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: “Genius is two percent inspiration, ninety-eight percent perspiration.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index F > Category: Fun

Fun Quotes (42 quotes)

-------------- are like snowmen, fun at first, but not much future.
Anonymous
In Jon Fripp, Michael Fripp and Deborah Fripp, Speaking of Science (2000), 211.
Science quotes on:  |  First (1302)  |  Future (467)  |  Like (23)  |  Snowman (2)

[Boundless curiosity.] That’s what being alive is about. I mean, it’s the fun of it all, making sense of it, understanding it. There’s a great pleasure in knowing why trees shed their leaves in winter. Everybody knows they do, but why? If you lose that, then you’ve lost pleasure.
From interview with Sophie Elmhirst, 'I Think the BBC Has Strayed From the Straight and Narrow', New Statesman (10 Jan 2011), 140, No. 5035, 32.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Being (1276)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Do (1905)  |  Everybody (72)  |  Great (1610)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Lose (165)  |  Making (300)  |  Mean (810)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shed (6)  |  Tree (269)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Why (491)  |  Winter (46)

[On research] It’s got to be fun. I don't think anybody should tell you that he’s slogged his way through 25 years on a problem and there's only one reward at the end, and that's the value of the Hubble constant. That’s a bunch of hooey. The reward is learning all the wonderful properties of the things that don’t work.
As quoted in Obituary, 'Allan Sandage, 84, Astronomer, Dies; Charted Cosmos’s Age and Expansion', New York Times (17 Nov 2010), B19.
Science quotes on:  |  Anybody (42)  |  Constant (148)  |  End (603)  |  Hubble Constant (2)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Problem (731)  |  Property (177)  |  Research (753)  |  Reward (72)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Value (393)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

Alvarez seemed to care less about the way the picture in the puzzle would look, when everything fit together, than about the fun of looking for pieces that fit. He loved nothing more than doing something that everybody else thought impossible. His designs were clever, and usually exploited some little-known principle that everyone else had forgotten.
As quoted in Walter Sullivan, 'Luis W. Alvarez, Nobel Physicist Who Explored Atom, Dies at 77: Obituary', New York Times (2 Sep 1988).
Science quotes on:  |  Luis W. Alvarez (24)  |  Care (203)  |  Clever (41)  |  Design (203)  |  Doing (277)  |  Everybody (72)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exploit (19)  |  Fit (139)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Known (453)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Picture (148)  |  Piece (39)  |  Principle (530)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Something (718)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Usually (176)  |  Way (1214)

Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed,—chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones. Few that fell trees plant them; nor would planting avail much towards getting back anything like the noble primeval forests. During a man’s life only saplings can be grown, in the place of the old trees—tens of centuries old—that have been destroyed.
John Muir
In 'The American Forests', Atlantic Monthly (Aug 1897), Vol. 80, 157.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Backbone (12)  |  Bark (19)  |  Branch (155)  |  Branching (10)  |  Chase (14)  |  Clear-Cut (10)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Dollar (22)  |  Down (455)  |  Environment (239)  |  Fell (2)  |  Fool (121)  |  Forest (161)  |  Hide (70)  |  Horn (18)  |  Hunt (32)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Magnificence (14)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Man (2252)  |  Noble (93)  |  Old (499)  |  Plant (320)  |  Primeval (15)  |  Run (158)  |  Still (614)  |  Tree (269)

As a boy I had liked both drawing and physics, and I always abhorred the role of being a spectator. In 1908, when I was 15, I designed, built and flew a toy model airplane which won the then-famous James Gordon Bennett Cup. By 16 I had discovered that design could be fun and profitable, and this lesson has never been lost on me.
On the official Raymond Loewry website.
Science quotes on:  |  Abhorrence (8)  |  Airplane (43)  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Boy (100)  |  Career (86)  |  Design (203)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Like (23)  |  Model (106)  |  Never (1089)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Profit (56)  |  Profitable (29)  |  Role (86)  |  Spectator (11)  |  Toy (22)  |  Win (53)

ASTRONOMY. Delightful science. Of use only to sailors. In speaking of it, make fun of astrology.
In The Dictionary of Accepted Ideas (1881), trans. Jaques Barzun (1968), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Astrology (46)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Delightful (18)  |  Sailor (21)  |  Science (39)  |  Speak (240)

Chemistry is fun!
In Joseph Hirschfelder, Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, (1983), 3, 1. Stated as “To Hildebrand, Chemistry is Fun!” in Preface to Hildebrand's Viscosity and Diffusivity (1977), v.
Science quotes on:  |  Chemistry (376)

During my pre-college years I went on many trips with my father into the oil fields to visit their operations. … I puttered around the machine, electronics, and automobile shops while he carried on his business. Both of my parents are inveterate do-it-yourselfers, almost no task being beneath their dignity or beyond their ingenuity. Having picked up a keen interest in electronics from my father, I used to fix radios and later television sets for fun and spending money. I built my own hi-fi set and enjoyed helping friends with their amateur radio transmitters, but lost interest as soon as they worked.
Remarks on how his high school interests foreshadowed his career as a radio astronomer. From autobiography in Stig Lundqvist (ed.) Nobel Lectures, Physics 1971-1980 (1992).
Science quotes on:  |  Amateur (22)  |  Automobile (23)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Biography (254)  |  Both (496)  |  Building (158)  |  Business (156)  |  College (71)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Do (1905)  |  Electronics (21)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Father (113)  |  Field (378)  |  Friend (180)  |  Ingenuity (42)  |  Interest (416)  |  Inveterate (3)  |  Machine (271)  |  Money (178)  |  Oil (67)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Parent (80)  |  Radio (60)  |  Set (400)  |  Shop (11)  |  Soon (187)  |  Spending (24)  |  Task (152)  |  Television (33)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

Fun years for me, for a guy who used to like to blow up things. We had lots of explosions, lots of blowups.
Recalling his experience as an engineer at the Propulsion Systems Laboratory. From Interview (1 Sep 2009), for the NASA Glenn History Collection, Oral History Collection, Cleveland, Ohio. As quoted an cited in Robert S. Arrighi, Pursuit of Power: NASA’s Propulsion and Systems Laboratory No. 1 and 2 (2012), 82.
Science quotes on:  |  Blow (45)  |  Blow Up (8)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Lot (151)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Year (963)

Have fun: You only go through life once, but if you play it right once is enough.
In J.S. "Torch" Lewis, 'Lear the Legend', Aviation Week & Space Technology (2 Jul 2001 ), 155 Supplement, No 1, 116
Science quotes on:  |  Enough (341)  |  Life (1870)  |  Play (116)  |  Right (473)  |  Through (846)

I bet it would have been a lot of fun to work with Einstein. What I really respect about Einstein is his desire to throw aside all conventional modes and just concentrate on what seems to be the closest we can get to an accurate theory of nature.
Alan Guth
As quoted by Christina Couch, '10 Questions for Alan Guth, Pioneer of the Inflationary Model of the Universe' (7 Jan 2016) on the website for NPR radio program Science Friday.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Bet (13)  |  Concentrate (28)  |  Conventional (31)  |  Desire (212)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mode (43)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Respect (212)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Throw (45)  |  Work (1402)

I have a sense of humor; but over the years that sense has developed one blind spot. I can no longer laugh at ignorance or stupidity. Those are our chief enemies, and it is dangerous to make fun of them.
Draft (22 May 1970) of speech he hoped to give upon his retirement. In Susan Hough, Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man (2007), 309.
Science quotes on:  |  Blind (98)  |  Blind Spot (2)  |  Chief (99)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Develop (278)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Humor (10)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sense Of Humor (3)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Year (963)

I have been lucky to have had so much fun. It has been an adventure all the way.
In interview with Laurel M. Sheppard, 'An Interview with Mary Ross: First Native American Woman Engineer Aerospace Pioneer Returns to her Native American Roots', on website of Lash Publications.
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  Lucky (13)  |  Way (1214)

I think that the two things that almost any astronaut would describe [as most fun about being in space] are the weightlessness and the view of Earth. Weightlessness is just a lot of fun!
Interview conducted on Scholastic website (20 Nov 1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Astronaut (34)  |  Being (1276)  |  Describe (132)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Lot (151)  |  Most (1728)  |  Space (523)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Two (936)  |  View (496)  |  Weightlessness (2)

I took biology in high school and didn't like it at all. It was focused on memorization. ... I didn't appreciate that biology also had principles and logic ... [rather than dealing with a] messy thing called life. It just wasn't organized, and I wanted to stick with the nice pristine sciences of chemistry and physics, where everything made sense. I wish I had learned sooner that biology could be fun as well.
Interview (23 May 1998), 'Creating the Code to Life', Academy of Achievement web site.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Biology (232)  |  Call (781)  |  Called (9)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Everything (489)  |  Focus (36)  |  High (370)  |  High School (15)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Learning (291)  |  Life (1870)  |  Like (23)  |  Logic (311)  |  Making (300)  |  Memorization (2)  |  Messy (6)  |  Nice (15)  |  Organization (120)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Principle (530)  |  Pristine (5)  |  School (227)  |  Sense (785)  |  Soon (187)  |  Sticking (3)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Want (504)  |  Wish (216)

If offered reincarnation, I would choose the career of a performing musician with exceptional talent, preferably, in a string quartet. One life-time as a scientist is enough–great fun, but enough.
In 'J. Michael Bishop: Biographical', website of nobelprize.org.
Science quotes on:  |  Choose (116)  |  Enough (341)  |  Musician (23)  |  Reincarnation (3)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Talent (99)

Is what you are doing fun? Of course, physics is also fun—indeed it is an enjoyable way of life. One reason physics is fun is that each element of progress transforms an area of ignorance into knowledge, but it also creates, as a by-product, an amount of new and additional ignorance in excess of that which was reduced to understanding. Thus, the volume of delicious ignorance we produce is ever-expanding, like our exponentially exploding universe.
In 'Physics and the APS in 1979', Physics Today (Apr 1980), 33, No. 4, 50.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  By-Product (8)  |  Course (413)  |  Create (245)  |  Doing (277)  |  Element (322)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Excess (23)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  New (1273)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Product (166)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reason (766)  |  Transform (74)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Way Of Life (15)

It’s better to read first rate science fiction than second rate science—it’s a lot more fun, and no more likely to be wrong.
Lecture at Wired 2013 (18 Oct 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  First (1302)  |  Likely (36)  |  Lot (151)  |  More (2558)  |  Read (308)  |  Science Fiction (35)  |  Second-Rate (4)  |  Wrong (246)

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Kind (564)

Knowing how hard it is to collect a fact, you understand why most people want to have some fun analyzing it.
Quoted in Fortune (May 1960), as cited in Maxine Block, Anna Herthe Rothe and Marjorie Dent Candee, Current Biography Yearbook 1963 (1964), 161.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Collection (68)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Hard (246)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  People (1031)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Want (504)  |  Why (491)

Life is hard for insects. And don’t think mice are having any fun either.
Without Feathers (1975), 103
Science quotes on:  |  Hard (246)  |  Insect (89)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mouse (33)  |  Think (1122)

Math was more fun than anything else. It was always a game to me.
In interview with Laurel M. Sheppard, 'An Interview with Mary Ross: First Native American Woman Engineer Aerospace Pioneer Returns to her Native American Roots', on website of Lash Publications.
Science quotes on:  |  Game (104)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)

Our ability to live and work on other places in the solar system will end up giving us the science and technology that we need to save the species. I’m talking about human beings. I’d hate to miss all that fun.
Told to Associated Press. As reported in Richard Goldstein, 'John Young, Who Led First Space Shuttle Mission, Dies at 87', New York Times (6 Jan 2018).
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  End (603)  |  Hate (68)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Live (650)  |  Miss (51)  |  Need (320)  |  Other (2233)  |  Save (126)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Species (435)  |  System (545)  |  Talking (76)  |  Technology (281)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

Our most distinguished “man of science” was the then veteran John Dalton. He was rarely absent from his seat in a warm corner of the room during the meetings of the Literary and Philosophical Society. Though a sober-minded Quaker, he was not devoid of some sense of fun; and there was a tradition amongst us, not only that he had once been a poet, but that, although a bachelor, two manuscript copies were still extant of his verses on the subject of matrimonial felicity; and it is my belief there was foundation for the tradition. The old man was sensitive on the subject of his age. Dining one day ... he was placed between two ladies ... [who] resolved to extract from him some admission on the tender point, but in vain. Though never other than courteous, Dalton foiled all their feminine arts and retained his secret. ... Dalton's quaint and diminutive figure was a strongly individualized one.
In Reminiscences of a Yorkshire Naturalist (1896), 73-74.
Science quotes on:  |  Absent (3)  |  Admission (17)  |  Age (509)  |  Art (680)  |  Bachelor (3)  |  Belief (615)  |  Biography (254)  |  Corner (59)  |  Courteous (2)  |  John Dalton (25)  |  Devoid (12)  |  Diminutive (3)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Extract (40)  |  Felicity (4)  |  Feminine (4)  |  Figure (162)  |  Foiled (2)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Individual (420)  |  Lady (12)  |  Man (2252)  |  Manuscript (10)  |  Meeting (22)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Poet (97)  |  Point (584)  |  Quaint (7)  |  Quaker (2)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Retain (57)  |  Room (42)  |  Seat (7)  |  Secret (216)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sensitive (15)  |  Society (350)  |  Still (614)  |  Subject (543)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Two (936)  |  Vain (86)  |  Verse (11)  |  Warm (74)

Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it’s the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself; Science fiction is central to everything we’ve ever done, and people who make fun of science fiction writers don’t know what they’’re talking about
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Central (81)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Everything (489)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Important (229)  |  Know (1538)  |  Literature (116)  |  Most (1728)  |  People (1031)  |  Science Fiction (35)  |  Talk (108)  |  Talking (76)  |  World (1850)  |  Writer (90)

Some of the hovercraft saga was fun, but most of it was incredibly frustrating.
As quoted in Michael T. Kaufman, 'Christopher Cockerell, 88, Inventor, Dies; Father of Hovercraft and Marconi Devices', New York Times (4 Jun 1999), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Hovercraft (2)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Most (1728)  |  Saga (2)

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge.
Speaking on the computerization of libraries. As quoted by Barbara Gamarekian in 'Working Profile: Daniel J. Boorstin. Helping the Library of Congress Fulfill Its Mission', New York Times (8 Jul 1983), B6.
Science quotes on:  |  Drive (61)  |  Fog (10)  |  Information (173)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Technology (281)

The fun in science lies not in discovering facts, but in discovering new ways of thinking about them. The test which we apply to these ideas is this—do they enable us to fit the facts to each other, and see that more and more of them can be explained by fewer and fewer fundamental laws.
In concluding paragraph of essay, 'The Atom', collected in A Short History of Science (1951, 1959), 124. This essay was broadcast earlier (17 Mar 1950), by Bragg, on BBC Home Service radio 'For the Schools: Talks for Sixth Forms: The History of Science'. It was fifteenth in a series of sixteen talks. The book publishes the original scripts, with a note that “Each author has been free to revise his Talk for publication, but the original spoken version has been retained with only slight variations.” Webmaster has, as yet, not confirmed if the quote in the book varied from the exact words broadcast.
Science quotes on:  |  Discovery (837)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fewer (11)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Idea (881)  |  Law (913)  |  New (1273)  |  Test (221)  |  Think (1122)

The history of a species, or any natural phenomenon that requires unbroken continuity in a world of trouble, works like a batting streak. All are games of a gambler playing with a limited stake against a house with infinite resources. The gambler must eventually go bust. His aim can only be to stick around as long as possible, to have some fun while he’s at it, and, if he happens to be a moral agent as well, to worry about staying the course with honor.
In Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History (1991), 471-472.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Agent (73)  |  Aim (175)  |  Bat (10)  |  Bust (2)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Course (413)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Gambler (7)  |  Game (104)  |  Happen (282)  |  History (716)  |  Honor (57)  |  House (143)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Long (778)  |  Moral (203)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Play (116)  |  Playing (42)  |  Possible (560)  |  Require (229)  |  Resource (74)  |  Species (435)  |  Stake (20)  |  Stay (26)  |  Stick (27)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Unbroken (10)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Worry (34)

The loveliest theories are being overthrown by these damned experiments; it's no fun being a chemist anymore.
Liebig to Berzelius, 22 Jul 1834. Quoted in J. Carriere (ed.), Berzelius und Liebig: ihre Briefe (1898), 94. Trans. W. H. Brock.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Overthrown (8)  |  Theory (1015)

The reptilian idea of fun
Is to bask all day in the sun.
A physiological barrier,
Discovered by Carrier,
Says they can't breathe, if they run.
Written about David Carrier’s rule concerning a vertebrate’s breathing when lungs are affected because the rib structure distorts during locomotion. Thus sprawling vertebrates cannot run and breathe at the same time. In sidebar to 'Respiration, Metabolism, and Locomotion', History of Life (1991), 177. Carrier’s constraint idea was published in 'The evolution of locomotor stamina in tetrapods: circumventing a mechanical constraint' Paleobiology (1987), 13, 326-341.
Science quotes on:  |  Barrier (34)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Can�t (16)  |  Discover (571)  |  Idea (881)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Reptile (33)  |  Run (158)  |  Say (989)  |  Sun (407)

There is no fun in psychiatry. If you try to get fun out of it, you pay a considerable price for your unjustifiable optimism.
The Psychiatric Interview (1954, 1970), 9-10.
Science quotes on:  |  Considerable (75)  |  Optimism (17)  |  Price (57)  |  Psychiatry (26)  |  Try (296)  |  Unjustifiable (2)

They look a little like the monster in ‘Alien.’ They’re horrifying to look at up close. That’s sort of what makes them fun. [About his microscopic study of ants.]
As quoted by Lindsay Whitehurst in 'University of Utah Scientist Discovers Terrifying Ant Species', The Salt Lake Tribune (31 Jul 2013)
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  Ant (34)  |  Close (77)  |  Horror (15)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Make (25)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Monster (33)  |  Sort (50)  |  Study (701)

This is a strange Christmas Eve. Almost the whole world is locked in deadly struggle, and, with the most terrible weapons which science can devise, the nations advance upon each other. Ill would it be for us this Christmastide if we were not sure that no greed for the land or wealth of any other people, no vulgar ambition, no morbid lust for material gain at the expense of others, had led us to the field. Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Here, then, for one night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly-lighted island of happiness and peace.
Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.
Broadcast while he was in Washington D.C. (24 Dec 1941). As collected in Robert Rhodes James (ed.), Churchill Speaks in Peace and War: Collected Speeches 1897-1963 (), 780. In Hong Kong, the situation was hopeless, despite a valiant resistance, and the British forces surrendered the next day (25 Dec 1941). Churchill was in the U.S. visiting Pres. Roosevelt, to discuss coordinating strategy following the Pearl Harbor attack (7 Dec 1941).
Science quotes on:  |  Children (201)  |  Christmas (13)  |  Father Christmas (2)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Home (184)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Laughter (34)  |  Peace (116)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Strange (160)  |  War (233)  |  Weapon (98)

Time flies when you're having fun, and I've been having fun for the last thirty years.
Reflecting on the upcoming 30th anniversary of Apollo 11.
As quoted in Peter Bond, 'Obituary: Charles Conrad, Jnr.', The Independent (10 Jul 1999)
Science quotes on:  |  Last (425)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time Flies (3)  |  Year (963)

We have never had another man like him [Charles Kettering] in America. He is the most willing man to do things I have ever seen. Benjamin Franklin was a little like him. Both had horse sense and love of fun. If a fellow goes to school long enough he gets frozen in his thinking. He is not free any more. But Ket has always been free.
In book review, T.A. Boyd, 'Charles F. Kettering: Prophet of Progress', Science (30 Jan 1959), 256.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Both (496)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enough (341)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Benjamin Franklin (95)  |  Free (239)  |  Freeze (6)  |  Horse (78)  |  Horse Sense (4)  |  Charles F. Kettering (70)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  School (227)  |  Sense (785)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Willing (44)

We have sought truth, and sometimes perhaps found it. But have we had any fun?
As quoted in Geoffrey Madan’s Notebooks: A Selection (1984), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Find (1014)  |  Seek (218)  |  Truth (1109)

We urgently need [the landmark National Ocean Policy] initiative, as we use our oceans heavily: Cargo ships crisscross the sea, carrying goods between continents. Commercial and recreational fishing boats chase fish just offshore. Cruise ships cruise. Oil and gas drilling continues, but hopefully we will add renewable energy projects as well. Without planning, however, these various industrial activities amount to what we call “ocean sprawl,” steamrolling the resources we rely upon for our livelihoods, food, fun, and even the air we breathe. While humankind relies on many of these industries, we also need to keep the natural riches that support them healthy and thriving. As an explorer, I know firsthand there are many places in the ocean so full of life that they should be protected.
In 'A Blueprint for Our Blue Home', Huffington Post (18 Jul 2011).
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Air (366)  |  Amount (153)  |  Boat (17)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Call (781)  |  Cargo (6)  |  Carry (130)  |  Chase (14)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Continent (79)  |  Continue (179)  |  Cruise (2)  |  Drill (12)  |  Energy (373)  |  Explorer (30)  |  Firsthand (2)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fishing (20)  |  Food (213)  |  Full (68)  |  Gas (89)  |  Good (906)  |  Healthy (70)  |  Heavily (14)  |  Heavy (24)  |  Humankind (15)  |  Industry (159)  |  Initiative (17)  |  Keep (104)  |  Know (1538)  |  Landmark (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Livelihood (13)  |  National (29)  |  Natural (810)  |  Need (320)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Offshore (3)  |  Oil (67)  |  Place (192)  |  Plan (122)  |  Planning (21)  |  Policy (27)  |  Project (77)  |  Protect (65)  |  Recreation (23)  |  Rely (12)  |  Renewable Energy (15)  |  Resource (74)  |  Rich (66)  |  Sea (326)  |  Ship (69)  |  Sprawl (2)  |  Support (151)  |  Thrive (22)  |  Urgent (15)  |  Use (771)  |  Various (205)  |  Will (2350)

Wheeler’s First Moral Principle: Never make a calculation until you know the answer. Make an estimate before every calculation, try a simple physical argument (symmetry! invariance! conservation!) before every derivation, guess the answer to every paradox and puzzle. Courage: No one else needs to know what the guess is. Therefore make it quickly, by instinct. A right guess reinforces this instinct. A wrong guess brings the refreshment of surprise. In either case life as a spacetime expert, however long, is more fun!
In E.F. Taylor and J.A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics (1992), 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Argument (145)  |  Bring (95)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Case (102)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Courage (82)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Expert (67)  |  First (1302)  |  Guess (67)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Invariance (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Know The Answer (9)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Need (320)  |  Never (1089)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Principle (530)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Quickly (21)  |  Refreshment (3)  |  Reinforce (5)  |  Reinforcement (2)  |  Right (473)  |  Simple (426)  |  Spacetime (4)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Try (296)  |  Wrong (246)

When I was 9, my parents gave me a Commodore 64, which was fun. At the time, the opportunity to program your own computer was easier than it is today. Today there are significantly larger barriers because of the complexity built into computing.
From address at a conference on Google campus, co-hosted with Common Sense Media and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop 'Breakthrough Learning in the Digital Age'. As quoted in Technology blog report by Dan Fost, 'Google co-founder Sergey Brin wants more computers in schools', Los Angeles Times (28 Oct 2009). On latimesblogs.latimes.com website. As quoted, without citation, in Can Akdeniz, Fast MBA (2014), 280.
Science quotes on:  |  Barrier (34)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Computer (131)  |  Easier (53)  |  Larger (14)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Parent (80)  |  Program (57)  |  Significant (78)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)

Work like hell, tell everyone everything you know, close a deal with a handshake, and have fun.
His credo, given to a group gathered to honor his life achievements at an Archaeological Society of America. Quoted in Associated Press article, published for example, as 'Developer of Stobe Photo Process Dies', Ocala Star-Banner (6 Jan 1990), 4B. The meeting was described in the article as “recent” to the publication date.
Science quotes on:  |  Deal (192)  |  Everything (489)  |  Handshake (3)  |  Know (1538)  |  Tell (344)  |  Work (1402)


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.