein Stresses Critical Thinking', New York Times (5 Oct 1952), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Become (821)  |  Develop (278)  |  Developed (11)  |  Dog (70)  |  Enough (341)  |  Essential (210)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Good (906)  |  Harmonious (18)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lively (17)  |  Machine (271)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  Person (366)  |  Personality (66)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Sense (785)  |  Specialized (9)  |  Specialty (13)  |  Student (317)  |  Teach (299)  |  Through (846)  |  Train (118)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Useful (260)  |  Value (393)  |  Vivid (25)

It is primarily through the growth of science and technology that man has acquired those attributes which distinguish him from the animals, which have indeed made it possible for him to become human.
In The Human Meaning of Science (1940), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Animal (651)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Become (821)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Growth (200)  |  Human (1512)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Man (2252)  |  Possible (560)  |  Primarily (12)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  Technology (281)  |  Through (846)

It is the function of notions in science to be useful, to be interesting, to be verifiable and to acquire value from anyone of these qualities. Scientific notions have little to gain as science from being forced into relation with that formidable abstraction, “general truth.”
In paper delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons of England (15 Feb 1932), in 'The Commemoration of Great Men', British Medical Journal (1932), 1, 32. Collected in The Collected Papers of Wilfred Trotter, FRS (1941), 29.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Anyone (38)  |  Being (1276)  |  Forced (3)  |  Formidable (8)  |  Function (235)  |  Gain (146)  |  General (521)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Little (717)  |  Notion (120)  |  Quality (139)  |  Relation (166)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Useful (260)  |  Value (393)  |  Verifiable (6)

It is, so to speak, a scientific tact, which must guide mathematicians in their investigations, and guard them from spending their forces on scientifically worthless problems and abstruse realms, a tact which is closely related to esthetic tact and which is the only thing in our science which cannot be taught or acquired, and is yet the indispensable endowment of every mathematician.
In Die Entwickelung der Mathematik in den letzten Jahrhunderten (1869), 28. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 92. From the original German, “Es ist, so zu sagen, ein wissenschaftlicher Tact, welcher die Mathematiker bei ihren Untersuchungen leiten, und sie davor bewahren muss, ihre Kräfte auf wissenschaftlich werthlose Probleme und abstruse Gebiete zu wenden, ein Tact, der dem ästhetischen nahe verwandt, das einzige ist, was in unserer Wissenschaft nicht gelehrt und gelernt werden kann, aber eine unentbehrliche Mitgift eines Mathematikers sein sollte.”
Science quotes on:  |  Abstruse (12)  |  Acquired (77)  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  Closely (12)  |  Endowment (16)  |  Force (497)  |  Guard (19)  |  Guide (107)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Must (1525)  |  Problem (731)  |  Realm (87)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Speak (240)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spending (24)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Tact (8)  |  Teach (299)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Worthless (22)

It was his [Leibnitz’s] love of method and order, and the conviction that such order and harmony existed in the real world, and that our success in understanding it depended upon the degree and order which we could attain in our own thoughts, that originally was probably nothing more than a habit which by degrees grew into a formal rule. This habit was acquired by early occupation with legal and mathematical questions. We have seen how the theory of combinations and arrangements of elements had a special interest for him. We also saw how mathematical calculations served him as a type and model of clear and orderly reasoning, and how he tried to introduce method and system into logical discussions, by reducing to a small number of terms the multitude of compound notions he had to deal with. This tendency increased in strength, and even in those early years he elaborated the idea of a general arithmetic, with a universal language of symbols, or a characteristic which would be applicable to all reasoning processes, and reduce philosophical investigations to that simplicity and certainty which the use of algebraic symbols had introduced into mathematics.
A mental attitude such as this is always highly favorable for mathematical as well as for philosophical investigations. Wherever progress depends upon precision and clearness of thought, and wherever such can be gained by reducing a variety of investigations to a general method, by bringing a multitude of notions under a common term or symbol, it proves inestimable. It necessarily imports the special qualities of number—viz., their continuity, infinity and infinite divisibility—like mathematical quantities—and destroys the notion that irreconcilable contrasts exist in nature, or gaps which cannot be bridged over. Thus, in his letter to Arnaud, Leibnitz expresses it as his opinion that geometry, or the philosophy of space, forms a step to the philosophy of motion—i.e., of corporeal things—and the philosophy of motion a step to the philosophy of mind.
In Leibnitz (1884), 44-45. [The first sentence is reworded to better introduce the quotation. —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Algebraic (5)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Bridge (49)  |  Bring (95)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Clear (111)  |  Clearness (11)  |  Combination (150)  |  Common (447)  |  Compound (117)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Corporeal (5)  |  Deal (192)  |  Degree (277)  |  Depend (238)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Early (196)  |  Elaborate (31)  |  Elaborated (7)  |  Element (322)  |  Exist (458)  |  Express (192)  |  Favorable (24)  |  Form (976)  |  Formal (37)  |  Gain (146)  |  Gap (36)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Grow (247)  |  Habit (174)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Highly (16)  |  Idea (881)  |  Import (5)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inestimable (4)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Interest (416)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Language (308)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Legal (9)  |  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (51)  |  Letter (117)  |  Logical (57)  |  Love (328)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mental (179)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Original (61)  |  Philosophical (24)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Precision (72)  |  Probable (24)  |  Process (439)  |  Progress (492)  |  Prove (261)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Quality (139)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Question (649)  |  Quotation (19)  |  Real World (15)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Rule (307)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Sentence (35)  |  Serve (64)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Special (188)  |  Special Interest (2)  |  Step (234)  |  Strength (139)  |  Success (327)  |  Symbol (100)  |  System (545)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Try (296)  |  Type (171)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universal (198)  |  Use (771)  |  Variety (138)  |  Wherever (51)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Age (509)  |  Arrest (9)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Evil (122)  |  Food (213)  |  Lack (127)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Nourishment (26)  |  Old (499)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Youth (109)

Lord Kelvin had, in a manner hardly and perhaps never equalled before, except by Archimedes, the power of theorizing on the darkest, most obscure, and most intimate secrets of Nature, and at the same time, and almost in the same breath, carrying out effectively and practically some engineering feat, or carrying to a successful issue some engineering invention. He was one of the leaders in the movement which has compelled all modern engineers worthy of the name to be themselves men not merely of practice, but of theory, to carry out engineering undertakings in the spirit of true scientific inquiry and with an eye fixed on the rapidly growing knowledge of the mechanics of Nature, which can only be acquired by the patient work of physicists and mathematicians in their laboratories and studies.
In Speech (May 1921) to the Institute of Civil Engineers, to award the newly created Kelvin Medal. As quoted in Sarah Knowles Bolton, 'Lord Kelvin', Famous Men of Science (1889, Revised Ed. 1926), 316-317.
Science quotes on:  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Compel (31)  |  Dark (145)  |  Effective (68)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feat (11)  |  Fix (34)  |  Growth (200)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Intimate (21)  |  Invention (400)  |  Issue (46)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Leader (51)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mere (86)  |  Modern (402)  |  Movement (162)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Patient (209)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Power (771)  |  Practical (225)  |  Practice (212)  |  Rapid (37)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Secret (216)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Study (701)  |  Success (327)  |  Theorize (2)  |  Theory (1015)  |  True (239)  |  Undertaking (17)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worthy (35)

Mathematics has often been characterized as the most conservative of all sciences. This is true in the sense of the immediate dependence of new upon old results. All the marvellous new advancements presuppose the old as indispensable steps in the ladder. … Inaccessibility of special fields of mathematics, except by the regular way of logically antecedent acquirements, renders the study discouraging or hateful to weak or indolent minds.
In Number and its Algebra (1896), 136.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Antecedent (5)  |  Conservative (16)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Discourage (14)  |  Field (378)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Inaccessible (18)  |  Indolent (2)  |  Ladder (18)  |  Logic (311)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Presuppose (15)  |  Regular (48)  |  Render (96)  |  Result (700)  |  Sense (785)  |  Special (188)  |  Step (234)  |  Study (701)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weak (73)

Progress in every country depends mainly on the education of its people. Without education, we are a nation of children. The difference between one man and another, apart from birth and social position, consists in the extent of knowledge, general and practical, acquired by him. We may safely assume that man in all countries within certain limits start with the same degree of intelligence. A civilised nation is distinguished from an uncivilised one by the extent of its acquired intelligence and skill.
Epigraph for the chapter by R.K. Murfi, 'Visvesvaraya', collected in Remembering Our Leaders: Volume 2 (1989), 46. Partly quoted in V.S. Narayana Rao, Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya: His Life and Work (1973), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Child (333)  |  Civilised (4)  |  Country (269)  |  Difference (355)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Education (423)  |  General (521)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Nation (208)  |  Position (83)  |  Practical (225)  |  Progress (492)  |  Skill (116)  |  Social (261)  |  Uncivilised (2)

Science can be interpreted effectively only for those who have more than the usual intelligence and innate curiosity. These will work hard if given the chance and if they find they acquire something by so doing.
(1940). Epigraph, without citation, in I. Bernard Cohen, Science, Servant of Man: A Layman's Primer for the Age of Science (1948), xi. Also seen epigraph, without citation in Science Digest (1950), 28, 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Chance (244)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Doing (277)  |  Effective (68)  |  Find (1014)  |  Hard (246)  |  Innate (14)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Interpret (25)  |  More (2558)  |  Something (718)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Work Hard (14)

Science which is acquired unwillingly, soon disappears; that which is instilled into the mind in a pleasant and agreeable manner, is more lasting.
Saint Basil (Bishop of Caesarea) ('The Great')
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Agreeable (20)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Instil (3)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Pleasant (22)  |  Soon (187)  |  Unwillingly (2)

Suppose then I want to give myself a little training in the art of reasoning; suppose I want to get out of the region of conjecture and probability, free myself from the difficult task of weighing evidence, and putting instances together to arrive at general propositions, and simply desire to know how to deal with my general propositions when I get them, and how to deduce right inferences from them; it is clear that I shall obtain this sort of discipline best in those departments of thought in which the first principles are unquestionably true. For in all our thinking, if we come to erroneous conclusions, we come to them either by accepting false premises to start with—in which case our reasoning, however good, will not save us from error; or by reasoning badly, in which case the data we start from may be perfectly sound, and yet our conclusions may be false. But in the mathematical or pure sciences,—geometry, arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, the calculus of variations or of curves,— we know at least that there is not, and cannot be, error in our first principles, and we may therefore fasten our whole attention upon the processes. As mere exercises in logic, therefore, these sciences, based as they all are on primary truths relating to space and number, have always been supposed to furnish the most exact discipline. When Plato wrote over the portal of his school. “Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here,” he did not mean that questions relating to lines and surfaces would be discussed by his disciples. On the contrary, the topics to which he directed their attention were some of the deepest problems,— social, political, moral,—on which the mind could exercise itself. Plato and his followers tried to think out together conclusions respecting the being, the duty, and the destiny of man, and the relation in which he stood to the gods and to the unseen world. What had geometry to do with these things? Simply this: That a man whose mind has not undergone a rigorous training in systematic thinking, and in the art of drawing legitimate inferences from premises, was unfitted to enter on the discussion of these high topics; and that the sort of logical discipline which he needed was most likely to be obtained from geometry—the only mathematical science which in Plato’s time had been formulated and reduced to a system. And we in this country [England] have long acted on the same principle. Our future lawyers, clergy, and statesmen are expected at the University to learn a good deal about curves, and angles, and numbers and proportions; not because these subjects have the smallest relation to the needs of their lives, but because in the very act of learning them they are likely to acquire that habit of steadfast and accurate thinking, which is indispensable to success in all the pursuits of life.
In Lectures on Teaching (1906), 891-92.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Accepting (22)  |  Accurate (88)  |  Act (278)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Angle (25)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Arrive (40)  |  Art (680)  |  Attention (196)  |  Badly (32)  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Case (102)  |  Clear (111)  |  Clergy (4)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Country (269)  |  Curve (49)  |  Data (162)  |  Deal (192)  |  Deduce (27)  |  Deep (241)  |  Department (93)  |  Desire (212)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direct (228)  |  Disciple (8)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Discuss (26)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Do (1905)  |  Draw (140)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Duty (71)  |  England (43)  |  Enter (145)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Error (339)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Exact (75)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Expect (203)  |  False (105)  |  First (1302)  |  Follower (11)  |  Formulate (16)  |  Free (239)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Future (467)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Give (208)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Habit (174)  |  High (370)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Inference (45)  |  Instance (33)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lawyer (27)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Least (75)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  Let (64)  |  Life (1870)  |  Likely (36)  |  Line (100)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Logic (311)  |  Logical (57)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mere (86)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  Most (1728)  |  Myself (211)  |  Need (320)  |  Number (710)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Perfectly (10)  |  Plato (80)  |  Political (124)  |  Portal (9)  |  Premise (40)  |  Primary (82)  |  Principle (530)  |  Probability (135)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Region (40)  |  Relate (26)  |  Relation (166)  |  Respect (212)  |  Right (473)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Same (166)  |  Save (126)  |  School (227)  |  Simply (53)  |  Small (489)  |  Social (261)  |  Sort (50)  |  Sound (187)  |  Space (523)  |  Stand (284)  |  Start (237)  |  Statesman (20)  |  Steadfast (4)  |  Subject (543)  |  Success (327)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Surface (223)  |  System (545)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Task (152)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Topic (23)  |  Training (92)  |  Trigonometry (7)  |  True (239)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Try (296)  |  Undergo (18)  |  Unfitted (3)  |  University (130)  |  Unquestionably (3)  |  Unseen (23)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Variation (93)  |  Want (504)  |  Weigh (51)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Write (250)

The arithmetization of mathematics … which began with Weierstrass … had for its object the separation of purely mathematical concepts, such as number and correspondence and aggregate, from intuitional ideas, which mathematics had acquired from long association with geometry and mechanics. These latter, in the opinion of the formalists, are so firmly entrenched in mathematical thought that in spite of the most careful circumspection in the choice of words, the meaning concealed behind these words, may influence our reasoning. For the trouble with human words is that they possess content, whereas the purpose of mathematics is to construct pure thought. But how can we avoid the use of human language? The … symbol. Only by using a symbolic language not yet usurped by those vague ideas of space, time, continuity which have their origin in intuition and tend to obscure pure reason—only thus may we hope to build mathematics on the solid foundation of logic.
In Tobias Dantzig and Joseph Mazur (ed.), Number: The Language of Science (1930, ed. by Joseph Mazur 2007), 99.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Association (49)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Begin (275)  |  Behind (139)  |  Build (211)  |  Careful (28)  |  Choice (114)  |  Circumspection (5)  |  Conceal (19)  |  Concealed (25)  |  Concept (242)  |  Construct (129)  |  Content (75)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Entrench (2)  |  Firmly (6)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Language (308)  |  Latter (21)  |  Logic (311)  |  Long (778)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Object (438)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Origin (250)  |  Possess (157)  |  Pure (299)  |  Purely (111)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Separation (60)  |  Solid (119)  |  Space (523)  |  Spite (55)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Tend (124)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Use (771)  |  Vague (50)  |   Karl Weierstrass, (10)  |  Word (650)

The ability to imagine relations is one of the most indispensable conditions of all precise thinking. No subject can be named, in the investigation of which it is not imperatively needed; but it can be nowhere else so thoroughly acquired as in the study of mathematics.
In Darwinism and other Essays (1893), 296.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Acquired (77)  |  Condition (362)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Imperative (16)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Need (320)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Precise (71)  |  Relation (166)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thoroughly (67)

The acquired [space exploration] technology has immediately been aimed at practical and profitable applications: worldwide communications, global positioning systems for ships and aircraft, and remote sensing to better know our planet and monitor its resources and to trace migrations of whales, fish, and birds. Unfortunately, it is now almost monopolized by the military.
Written for 'Foreword' to Kevin W. Kelley (ed.), The Home Planet (1988), paragraph 5 (unpaginated).
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Aircraft (9)  |  Application (257)  |  Bird (163)  |  Communication (101)  |  Fish (130)  |  Global Positioning System (2)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Migration (12)  |  Military (45)  |  Monitor (10)  |  Monopolize (2)  |  Planet (402)  |  Practical (225)  |  Profitable (29)  |  Resource (74)  |  Ship (69)  |  Space Exploration (15)  |  Technology (281)  |  Trace (109)  |  Unfortunately (40)  |  Whale (45)  |  Worldwide (19)

The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature.
In The Descent of Man (1874), Part 1, Chap 5, 136.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Aid (101)  |  Check (26)  |  Deterioration (10)  |  Diffuse (5)  |  Feel (371)  |  Give (208)  |  Hard (246)  |  Helpless (14)  |  Impel (5)  |  Incidental (15)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Mainly (10)  |  Manner (62)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Noble (93)  |  Originally (7)  |  Part (235)  |  Previously (12)  |  Reason (766)  |  Render (96)  |  Result (700)  |  Social (261)  |  Subsequently (2)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Tender (6)  |  Urge (17)  |  Widely (9)

The attitude of the intellectual community toward America is shaped not by the creative few but by the many who for one reason or another cannot transmute their dissatisfaction into a creative impulse, and cannot acquire a sense of uniqueness and of growth by developing and expressing their capacities and talents. There is nothing in contemporary America that can cure or alleviate their chronic frustration. They want power, lordship, and opportunities for imposing action. Even if we should banish poverty from the land, lift up the Negro to true equality, withdraw from Vietnam, and give half of the national income as foreign aid, they will still see America as an air-conditioned nightmare unfit for them to live in.
In 'Some Thoughts on the Present', The Temper of Our Time (1967), 107.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Aid (101)  |  Air (366)  |  Alleviate (4)  |  America (143)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Banish (11)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Chronic (5)  |  Community (111)  |  Condition (362)  |  Contemporary (33)  |  Creative (144)  |  Cure (124)  |  Develop (278)  |  Dissatisfaction (13)  |  Equality (34)  |  Express (192)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Frustration (14)  |  Give (208)  |  Growth (200)  |  Half (63)  |  Impose (22)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Income (18)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Land (131)  |  Lift (57)  |  Live (650)  |  National (29)  |  Negro (8)  |  Nightmare (4)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Poverty (40)  |  Power (771)  |  Reason (766)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shape (77)  |  Still (614)  |  Talent (99)  |  Toward (45)  |  Transmute (6)  |  True (239)  |  Unfit (13)  |  Uniqueness (11)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)  |  Withdraw (11)

The concept of number is the obvious distinction between the beast and man. Thanks to number, the cry becomes a song, noise acquires rhythm, the spring is transformed into a dance, force becomes dynamic, and outlines figures.
Epigraph, without citation, in Corrective and Social Psychiatry and Journal of Behavior Technology Methods and Therapy (1966), Vol. 12, 409.
Science quotes on:  |  Beast (58)  |  Become (821)  |  Concept (242)  |  Cry (30)  |  Dance (35)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Dynamic (16)  |  Figure (162)  |  Force (497)  |  Man (2252)  |  Noise (40)  |  Number (710)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Outline (13)  |  Rhythm (21)  |  Song (41)  |  Spring (140)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thanks (26)  |  Transform (74)

The fact is that up to now the free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing, instructing, and planning-from minding other people’s business-and is bound to feel superfluous and neglected where people believe themselves competent to manage individual and communal affairs, and are impatient of supervision and regulation. A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual’s sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman’s sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.
In 'Concerning Individual Freedom', The Ordeal of Change (1963), 141.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  Affair (29)  |  Anathema (2)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bind (26)  |  Bound (120)  |  Business (156)  |  Communal (7)  |  Competent (20)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Derive (70)  |  Direct (228)  |  Easy (213)  |  Economy (59)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feel (371)  |  Free (239)  |  Function (235)  |  Good (906)  |  Impatient (4)  |  Individual (420)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Leadership (13)  |  Mainly (10)  |  Manage (26)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minimum (13)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Neglected (23)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Planning (21)  |  Regulation (25)  |  Sense (785)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Order (8)  |  Society (350)  |  Status (35)  |  Superfluous (21)  |  Superior (88)  |  Supervision (4)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Threat (36)  |  Unquestioned (7)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Will (2350)  |  Workingman (2)  |  Worth (172)

The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it so as to become habits ready on all occasions.
In The Morals of Chess. As quoted in The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle (1787), 590.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Amusement (37)  |  Become (821)  |  Chess (27)  |  Course (413)  |  Game (104)  |  Habit (174)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Idle (34)  |  Life (1870)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Ready (43)  |  Strengthen (25)  |  Useful (260)  |  Value (393)

The pragmatist knows that doubt is an art which has to be acquired with difficulty.
In Charles S. Peirce, ‎Charles Hartshorne (ed.), ‎Paul Weiss (ed.), Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (1931), Vol. 6, 498. Also published in combined volumes 5 & 6 (1974), 343.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Art (680)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Know (1538)  |  Pragmatist (2)

The primitive history of the species is all the more fully retained in its germ-history in proportion as the series of embryonic forms traversed is longer; and it is more accurately retained the less the mode of life of the recent forms differs from that of the earlier, and the less the peculiarities of the several embryonic states must be regarded as transferred from a later to an earlier period of life, or as acquired independently. (1864)
As translated and quoted in Ernst Haeckel and E. Ray Lankester (trans.) as epigraph for Chap. 13, The History of Creation (1886), Vol. 1, 406.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Differ (88)  |  Difference (355)  |  Earlier (9)  |  Embryonic (6)  |  Form (976)  |  Germ (54)  |  History (716)  |  Independently (24)  |  Later (18)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Peculiarity (26)  |  Period (200)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Recent (78)  |  Regard (312)  |  Retain (57)  |  Series (153)  |  Species (435)  |  State (505)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Traverse (5)

There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth: the first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors—this is robbery; the second by commerce, which is generally cheating; the third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground, in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.
In 'Positions to be Examined', The Works of Benjamin Franklin Consisting of Essays, Humorous, Moral and Literary (1824), 241.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Cheat (13)  |  Cheating (2)  |  Commerce (23)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Continual (44)  |  Favor (69)  |  First (1302)  |  God (776)  |  Ground (222)  |  Honest (53)  |  Increase (225)  |  Industry (159)  |  Innocent (13)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Nation (208)  |  Plunder (6)  |  Real (159)  |  Receive (117)  |  Reward (72)  |  Robbery (6)  |  Roman (39)  |  Seed (97)  |  Throw (45)  |  Virtuous (9)  |  War (233)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wealth (100)

This science, Geometry, is one of indispensable use and constant reference, for every student of the laws of nature; for the relations of space and number are the alphabet in which those laws are written. But besides the interest and importance of this kind which geometry possesses, it has a great and peculiar value for all who wish to understand the foundations of human knowledge, and the methods by which it is acquired. For the student of geometry acquires, with a degree of insight and clearness which the unmathematical reader can but feebly imagine, a conviction that there are necessary truths, many of them of a very complex and striking character; and that a few of the most simple and self-evident truths which it is possible for the mind of man to apprehend, may, by systematic deduction, lead to the most remote and unexpected results.
In The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences Part 1, Bk. 2, chap. 4, sect. 8 (1868).
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Alphabet (14)  |  Apprehend (5)  |  Character (259)  |  Clearness (11)  |  Complex (202)  |  Constant (148)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Degree (277)  |  Evident (92)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Insight (107)  |  Interest (416)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Man (2252)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mind Of Man (7)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Number (710)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Possess (157)  |  Possible (560)  |  Reader (42)  |  Reference (33)  |  Relation (166)  |  Remote (86)  |  Result (700)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Evident (22)  |  Simple (426)  |  Space (523)  |  Strike (72)  |  Striking (48)  |  Student (317)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Wish (216)  |  Write (250)

Those who intend to practise Midwifery, ought first of all to make themselves masters of anatomy, and acquire a competent knowledge in surgery and physic; because of their connections with the obstetric art, if not always, at least in many cases. He ought to take the best opportunities he can find of being well instructed; and of practising under a master, before he attempts to deliver by himself. ... He should also embrace every occasion of being present at real labours, ... he will assist the poor as well as the rich, behaving always with charity and compassion.
In A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery (1766), 440-441.
Science quotes on:  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Art (680)  |  Assist (9)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Behave (18)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Charity (13)  |  Compassion (12)  |  Competent (20)  |  Connection (171)  |  Deliver (30)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Himself (461)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Intend (18)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Labor (200)  |  Master (182)  |  Obstetrics (3)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Physic (515)  |  Poor (139)  |  Practise (7)  |  Practising (2)  |  Present (630)  |  Rich (66)  |  Surgery (54)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Will (2350)

To apply tools of science, physicians must learn to think like scientists. They must acquire technical ability, taste in evaluating experiments, and a sense of creative adventure.
In Banquet Speech, 'The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1985', on website nobelprize.org. Published in Les Prix Nobel, 1985: Nobel Prizes, Presentations, Biographies and Lectures (1986).
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Adventure (69)  |  Apply (170)  |  Creative (144)  |  Evaluate (7)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Learn (672)  |  Physician (284)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Taste (93)  |  Technical (53)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tool (129)

To make up for all I have forgotten, there is this that I have acquired, and I call it sophistication since it is not quite the same thing as learning. It is the flexible armour of doubt in an age when too many people are certain.
In To You Mr. Chips (1938), in Goodbye, Mr. Chips; and, To You, Mr. Chips (1995), 119-120.
Science quotes on:  |  Armor (5)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Education (423)  |  Forget (125)  |  Learning (291)  |  Sophistication (12)

We cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt, and that this is the first knowledge we acquire when we philosophize in order. … The knowledge, I think, therefore I am, is the first and most certain that occurs to one who philosophizes orderly.
From the original Latin: “Non posse à nobis dubitari, quin existamus dum dubitamus; atque quod ordine philosophando cognoscimus. … Ac proinde hæc cognitio, ego cognito, ergo sum, est omnium | prima & certissima, quæ cuilibet ordine philosophanti occurant,” in Principia Philosophiæ (1644), Pars Prima, as collected in Charles Adam and Paul Tannery, Œuvres de Descartes (1905), Vol. 8, Proposition VII, 6-7. English version as given in John Veitch (trans.), The Method, Meditations, and Selections from the Principles of Descartes (1880), 195.
Science quotes on:  |  Certain (557)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Existence (481)  |  First (1302)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  Occur (151)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Think (1122)

We find that light acquires properties which are relative only to the sides of the ray,–which are the same for the north and south sides of the ray, (using the points of the compass for description’s sake only) and which are different when we go from the north and south to the east or to the west sides of the ray. I shall give the name of poles to these sides of the ray, and shall call polarization the modification which gives to light these properties relative to these poles.
(1811). As quoted in William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840), 336.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Compass (37)  |  Different (595)  |  Find (1014)  |  Light (635)  |  Modification (57)  |  Name (359)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Point (584)  |  Polarization (4)  |  Pole (49)  |  Property (177)  |  Ray (115)  |  Relative (42)  |  Sake (61)  |  Side (236)  |  South (39)

While natural selection drives Darwinian evolution, the growth of human culture is largely Lamarckian: new generations of humans inherit the acquired discoveries of generations past, enabling cosmic insight to grow slowly, but without limit.
In magazine article, 'The Beginning of Science', Natural History (Mar 2001). Collected in Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2007), 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Culture (157)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Enable (122)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Generation (256)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Culture (10)  |  Inherit (35)  |  Insight (107)  |  Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (24)  |  Limit (294)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  New (1273)  |  Past (355)  |  Selection (130)  |  Slow (108)

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Lifelong (10)  |  Product (166)  |  School (227)  |  Wisdom (235)

You may perceive something of the distinction which I think necessary to keep in view between art and science, between the artist and the man of knowledge, or the philosopher. The man of knowledge, the philosopher, is he who studies and acquires knowledge in order to improve his own mind; and with a desire of extending the department of knowledge to which he turns his attention, or to render it useful to the world, by discoveries, or by inventions, which may be the foundation of new arts, or of improvements in those already established. Excited by one or more of these motives, the philosopher employs himself in acquiring knowledge and in communicating it. The artist only executes and practises what the philosopher or man of invention has discovered or contrived, while the business of the trader is to retail the productions of the artist, exchange some of them for others, and transport them to distant places for that purpose.
From the first of a series of lectures on chemistry, collected in John Robison (ed.), Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry: Delivered in the University of Edinburgh (1807), Vol. 1, 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Attention (196)  |  Business (156)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Contrive (10)  |  Definition (238)  |  Department (93)  |  Desire (212)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distant (33)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Employ (115)  |  Establish (63)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Excite (17)  |  Execute (7)  |  Extend (129)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Himself (461)  |  Improve (64)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Motive (62)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Place (192)  |  Practise (7)  |  Production (190)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Render (96)  |  Retail (2)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Something (718)  |  Study (701)  |  Think (1122)  |  Transport (31)  |  Turn (454)  |  Useful (260)  |  View (496)  |  World (1850)


Carl Sagan Thumbnail In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
Quotations by:Albert EinsteinIsaac NewtonLord KelvinCharles DarwinSrinivasa RamanujanCarl SaganFlorence NightingaleThomas EdisonAristotleMarie CurieBenjamin FranklinWinston ChurchillGalileo GalileiSigmund FreudRobert BunsenLouis PasteurTheodore RooseveltAbraham LincolnRonald ReaganLeonardo DaVinciMichio KakuKarl PopperJohann GoetheRobert OppenheimerCharles Kettering  ... (more people)

Quotations about:Atomic  BombBiologyChemistryDeforestationEngineeringAnatomyAstronomyBacteriaBiochemistryBotanyConservationDinosaurEnvironmentFractalGeneticsGeologyHistory of ScienceInventionJupiterKnowledgeLoveMathematicsMeasurementMedicineNatural ResourceOrganic ChemistryPhysicsPhysicianQuantum TheoryResearchScience and ArtTeacherTechnologyUniverseVolcanoVirusWind PowerWomen ScientistsX-RaysYouthZoology  ... (more topics)
Sitewide search within all Today In Science History pages:
Visit our Science and Scientist Quotations index for more Science Quotes from archaeologists, biologists, chemists, geologists, inventors and inventions, mathematicians, physicists, pioneers in medicine, science events and technology.

Names index: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Categories index: | 1 | 2 | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Thank you for sharing.
- 100 -
Sophie Germain
Gertrude Elion
Ernest Rutherford
James Chadwick
Marcel Proust
William Harvey
Johann Goethe
John Keynes
Carl Gauss
Paul Feyerabend
- 90 -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lise Meitner
Charles Babbage
Ibn Khaldun
Euclid
Ralph Emerson
Robert Bunsen
Frederick Banting
Andre Ampere
Winston Churchill
- 80 -
John Locke
Bronislaw Malinowski
Bible
Thomas Huxley
Alessandro Volta
Erwin Schrodinger
Wilhelm Roentgen
Louis Pasteur
Bertrand Russell
Jean Lamarck
- 70 -
Samuel Morse
John Wheeler
Nicolaus Copernicus
Robert Fulton
Pierre Laplace
Humphry Davy
Thomas Edison
Lord Kelvin
Theodore Roosevelt
Carolus Linnaeus
- 60 -
Francis Galton
Linus Pauling
Immanuel Kant
Martin Fischer
Robert Boyle
Karl Popper
Paul Dirac
Avicenna
James Watson
William Shakespeare
- 50 -
Stephen Hawking
Niels Bohr
Nikola Tesla
Rachel Carson
Max Planck
Henry Adams
Richard Dawkins
Werner Heisenberg
Alfred Wegener
John Dalton
- 40 -
Pierre Fermat
Edward Wilson
Johannes Kepler
Gustave Eiffel
Giordano Bruno
JJ Thomson
Thomas Kuhn
Leonardo DaVinci
Archimedes
David Hume
- 30 -
Andreas Vesalius
Rudolf Virchow
Richard Feynman
James Hutton
Alexander Fleming
Emile Durkheim
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Oppenheimer
Robert Hooke
Charles Kettering
- 20 -
Carl Sagan
James Maxwell
Marie Curie
Rene Descartes
Francis Crick
Hippocrates
Michael Faraday
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Francis Bacon
Galileo Galilei
- 10 -
Aristotle
John Watson
Rosalind Franklin
Michio Kaku
Isaac Asimov
Charles Darwin
Sigmund Freud
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Isaac Newton


by Ian Ellis
who invites your feedback
Thank you for sharing.
Today in Science History
Sign up for Newsletter
with quiz, quotes and more.