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: “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index V > Category: View

View Quotes (496 quotes)

... I should think that anyone who considered it more reasonable for the whole universe to move in order to let the Earth remain fixed would be more irrational than one who should climb to the top of your cupola just to get a view of the city and its environs, and then demand that the whole countryside should revolve around him so that he would not have to take the trouble to turn his head.
In Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632).
Science quotes on:  |  City (87)  |  Consider (428)  |  Demand (131)  |  Earth (1076)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Order (638)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Think (1122)  |  Top (100)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Turn (454)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)

… just as the astronomer, the physicist, the geologist, or other student of objective science looks about in the world of sense, so, not metaphorically speaking but literally, the mind of the mathematician goes forth in the universe of logic in quest of the things that are there; exploring the heights and depths for facts—ideas, classes, relationships, implications, and the rest; observing the minute and elusive with the powerful microscope of his Infinitesimal Analysis; observing the elusive and vast with the limitless telescope of his Calculus of the Infinite; making guesses regarding the order and internal harmony of the data observed and collocated; testing the hypotheses, not merely by the complete induction peculiar to mathematics, but, like his colleagues of the outer world, resorting also to experimental tests and incomplete induction; frequently finding it necessary, in view of unforeseen disclosures, to abandon one hopeful hypothesis or to transform it by retrenchment or by enlargement:—thus, in his own domain, matching, point for point, the processes, methods and experience familiar to the devotee of natural science.
In Lectures on Science, Philosophy and Art (1908), 26
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Class (168)  |  Colleague (51)  |  Complete (209)  |  Data (162)  |  Depth (97)  |  Devotee (7)  |  Disclosure (7)  |  Domain (72)  |  Elusive (8)  |  Enlargement (8)  |  Experience (494)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Familiar (47)  |  Find (1014)  |  Forth (14)  |  Frequently (21)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Guess (67)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Height (33)  |  Hopeful (6)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Implication (25)  |  Incomplete (31)  |  Induction (81)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Internal (69)  |  Limitless (14)  |  Literally (30)  |  Located (2)  |  Logic (311)  |  Look (584)  |  Making (300)  |  Match (30)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Merely (315)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Method (531)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minute (129)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Objective (96)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outer (13)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Point (584)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Process (439)  |  Quest (39)  |  Regard (312)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Resort (8)  |  Rest (287)  |  Sense (785)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Student (317)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transform (74)  |  Unforeseen (11)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  World (1850)

...Outer space, once a region of spirited international competition, is also a region of international cooperation. I realized this as early as 1959, when I attended an international conference on cosmic radiation in Moscow. At this conference, there were many differing views and differing methods of attack, but the problems were common ones to all of us and a unity of basic purpose was everywhere evident. Many of the papers presented there depended in an essential way upon others which had appeared originally in as many as three or four different languages. Surely science is one of the universal human activities.
Science quotes on:  |  Attack (86)  |  Attend (67)  |  Basic (144)  |  Common (447)  |  Competition (45)  |  Conference (18)  |  Cooperation (38)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Depend (238)  |  Different (595)  |  Early (196)  |  Essential (210)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Evident (92)  |  Human (1512)  |  International (40)  |  Language (308)  |  Method (531)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Space (523)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Surely (101)  |  Unity (81)  |  Universal (198)  |  Way (1214)

…reality is a system, completely ordered and fully intelligible, with which thought in its advance is more and more identifying itself. We may look at the growth of knowledge … as an attempt by our mind to return to union with things as they are in their ordered wholeness…. and if we take this view, our notion of truth is marked out for us. Truth is the approximation of thought to reality … Its measure is the distance thought has travelled … toward that intelligible system … The degree of truth of a particular proposition is to be judged in the first instance by its coherence with experience as a whole, ultimately by its coherence with that further whole, all comprehensive and fully articulated, in which thought can come to rest.
In The Nature of Thought (1921), Vol II, 264.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Approximation (32)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Coherence (13)  |  Completely (137)  |  Comprehensive (29)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distance (171)  |  Experience (494)  |  First (1302)  |  Growth (200)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Look (584)  |  Marked (55)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Notion (120)  |  Order (638)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Reality (274)  |  Rest (287)  |  Return (133)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Ultimately (56)  |  Union (52)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wholeness (9)

…we are all inclined to ... direct our inquiry not by the matter itself, but by the views of our opponents; and, even when interrogating oneself, one pushes the inquiry only to the point at which one can no longer offer any opposition. Hence a good inquirer will be one who is ready in bringing forward the objections proper to the genus, and that he will be when he has gained an understanding of the differences.
Aristotle
'On the Heavens', The Works of Aristotle editted by William David Ross and John Alexander Smith (1930), Vol. 2, 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Difference (355)  |  Direct (228)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Forward (104)  |  Gain (146)  |  Genus (27)  |  Good (906)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Inquirer (9)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Matter (821)  |  Objection (34)  |  Offer (142)  |  Oneself (33)  |  Opponent (23)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Point (584)  |  Proper (150)  |  Research (753)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Will (2350)

“Normal” science, in Kuhn’s sense, exists. It is the activity of the non-revolutionary, or more precisely, the not-too-critical professional: of the science student who accepts the ruling dogma of the day… in my view the 'normal' scientist, as Kuhn describes him, is a person one ought to be sorry for… He has been taught in a dogmatic spirit: he is a victim of indoctrination… I can only say that I see a very great danger in it and in the possibility of its becoming normal… a danger to science and, indeed, to our civilization. And this shows why I regard Kuhn’s emphasis on the existence of this kind of science as so important.
In Imre Lakatos and A. Musgrave (eds.), 'Normal Science and its Dangers', Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (1970), 52-53.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Activity (218)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Critical (73)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Danger (127)  |  Describe (132)  |  Description (89)  |  Dogma (49)  |  Dogmatism (15)  |  Emphasis (18)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Great (1610)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Indoctrination (2)  |  Kind (564)  |  Thomas S. Kuhn (24)  |  More (2558)  |  Normal (29)  |  Person (366)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Professional (77)  |  Regard (312)  |  Revolutionary (31)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Show (353)  |  Sorry (31)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Student (317)  |  Victim (37)  |  Why (491)

“These changes in the body,” he wrote in the review paper he sent to the American Journal of Physiology late in 1913, “are, each one of them, directly serviceable in making the organism more efficient in the struggle which fear or rage or pain may involve; for fear and rage are organic preparations for action, and pain is the most powerful known stimulus to supreme exertion. The organism which with the aid of increased adrenal secretion can best muster its energies, can best call forth sugar to supply the labouring muscles, can best lessen fatigue, and can best send blood to the parts essential in the run or the fight for life, is most likely to survive. Such, according to the view here propounded, is the function of the adrenal medulla at times of great emergency.”
Quoted in S. Benison, A. C. Barger and E. L. Wolfe, Walter B Cannon: The Life and Times of a Young Scientist (1987), 311.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Action (342)  |  Adrenaline (5)  |  Aid (101)  |  Best (467)  |  Blood (144)  |  Body (557)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Emergency (10)  |  Essential (210)  |  Fatigue (13)  |  Fear (212)  |  Function (235)  |  Great (1610)  |  Involve (93)  |  Journal (31)  |  Known (453)  |  Late (119)  |  Life (1870)  |  Making (300)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organism (231)  |  Pain (144)  |  Paper (192)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Review (27)  |  Run (158)  |  Stimulus (30)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Sugar (26)  |  Supply (100)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Survival (105)  |  Survive (87)  |  Time (1911)

“Wu Li” was more than poetic. It was the best definition of physics that the conference would produce. It caught that certain something, that living quality that we were seeking to express in a book, that thing without which physics becomes sterile. “Wu” can mean either “matter” or “energy.” “Li” is a richly poetic word. It means “universal order” or “universal law.” It also means “organic patterns.” The grain in a panel of wood is Li. The organic pattern on the surface of a leaf is also Li, and so is the texture of a rose petal. In short, Wu Li, the Chinese word for physics, means “patterns of organic energy” (“matter/ energy” [Wu] + “universal order/organic patterns” [Li]). This is remarkable since it reflects a world view which the founders of western science (Galileo and Newton) simply did not comprehend, but toward which virtually every physical theory of import in the twentieth century is pointing!
In The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics (1979), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  20th Century (40)  |  Become (821)  |  Best (467)  |  Book (413)  |  Catch (34)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Conference (18)  |  Definition (238)  |  Energy (373)  |  Express (192)  |  Founder (26)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Grain (50)  |  Law (913)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Living (492)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Order (638)  |  Organic (161)  |  Panel (2)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Petal (4)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Poem (104)  |  Produce (117)  |  Quality (139)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  Rose (36)  |  Seek (218)  |  Short (200)  |  Something (718)  |  Sterile (24)  |  Surface (223)  |  Texture (8)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universal (198)  |  Western (45)  |  Wood (97)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)  |  World View (3)

[An outsider views a scientist] as a type of unscrupulous opportunist: he appears as a realist, insofar as he seeks to describe the world independent of the act of perception; as idealist insofar as he looks upon the concepts and theories as the free inventions of the human spirit (not logically derivable from that which is empirically given); as positivist insofar as he considers his concepts and theories justified only to the extent to which they furnish a logical representation of relations among sense experiences. He may even appear as Platonist or Pythagorean insofar as he considers the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an indispensable and effective tool of his research.
In 'Reply to Critcisms', Paul Arthur Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949, 1959), Vol. 2, 684.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Appear (122)  |  Concept (242)  |  Consider (428)  |  Describe (132)  |  Effective (68)  |  Empirical (58)  |  Experience (494)  |  Extent (142)  |  Free (239)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Spirit (12)  |  Idealist (5)  |  Independent (74)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Invention (400)  |  Justify (26)  |  Logical (57)  |  Look (584)  |  Opportunist (3)  |  Outsider (7)  |  Perception (97)  |  Platonist (2)  |  Positivist (5)  |  Realist (3)  |  Relation (166)  |  Representation (55)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Seek (218)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Tool (129)  |  Type (171)  |  Unscrupulous (2)  |  Viewpoint (13)  |  World (1850)

[My Book] will endeavour to establish the principle[s] of reasoning in ... [geology]; and all my geology will come in as illustration of my views of those principles, and as evidence strengthening the system necessarily arising out of the admission of such principles, which... are neither more nor less than that no causes whatever have from the earliest time to which we can look back, to the present, ever acted, but those now acting; and that they never acted with different degrees of energy from that which they now exert.
Letter to Roderick Murchison Esq. (15 Jan 1829). In Mrs Lyell (ed.), The Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart (1881), Vol. 1, 234.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Admission (17)  |  Arising (22)  |  Back (395)  |  Book (413)  |  Cause (561)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Energy (373)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Exert (40)  |  Geology (240)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Look (584)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Never (1089)  |  Present (630)  |  Principle (530)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)  |  Uniformitarianism (9)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)

[The famous attack of Sir William Hamilton on the tendency of mathematical studies] affords the most express evidence of those fatal lacunae in the circle of his knowledge, which unfitted him for taking a comprehensive or even an accurate view of the processes of the human mind in the establishment of truth. If there is any pre-requisite which all must see to be indispensable in one who attempts to give laws to the human intellect, it is a thorough acquaintance with the modes by which human intellect has proceeded, in the case where, by universal acknowledgment, grounded on subsequent direct verification, it has succeeded in ascertaining the greatest number of important and recondite truths. This requisite Sir W. Hamilton had not, in any tolerable degree, fulfilled. Even of pure mathematics he apparently knew little but the rudiments. Of mathematics as applied to investigating the laws of physical nature; of the mode in which the properties of number, extension, and figure, are made instrumental to the ascertainment of truths other than arithmetical or geometrical—it is too much to say that he had even a superficial knowledge: there is not a line in his works which shows him to have had any knowledge at all.
In Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy (1878), 607.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Acknowledgment (13)  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Afford (19)  |  Apparently (22)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Arithmetical (11)  |  Ascertain (41)  |  Ascertainment (2)  |  Attack (86)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Case (102)  |  Circle (117)  |  Comprehensive (29)  |  Degree (277)  |  Direct (228)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Express (192)  |  Extension (60)  |  Famous (12)  |  Figure (162)  |  Fulfill (19)  |  Geometrical (11)  |  Give (208)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hamilton (2)  |  Hamilton_William (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Intellect (32)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Important (229)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Instrumental (5)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Line (100)  |  Little (717)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mode (43)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Prerequisite (9)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Process (439)  |  Property (177)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Recondite (8)  |  Requisite (12)  |  Rudiment (6)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Show (353)  |  Study (701)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Superficial (12)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Tolerable (2)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unfitted (3)  |  Universal (198)  |  Verification (32)  |  Work (1402)

[The octopus has] an amazing skin, because there are up to 20 million of these chromatophore pigment cells and to control 20 million of anything is going to take a lot of processing power. ... These animals have extraordinarily large, complicated brains to make all this work. ... And what does this mean about the universe and other intelligent life? The building blocks are potentially there and complexity will arise. Evolution is the force that's pushing that. I would expect, personally, a lot of diversity and a lot of complicated structures. It may not look like us, but my personal view is that there is intelligent life out there.
From transcript of PBS TV program Nova episode 'Origins: Where are the Aliens?' (2004).
Science quotes on:  |  Amazing (35)  |  Animal (651)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Arise (162)  |  Brain (281)  |  Building (158)  |  Building Block (9)  |  Cell (146)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Control (182)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expect (203)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Force (497)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Lot (151)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Mean (810)  |  Million (124)  |  Octopus (2)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pigment (9)  |  Power (771)  |  Processing Power (2)  |  Skin (48)  |  Structure (365)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

[The Royal Society] is quite simply the voice of science in Britain. It is intellectually rigorous, not afraid to be outspoken on controversial issues such as climate change, but it is not aggressively secular either, insisting on a single view of the world. In fact, there are plenty of eminent scientists – Robert Winston, for instance – who are also men of faith.
Quoted in Max Davidson, 'Bill Bryson: Have faith, science can solve our problems', Daily Telegraph (26 Sep 2010)
Science quotes on:  |  Aggression (10)  |  Britain (26)  |  Change (639)  |  Climate (102)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Eminence (25)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faith (209)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Issue (46)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Rigour (21)  |  Royal (56)  |  Royal Society (17)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Secular (11)  |  Single (365)  |  Society (350)  |  Voice (54)  |  World (1850)

[Theory is] an explanation that has been confirmed to such a degree, by observation and experiment, that knowledgeable experts accept it as fact. That’s what scientists mean when they talk about a theory: not a dreamy and unreliable speculation, but an explanatory statement that fits the evidence. They embrace such an explanation confidently but provisionally—taking it as their best available view of reality, at least until some severely conflicting data or some better explanation might come along.
In 'Was Darwin Wrong?', National Geographic (Nov 2004), 206, 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Available (80)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Conflicting (13)  |  Data (162)  |  Degree (277)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Expert (67)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fit (139)  |  Mean (810)  |  Observation (593)  |  Reality (274)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Statement (148)  |  Theory (1015)

[Using mice as model systems for genetic engineering in biomedicine, instead of bacterial or yeast systems matters because] this transition will have as big an impact on the future of biology as the shift from printing presses to video technology has had on pop culture. A mouse-based world looks and feels different from one viewed through microorganisms.
Quoted in Michael Schrage, 'Biomedical Researchers Scurry to Make Genetically Altered Mice', San Jose Mercury News (8 Feb 1993), 3D. In Donna Jeanne Haraway and Lynn M. Randolph, [email protected]: Feminism and Technoscience (1996), 98.
Science quotes on:  |  Biology (232)  |  Biomedicine (5)  |  Culture (157)  |  Different (595)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Feel (371)  |  Future (467)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetic Engineering (16)  |  Impact (45)  |  Look (584)  |  Matter (821)  |  Microorganism (29)  |  Model (106)  |  Mouse (33)  |  Printing (25)  |  Shift (45)  |  System (545)  |  Technology (281)  |  Through (846)  |  Transition (28)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Yeast (7)

[Walter] Baade, like all scientists of substance, had a set view of how things were put together, to be sure a view to be always challenged by the scientist himself, but defended as well against all less informed mortals who objected without simon-pure reasons.
From Owen Gingerich in Physics Today (1994), 47, No.12, 34-40. As quoted and cited in Donald Lynden-Bell and François Schweizer, 'Allan Rex Sandage: 18 June 1926—13 November 2010', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (2012), Vol. 58, 251.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Walter Baade (3)  |  Biography (254)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Defend (32)  |  Himself (461)  |  Inform (50)  |  Informed (5)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Object (438)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Set (400)  |  Substance (253)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)

[When combustion occurs,] one body, at least, is oxygenated, and another restored, at the same time, to its combustible state... This view of combustion may serve to show how nature is always the same, and maintains her equilibrium by preserving the same quantities of air and water on the surface of our globe: for as fast as these are consumed in the various processes of combustion, equal quantities are formed, and rise regenerated like the Phoenix from her ashes.
Fulhame believed 'that water was the only source of oxygen, which oxygenates combustible bodies' and that 'the hydrogen of water is the only substance that restores bodies to their combustible state.'
An Essay on Combustion with a View to a New Art of Dyeing and Painting (1794), 179-180. In Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie and Joy Dorothy Harvey, The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science (2000), 478.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Body (557)  |  Combustion (22)  |  Conservation Of Matter (7)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Form (976)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Occur (151)  |  Oxidation (8)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Preserving (18)  |  Redox Reaction (2)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Rise (169)  |  Show (353)  |  State (505)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surface (223)  |  Time (1911)  |  Various (205)  |  Water (503)

[When nature appears complicated:] The moment we contemplate it as it is, and attain a position from which we can take a commanding view, though but of a small part of its plan, we never fail to recognize that sublime simplicity on which the mind rests satisfied that it has attained the truth.
Concluding remark in Dionysius Lardner (ed.), Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Vol 1, Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy (1831), 361.
Science quotes on:  |  Attain (126)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Fail (191)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moment (260)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Plan (122)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Rest (287)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Small (489)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Truth (1109)

[Concerning the former belief that there were no genetic connections among species:] This view, as a rounded whole and in all its essential elements, has very recently disappeared from science. It died a royal death with Agassiz.
Asa Gray
From lecture 'Scientific Beliefs', as published in Natural Science and Religion: Two Lectures delivered to the Theological School of Yale College (1880), Vol. 3, Lecture 1, 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Louis Agassiz (43)  |  Belief (615)  |  Connection (171)  |  Death (406)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Element (322)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Former (138)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Royal (56)  |  Species (435)  |  Whole (756)

Derrière la série de Fourier, d’autres séries analogues sont entrées dans la domaine de l’analyse; elles y sont entrées par la même porte; elles ont été imaginées en vue des applications.
After the Fourier series, other series have entered the domain of analysis; they entered by the same door; they have been imagined in view of applications.
La valeur de la science. In Anton Bovier, Statistical Mechanics of Disordered Systems (2006), 74.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Application (257)  |  Domain (72)  |  Door (94)  |  Enter (145)  |  Fourier Series (2)  |  Baron Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier (17)  |  Other (2233)  |  Series (153)

Discovery always carries an honorific connotation. It is the stamp of approval on a finding of lasting value. Many laws and theories have come and gone in the history of science, but they are not spoken of as discoveries. Kepler is said to have discovered the laws of planetary motion named after him, but no the many other 'laws' which he formulated. ... Theories are especially precarious, as this century profoundly testifies. World views can and do often change. Despite these difficulties, it is still true that to count as a discovery a finding must be of at least relatively permanent value, as shown by its inclusion in the generally accepted body of scientific knowledge.
Discovery in the Physical Sciences (1969). In Rodney P. Carlisle, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries (2004), 179.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Approval (12)  |  Body (557)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  Count (107)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Kepler_Johann (2)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Precarious (6)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Stamp (36)  |  Still (614)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Value (393)  |  World (1850)

He who doth with the greatest exactness imaginable, weigh every individual thing that shall or hath hapned to his Patient, and may be known from the Observations of his own, or of others, and who afterwards compareth all these with one another, and puts them in an opposite view to such Things as happen in a healthy State; and lastly, from all this with the nicest and severest bridle upon his reasoning faculty riseth to the knowledge of the very first Cause of the Disease, and of the Remedies fit to remove them; He, and only He deserveth the Name of a true Physician.
Aphorism No. 13 in Boerhaave’s Aphorisms: Concerning The Knowledge and Cure of Diseases (1715), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Disease (340)  |  Exactness (29)  |  First (1302)  |  Fit (139)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Happen (282)  |  Healthy (70)  |  Individual (420)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Name (359)  |  Observation (593)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Patient (209)  |  Physician (284)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Remedy (63)  |  Remove (50)  |  State (505)  |  Thing (1914)  |  True (239)  |  Weigh (51)

Ron Hutcheson, a Knight-Ridder reporter: [Mr. President, what are your] personal views [about the theory of] intelligent design?
President George W. Bush: [Laughing. You're] doing a fine job of dragging me back to the past [days as governor of Texas]. ... Then, I said that, first of all, that decision should be made to local school districts, but I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught...”
Hutcheson: Both sides ought to be properly taught?
President: Yes ... so people can understand what the debate is about.
Hutcheson: So the answer accepts the validity of “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution?
President: I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought, and I'm not suggesting—you're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes.
Hutcheson: So we've got to give these groups—...
President: [interrupting] Very interesting question, Hutch. [Laughter from other reporters]
From conversation with reporters at the White House (1 Aug 2005), as quoted by Matthew Cooper in 'Fanning the Controversy Over “Intelligent Design”', Time (3 Aug 2005). The Time writer stated, “The president has gone farther in questioning the widely-taught theories of evolution and natural selection than any president since Ronald Reagan, who advocated teaching creationism in public schools alongside evolution.” Just a few months later, in the nation's first case on that point, on 20 Dec 2005, “a federal judge [John E. Jones] ruled it was unconstitutional for a Pennsylvania school district to present intelligent design as an alternative in high school biology courses, because it is a religious viewpoint,” as reported by Laurie Goodstein in 'Judge Rejects Teaching Intelligent Design', New York Times (21 Dec 2005). Goodstein also wrote “Judge Jones, a Republican appointed by President Bush, concluded that intelligent design was not science,” and that “the evidence in the trial proved that intelligent design was 'creationism relabeled.' The Supreme Court has already ruled that creationism ... cannot be taught as science in a public school.”
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Alternative (32)  |  Answer (389)  |  Asking (74)  |  Back (395)  |  Both (496)  |  Debate (40)  |  Decision (98)  |  Design (203)  |  Different (595)  |  District (11)  |  Doing (277)  |  Dragging (6)  |  Education (423)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expose (28)  |  Exposed (33)  |  First (1302)  |  Governor (13)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Intelligent Design (5)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Job (86)  |  Laughter (34)  |  Local (25)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  People (1031)  |  Personal (75)  |  President (36)  |  Question (649)  |  School (227)  |  Side (236)  |  Teach (299)  |  Texas (4)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understand (648)  |  Validity (50)

The Charms of Statistics.—It is difficult to understand why statisticians commonly limit their inquiries to Averages, and do not revel in more comprehensive views. Their souls seem as dull to the charm of variety as that of the native of one of our flat English counties, whose retrospect of Switzerland was that, if its mountains could be thrown into its lakes, two nuisances would be got rid of at once. An Average is but a solitary fact, whereas if a single other fact be added to it, an entire Normal Scheme, which nearly corresponds to the observed one, starts potentially into existence. Some people hate the very name of statistics, but I find them full of beauty and interest. Whenever they are not brutalised, but delicately handled by the higher methods, and are warily interpreted, their power of dealing with complicated phenomena is extraordinary. They are the only tools by which an opening can be cut through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars the path of those who pursue the Science of man.
Natural Inheritance (1889), 62-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Average (89)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Charm (54)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Comprehensive (29)  |  Cut (116)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dull (58)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flat (34)  |  Hate (68)  |  Interest (416)  |  Lake (36)  |  Limit (294)  |  Man (2252)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Name (359)  |  Native (41)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Nuisance (10)  |  Observed (149)  |  Other (2233)  |  Path (159)  |  People (1031)  |  Power (771)  |  Pursue (63)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Single (365)  |  Soul (235)  |  Start (237)  |  Statistician (27)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Through (846)  |  Tool (129)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Variety (138)  |  Warily (2)  |  Whenever (81)  |  Why (491)

To the Memory of Fourier
Fourier! with solemn and profound delight,
Joy born of awe, but kindling momently
To an intense and thrilling ecstacy,
I gaze upon thy glory and grow bright:
As if irradiate with beholden light;
As if the immortal that remains of thee
Attuned me to thy spirit’s harmony,
Breathing serene resolve and tranquil might.
Revealed appear thy silent thoughts of youth,
As if to consciousness, and all that view
Prophetic, of the heritage of truth
To thy majestic years of manhood due:
Darkness and error fleeing far away,
And the pure mind enthroned in perfect day.
In R. Graves, Life of W. R. Hamilton (1882), Vol. l, 696.
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Attune (2)  |  Awe (43)  |  Bear (162)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Breathing (23)  |  Bright (81)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Delight (111)  |  Due (143)  |  Error (339)  |  Flee (9)  |  Fourier (5)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Glory (66)  |  Grow (247)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Heritage (22)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Intense (22)  |  Joy (117)  |  Kindle (9)  |  Light (635)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Manhood (3)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Profound (105)  |  Prophetic (4)  |  Pure (299)  |  Remain (355)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Serene (5)  |  Silent (31)  |  Solemn (20)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thrill (26)  |  Tranquil (2)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Year (963)  |  Youth (109)

A closer look at the course followed by developing theory reveals for a start that it is by no means as continuous as one might expect, but full of breaks and at least apparently not along the shortest logical path. Certain methods often afforded the most handsome results only the other day, and many might well have thought that the development of science to infinity would consist in no more than their constant application. Instead, on the contrary, they suddenly reveal themselves as exhausted and the attempt is made to find other quite disparate methods. In that event there may develop a struggle between the followers of the old methods and those of the newer ones. The former's point of view will be termed by their opponents as out-dated and outworn, while its holders in turn belittle the innovators as corrupters of true classical science.
In 'On the Development of the Methods of Theoretical Physics in Recent Times', Populäre Schriften, Essay 14. Address (22 Sep 1899) to the Meeting of Natural Scientists at Munich. Collected in Brian McGuinness (ed.), Ludwig Boltzmann: Theoretical Physics and Philosophical Problems, Selected Writings (1974), 79.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Break (109)  |  Certain (557)  |  Classical (49)  |  Closer (43)  |  Consist (223)  |  Constant (148)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Course (413)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Event (222)  |  Expect (203)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Former (138)  |  Handsome (4)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Look (584)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Old (499)  |  Opponent (23)  |  Other (2233)  |  Path (159)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Result (700)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Shortest (16)  |  Start (237)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Term (357)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Turn (454)  |  Will (2350)

A good theoretical physicist today might find it useful to have a wide range of physical viewpoints and mathematical expressions of the same theory (for example, of quantum electrodynamics) available to him. This may be asking too much of one man. Then new students should as a class have this. If every individual student follows the same current fashion in expressing and thinking about electrodynamics or field theory, then the variety of hypotheses being generated to understand strong interactions, say, is limited. Perhaps rightly so, for possibly the chance is high that the truth lies in the fashionable direction. But, on the off-chance that it is in another direction—a direction obvious from an unfashionable view of field theory—who will find it?
In his Nobel Prize Lecture (11 Dec 1965), 'The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics'. Collected in Stig Lundqvist, Nobel Lectures: Physics, 1963-1970 (1998), 177.
Science quotes on:  |  Asking (74)  |  Available (80)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chance (244)  |  Class (168)  |  Current (122)  |  Direction (185)  |  Electrodynamics (10)  |  Expression (181)  |  Fashionable (15)  |  Field (378)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Generate (16)  |  Good (906)  |  High (370)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Individual (420)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Lie (370)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  New (1273)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Electrodynamics (3)  |  Range (104)  |  Say (989)  |  Strong (182)  |  Student (317)  |  Theoretical Physicist (21)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Today (321)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unfashionable (2)  |  Useful (260)  |  Variety (138)  |  Viewpoint (13)  |  Wide (97)  |  Will (2350)

A great department of thought must have its own inner life, however transcendent may be the importance of its relations to the outside. No department of science, least of all one requiring so high a degree of mental concentration as Mathematics, can be developed entirely, or even mainly, with a view to applications outside its own range. The increased complexity and specialisation of all branches of knowledge makes it true in the present, however it may have been in former times, that important advances in such a department as Mathematics can be expected only from men who are interested in the subject for its own sake, and who, whilst keeping an open mind for suggestions from outside, allow their thought to range freely in those lines of advance which are indicated by the present state of their subject, untrammelled by any preoccupation as to applications to other departments of science. Even with a view to applications, if Mathematics is to be adequately equipped for the purpose of coping with the intricate problems which will be presented to it in the future by Physics, Chemistry and other branches of physical science, many of these problems probably of a character which we cannot at present forecast, it is essential that Mathematics should be allowed to develop freely on its own lines.
In Presidential Address British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sheffield, Section A, Nature (1 Sep 1910), 84, 286.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequate (50)  |  Advance (298)  |  Allow (51)  |  Application (257)  |  Branch (155)  |  Character (259)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Concentration (29)  |  Cope (9)  |  Degree (277)  |  Department (93)  |  Develop (278)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Equip (6)  |  Equipped (17)  |  Essential (210)  |  Expect (203)  |  Forecast (15)  |  Former (138)  |  Freely (13)  |  Future (467)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Importance (299)  |  Important (229)  |  Increase (225)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Inner (72)  |  Interest (416)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Least (75)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mainly (10)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Physics (564)  |  Preoccupation (7)  |  Present (630)  |  Probably (50)  |  Problem (731)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Range (104)  |  Relation (166)  |  Require (229)  |  Sake (61)  |  Specialize (4)  |  State (505)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suggestion (49)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transcendent (3)  |  True (239)  |  Will (2350)

A human without a cosmology is like a pebble lying near the top of a great mountain, in contact with its little indentation in the dirt and pebbles immediately surrounding it, but oblivious to its stupendous view.
As co-author with Nancy Ellen Abrams, in The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos (2006), 84.
Science quotes on:  |  Contact (66)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Dirt (17)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Little (717)  |  Lying (55)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Oblivious (9)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Stupendous (13)  |  Top (100)

A large number of areas of the brain are involved when viewing equations, but when one looks at a formula rated as beautiful it activates the emotional brain—the medial orbito-frontal cortex—like looking at a great painting or listening to a piece of music. … Neuroscience can’t tell you what beauty is, but if you find it beautiful the medial orbito-frontal cortex is likely to be involved; you can find beauty in anything.
As quoted in James Gallagher, 'Mathematics: Why The Brain Sees Maths As Beauty,' BBC News (13 Feb 2014), on bbc.co.uk web site.
Science quotes on:  |  Activate (3)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Brain (281)  |  Cortex (3)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Equation (138)  |  Find (1014)  |  Formula (102)  |  Frontal (2)  |  Great (1610)  |  Involved (90)  |  Large (398)  |  Listen (81)  |  Listening (26)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Music (133)  |  Neuroscience (3)  |  Number (710)  |  Painting (46)  |  Rat (37)  |  Tell (344)

A man who writes a great deal and says little that is new writes himself into a daily declining reputation. When he wrote less he stood higher in people’s estimation, even though there was nothing in what he wrote. The reason is that then they still expected better things of him in the future, whereas now they can view the whole progression.
Aphorism 43 in Notebook D (1773-1775), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 50.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Daily (91)  |  Deal (192)  |  Decline (28)  |  Estimation (7)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Future (467)  |  Great (1610)  |  Himself (461)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Progression (23)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reputation (33)  |  Say (989)  |  Still (614)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Whole (756)  |  Write (250)  |  Writer (90)

A mathematician of the first rank, Laplace quickly revealed himself as only a mediocre administrator; from his first work we saw that we had been deceived. Laplace saw no question from its true point of view; he sought subtleties everywhere; had only doubtful ideas, and finally carried the spirit of the infinitely small into administration.
As quoted in E.T. Bell, Men of Mathematics (1937, 1965), 182. Without citation, except, “As it is often quoted as … Napoleon’s famous estimate of Laplace, of which he is reported to have delivered himself while he was a prisoner at St. Helena.” Laplace had a six-week tenure in the Ministry of the Interior.
Science quotes on:  |  Administration (15)  |  Administrator (11)  |  Deceive (26)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  First (1302)  |  Himself (461)  |  Idea (881)  |  Infinitely (13)  |  Pierre-Simon Laplace (63)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mediocre (14)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Question (649)  |  Rank (69)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Saw (160)  |  Seek (218)  |  Small (489)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Subtlety (19)  |  True (239)  |  Work (1402)

A mind which has once imbibed a taste for scientific enquiry, and has learnt the habit of applying its principles readily to the cases which occur, has within itself an inexhaustable source of pure and exciting contemplations:— One would think that Shakespeare had such a mind in view when he describes a contemplative man as finding
    “Tongues in trees—books in running brooks—
    Sermons in stones—and good in everything.”
Accustomed to trace the operations of general causes and the exemplification of general laws, in circumstances where the uninformed and uninquiring eye, perceives neither novelty nor beauty, he walks in the midst of wonders; every object which falls in his way elucidates some principle, affords some instruction and impresses him with a sense of harmony and order. Nor is it a mere passive pleasure which is thus communicated. A thousand questions are continually arising in his mind, a thousand objects of enquiry presenting themselves, which keep his faculties in constant exercise, and his thoughts perpetually on the wing, so that lassitude is excluded from his life, and that craving after artificial excitement and dissipation of the mind, which leads so many into frivolous, unworthy, and destructive pursuits, is altogether eradicated from his bosom.
In Dionysius Lardner (ed.), Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Vol 1, Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy (1831), 14-15.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Arising (22)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Book (413)  |  Bosom (14)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Constant (148)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Describe (132)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Everything (489)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fall (243)  |  Frivolous (8)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Habit (174)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Lassitude (4)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Object (438)  |  Occur (151)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Order (638)  |  Perpetually (20)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Principle (530)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Question (649)  |  Running (61)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sermon (9)  |  Stone (168)  |  Taste (93)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tongue (44)  |  Trace (109)  |  Tree (269)  |  Unworthy (18)  |  Walk (138)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wing (79)  |  Wonder (251)

A natural science is one whose propositions on limited domains of nature can have only a correspondingly limited validity; and that science is not a philosophy developing a world-view of nature as a whole or about the essence of things.
In The Physicist’s Conception of Nature (1958), 152. Translated by Arnold J. Pomerans from Das Naturbild der Heutigen Physik (1955).
Science quotes on:  |  Correspond (13)  |  Develop (278)  |  Domain (72)  |  Essence (85)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Validity (50)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

A person by study must try to disengage the subject from useless matter, and to seize on points capable of improvement. ... When subjects are viewed through the mists of prejudice, useful truths may escape.
In An Essay on Aërial Navigation, With Some Observations on Ships (1844), 80.
Science quotes on:  |  Capability (44)  |  Capable (174)  |  Disengage (3)  |  Escape (85)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mist (17)  |  Must (1525)  |  Person (366)  |  Point (584)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Seize (18)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Uselessness (22)

A physician is obligated to consider more than a diseased organ, more than even the whole man—he must view the man in his world.
Attributed by Rene Dubos, Man Adapting (1965, 1980), Chap. 12, 342. Dubos introduces the quote with “is reported to have taught” and no other citation.
Science quotes on:  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Disease (340)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Obligation (26)  |  Organ (118)  |  Physician (284)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

A system such as classical mechanics may be ‘scientific’ to any degree you like; but those who uphold it dogmatically — believing, perhaps, that it is their business to defend such a successful system against criticism as long as it is not conclusively disproved — are adopting the very reverse of that critical attitude which in my view is the proper one for the scientist.
In The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959, reprint 2002), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Business (156)  |  Classical (49)  |  Critical (73)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Degree (277)  |  Long (778)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Proof (304)  |  Proper (150)  |  Reverse (33)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Successful (134)  |  System (545)

A truer image of the world, I think, is obtained by picturing things as entering into the stream of time from an eternal world outside, than from a view which regards time as the devouring tyrant of all that is.
Essay, 'Mysticism and Logic' in Hibbert Journal (Jul 1914). Collected in Mysticism and Logic: And Other Essays (1919), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Eternal (113)  |  External (62)  |  Image (97)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Outside (141)  |  Regard (312)  |  Stream (83)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Tyrant (10)  |  World (1850)

About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember some one saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!
Letter to Henry Fawcett (18 Sep 1861). In Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin, Albert Charles Seward, More Letters of Charles Darwin (1903), Vol. 1, 195.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Color (155)  |  Count (107)  |  Describe (132)  |  Description (89)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Gravel (3)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Pebble (27)  |  Pit (20)  |  Remember (189)  |  See (1094)  |  Service (110)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Year (963)

Absorbed in the special investigation, I paid no heed to the edifice which was meanwhile unconsciously building itself up. Having however completed the comparison of the fossil species in Paris, I wanted, for the sake of an easy revision of the same, to make a list according to their succession in geological formations, with a view of determining the characteristics more exactly and bringing them by their enumeration into bolder relief. What was my joy and surprise to find that the simplest enumeration of the fossil fishes according to their geological succession was also a complete statement of the natural relations of the families among themselves; that one might therefore read the genetic development of the whole class in the history of creation, the representation of the genera and species in the several families being therein determined; in one word, that the genetic succession of the fishes corresponds perfectly with their zoological classification, and with just that classification proposed by me.
Quoted in Elizabeth Cary Agassiz (ed.), Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence (1885), Vol. I, 203-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  According (236)  |  Being (1276)  |  Building (158)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Class (168)  |  Classification (102)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Complete (209)  |  Completed (30)  |  Creation (350)  |  Development (441)  |  Easy (213)  |  Edifice (26)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Find (1014)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Heed (12)  |  History (716)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Joy (117)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Read (308)  |  Relief (30)  |  Representation (55)  |  Revision (7)  |  Sake (61)  |  Special (188)  |  Species (435)  |  Statement (148)  |  Succession (80)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Want (504)  |  Whole (756)  |  Word (650)

According to my views, aiming at quantitative investigations, that is at establishing relations between measurements of phenomena, should take first place in the experimental practice of physics. By measurement to knowledge [door meten tot weten] I should like to write as a motto above the entrance to every physics laboratory.
'The Significance of Quantitative Research in Physics', Inaugural Address at the University of Leiden (1882). In Hendrik Casimir, Haphazard Reality: Half a Century of Science (1983), 160-1.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Door (94)  |  Entrance (16)  |  Experimental (193)  |  First (1302)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Motto (29)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Practice (212)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Write (250)

According to the older view, for every single effect of a serum, there was a separate substance, or at least a particular chemical group... A normal serum contained as many different haemagglutinins as it agglutinated different cells. The situation was undoubtedly made much simpler if, to use the Ehrlich terminology... the separate haptophore groups can combine with an extremely large number of receptors in stepwise differing quantities as a stain does with different animal tissues, though not always with the same intensity. A normal serum would therefore visibly affect such a large number of different blood cells... not because it contained countless special substances, but because of the colloids of the serum, and therefore of the agglutinins by reason of their chemical constitution and the electrochemical properties resulting from it. That this manner of representation is a considerable simplification is clear; it also opens the way to direct experimental testing by the methods of structural chemistry.
'Die Theorien der Antikorperbildung ... ', Wiener klinische Wöchenschrift (1909), 22, 1623-1631. Trans. Pauline M. H. Mazumdar.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Animal (651)  |  Blood (144)  |  Cell (146)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Colloid (5)  |  Combine (58)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Countless (39)  |  Different (595)  |  Direct (228)  |  Effect (414)  |  Electrochemical (4)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Immunology (14)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Large (398)  |  Method (531)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Reason (766)  |  Representation (55)  |  Separate (151)  |  Serum (11)  |  Simplification (20)  |  Single (365)  |  Situation (117)  |  Special (188)  |  Structural (29)  |  Structure (365)  |  Substance (253)  |  Terminology (12)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)

According to this view of the matter, there is nothing casual in the formation of Metamorphic Rocks. All strata, once buried deep enough, (and due TIME allowed!!!) must assume that state,—none can escape. All records of former worlds must ultimately perish.
Letter to Mr Murchison, In explanation of the views expressed in his previous letter to Mr Lyell, 15 Nov 1836. Quoted in the Appendix to Charles Babbage, The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise: A Fragment (1838), 240.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Deep (241)  |  Due (143)  |  Enough (341)  |  Escape (85)  |  Formation (100)  |  Former (138)  |  Geology (240)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Perish (56)  |  Record (161)  |  Rock (176)  |  State (505)  |  Strata (37)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ultimately (56)  |  World (1850)

After … the general experimental knowledge has been acquired, accompanied with just a sufficient amount of theory to connect it together…, it becomes possible to consider the theory by itself, as theory. The experimental facts then go out of sight, in a great measure, not because they are unimportant, but because … they are fundamental, and the foundations are always hidden from view in well-constructed buildings.
In Electromagnetic Theory (1892), Vol. 2, 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Amount (153)  |  Become (821)  |  Building (158)  |  Connect (126)  |  Consider (428)  |  Construct (129)  |  Construction (114)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Important (229)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Measure (241)  |  Possible (560)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Together (392)

All change is relative. The universe is expanding relatively to our common material standards; our material standards are shrinking relatively to the size of the universe. The theory of the “expanding universe” might also be called the theory of the “shrinking atom”. …
:Let us then take the whole universe as our standard of constancy, and adopt the view of a cosmic being whose body is composed of intergalactic spaces and swells as they swell. Or rather we must now say it keeps the same size, for he will not admit that it is he who has changed. Watching us for a few thousand million years, he sees us shrinking; atoms, animals, planets, even the galaxies, all shrink alike; only the intergalactic spaces remain the same. The earth spirals round the sun in an ever-decreasing orbit. It would be absurd to treat its changing revolution as a constant unit of time. The cosmic being will naturally relate his units of length and time so that the velocity of light remains constant. Our years will then decrease in geometrical progression in the cosmic scale of time. On that scale man’s life is becoming briefer; his threescore years and ten are an ever-decreasing allowance. Owing to the property of geometrical progressions an infinite number of our years will add up to a finite cosmic time; so that what we should call the end of eternity is an ordinary finite date in the cosmic calendar. But on that date the universe has expanded to infinity in our reckoning, and we have shrunk to nothing in the reckoning of the cosmic being.
We walk the stage of life, performers of a drama for the benefit of the cosmic spectator. As the scenes proceed he notices that the actors are growing smaller and the action quicker. When the last act opens the curtain rises on midget actors rushing through their parts at frantic speed. Smaller and smaller. Faster and faster. One last microscopic blurr of intense agitation. And then nothing.
In The Expanding Universe (1933) , 90-92.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Agitation (10)  |  Alike (60)  |  Allowance (6)  |  Animal (651)  |  Atom (381)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Body (557)  |  Calendar (9)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Common (447)  |  Constancy (12)  |  Constant (148)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Drama (24)  |  Earth (1076)  |  End (603)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Expand (56)  |  Faster (50)  |  Finite (60)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Growing (99)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notice (81)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Owing (39)  |  Planet (402)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Progression (23)  |  Property (177)  |  Reckoning (19)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Rise (169)  |  Say (989)  |  Scale (122)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Shrink (23)  |  Space (523)  |  Speed (66)  |  Spiral (19)  |  Stage (152)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Velocity (51)  |  Walk (138)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

All experimentation is criticism. If an experiment does not hold out the possibility of causing one to revise one’s views, it is hard to see why it should be done at all.
In Advice to a Young Scientist (1979), 94.
Science quotes on:  |  Criticism (85)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Hard (246)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Revision (7)  |  See (1094)  |  Viewpoint (13)  |  Why (491)

All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell. It’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior.
[Revealing his anti-science views, contrary to the qualifications needed to make important public policy on matters of science.]
From speech (27 Sep 2012) to a sportman’s banquet at Liberty Baptist Church, Hartwell, Georgia, as quoted in Matt Pearce, 'U.S. Rep. Paul Broun: Evolution a lie ‘from the pit of hell’', Los Angeles Times (7 Oct 2012).
Science quotes on:  |  Bang (29)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Embryology (18)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Hell (32)  |  Lie (370)  |  Matter (821)  |  Pit (20)  |  Qualification (15)  |  Savior (6)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Straight (75)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Try (296)  |  Understanding (527)

Ampère was a mathematician of various resources & I think might rather be called excentric [sic] than original. He was as it were always mounted upon a hobby horse of a monstrous character pushing the most remote & distant analogies. This hobby horse was sometimes like that of a child ['s] made of heavy wood, at other times it resembled those [?] shapes [?] used in the theatre [?] & at other times it was like a hypogrif in a pantomime de imagie. He had a sort of faith in animal magnetism & has published some refined & ingenious memoirs to prove the identity of electricity & magnetism but even in these views he is rather as I said before excentric than original. He has always appeared to me to possess a very discursive imagination & but little accuracy of observation or acuteness of research.
'Davy’s Sketches of his Contemporaries', Chymia, 1967, 12, 135-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  André-Marie Ampère (11)  |  Animal (651)  |  Call (781)  |  Character (259)  |  Child (333)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Faith (209)  |  Horse (78)  |  Identity (19)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Little (717)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mount (43)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Personality (66)  |  Possess (157)  |  Prove (261)  |  Remote (86)  |  Research (753)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Various (205)  |  Wood (97)

An evolutionary view of human health and disease is not surprising or new; it is merely inevitable in the face of evidence and time.
Epigraph, without citation, in Robert Perlman, Evolution and Medicine (2013), xiii. Webmaster has not yet found the primary source; can you help?
Science quotes on:  |  Disease (340)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Face (214)  |  Health (210)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Merely (315)  |  New (1273)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Time (1911)

And if one look through a Prism upon a white Object encompassed with blackness or darkness, the reason of the Colours arising on the edges is much the same, as will appear to one that shall a little consider it. If a black Object be encompassed with a white one, the Colours which appear through the Prism are to be derived from the Light of the white one, spreading into the Regions of the black, and therefore they appear in a contrary order to that, when a white Object is surrounded with black. And the same is to be understood when an Object is viewed, whose parts are some of them less luminous than others. For in the borders of the more and less luminous Parts, Colours ought always by the same Principles to arise from the Excess of the Light of the more luminous, and to be of the same kind as if the darker parts were black, but yet to be more faint and dilute.
Opticks (1704), Book I, Part 2, Prop. VIII, Prob. III, 123.
Science quotes on:  |  Arise (162)  |  Arising (22)  |  Color (155)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Edge (51)  |  Excess (23)  |  Kind (564)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Luminosity (6)  |  Luminous (19)  |  More (2558)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Principle (530)  |  Prism (8)  |  Ray (115)  |  Reason (766)  |  Through (846)  |  Understood (155)  |  White (132)  |  Will (2350)

Antiessentialist thinking forces us to view the world differently. We must accept shadings and continua as fundamental. We lose criteria for judgment by comparison to some ideal: short people, retarded people, people of other beliefs, colors, and religions are people of full status.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Belief (615)  |  Color (155)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Continua (3)  |  Criterion (28)  |  Differently (4)  |  Force (497)  |  Full (68)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Lose (165)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Religion (369)  |  Retarded (5)  |  Short (200)  |  Status (35)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  World (1850)

Antiqua consuetudo difficulter relinquitur: & ultra proprium videre nemo libenter ducitur.
Old habits are hard to break: and no one is easily led beyond his own point of view.
In De Imitatione Christi (1709), Book 1, Chap. 14, 23. As translated by William C. Creasy in The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis: A New Reading of the 1441 Latin Autograph Manuscript (2007), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Break (109)  |  Easily (36)  |  Habit (174)  |  Hard (246)  |  Lead (391)  |  Old (499)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)

Anyone who does not grasp the close juxtaposition of the vulgar and the scholarly has either too refined or too compartmentalized a view of life. Abstract and visceral fascination are equally valid and not so far apart.
In The Flamingo’s Smile (1985).
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Equally (129)  |  Fascination (35)  |  Life (1870)  |  View Of Life (7)  |  Vulgar (33)

Art and science work in quite different ways: agreed. But, bad as it may sound, I have to admit that I cannot get along as an artist without the use of one or two sciences. ... In my view, the great and complicated things that go on in the world cannot be adequately recognized by people who do not use every possible aid to understanding.
Bertolt Brecht, John Willett (trans.), Brecht on Theatre (1964), 73.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Bad (185)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Great (1610)  |  People (1031)  |  Possible (560)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Sound (187)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

As every circumstance relating to so capital a discovery as this (the greatest, perhaps, that has been made in the whole compass of philosophy, since the time of Sir Isaac Newton) cannot but give pleasure to all my readers, I shall endeavour to gratify them with the communication of a few particulars which I have from the best authority. The Doctor [Benjamin Franklin], after having published his method of verifying his hypothesis concerning the sameness of electricity with the matter lightning, was waiting for the erection of a spire in Philadelphia to carry his views into execution; not imagining that a pointed rod, of a moderate height, could answer the purpose; when it occurred to him, that, by means of a common kite, he could have a readier and better access to the regions of thunder than by any spire whatever. Preparing, therefore, a large silk handkerchief, and two cross sticks, of a proper length, on which to extend it, he took the opportunity of the first approaching thunder storm to take a walk into a field, in which there was a shed convenient for his purpose. But dreading the ridicule which too commonly attends unsuccessful attempts in science, he communicated his intended experiment to no body but his son, who assisted him in raising the kite.
The kite being raised, a considerable time elapsed before there was any appearance of its being electrified. One very promising cloud passed over it without any effect; when, at length, just as he was beginning to despair of his contrivance, he observed some loose threads of the hempen string to stand erect, and to avoid one another, just as if they had been suspended on a common conductor. Struck with this promising appearance, he inmmediately presented his knuckle to the key, and (let the reader judge of the exquisite pleasure he must have felt at that moment) the discovery was complete. He perceived a very evident electric spark. Others succeeded, even before the string was wet, so as to put the matter past all dispute, and when the rain had wetted the string, he collected electric fire very copiously. This happened in June 1752, a month after the electricians in France had verified the same theory, but before he had heard of any thing that they had done.
The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments (1767, 3rd ed. 1775), Vol. 1, 216-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Access (21)  |  Answer (389)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Attend (67)  |  Authority (99)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Body (557)  |  Carry (130)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Common (447)  |  Communication (101)  |  Compass (37)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conductor (17)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Despair (40)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Effect (414)  |  Electric (76)  |  Electrician (6)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Evident (92)  |  Execution (25)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Exquisite (27)  |  Extend (129)  |  Field (378)  |  Fire (203)  |  First (1302)  |  France (29)  |  Benjamin Franklin (95)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Judge (114)  |  Key (56)  |  Kite (4)  |  Large (398)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Method (531)  |  Moment (260)  |  Month (91)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observed (149)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Past (355)  |  Philadelphia (3)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Point (584)  |  Preparing (21)  |  Present (630)  |  Proper (150)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rain (70)  |  Ridicule (23)  |  Sameness (3)  |  Silk (14)  |  Spark (32)  |  Spire (5)  |  Stand (284)  |  Storm (56)  |  String (22)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thread (36)  |  Thunder (21)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Verification (32)  |  Waiting (42)  |  Walk (138)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Whole (756)

As new areas of the world came into view through exploration, the number of identified species of animals and plants grew astronomically. By 1800 it had reached 70,000. Today more than 1.25 million different species, two-thirds animal and one-third plant, are known, and no biologist supposes that the count is complete.
In The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science: The Biological Sciences (1960), 654. Also in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 320.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Biologist (70)  |  Complete (209)  |  Count (107)  |  Different (595)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Identify (13)  |  Known (453)  |  Million (124)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Plant (320)  |  Reach (286)  |  Species (435)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Taxonomy (19)  |  Through (846)  |  Today (321)  |  Two (936)  |  World (1850)

As to the position of the earth, then, this is the view which some advance, and the views advanced concerning its rest or motion are similar. For here too there is no general agreement. All who deny that the earth lies at the centre think that it revolves about the centre, and not the earth only but, as we said before, the counter-earth as well. Some of them even consider it possible that there are several bodies so moving, which are invisible to us owing to the interposition of the earth. This, they say, accounts for the fact that eclipses of the moon are more frequent than eclipses of the sun; for in addition to the earth each of these moving bodies can obstruct it.
Aristotle
On the Heavens, 293b, 15-25. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. 1, 483.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Addition (70)  |  Advance (298)  |  Agreement (55)  |  Consider (428)  |  Deny (71)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Eclipse (25)  |  Fact (1257)  |  General (521)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Lie (370)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Owing (39)  |  Possible (560)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolve (26)  |  Say (989)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)

Astrophysicists have the formidable privilege of having the largest view of the Universe; particle detectors and large telescopes are today used to study distant stars, and throughout space and time, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small, the Universe never ceases to surprise us by revealing its structures little by little.
In Black Holes (1992), xv.
Science quotes on:  |  Astrophysicist (7)  |  Cease (81)  |  Detector (4)  |  Distant (33)  |  Formidable (8)  |  Infinitely (13)  |  Large (398)  |  Largest (39)  |  Little (717)  |  Never (1089)  |  Particle (200)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Revealing (4)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Structure (365)  |  Study (701)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Universe (900)

At the end of the book [Zoonomia] he sums up his [Erasmus Darwin] views in the following sentences: “The world has been evolved, not created: it has arisen little by little from a small beginning, and has increased through the activity of the elemental forces embodied in itself, and so has rather grown than come into being at an almighty word.” “What a sublime idea of the infinite might of the great Architect, the Cause of all causes, the Father of all fathers, the Ens Entium! For if we would compare the Infinite, it would surely require a greater Infinite to cause the causes of effects than to produce the effects themselves.”
[This is a restatement, not a verbatim quote of the original words of Erasmus Darwin, who attributed the idea he summarized to David Hume.]
In August Weismann, John Arthur Thomson (trans.), Margaret R. Thomson (trans.) The Evolution Theory (1904), Vol. 1, 17-18. The verbatim form of the quote from Zoonomia, in context, can be seen on the webpage here for Erasmus Darwin. Later authors have quoted from Weismann's translated book, and given the reworded passage as a direct quote by Erasmus Darwin. Webmaster has found a verbatim form in Zoonomia (1794), but has been unable to find the wording used by Weismann in any primary source by Erasmus Darwin. The rewording is perhaps due to the translation of the quote into German for Weismann's original book, Vorträge über Descendenztheorie (1902) followed by another translation for the English edition.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Almighty (23)  |  Architect (32)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Cause (561)  |  Compare (76)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Creation (350)  |  Erasmus Darwin (40)  |  Effect (414)  |  End (603)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Father (113)  |  Force (497)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Growth (200)  |  Idea (881)  |  Increase (225)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Little (717)  |  Quote (46)  |  Require (229)  |  Small (489)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Sum (103)  |  Surely (101)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Through (846)  |  Verbatim (4)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

Attempts have been made from a study of the changes produced by mutation to obtain the relative order of the bases within various triplets, but my own view is that these are premature until there is more extensive and more reliable data on the composition of the triplets.
In Nobel Lecture (11 Dec 1962). Collected in Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1942-1962 (1964).
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Base (120)  |  Change (639)  |  Composition (86)  |  Data (162)  |  Extensive (34)  |  More (2558)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Order (638)  |  Premature (22)  |  Produced (187)  |  Relative (42)  |  Study (701)  |  Triplet (2)  |  Various (205)

Bacon himself was very ignorant of all that had been done by mathematics; and, strange to say, he especially objected to astronomy being handed over to the mathematicians. Leverrier and Adams, calculating an unknown planet into a visible existence by enormous heaps of algebra, furnish the last comment of note on this specimen of the goodness of Bacon’s view… . Mathematics was beginning to be the great instrument of exact inquiry: Bacon threw the science aside, from ignorance, just at the time when his enormous sagacity, applied to knowledge, would have made him see the part it was to play. If Newton had taken Bacon for his master, not he, but somebody else, would have been Newton.
In Budget of Paradoxes (1872), 53-54.
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Calculate (58)  |  Comment (12)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Exact (75)  |  Existence (481)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Goodness (26)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heap (15)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  LeVerrier_Urbain (3)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Note (39)  |  Object (438)  |  Part (235)  |  Planet (402)  |  Play (116)  |  Sagacity (11)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Specimen (32)  |  Strange (160)  |  Throw (45)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Visible (87)

Bertrand, Darboux, and Glaisher have compared Cayley to Euler, alike for his range, his analytical power, and, not least, for his prolific production of new views and fertile theories. There is hardly a subject in the whole of pure mathematics at which he has not worked.
In Proceedings of London Royal Society (1895), 58, 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Alike (60)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Joseph Bertrand (6)  |  Arthur Cayley (17)  |  Compare (76)  |  Leonhard Euler (35)  |  Fertile (30)  |   James Whitbread Lee Glaisher (3)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  New (1273)  |  Power (771)  |  Production (190)  |  Prolific (5)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Range (104)  |  Subject (543)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Whole (756)  |  Work (1402)

Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.
In letter to Harmann Huth (27 Dec 1930). Presumably published in Vegetarische Warte (Vegetarian Watch, some time before 1935), a German magazine published by the society Vegetarier-Bund of which Harmann Huth was vice-president. As cited by Alice Calaprice (ed.) in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein (2010), 453. This might be the inspiration for a much-circulated and much-elaborated version attributed, but apparently wrongly, to Einstein. The questionable quote appears as: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet,” but no reliable source has been found for this as Einstein’s own words. Calaprice included this quote in her earlier edition of The Quotable Einstein (1996) in a final section of “Attributed to Einstein,” but it was removed from the final edition (2010), presumably because after much effort, it remained unsubstantiated.
Science quotes on:  |  Aesthetic (48)  |  Agreement (55)  |  Aim (175)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Effect (414)  |  Health (210)  |  Human (1512)  |  Influence (231)  |  Living (492)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Moral (203)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physical (518)  |  Purely (111)  |  Reason (766)  |  Temperament (18)  |  Vegetarian (13)

Blessings on Science! When the earth seem’d old,
When Faith grew doting, and the Reason cold,
Twas she discover’d that the world was young,
And taught a language to its lisping tongue:
’Twas she disclosed a future to its view,
And made old knowledge pale before the new.
From poem, 'Railways' (1846), collected in The Poetical Works of Charles Mackay: Now for the First Time Collected Complete in One Volume (1876), 214.
Science quotes on:  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Cold (115)  |  Disclose (19)  |  Discover (571)  |  Dote (2)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Faith (209)  |  Future (467)  |  Grow (247)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Language (308)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Pale (9)  |  Reason (766)  |  Seemed (3)  |  Teach (299)  |  Tongue (44)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)

Both religion and natural science require a belief in God for their activities, to the former He is the starting point, and to the latter the goal of every thought process. To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view.
Lecture, 'Religion and Natural Science' (1937) In Max Planck and Frank Gaynor (trans.), Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (1949), 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Belief (615)  |  Both (496)  |  Crown (39)  |  Edifice (26)  |  Former (138)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Goal (155)  |  God (776)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Point (584)  |  Process (439)  |  Religion (369)  |  Require (229)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Start (237)  |  Thought (995)  |  World (1850)

But from the time I was in college I learned that there is nothing one could imagine which is so strange and incredible that it was not said by some philosopher; and since that time, I have recognized through my travels that all those whose views are different from our own are not necessarily, for that reason, barbarians or savages, but that many of them use their reason either as much as or even more than we do. I also considered how the same person, with the same mind, who was brought up from infancy either among the French or the Germans, becomes different from what they would have been if they had always lived among the Chinese or among the cannibals, and how, even in our clothes fashions, the very thing that we liked ten years ago, and that we may like again within the next ten years, appears extravagant and ridiculous to us today. Thus our convictions result from custom and example very much more than from any knowledge that is certain... truths will be discovered by an individual rather than a whole people.
Discourse on Method in Discourse on Method and Related Writings (1637), trans. Desmond M. Clarke, Penguin edition (1999), Part 2, 14-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chinese (22)  |  College (71)  |  Consider (428)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Custom (44)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ethnology (9)  |  Extravagant (10)  |  German (37)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Individual (420)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Next (238)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Travel (125)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

But nothing of a nature foreign to the duties of my profession [clergyman] engaged my attention while I was at Leeds so much as the, prosecution of my experiments relating to electricity, and especially the doctrine of air. The last I was led into a consequence of inhabiting a house adjoining to a public brewery, where first amused myself with making experiments on fixed air [carbon dioxide] which found ready made in the process of fermentation. When I removed from that house, I was under the necessity making the fixed air for myself; and one experiment leading to another, as I have distinctly and faithfully noted in my various publications on the subject, I by degrees contrived a convenient apparatus for the purpose, but of the cheapest kind. When I began these experiments I knew very little of chemistry, and had in a manner no idea on the subject before I attended a course of chymical lectures delivered in the Academy at Warrington by Dr. Turner of Liverpool. But I have often thought that upon the whole, this circumstance was no disadvantage to me; as in this situation I was led to devise an apparatus and processes of my own, adapted to my peculiar views. Whereas, if I had been previously accustomed to the usual chemical processes, I should not have so easily thought of any other; and without new modes of operation I should hardly have discovered anything materially new.
Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley, in the Year 1795 (1806), Vol. 1, 61-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Academy (37)  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Adapt (70)  |  Adjoining (3)  |  Air (366)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Attend (67)  |  Attention (196)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbon Dioxide (25)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Course (413)  |  Degree (277)  |  Deliver (30)  |  Disadvantage (10)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Duty (71)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fermentation (15)  |  First (1302)  |  Fixed Air (2)  |  Foreign (45)  |  House (143)  |  Idea (881)  |  Kind (564)  |  Last (425)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Little (717)  |  Making (300)  |  Mode (43)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessity (197)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Operation (221)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Process (439)  |  Profession (108)  |  Publication (102)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Situation (117)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thought (995)  |  Various (205)  |  Whole (756)

But notwithstanding these Arguments are so convictive and demonstrative, its marvellous to see how some Popish Authors (Jesuites especially) strain their wits to defend their Pagan Master Aristotle his Principles. Bullialdus speaks of a Florentine Physitian, that all the Friends he had could ever perswade him once to view the Heavens through a Telescope, and he gave that reason for his refusal, because he was afraid that then his Eyes would make him stagger concerning the truth of Aristotle’s Principles, which he was resolved he would not call into question. It were well, if these Men had as great veneration for the Scripture as they have, for Aristotles (if indeed they be his) absurd Books de cælo Sed de his satis.
(Indicating a belief that the Roman Catholic church impeded the development of modern science.)
Kometographia, Or a Discourse Concerning Comets (Boston 1684). Quoted in Michael Garibaldi Hall, The Last American Puritan: The Life of Increase Mather, 1639-1723 (1988), 167.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Argument (145)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Author (175)  |  Belief (615)  |  Book (413)  |  Call (781)  |  Catholic (18)  |  Church (64)  |  Demonstrative (14)  |  Development (441)  |  Eye (440)  |  Friend (180)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Master (182)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Principle (530)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Refusal (23)  |  Religion (369)  |  Roman (39)  |  See (1094)  |  Speak (240)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Wit (61)

But when on shore, and wandering in the sublime forests, surrounded by views more gorgeous than even Claude ever imagined, I enjoy a delight which none but those who have experienced it can understand. If it is to be done, it must be by studying Humboldt.
From letter to W.D. Fox (May 1832), in Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin: Including an Autobiographical Chapter (1887), Vol. 1, 207.
Science quotes on:  |  Delight (111)  |  Forest (161)  |  Baron Alexander von Humboldt (21)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Studying (70)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Understand (648)

But, as Bacon has well pointed out, truth is more likely to come out of error, if this is clear and definite, than out of confusion, and my experience teaches me that it is better to hold a well-understood and intelligible opinion, even if it should turn out to be wrong, than to be content with a muddle-headed mixture of conflicting views, sometimes miscalled impartiality, and often no better than no opinion at all.
Principles of General Physiology (1915), x.
Science quotes on:  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Better (493)  |  Conflicting (13)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Definite (114)  |  Error (339)  |  Experience (494)  |  Impartiality (7)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Mixture (44)  |  More (2558)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Point (584)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understood (155)  |  Wrong (246)

By a recent estimate, nearly half the bills before the U.S. Congress have a substantial science-technology component and some two-thirds of the District of Columbia Circuit Court’s case load now involves review of action by federal administrative agencies; and more and more of such cases relate to matters on the frontiers of technology.
If the layman cannot participate in decision making, he will have to turn himself over, essentially blind, to a hermetic elite. … [The fundamental question becomes] are we still capable of self-government and therefore freedom?
Margaret Mead wrote in a 1959 issue of Daedalus about scientists elevated to the status of priests. Now there is a name for this elevation, when you are in the hands of—one hopes—a benevolent elite, when you have no control over your political decisions. From the point of view of John Locke, the name for this is slavery.
Quoted in 'Where is Science Taking Us? Gerald Holton Maps the Possible Routes', The Chronicle of Higher Education (18 May 1981). In Francis A. Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (1982), 80.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Become (821)  |  Benevolent (9)  |  Blind (98)  |  Capable (174)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Component (51)  |  Congress (20)  |  Control (182)  |  Court (35)  |  Decision (98)  |  Education (423)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Elite (6)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Government (116)  |  Himself (461)  |  Hope (321)  |  Involve (93)  |  Layman (21)  |  John Locke (61)  |  Making (300)  |  Matter (821)  |  Margaret Mead (40)  |  More (2558)  |  Name (359)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Political (124)  |  Priest (29)  |  Question (649)  |  Recent (78)  |  Review (27)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Self (268)  |  Slavery (13)  |  Status (35)  |  Still (614)  |  Substantial (24)  |  Technology (281)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)

By destroying the biological character of phenomena, the use of averages in physiology and medicine usually gives only apparent accuracy to the results. From our point of view, we may distinguish between several kinds of averages: physical averages, chemical averages and physiological and pathological averages. If, for instance, we observe the number of pulsations and the degree of blood pressure by means of the oscillations of a manometer throughout one day, and if we take the average of all our figures to get the true or average blood pressure and to learn the true or average number of pulsations, we shall simply have wrong numbers. In fact, the pulse decreases in number and intensity when we are fasting and increases during digestion or under different influences of movement and rest; all the biological characteristics of the phenomenon disappear in the average. Chemical averages are also often used. If we collect a man's urine during twenty-four hours and mix all this urine to analyze the average, we get an analysis of a urine which simply does not exist; for urine, when fasting, is different from urine during digestion. A startling instance of this kind was invented by a physiologist who took urine from a railroad station urinal where people of all nations passed, and who believed he could thus present an analysis of average European urine! Aside from physical and chemical, there are physiological averages, or what we might call average descriptions of phenomena, which are even more false. Let me assume that a physician collects a great many individual observations of a disease and that he makes an average description of symptoms observed in the individual cases; he will thus have a description that will never be matched in nature. So in physiology, we must never make average descriptions of experiments, because the true relations of phenomena disappear in the average; when dealing with complex and variable experiments, we must study their various circumstances, and then present our most perfect experiment as a type, which, however, still stands for true facts. In the cases just considered, averages must therefore be rejected, because they confuse, while aiming to unify, and distort while aiming to simplify. Averages are applicable only to reducing very slightly varying numerical data about clearly defined and absolutely simple cases.
From An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865), as translated by Henry Copley Greene (1957), 134-135.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Average (89)  |  Biological (137)  |  Blood (144)  |  Call (781)  |  Character (259)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Complex (202)  |  Consider (428)  |  Data (162)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Digestion (29)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disease (340)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distort (22)  |  Exist (458)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fasting (3)  |  Figure (162)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hour (192)  |  Increase (225)  |  Individual (420)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Kind (564)  |  Learn (672)  |  Man (2252)  |  Match (30)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Medicine (392)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Number (710)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Oscillation (13)  |  Pass (241)  |  Pathological (21)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physician (284)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Physiologist (31)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Pulse (22)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Reject (67)  |  Rejected (26)  |  Rest (287)  |  Result (700)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Stand (284)  |  Startling (15)  |  Station (30)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Symptom (38)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Type (171)  |  Unify (7)  |  Urine (18)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Variable (37)  |  Various (205)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wrong (246)

By research in pure science I mean research made without any idea of application to industrial matters but solely with the view of extending our knowledge of the Laws of Nature. I will give just one example of the ‘utility’ of this kind of research, one that has been brought into great prominence by the War—I mean the use of X-rays in surgery. Now, not to speak of what is beyond money value, the saving of pain, or, it may be, the life of the wounded, and of bitter grief to those who loved them, the benefit which the state has derived from the restoration of so many to life and limb, able to render services which would otherwise have been lost, is almost incalculable. Now, how was this method discovered? It was not the result of a research in applied science starting to find an improved method of locating bullet wounds. This might have led to improved probes, but we cannot imagine it leading to the discovery of X-rays. No, this method is due to an investigation in pure science, made with the object of discovering what is the nature of Electricity. The experiments which led to this discovery seemed to be as remote from ‘humanistic interest’ —to use a much misappropriated word—as anything that could well be imagined. The apparatus consisted of glass vessels from which the last drops of air had been sucked, and which emitted a weird greenish light when stimulated by formidable looking instruments called induction coils. Near by, perhaps, were great coils of wire and iron built up into electro-magnets. I know well the impression it made on the average spectator, for I have been occupied in experiments of this kind nearly all my life, notwithstanding the advice, given in perfect good faith, by non-scientific visitors to the laboratory, to put that aside and spend my time on something useful.
In Speech made on behalf of a delegation from the Conjoint Board of Scientific Studies in 1916 to Lord Crewe, then Lord President of the Council. In George Paget Thomson, J. J. Thomson and the Cavendish Laboratory in His Day (1965), 167-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Air (366)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Application (257)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Average (89)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Call (781)  |  Consist (223)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Drop (77)  |  Due (143)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Faith (209)  |  Find (1014)  |  Glass (94)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grief (20)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Impression (118)  |  Induction (81)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Interest (416)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Iron (99)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Looking (191)  |  Magnet (22)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Method (531)  |  Money (178)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Non-Scientific (7)  |  Object (438)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Pain (144)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Probe (12)  |  Prominence (5)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Ray (115)  |  Remote (86)  |  Render (96)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Service (110)  |  Something (718)  |  Speak (240)  |  Spend (97)  |  State (505)  |  Suck (8)  |  Surgery (54)  |  Time (1911)  |  Use (771)  |  Useful (260)  |  Utility (52)  |  Value (393)  |  Vessel (63)  |  War (233)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wire (36)  |  Word (650)  |  Wound (26)  |  X-ray (43)

Certain elements have the property of producing the same crystal form when in combination with an equal number of atoms of one or more common elements, and the elements, from his point of view, can be arranged in certain groups. For convenience I have called the elements belonging to the same group … isomorphous.
Originally published in 'Om Förhållandet emellan chemiska sammansättningen och krystallformen hos Arseniksyrade och Phosphorsyrade Salter', (On the Relation between the Chemical Composition and Crystal Form of Salts of Arsenic and Phosphoric Acids), Kungliga Svenska vetenskapsakademiens handlingar (1821), 4. In F. Szabadváry article on 'Eilhard Mitscherlich' in Charles Coulston Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1974), Vol. 9, 424; perhaps from J.R. Partington, A History of Chemistry, Vol. 4 (1964), 210.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Atom (381)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Combination (150)  |  Common (447)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Element (322)  |  Equal (88)  |  Form (976)  |  Group (83)  |  More (2558)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Number (710)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Producing (6)  |  Property (177)  |  Same (166)

Chemistry as a science is still in its infancy. I hold to my view because there is still so much beyond our understanding even in the simplest systems the chemist has cared to deal with.
Speech at the Nobel Banquet (10 Dec 1983) for his Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In Wilhelm Odelberg (ed.), Les Prix Nobel: The Nobel Prizes (1984), 43.
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Car (75)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Deal (192)  |  Infancy (14)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Simple (426)  |  Still (614)  |  System (545)  |  Understanding (527)

Chemistry is the science or study of those effects and qualities of matter which are discovered by mixing bodies variously together, or applying them to one another with a view to mixture, and by exposing them to different degrees of heat, alone, or in mixture with one another, in order to enlarge our knowledge of nature, and to promote the useful arts.
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, 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Art (680)  |  Body (557)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Expose (28)  |  Heat (180)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Promote (32)  |  Quality (139)  |  Study (701)  |  Together (392)  |  Useful (260)

Chemistry is the study of the effects of heat and mixture, with a view of discovering their general and subordinate laws, and of improving the useful arts.
This is an editor’s shorter restatement of the definition given by Black in 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, 11, footnote. For the definitions as given by Black, see elsewhere on this web page.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Definition (238)  |  Discover (571)  |  Effect (414)  |  General (521)  |  Heat (180)  |  Improve (64)  |  Law (913)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Study (701)  |  Subordinate (11)  |  Useful (260)

Chymistry. … An art whereby sensible bodies contained in vessels … are so changed, by means of certain instruments, and principally fire, that their several powers and virtues are thereby discovered, with a view to philosophy or medicine.
An antiquated definition, as quoted in Samuel Johnson, entry for 'Chymistry' in Dictionary of the English Language (1785). Also in The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts (1821), 284, wherein a letter writer (only identified as “C”) points out that this definition still appeared in the, then, latest Rev. Mr. Todd’s Edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, and that it showed “very little improvement of scientific words.” The letter included examples of better definitions by Black and by Davy. (See their pages on this website.)
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Body (557)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Contain (68)  |  Definition (238)  |  Discover (571)  |  Fire (203)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Means (587)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Power (771)  |  Several (33)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Virtue (117)

Common sense is not wrong in the view that is meaningful, appropriate and necessary to talk about the large objects of our daily experience …. Common sense is wrong only if it insists that what is familiar must reappear in what is unfamiliar.
In 'Uncommon Sense', collected in J. Robert Oppenheimer, Nicholas Metropolis (ed.) and ‎Gian-Carlo Rota (ed.), Uncommon Sense (1984), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Daily (91)  |  Experience (494)  |  Familiar (47)  |  Insist (22)  |  Large (398)  |  Meaningful (19)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Object (438)  |  Reappear (4)  |  Sense (785)  |  Talk (108)  |  Unfamiliar (17)  |  Wrong (246)

Contrary to the legend, Darwin's finches do not appear to have inspired his earliest theoretical views on evolution, even after he finally became an evolutionist in 1837; rather it was his evolutionary views that allowed him, retrospectively, to understand the complex case of the finches.
Quoted in Stephen Gould, The Flamingo's Smile (1987), 356. From Frank J. Sulloway, 'Darwin's Conversion: The Beagle Voyage and its Aftermath'. Journal of the History of Biology (1982), 15, 327-398.
Science quotes on:  |  Complex (202)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Finch (4)  |  Legend (18)  |  Retrospective (4)  |  Understand (648)

Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn off so as to expose to view this great seagash which separates continents, and extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic, it would present a scene the most rugged, grand and imposing. The very ribs of the solid earth, with the foundations of the sea, would be brought to light.
(1860)
Science quotes on:  |  Antarctic (7)  |  Arctic (10)  |  Atlantic (8)  |  Bring (95)  |  Continent (79)  |  Draw (140)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Expose (28)  |  Extend (129)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Grand (29)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impose (22)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Present (630)  |  Rib (6)  |  Rugged (7)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sea (326)  |  Separate (151)  |  Solid (119)  |  Water (503)

Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting point and its rich environment. But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up.
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  Barn (6)  |  Climb (39)  |  Connection (171)  |  Create (245)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Discover (571)  |  Environment (239)  |  Erect (6)  |  Exist (458)  |  Form (976)  |  Gain (146)  |  Mastery (36)  |  Mountain (202)  |  New (1273)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Old (499)  |  Point (584)  |  Skyscraper (9)  |  Start (237)  |  Starting Point (16)  |  Still (614)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wide (97)

Darwin's characteristic perspicacity is nowhere better illustrated than in his prophecy of the reaction of the world of science. He admitted at once that it would be impossible to convince those older men '...whose minds are stocked with a multitude of facts, all viewed ... from a point of view directly opposite to mine ... A few naturalists endowed with much flexibility of mind and who have already begun to doubt the immutability of species, may be influenced by this volume; but I look with confidence to the young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides with equal impartiality.
'The Reaction of American scientists to Darwinism', American Historical Review 1932), 38, 687. Quoted in David L. Hull, Science as Process (), 379.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Better (493)  |  Both (496)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Convince (43)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Impartiality (7)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Look (584)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mine (78)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Prophecy (14)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Rising (44)  |  Side (236)  |  Species (435)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)

Despite the high long-term probability of extinction, every organism alive today, including every person reading this paper, is a link in an unbroken chain of parent-offspring relationships that extends back unbroken to the beginning of life on earth. Every living organism is a part of an enormously long success story—each of its direct ancestors has been sufficiently well adapted to its physical and biological environments to allow it to mature and reproduce successfully. Viewed thus, adaptation is not a trivial facet of natural history, but a biological attribute so central as to be inseparable from life itself.
In 'Integrative Biology: An Organismic Biologist’s Point of View', Integrative and Comparative Biology (2005), 45, 330.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Alive (97)  |  Allow (51)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Back (395)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Biological (137)  |  Central (81)  |  Chain (51)  |  Despite (7)  |  Direct (228)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Enormously (4)  |  Environment (239)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Facet (9)  |  High (370)  |  History (716)  |  Include (93)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life On Earth (16)  |  Link (48)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Long-Term (11)  |  Mature (17)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Organism (231)  |  Paper (192)  |  Parent (80)  |  Part (235)  |  Person (366)  |  Physical (518)  |  Probability (135)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Reproduce (12)  |  Story (122)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  Sufficiently (9)  |  Term (357)  |  Today (321)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Unbroken (10)

Dissection … teaches us that the body of man is made up of certain kinds of material, so differing from each other in optical and other physical characters and so built up together as to give the body certain structural features. Chemical examination further teaches us that these kinds of material are composed of various chemical substances, a large number of which have this characteristic that they possess a considerable amount of potential energy capable of being set free, rendered actual, by oxidation or some other chemical change. Thus the body as a whole may, from a chemical point of view, be considered as a mass of various chemical substances, representing altogether a considerable capital of potential energy.
From Introduction to A Text Book of Physiology (1876, 1891), Book 1, 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Altogether (9)  |  Amount (153)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Capable (174)  |  Capital (16)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Character (259)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Change (8)  |  Compose (20)  |  Consider (428)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Dissection (35)  |  Energy (373)  |  Examination (102)  |  Free (239)  |  Kind (564)  |  Large (398)  |  Made (14)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mass (160)  |  Material (366)  |  Number (710)  |  Optical (11)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oxidation (8)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possess (157)  |  Potential (75)  |  Potential Energy (5)  |  Render (96)  |  Represent (157)  |  Set (400)  |  Structural (29)  |  Substance (253)  |  Together (392)  |  Various (205)  |  Whole (756)

Doubtless it is true that while consciousness is occupied in the scientific interpretation of a thing, which is now and again “a thing of beauty,” it is not occupied in the aesthetic appreciation of it. But it is no less true that the same consciousness may at another time be so wholly possessed by the aesthetic appreciation as to exclude all thought of the scientific interpretation. The inability of a man of science to take the poetic view simply shows his mental limitation; as the mental limitation of a poet is shown by his inability to take the scientific view. The broader mind can take both.
In An Autobiography (1904), Vol. 1, 485.
Science quotes on:  |  Aesthetic (48)  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Both (496)  |  Broader (3)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Doubtless (8)  |  Exclusion (16)  |  Inability (11)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Man (2252)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Poet (97)  |  Possess (157)  |  Possession (68)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Show (353)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wholly (88)

During the half-century that has elapsed since the enunciation of the cell-theory by Schleiden and Schwann, in 1838-39, it has became ever more clearly apparent that the key to all ultimate biological problems must, in the last analysis, be sought in the cell. It was the cell-theory that first brought the structure of plants and animals under one point of view by revealing their common plan of organization. It was through the cell-theory that Kolliker and Remak opened the way to an understanding of the nature of embryological development, and the law of genetic continuity lying at the basis of inheritance. It was the cell-­theory again which, in the hands of Virchaw and Max Schultze, inaugurated a new era in the history of physiology and pathology, by showing that all the various functions of the body, in health and in disease, are but the outward expression of cell­-activities. And at a still later day it was through the cell-theory that Hertwig, Fol, Van Beneden, and Strasburger solved the long-standing riddle of the fertilization of the egg, and the mechanism of hereditary transmission. No other biological generalization, save only the theory of organic evolution, has brought so many apparently diverse phenomena under a common point of view or has accomplished more far the unification of knowledge. The cell-theory must therefore be placed beside the evolution-theory as one of the foundation stones of modern biology.
In The Cell in Development and Inheritance (1896), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Animal (651)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Basis (180)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Body (557)  |  Cell Theory (4)  |  Century (319)  |  Common (447)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Development (441)  |  Disease (340)  |  Egg (71)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Enunciation (7)  |  Era (51)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expression (181)  |  Fertilization (15)  |  First (1302)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Function (235)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Health (210)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Oskar Hertwig (2)  |  History (716)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Key (56)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Long (778)  |  Lying (55)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Open (277)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organization (120)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pathology (19)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Plan (122)  |  Plant (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Problem (731)  |  Robert Remak (2)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Save (126)  |  Theodor Schwann (12)  |  Still (614)  |  Stone (168)  |  Structure (365)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Through (846)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Unification (11)  |  Various (205)  |  Rudolf Virchow (50)  |  Way (1214)

Each species has evolved a special set of solutions to the general problems that all organisms must face. By the fact of its existence, a species demonstrates that its members are able to carry out adequately a series of general functions. … These general functions offer a framework within which one can integrate one’s view of biology and focus one’s research. Such a view helps one to avoid becoming lost in a morass of unstructured detail—even though the ways in which different species perform these functions may differ widely. A few obvious examples will suffice. Organisms must remain functionally integrated. They must obtain materials from their environments, and process and release energy from these materials. … They must differentiate and grow, and they must reproduce. By focusing one’s questions on one or another of these obligatory and universal capacities, one can ensure that one’s research will not be trivial and that it will have some chance of achieving broad general applicability.
In 'Integrative Biology: An Organismic Biologist’s Point of View', Integrative and Comparative Biology (2005), 45, 331.
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Adequately (4)  |  Applicability (7)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Biology (232)  |  Broad (28)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Carry (130)  |  Chance (244)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Detail (150)  |  Differ (88)  |  Different (595)  |  Differentiate (19)  |  Energy (373)  |  Ensure (27)  |  Environment (239)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Example (98)  |  Existence (481)  |  Face (214)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Focus (36)  |  Framework (33)  |  Function (235)  |  General (521)  |  Grow (247)  |  Help (116)  |  Integrate (8)  |  Integrated (10)  |  Lose (165)  |  Material (366)  |  Member (42)  |  Morass (2)  |  Must (1525)  |  Obligatory (3)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Offer (142)  |  Organism (231)  |  Perform (123)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Question (649)  |  Release (31)  |  Remain (355)  |  Reproduce (12)  |  Research (753)  |  Series (153)  |  Set (400)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Special (188)  |  Species (435)  |  Suffice (7)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Universal (198)  |  Way (1214)  |  Widely (9)  |  Will (2350)

Ecology and economics may unify toward a more sound use of environmental resources and … can translate into a change in paradigm regarding how humans view nature.
From interview (16 Jul 2009) on rorotoko.com about his book The Balance of Nature: Ecology’s Enduring Myth (2009).
Science quotes on:  |  Change (639)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Economics (44)  |  Environment (239)  |  Human (1512)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Paradigm (16)  |  Resource (74)  |  Translate (21)  |  Unify (7)

Electricity is often called wonderful, beautiful; but it is so only in common with the other forces of nature. The beauty of electricity or of any other force is not that the power is mysterious, and unexpected, touching every sense at unawares in turn, but that it is under law, and that the taught intellect can even govern it largely. The human mind is placed above, and not beneath it, and it is in such a point of view that the mental education afforded by science is rendered super-eminent in dignity, in practical application and utility; for by enabling the mind to apply the natural power through law, it conveys the gifts of God to man.
Notes for a Friday Discourse at the Royal Institution (1858).
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Apply (170)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Call (781)  |  Common (447)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Education (423)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Force (497)  |  Gift (105)  |  God (776)  |  Govern (66)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Power (771)  |  Practical (225)  |  Render (96)  |  Sense (785)  |  Through (846)  |  Touching (16)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Utility (52)  |  Wonderful (155)

Ethnologists regard man as the primitive element of tribes, races, and peoples. The anthropologist looks at him as a member of the fauna of the globe, belonging to a zoölogical classification, and subject to the same laws as the rest of the animal kingdom. To study him from the last point of view only would be to lose sight of some of his most interesting and practical relations; but to be confined to the ethnologist’s views is to set aside the scientific rule which requires us to proceed from the simple to the compound, from the known to the unknown, from the material and organic fact to the functional phenomenon.
'Paul Broca and the French School of Anthropology'. Lecture delivered in the National Museum, Washington, D.C., 15 April 1882, by Dr. Robert Fletcher. In The Saturday Lectures (1882), 118.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Kingdom (21)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Classification (102)  |  Compound (117)  |  Element (322)  |  Ethnology (9)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Known (453)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Look (584)  |  Lose (165)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Most (1728)  |  Organic (161)  |  People (1031)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Practical (225)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Race (278)  |  Regard (312)  |  Require (229)  |  Rest (287)  |  Rule (307)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Set (400)  |  Sight (135)  |  Simple (426)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Tribe (26)  |  Unknown (195)

Even fairly good students, when they have obtained the solution of the problem and written down neatly the argument, shut their books and look for something else. Doing so, they miss an important and instructive phase of the work. ... A good teacher should understand and impress on his students the view that no problem whatever is completely exhausted.
In How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method (2004), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Book (413)  |  Completely (137)  |  Completeness (19)  |  Doing (277)  |  Down (455)  |  Exhaustion (18)  |  Good (906)  |  Importance (299)  |  Impress (66)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Look (584)  |  Miss (51)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Phase (37)  |  Problem (731)  |  Shut (41)  |  Solution (282)  |  Something (718)  |  Student (317)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Work (1402)  |  Writing (192)

Every definition implies an axiom, since it asserts the existence of the object defined. The definition then will not be justified, from the purely logical point of view, until we have ‘proved’ that it involves no contradiction either in its terms or with the truths previously admitted.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Admit (49)  |  Assert (69)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Define (53)  |  Definition (238)  |  Existence (481)  |  Imply (20)  |  Involve (93)  |  Justify (26)  |  Logical (57)  |  Object (438)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Previously (12)  |  Prove (261)  |  Purely (111)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Will (2350)

Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of society, which he has in view. But the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society.
In 'Of Restraints upon Importation', An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), Vol. 2, Book 4, 32
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Advantageous (10)  |  Command (60)  |  Employment (34)  |  Exert (40)  |  Find (1014)  |  Himself (461)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Individual (420)  |  Lead (391)  |  Money (178)  |  Most (1728)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Society (350)  |  Sociology (46)  |  Study (701)  |  Whatever (234)

Every natural scientist who thinks with any degree of consistency at all will, I think, come to the view that all those capacities that we understand by the phrase psychic activities (Seelenthiitigkeiten) are but functions of the brain substance; or, to express myself a bit crudely here, that thoughts stand in the same relation to the brain as gall does to the liver or urine to the kidneys. To assume a soul that makes use of the brain as an instrument with which it can work as it pleases is pure nonsense; we would then be forced to assume a special soul for every function of the body as well.
Carl Vogt
In Physiologische Briefe für Gelbildete aIle Stünde (1845-1847), 3 parts, 206. as translated in Frederick Gregory, Scientific Materialism in Nineteenth Century Germany (1977), 64.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Brain (281)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Consistency (31)  |  Crude (32)  |  Degree (277)  |  Express (192)  |  Function (235)  |  Gall (3)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Kidney (19)  |  Liver (22)  |  Myself (211)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Please (68)  |  Psychic (15)  |  Pure (299)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Soul (235)  |  Special (188)  |  Stand (284)  |  Substance (253)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Urine (18)  |  Use (771)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

Every one who has seriously investigated a novel question, who has really interrogated Nature with a view to a distinct answer, will bear me out in saying that it requires intense and sustained effort of imagination.
In The Principles of Success in Literature (1901), 66.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Bear (162)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Effort (243)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Intense (22)  |  Interrogation (5)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Novel (35)  |  Question (649)  |  Require (229)  |  Requirement (66)  |  Serious (98)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Will (2350)

Everything is made of atoms ... Everything that animals do, atoms do. ... There is nothing that living things do that cannot be understood from the point of view that they are made of atoms acting according to the laws of physics.
In The Feynman Lectures (1963), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Act (278)  |  Animal (651)  |  Atom (381)  |  Do (1905)  |  Everything (489)  |  Law (913)  |  Living (492)  |  Made (14)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understood (155)

Evolution in the biosphere is therefore a necessarily irreversible process defining a direction in time; a direction which is the same as that enjoined by the law of increasing entropy, that is to say, the second law of thermodynamics. This is far more than a mere comparison: the second law is founded upon considerations identical to those which establish the irreversibility of evolution. Indeed, it is legitimate to view the irreversibility of evolution as an expression of the second law in the biosphere.
In Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1971), 123.
Science quotes on:  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Direction (185)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expression (181)  |  Identical (55)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Irreversibility (4)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Law (913)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Process (439)  |  Say (989)  |  Second Law Of Thermodynamics (14)  |  Thermodynamics (40)  |  Time (1911)

Exobiology—a curious development in view of the fact that this “science” has yet to demonstrate that its subject matter exists!
In This View of Life: The World of the Evolutionist (1964), 254.
Science quotes on:  |  Curious (95)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Development (441)  |  Exist (458)  |  Exobiology (2)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Matter (821)  |  Subject (543)

Extremely hazardous is the desire to explain everything, and to supply whatever appears a gap in history—for in this propensity lies the first cause and germ of all those violent and arbitrary hypotheses which perplex and pervert the science of history far more than the open avowal of our ignorance, or the uncertainty of our knowledge: hypotheses which give an oblique direction, or an exaggerated and false extension, to a view of the subject originally not incorrect.
In Friedrich von Schlegel and James Burton Robertson (trans.), The Philosophy of History (1835), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Arbitrary (27)  |  Cause (561)  |  Desire (212)  |  Direction (185)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exaggeration (16)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Extension (60)  |  First (1302)  |  Gap (36)  |  Germ (54)  |  Hazard (21)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  More (2558)  |  Open (277)  |  Perplexing (2)  |  Pervert (7)  |  Subject (543)  |  Supply (100)  |  Uncertainty (58)  |  Whatever (234)

False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often long endure; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, as every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to truth is often at the same time opened.
The Descent of Man (1871), Vol. 2, 385.
Science quotes on:  |  Closed (38)  |  Do (1905)  |  Error (339)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Injurious (14)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Open (277)  |  Path (159)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Support (151)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)

Faraday, who had no narrow views in regard to education, deplored the future of our youth in the competition of the world, because, as he said with sadness, “our school-boys, when they come out of school, are ignorant of their ignorance at the end of all that education.”
In Inaugural Presidential Address (9 Sep 1885) to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Aberdeen, Scotland, 'Relations of Science to the Public Weal', Report to the Fifty-Fifth Meeting of the British Association (1886), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Boy (100)  |  Competition (45)  |  Education (423)  |  End (603)  |  Michael Faraday (91)  |  Future (467)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Regard (312)  |  Sadness (36)  |  School (227)  |  Schoolboy (9)  |  World (1850)  |  Youth (109)

Finally, to the theme of the respiratory chain, it is especially noteworthy that David Kellin's chemically simple view of the respiratory chain appears now to have been right all along–and he deserves great credit for having been so reluctant to become involved when the energy-rich chemical intermediates began to be so fashionable. This reminds me of the aphorism: 'The obscure we see eventually, the completely apparent takes longer'.
'David Kellin's Respiratory Chain Concept and Its Chemiosmotic Consequences', Nobel Lecture (8 Dec 1978). In Nobel Lectures: Chemistry 1971-1980 (1993), 325.
Science quotes on:  |  Aphorism (22)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Become (821)  |  Chain (51)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Completely (137)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Energy (373)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Fashionable (15)  |  Great (1610)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Involved (90)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Reluctant (4)  |  Respiration (14)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Simple (426)  |  Theme (17)

First, In showing in how to avoid attempting impossibilities. Second, In securing us from important mistakes in attempting what is, in itself possible, by means either inadequate or actually opposed to the end in view. Thirdly, In enabling us to accomplish our ends in the easiest, shortest, most economical, and most effectual manner. Fourth, In inducing us to attempt, and enabling us to accomplish, object which, but for such knowledge, we should never have thought of understanding.
On the ways that a knowledge of the order of nature can be of use.
Quoted in Robert Routledge, Discoveries and Inventions of the 19th Century (1890), 665.
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Avoid (123)  |  End (603)  |  First (1302)  |  Inadequate (20)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Possible (560)  |  Shortest (16)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)

Focusing on the science-technology relationship may strike some as strange, because conventional wisdom views this relationship as an unproblematic given. … Technology is seen as being, at best, applied science … the conventional view perceives science as clearly preceding and founding technology. … Recent studies in the history of technology have begun to challenge this assumed dependency of technology on science. … But the conventional view of science is persistent.
In 'Technology and Science', Stephen V. Monsma (ed.), Responsible Technology: A Christian Perspective (1986), 78-79.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Assume (43)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Conventional (31)  |  Conventional Wisdom (3)  |  Dependency (3)  |  Focus (36)  |  Founding (5)  |  History (716)  |  Persistent (18)  |  Precede (23)  |  Recent (78)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Strange (160)  |  Strike (72)  |  Study (701)  |  Technology (281)  |  Wisdom (235)

Following the original proposal of Belinfante, “the writer has in a recent note on the meson theory of nuclear forces” used the word “nuclon” as a common notation for the heavy nuclear constituents, neutrons and protons. In the meantime, however, it has been pointed out to me that, since the root of the word nucleus is “nucle”, the notation “nucleon” would from a philological point of view be more appropriate for this purpose….
In Physical Review (1 Feb 1941), 59, 323. For book using the word “nuclon”, see Frederik Jozef Belinfante, Theory of Heavy Quanta: Proefschrift (1939), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Frederik Belinfante (2)  |  Common (447)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Definition (238)  |  Force (497)  |  Meson (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Neutron (23)  |  Notation (28)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nucleon (5)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Nude (3)  |  Philological (3)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Proposal (21)  |  Proton (23)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Recent (78)  |  Root (121)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Word (650)  |  Writer (90)

For if those who hold that there must be a physical basis for everything hold that these mystical views are nonsense, we may ask—What then is the physical basis of nonsense? ... In a world of ether and electrons we might perhaps encounter nonsense; we could not encounter damned nonsense.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Basis (180)  |  Damn (12)  |  Electron (96)  |  Encounter (23)  |  Ether (37)  |  Everything (489)  |  Hold (96)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mystical (9)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Physical (518)  |  World (1850)

For it is too bad that there are so few who seek the truth and so few who do not follow a mistaken method in philosophy. This is not, however, the place to lament the misery of our century, but to rejoice with you over such beautiful ideas for proving the truth. So I add only, and I promise, that I shall read your book at leisure; for I am certain that I shall find the noblest things in it. And this I shall do the more gladly, because I accepted the view of Copernicus many years ago, and from this standpoint I have discovered from their origins many natural phenomena, which doubtless cannot be explained on the basis of the more commonly accepted hypothesis.
Letter (4 Aug 1597) to Kepler, expressing thanks and interest in the book Kepler sent him. As quoted in translation in Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization: Alternate Volume: Since 1300 (2010), Vol. 2, 494.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Bad (185)  |  Basis (180)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Book (413)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Lament (11)  |  Leisure (25)  |  Method (531)  |  Misery (31)  |  Mistake (180)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Origin (250)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Promise (72)  |  Prove (261)  |  Read (308)  |  Rejoice (11)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Seek (218)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Year (963)

For it is too bad that there are so few who seek the truth and so few who do not follow a mistaken method in philosophy. This is not, however, the place to lament the misery of our century, but to rejoice with you over such beautiful ideas for proving the truth. So I add only, and I promise, that I shall read your book at leisure; for I am certain that I shall find the noblest things in it. And this I shall do the more gladly, because I accepted the view of Copernicus many years ago, and from this standpoint I have discovered from their origins many natural phenomena, which doubtless cannot be explained on the basis of the more commonly accepted hypothesis.
In Letter to Johannes Kepler. As quoted in The Portable Renaissance Reader (1968), 597.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Bad (185)  |  Basis (180)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Book (413)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Lament (11)  |  Leisure (25)  |  Method (531)  |  Misery (31)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Origin (250)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Promise (72)  |  Read (308)  |  Seek (218)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Year (963)

For strictly scientific or technological purposes all this is irrelevant. On a pragmatic view, as on a religious view, theory and concepts are held in faith. On the pragmatic view the only thing that matters is that the theory is efficacious, that it “works” and that the necessary preliminaries and side issues do not cost too much in time and effort. Beyond that, theory and concepts go to constitute a language in which the scientistic matters at issue can be formulated and discussed.
In Nobel Lecture (8 Dec 1994), 'Slow Neutron Spectroscopy and the Grand Atlas of the Physical World', Nobel Lectures: Physics 1991-1995 (1997), 111.
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Concept (242)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Cost (94)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effort (243)  |  Faith (209)  |  Language (308)  |  Matter (821)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Religious (134)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Side (236)  |  Technological (62)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Work (1402)

For that which can shewn only in a certain Light is questionable. Truth, ’tis suppos’d, may bear all Lights: and one of those principal Lights or natural Mediums, by which Things are to be view’d, in order to a thorow Recognition, is Ridicule it-self.
Also seen in short form: “Ridicule is the test of truth.”
In 'An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour', Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1723), Vol. 1, 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Certain (557)  |  Form (976)  |  Light (635)  |  Natural (810)  |  Order (638)  |  Principal (69)  |  Questionable (3)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Ridicule (23)  |  Self (268)  |  Short (200)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)

For the saving the long progression of the thoughts to remote and first principles in every case, the mind should provide itself several stages; that is to say, intermediate principles, which it might have recourse to in the examining those positions that come in its way. These, though they are not self-evident principles, yet, if they have been made out from them by a wary and unquestionable deduction, may be depended on as certain and infallible truths, and serve as unquestionable truths to prove other points depending upon them, by a nearer and shorter view than remote and general maxims. … And thus mathematicians do, who do not in every new problem run it back to the first axioms through all the whole train of intermediate propositions. Certain theorems that they have settled to themselves upon sure demonstration, serve to resolve to them multitudes of propositions which depend on them, and are as firmly made out from thence as if the mind went afresh over every link of the whole chain that tie them to first self-evident principles.
In The Conduct of the Understanding, Sect. 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Afresh (4)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Back (395)  |  Case (102)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chain (51)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Depend (238)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evident (92)  |  Examine (84)  |  Firmly (6)  |  First (1302)  |  General (521)  |  Infallible (18)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Link (48)  |  Long (778)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Maxim (19)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Nearer (45)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Position (83)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Progression (23)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Prove (261)  |  Provide (79)  |  Recourse (12)  |  Remote (86)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Run (158)  |  Save (126)  |  Say (989)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Evident (22)  |  Serve (64)  |  Settle (23)  |  Settled (34)  |  Several (33)  |  Short (200)  |  Stage (152)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Tie (42)  |  Train (118)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unquestionable (10)  |  Wary (3)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

For undemocratic reasons and for motives not of State, they arrive at their conclusions—largely inarticulate. Being void of self-expression they confide their views to none; but sometimes in a smoking room, one learns why things were done.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Arrive (40)  |  Being (1276)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Confide (2)  |  Expression (181)  |  Inarticulate (2)  |  Largely (14)  |  Learn (672)  |  Motive (62)  |  Reason (766)  |  Room (42)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Expression (2)  |  Smoke (32)  |  Smoking (27)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  State (505)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Void (31)  |  Why (491)

For we may remark generally of our mathematical researches, that these auxiliary quantities, these long and difficult calculations into which we are often drawn, are almost always proofs that we have not in the beginning considered the objects themselves so thoroughly and directly as their nature requires, since all is abridged and simplified, as soon as we place ourselves in a right point of view.
In Théorie Nouvelle de la Rotation des Corps (1834). As translated by Charles Thomas Whitley in Outlines of a New Theory of Rotatory Motion (1834), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Abridge (3)  |  Auxiliary (11)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Consider (428)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direct (228)  |  Long (778)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Proof (304)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Require (229)  |  Research (753)  |  Right (473)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Soon (187)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Thoroughly (67)

For, however much we may clench our teeth in anger, we cannot but confess, in opposition to Galen’s teaching but in conformity with the might of Aristotle’s opinion, that the size of the orifice of the hollow vein at the right chamber of the heart is greater than that of the body of the hollow vein, no matter where you measure the latter. Then the following chapter will show the falsity of Galen’s view that the hollow vein is largest at the point where it joins the hump of the liver.
From De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (1543), Book III, 275, as translated by William Frank Richardson and John Burd Carman, in 'The Arguments Advanced by Galen in Opposition to Aristotl’s Views about the Origin of the Hollow Vein Do Not Have Oracular Authority', On The Fabric of the Human Body: Book III: The Veins And Arteries; Book IV: The Nerves (1998), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Anger (21)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Body (557)  |  Chamber (7)  |  Chapter (11)  |  Clench (3)  |  Confess (42)  |  Falsity (16)  |  Galen (20)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heart (243)  |  Hump (3)  |  Join (32)  |  Largest (39)  |  Liver (22)  |  Matter (821)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Orifice (2)  |  Point (584)  |  Right (473)  |  Show (353)  |  Size (62)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Teeth (43)  |  Vein (27)  |  Will (2350)

From a long view of the history of mankind—seen from, say, ten thousand years from now—there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell’s discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade.
In The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964), Vol. 2, page 1-11.
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  Century (319)  |  Civil (26)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Decade (66)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Electrodynamics (10)  |  Event (222)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Mankind (15)  |  Insignificance (12)  |  Law (913)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Most (1728)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Significant (78)  |  Thousand (340)  |  War (233)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

From a pragmatic point of view, the difference between living against a background of foreigness (an indifferent Universe) and one of intimacy (a benevolent Universe) means the difference between a general habit of wariness and one of trust.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Background (44)  |  Benevolent (9)  |  Difference (355)  |  General (521)  |  Habit (174)  |  Indifferent (17)  |  Intimacy (6)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Pragmatic (2)  |  Trust (72)  |  Universe (900)

From an entertainment point of view, the Solar System has been a bust. None of the planets turns out to have any real-estate potential, and most of them are probably even useless for filming Dune sequels.
From essay 'First Person Secular: Blocking the Gates to Heaven', Mother Jones Magazine (Jun 1986), 48. Collected in The Worst Years of our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (1995), 267.
Science quotes on:  |  Bust (2)  |  Dune (4)  |  Entertainment (19)  |  Filming (3)  |  Most (1728)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Potential (75)  |  Real Estate (2)  |  Sequel (2)  |  Solar System (81)  |  System (545)  |  Turn (454)  |  Uselessness (22)

From the point of view of a tapeworm, man was created by God to serve the appetite of the tapeworm.
In 'Philosophy, Religion, and So Forth', A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1989), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Appetite (20)  |  Create (245)  |  God (776)  |  Man (2252)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Serve (64)  |  Tapeworm (2)

From the point of view of the physicist, a theory of matter is a policy rather than a creed; its object is to connect or co-ordinate apparently diverse phenomena, and above all to suggest, stimulate and direct experiment. It ought to furnish a compass which, if followed, will lead the observer further and further into previously unexplored regions.
The Corpuscular Theory of Matter (1907), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Compass (37)  |  Connect (126)  |  Creed (28)  |  Direct (228)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Follow (389)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Lead (391)  |  Matter (821)  |  Object (438)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Will (2350)

From the point of view of the pure morphologist the recapitulation theory is an instrument of research enabling him to reconstruct probable lines of descent; from the standpoint of the student of development and heredity the fact of recapitulation is a difficult problem whose solution would perhaps give the key to a true understanding of the real nature of heredity.
Form and Function: A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology (1916), 312-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Descent (30)  |  Development (441)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Key (56)  |  Line (100)  |  Morphology (22)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Probability (135)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reality (274)  |  Recapitulation (6)  |  Reconstruction (16)  |  Research (753)  |  Solution (282)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Student (317)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understanding (527)

From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
Concluding paragraph in The Origin of Species (1859), 490. In the second edition, Darwin changed “breathed” to “breathed by the Creator”.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Animal (651)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Breath (61)  |  Capable (174)  |  Death (406)  |  Endless (60)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Exalted (22)  |  Famine (18)  |  Follow (389)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Law Of Gravity (16)  |  Life (1870)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Planet (402)  |  Power (771)  |  Production (190)  |  Simple (426)  |  View Of Life (7)  |  War Of Nature (2)  |  Wonderful (155)

Generality of points of view and of methods, precision and elegance in presentation, have become, since Lagrange, the common property of all who would lay claim to the rank of scientific mathematicians. And, even if this generality leads at times to abstruseness at the expense of intuition and applicability, so that general theorems are formulated which fail to apply to a single special case, if furthermore precision at times degenerates into a studied brevity which makes it more difficult to read an article than it was to write it; if, finally, elegance of form has well-nigh become in our day the criterion of the worth or worthlessness of a proposition,—yet are these conditions of the highest importance to a wholesome development, in that they keep the scientific material within the limits which are necessary both intrinsically and extrinsically if mathematics is not to spend itself in trivialities or smother in profusion.
In Die Entwickdung der Mathematik in den letzten Jahrhunderten (1884), 14-15.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstruse (12)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Apply (170)  |  Article (22)  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Brevity (8)  |  Claim (154)  |  Common (447)  |  Condition (362)  |  Criterion (28)  |  Degenerate (14)  |  Development (441)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Expense (21)  |  Fail (191)  |  Form (976)  |  Formulate (16)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Importance (299)  |  Intrinsic (18)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Count Joseph-Louis de Lagrange (26)  |  Lead (391)  |  Limit (294)  |  Material (366)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Precision (72)  |  Presentation (24)  |  Profusion (3)  |  Property (177)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Rank (69)  |  Read (308)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Single (365)  |  Smother (3)  |  Special (188)  |  Special Case (9)  |  Spend (97)  |  Study (701)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Time (1911)  |  Triviality (3)  |  Wholesome (12)  |  Worth (172)  |  Worthless (22)  |  Write (250)

Gödel proved that the world of pure mathematics is inexhaustible; no finite set of axioms and rules of inference can ever encompass the whole of mathematics; given any finite set of axioms, we can find meaningful mathematical questions which the axioms leave unanswered. I hope that an analogous Situation exists in the physical world. If my view of the future is correct, it means that the world of physics and astronomy is also inexhaustible; no matter how far we go into the future, there will always be new things happening, new information coming in, new worlds to explore, a constantly expanding domain of life, consciousness, and memory.
From Lecture 1, 'Philosophy', in a series of four James Arthur Lectures, 'Lectures on Time and its Mysteries' at New York University (Autumn 1978). Printed in 'Time Without End: Physics and Biology in an Open Universe', Reviews of Modern Physics (Jul 1979), 51, 449.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Coming (114)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Constantly (27)  |  Domain (72)  |  Exist (458)  |  Expand (56)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finite (60)  |  Future (467)  |  Kurt Gödel (8)  |  Happening (59)  |  Hope (321)  |  Inexhaustible (26)  |  Inference (45)  |  Information (173)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaningful (19)  |  Means (587)  |  Memory (144)  |  New (1273)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Physics (564)  |  Prove (261)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Question (649)  |  Rule (307)  |  Set (400)  |  Situation (117)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Unanswered (8)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Goethe said that he who cannot draw on 3,000 years of learning is living hand to mouth. It could just as well be said that individuals who do tap deeply into this rich cultural legacy are wealthy indeed. Yet the paradox is that much of this wisdom is buried in a sea of lesser books or like lost treasure beneath an ocean of online ignorance and trivia. That doesn’t mean that with a little bit of diligence you can’t tap into it. Yet many people, perhaps most, never take advantage of all this human experience. They aren’t obtaining knowledge beyond what they need to know for work or to get by. As a result, their view of our amazing world is diminished and their lives greatly circumscribed.
In An Embarrassment of Riches: Tapping Into the World's Greatest Legacy of Wealth (2013), 65.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Amazing (35)  |  Arent (6)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bit (21)  |  Book (413)  |  Bury (19)  |  Circumscribe (3)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Deeply (17)  |  Diligence (22)  |  Diminish (17)  |  Do (1905)  |  Draw (140)  |  Experience (494)  |  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (150)  |  Greatly (12)  |  Hand (149)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Individual (420)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Legacy (14)  |  Lesser (6)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Lose (165)  |  Mean (810)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Need (320)  |  Never (1089)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Online (4)  |  Paradox (54)  |  People (1031)  |  Result (700)  |  Rich (66)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Tap (10)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Trivia (2)  |  Wealthy (5)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

Having discovered … by observation and comparison that certain objects agree in certain respects, we generalise the qualities in which they coincide,—that is, from a certain number of individual instances we infer a general law; we perform an act of Induction. This induction is erroneously viewed as analytic; it is purely a synthetic process.
In Lecture VI of his Biennial Course, by William Hamilton and Henry L. Mansel (ed.) and John Veitch (ed.), Metaphysics (1860), Vol. 1, 101.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Agree (31)  |  Analytic (11)  |  Certain (557)  |  Coincide (6)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Discover (571)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  General (521)  |  Generalize (19)  |  Individual (420)  |  Induction (81)  |  Infer (12)  |  Instance (33)  |  Law (913)  |  Number (710)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Perform (123)  |  Process (439)  |  Pure (299)  |  Purely (111)  |  Quality (139)  |  Respect (212)  |  Synthetic (27)

He [Heinrich Rose] looked upon the various substances that he was manipulating, as well as their reactions, under a thoroughly familial point of view: they were like so many children entrusted to his tutelage. Every time he explained simple, clear, well-defined phenomena, he assumed a jovial and smiling countenance; on the other hand, he almost got angry at certain mischievous bodies, the properties of which did not obey ordinary laws and troubled general theoretical views; in his eyes, this was unruly behavior.
As his student, about the lectures of Heinrich Rose, as quoted in entry by Stuart Pierson, 'Rose, Heinrich', in Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1975), Vol.11, 541, citing Adolphe Remelé, 'Notice biographique sur le Professeur Henri Rose', in Moniteur Scientifique (1864), 2nd ser., 6, 385–389. [Remelé’s italics.]
Science quotes on:  |  Angry (10)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Body (557)  |  Child (333)  |  Clear (111)  |  Countenance (9)  |  Entrust (3)  |  Explain (334)  |  Eye (440)  |  General (521)  |  Law (913)  |  Mischievous (12)  |  Obey (46)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Property (177)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Simple (426)  |  Smile (34)  |  Substance (253)  |  Theoretical (27)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Tutelage (2)  |  Unruly (4)  |  Well-Defined (9)

He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend
Was moving toward the shore; his ponderous shield
Ethereal temper, massy, large and round,
Behind him cast; the broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fésolè,
Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
Rivers or mountains in her spotty globe.
Paradise Lost, Books I and II (1667), edited by Anna Baldwin (1998), lines 283-91, p. 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Artist (97)  |  Behind (139)  |  Cast (69)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Ethereal (9)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Glass (94)  |  Globe (51)  |  Large (398)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  New (1273)  |  Orb (20)  |  River (140)  |  Shield (8)  |  Shoulder (33)  |  Superior (88)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Top (100)

He who sees things grow from the beginning will have the best view of them.
Aristotle
Quoted in J. Lima-de-Faria (ed.), Historical Atlas of Crystallography (1990), vi.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Best (467)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Research (753)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)

He who thus considers things in their first growth and origin … will obtain the clearest view of them.
Aristotle
In Politics, Book 1, Chap. 1, as translated by Benjamin Jowett (1885), Vol. 1, 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Clear (111)  |  Consider (428)  |  First (1302)  |  Growth (200)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Origin (250)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)

Hence, a traveller should be a botanist, for in all views plants form the chief embellishment.
Journal of Researches: into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World (1839), ch. XXIII, 604.
Science quotes on:  |  Beagle (14)  |  Botanist (25)  |  Chief (99)  |  Embellish (4)  |  Form (976)  |  Plant (320)  |  Traveler (33)

Higher Mathematics is the art of reasoning about numerical relations between natural phenomena; and the several sections of Higher Mathematics are different modes of viewing these relations.
In Higher Mathematics for Students of Chemistry and Physics (1902), Prologue, xvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Definitions and Objects of Mathematics (33)  |  Different (595)  |  Higher Mathematics (7)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mode (43)  |  Natural (810)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Relation (166)  |  Section (11)  |  Several (33)

His [Thomas Edison] method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 per cent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense. In view of this, the truly prodigious amount of his actual accomplishments is little short of a miracle.
As quoted in 'Tesla Says Edison Was an Empiricist', The New York Times (19 Oct 1931), 25. In 1884, Tesla had moved to America to assist Edison in the designing of motors and generators.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Actual (118)  |  American (56)  |  Amount (153)  |  Blind (98)  |  Book (413)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Chance (244)  |  Contempt (20)  |  Doing (277)  |  Thomas Edison (83)  |  Extreme (78)  |  First (1302)  |  Ground (222)  |  Himself (461)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inefficient (3)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Inventor (79)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Labor (200)  |  Learning (291)  |  Little (717)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Practical (225)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Saving (20)  |  Sense (785)  |  Short (200)  |  Sorry (31)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truly (118)  |  Trust (72)  |  Witness (57)

History, if viewed as a repository for more than anecdote or chronology, could produce a decisive transformation in the image of science by which we are now possessed.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Anecdote (21)  |  Chronology (9)  |  Decisive (25)  |  History (716)  |  Image (97)  |  More (2558)  |  Possess (157)  |  Transformation (72)

How can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Art (680)  |  Awaken (17)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Definite (114)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Function (235)  |  Give (208)  |  God (776)  |  Important (229)  |  Keep (104)  |  Most (1728)  |  Notion (120)  |  Person (366)  |  Receptive (5)  |  Religious (134)  |  Rise (169)  |  Theology (54)

How many and how curious problems concern the commonest of the sea-snails creeping over the wet sea-weed! In how many points of view may its history be considered! There are its origin and development, the mystery of its generation, the phenomena of its growth, all concerning each apparently insignificant individual; there is the history of the species, the value of its distinctive marks, the features which link it with the higher and lower creatures, the reason why it takes its stand where we place it in the scale of creation, the course of its distribution, the causes of its diffusion, its antiquity or novelty, the mystery (deepest of mysteries) of its first appearance, the changes of the outline of continents and of oceans which have taken place since its advent, and their influence on its own wanderings.
On the Natural History of European Seas. In George Wilson and Archibald Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes F.R.S. (1861), 547-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consider (428)  |  Continent (79)  |  Course (413)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creature (242)  |  Curious (95)  |  Development (441)  |  Diffusion (13)  |  Distinctive (25)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Evolution (635)  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Generation (256)  |  Growth (200)  |  History (716)  |  Individual (420)  |  Influence (231)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Origin (250)  |  Point (584)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sea-Snail (2)  |  Snail (11)  |  Species (435)  |  Stand (284)  |  Value (393)  |  Weed (19)  |  Why (491)

However high we climb in the pursuit of knowledge we shall still see heights above us, and the more we extend our view, the more conscious we shall be of the immensity which lies beyond.
Address to the British Association (1863), in Report of the Thirty-Third Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1864), li
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Extend (129)  |  High (370)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  More (2558)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)

Human society is made up of partialities. Each citizen has an interest and a view of his own, which, if followed out to the extreme, would leave no room for any other citizen.
Science quotes on:  |  Citizen (52)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Follow (389)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Society (14)  |  Interest (416)  |  Other (2233)  |  Partiality (3)  |  Society (350)

I am further inclined to think, that when our views are sufficiently extended, to enable us to reason with precision concerning the proportions of elementary atoms, we shall find the arithmetical relation alone will not be sufficient to explain their mutual action, and that we shall be obliged to acquire a geometric conception of their relative arrangement in all three dimensions of solid extension.
Paper. Read to the Royal Society (28 Jan 1808), in 'On Super-acid and Sub-acid salts', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, (1808), 98, 101.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Alone (324)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Atom (381)  |  Conception (160)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Enable (122)  |  Explain (334)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extension (60)  |  Find (1014)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Precision (72)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Reason (766)  |  Solid (119)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Think (1122)  |  Will (2350)

I am one of those philosophers who have held that that “the Common Sense view of the world” is in certain fundamental features, wholly true.
In 'A Defence of Common Sense', J.H. Muirhead (ed.), Contemporary British Philosophy (1925). Reprinted in Philosophical Papers of George Edward Moore (1959), 44.
Science quotes on:  |  Certain (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Feature (49)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Hold (96)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Sense (785)  |  True (239)  |  Wholly (88)  |  World (1850)

I am opposed to looking upon logic as a kind of game. … One might think that it is a matter of choice or convention which logic one adopts. I disagree with this view.
Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach (1972), 304.
Science quotes on:  |  Adoption (7)  |  Choice (114)  |  Convention (16)  |  Disagreement (14)  |  Game (104)  |  Kind (564)  |  Logic (311)  |  Looking (191)  |  Matter (821)  |  Think (1122)

I am pessimistic about the human race because it is too ingenious for its own good. Our approach to nature is to beat it into submission. We would stand a better chance of survival if we accommodated ourselves to this planet and viewed it appreciatively instead of skeptically and dictatorially.
Epigraph in Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962), vii.
Science quotes on:  |  Accommodate (17)  |  Appreciatively (2)  |  Approach (112)  |  Beat (42)  |  Better (493)  |  Chance (244)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Instead (23)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Planet (402)  |  Race (278)  |  Skeptical (21)  |  Stand (284)  |  Submission (4)  |  Survival (105)

I am quite sure that our views on evolution would be very different had biologists studied genetics and natural selection before and not after most of them were convinced that evolution had occurred.
Attributed.
Science quotes on:  |  Biologist (70)  |  Different (595)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Selection (130)

I came into the room, which was half dark, and presently spotted Lord Kelvin in the audience and realised that I was in for trouble at the last part of my speech dealing with the age of the earth, where my views conflicted with his. To my relief, Kelvin fell fast asleep, but as I came to the important point, I saw the old bird sit up, open an eye and cock a baleful glance at me! Then a sudden inspiration came, and I said Lord Kelvin had limited the age of the earth, provided no new source was discovered. That prophetic utterance refers to what we are now considering tonight, radium! Behold! the old boy beamed upon me.
The italicized phrase refers to “no new source” of energy. Concerning a Lecture by Rutherford, at the Royal Institution, dealing with the energy of subterranean radium, which had an effect prolonging the heat of the Earth. Arthur S. Eve wrote that Rutherford “used to tell humorous stories about this lecture long afterwards:” — followed by the subject quote above, as its own paragraph. As given in Arthur S. Eve, Rutherford: Being the Life and Letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, O.M. (1939), 107. The story lacks quotation marks, and thus should be regarded as perhaps Eve’s own words giving a faithful recollection, rather than Rutherford’s verbatim words. (However, note that the style used throughout the book is to omit quotation marks from their own separate paragraph.)
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Audience (28)  |  Beam (26)  |  Bird (163)  |  Boy (100)  |  Cock (6)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Dark (145)  |  Discover (571)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Energy (373)  |  Eye (440)  |  Glance (36)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Last (425)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Lord (97)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Open (277)  |  Point (584)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Radium (29)  |  Relief (30)  |  Saw (160)  |  Speech (66)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Tonight (9)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Utterance (11)

I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.
Letter to Asa Gray (22 May 1860). In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), Charles Darwin: His Life Told in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters (1892), 236.
Science quotes on:  |  Bad (185)  |  Belief (615)  |  Brute (30)  |  Brute Force (4)  |  Call (781)  |  Chance (244)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Content (75)  |  Design (203)  |  Detail (150)  |  Dog (70)  |  Everything (489)  |  Feel (371)  |  Force (497)  |  Good (906)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Intellect (32)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Law (913)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Man (8)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Notion (120)  |  Profound (105)  |  Result (700)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Subject (543)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wonderful (155)

I cannot judge my work while I am doing it. I have to do as painters do, stand back and view it from a distance, but not too great a distance. How great? Guess.
Quoted without citation in W.H. Auden and L. Kronenberger (eds.) The Viking Book of Aphorisms (1966), 291. Webmaster has tried without success to locate a primary source. Can you help?
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guess (67)  |  Judge (114)  |  Painter (30)  |  Stand (284)  |  Work (1402)

I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state, such as it was on leaving the manufactory. The long serpent, covered with the remains of shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted with a strong coating which served as a protection against all boring mollusks. It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and under a favorable pressure for the transmission of the electric spark which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second. Doubtless this cable will last for a great length of time, for they find that the gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea water.
[Referring to the Transatlantic telegraph cable laid in 1866, as viewed from the fictional submarine Nautilus.]
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Seas, (1874), 285. Translated from the original French edition, Vingt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers (1870).
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  America (143)  |  Boring (7)  |  Cable (11)  |  Covering (14)  |  Electric (76)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Europe (50)  |  Expect (203)  |  Favorable (24)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Gutta-Percha (2)  |  Last (425)  |  Long (778)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Mollusk (6)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nautilus (2)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Protection (41)  |  Remain (355)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shell (69)  |  Shelter (23)  |  Spark (32)  |  State (505)  |  Strong (182)  |  Submarine (12)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transatlantic (4)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)

I do not value any view of the universe into which man and the institutions of man enter very largely and absorb much of the attention. Man is but the place where I stand, and the prospect hence is infinite.
Journal, April 2, 1852.
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Attention (196)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enter (145)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Institution (73)  |  Man (2252)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Stand (284)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)

I feel that the recent ruling of the United States Army and Navy regarding the refusal of colored blood donors is an indefensible one from any point of view. As you know, there is no scientific basis for the separation of the bloods of different races except on the basis of the individual blood types or groups. (1942)
Spencie Love, One Blood: The Death and Resurrection of Charles R. Drew (1996), 155-56, quoting as it appeared in Current Biography (1944), 180.
Science quotes on:  |  Army (35)  |  Basis (180)  |  Blood (144)  |  Color (155)  |  Different (595)  |  Feel (371)  |  Group (83)  |  Individual (420)  |  Know (1538)  |  Navy (10)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Race (278)  |  Recent (78)  |  Refusal (23)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Separation (60)  |  State (505)  |  Type (171)  |  United States (31)

I have a friendly feeling towards pigs generally, and consider them the most intelligent of beasts, not excepting the elephant and the anthropoid ape—the dog is not to be mentioned in this connection. I also like his disposition and attitude towards all other creatures, especially man. He is not suspicious, or shrinkingly submissive, like horses, cattle, and sheep; nor an impudent devil-may-care like the goat; nor hostile like the goose; nor condescending like the cat; nor a flattering parasite like the dog. He views us from a totally different, a sort of democratic, standpoint as fellow-citizens and brothers, and takes it for granted, or grunted, that we understand his language, and without servility or insolence he has a natural, pleasant, camerados-all or hail-fellow-well-met air with us.
In The Book of a Naturalist (1919), 295-296.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Anthropoid (9)  |  Ape (54)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Beast (58)  |  Brother (47)  |  Care (203)  |  Cat (52)  |  Cattle (18)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Comrade (4)  |  Connection (171)  |  Consider (428)  |  Cow (42)  |  Creature (242)  |  Democratic (12)  |  Devil (34)  |  Different (595)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Dog (70)  |  Elephant (35)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Flattery (7)  |  Goat (9)  |  Goose (13)  |  Grant (76)  |  Grunt (3)  |  Horse (78)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Language (308)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mention (84)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parasite (33)  |  Pig (8)  |  Pleasant (22)  |  Sheep (13)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Understand (648)

I have before mentioned mathematics, wherein algebra gives new helps and views to the understanding. If I propose these it is not to make every man a thorough mathematician or deep algebraist; but yet I think the study of them is of infinite use even to grown men; first by experimentally convincing them, that to make anyone reason well, it is not enough to have parts wherewith he is satisfied, and that serve him well enough in his ordinary course. A man in those studies will see, that however good he may think his understanding, yet in many things, and those very visible, it may fail him. This would take off that presumption that most men have of themselves in this part; and they would not be so apt to think their minds wanted no helps to enlarge them, that there could be nothing added to the acuteness and penetration of their understanding.
In The Conduct of the Understanding, Sect. 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Acuteness (3)  |  Add (42)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Anyone (38)  |  Apt (9)  |  Convince (43)  |  Course (413)  |  Deep (241)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Enough (341)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Fail (191)  |  First (1302)  |  Good (906)  |  Grow (247)  |  Help (116)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mention (84)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Part (235)  |  Penetration (18)  |  Presumption (15)  |  Propose (24)  |  Reason (766)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  See (1094)  |  Serve (64)  |  Study (701)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Use (771)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Visible (87)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)

I have learnt that all our theories are not Truth itself, but resting places or stages on the way to the conquest of Truth, and that we must be contented to have obtained for the strivers after Truth such a resting place which, if it is on a mountain, permits us to view the provinces already won and those still to be conquered.
Liebig to Gilbert (25 Dec 1870). Rothamsted Archives. Quotation supplied by W. H. Brock.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Permit (61)  |  Province (37)  |  Stage (152)  |  Still (614)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Way (1214)

I have reviewed this work elsewhere under the title 'Natural Products Chemistry 1950 to 1980-A Personal View.' It is with some relish that I recall the flood of reprint requests prompted by the following footnote on the title page: 'Selected personal statements by the author were removed by the editor without Professor Djerassi's consent. An uncensored version of this paper can be obtained by writing to Professor C. Djerassi'.
Steroids Made it Possible (1990), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Consent (14)  |  Flood (52)  |  Natural (810)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Paper (192)  |  Product (166)  |  Professor (133)  |  Prompt (14)  |  Publication (102)  |  Relish (4)  |  Review (27)  |  Select (45)  |  Statement (148)  |  Work (1402)  |  Writing (192)

I have written many direct and indirect arguments for the Copernican view, but until now I have not dared to publish them, alarmed by the fate of Copernicus himself, our master. He has won for himself undying fame in the eyes of a few, but he has been mocked and hooted at by an infinite multitude (for so large is the number of fools). I would dare to come forward publicly with my ideas if there were more people of your [Johannes Kepler’s] way of thinking. As this is not the case, I shall refrain.
Letter to Kepler (4 Aug 1597). In James Bruce Ross (ed.) and Mary Martin (ed., trans.), 'Comrades in the Pursuit of Truth', The Portable Renaissance Reader (1953, 1981), 597-599. As quoted and cited in Merry E. Wiesner, Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789 (2013), 377.
Science quotes on:  |  Alarm (19)  |  Argument (145)  |  Copernican (3)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Dare (55)  |  Direct (228)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fame (51)  |  Fate (76)  |  Fool (121)  |  Forward (104)  |  Himself (461)  |  Hoot (2)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indirect (18)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Large (398)  |  Master (182)  |  Mock (7)  |  More (2558)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Number (710)  |  People (1031)  |  Publish (42)  |  Refrain (9)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Way (1214)  |  Write (250)

I read them. Not to grade them. No, I read them to see how I am doing. Where am I failing? What don’t they understand? Why do they give wrong answers? Why do they have some point of view that I don’t think is right? Where am I failing? Where do I need to build up.
In The Essential Deming.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Build (211)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Fail (191)  |  Grade (12)  |  Monitor (10)  |  Need (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Read (308)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Think (1122)  |  Understand (648)  |  Why (491)  |  Wrong (246)

I recognize that to view the Earth as if it were alive is just a convenient, but different, way of organizing the facts of the Earth. I am, of course, prejudiced in favour of Gaia and have filled my life for the past 25 years with the thought that the Earth might be in certain ways be alive—not as the ancients saw her, a sentient goddess with purpose and foresight—more like a tree. A tree that exists, never moving except to sway in the wind, yet endlessly conversing with the sunlight and the soil. Using sunlight and water and nutrients to grow and change. But all done so imperceptibly that, to me, the old oak tree on the green is the same as it was when I was a child.
In Healing Gaia: Practical Medicine for the Planet (1991), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Child (333)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Converse (9)  |  Different (595)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Endlessly (4)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Favor (69)  |  Fill (67)  |  Foresight (8)  |  Gaia (15)  |  Goddess (9)  |  Green (65)  |  Grow (247)  |  Imperceptibly (2)  |  Life (1870)  |  Move (223)  |  Nutrient (8)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Old (499)  |  Organize (33)  |  Past (355)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Same (166)  |  See (1094)  |  Sentient (8)  |  Soil (98)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Sway (5)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tree (269)  |  Water (503)  |  Wind (141)  |  Year (963)

I require a term to express those bodies which can pass to the electrodes, or, as they are usually called, the poles. Substances are frequently spoken of as being electro-negative, or electro-positive, according as they go under the supposed influence of a direct attraction to the positive or negative pole. But these terms are much too significant for the use to which I should have to put them; for though the meanings are perhaps right, they are only hypothetical, and may be wrong; and then, through a very imperceptible, but still very dangerous, because continual, influence, they do great injury to science, by contracting and limiting the habitual view of those engaged in pursuing it. I propose to distinguish these bodies by calling those anions which go to the anode of the decomposing body; and those passing to the cathode, cations; and when I have occasion to speak of these together, I shall call them ions.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1834, 124, 79.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Anion (3)  |  Anode (4)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Call (781)  |  Cation (3)  |  Continual (44)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Direct (228)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Do (1905)  |  Electrolysis (8)  |  Express (192)  |  Great (1610)  |  Influence (231)  |  Injury (36)  |  Ion (21)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Negative (66)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Pass (241)  |  Passing (76)  |  Pole (49)  |  Positive (98)  |  Pursuing (27)  |  Require (229)  |  Right (473)  |  Significant (78)  |  Speak (240)  |  Still (614)  |  Substance (253)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Wrong (246)

I see no good reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of anyone.
In Origin of Species (1860), 417.
Science quotes on:  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Good (906)  |  Reason (766)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  See (1094)  |  Shock (38)  |  Why (491)

I see no good reason why the views given this volume [The Origin of Species] should shock the religious feelings of any one. It is satisfactory, as showing how transient such impressions are, to remember that the greatest discovery ever made by man, namely, the law of attraction of gravity, was also attacked by Leibnitz, “as subversive of natural, and inferentially of revealed, religion.”
The Origin of Species (1909), 520.
Science quotes on:  |  Attack (86)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Good (906)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Impression (118)  |  Law (913)  |  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (51)  |  Man (2252)  |  Natural (810)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Species (42)  |  Reason (766)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remember (189)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  See (1094)  |  Shock (38)  |  Species (435)  |  Transient (13)  |  Why (491)

I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel.
In 'Good-bye to Forty-eighth Street', The New Yorker (1957), 33, 163. After visiting a state fair.
Science quotes on:  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Promise (72)  |  See (1094)  |  Space (523)  |  Wheel (51)

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)  |  Fun (42)  |  Lot (151)  |  Most (1728)  |  Space (523)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Two (936)  |  Weightlessness (2)

I thought that the wisdom of our City had certainly designed the laudable practice of taking and distributing these accompts [parish records of christenings and deaths] for other and greater uses than [merely casual comments], or, at least, that some other uses might be made of them; and thereupon I ... could, and (to be short) to furnish myself with as much matter of that kind ... the which when I had reduced into tables ... so as to have a view of the whole together, in order to the more ready comparing of one Year, Season, Parish, or other Division of the City, with another, in respect of all Burials and Christnings, and of all the Diseases and Casualties happening in each of them respectively...
Moreover, finding some Truths and not-commonly-believed opinions to arise from my meditations upon these neglected Papers, I proceeded further to consider what benefit the knowledge of the same would bring to the world, ... with some real fruit from those ayrie blossoms.
From Natural and Political Observations Mentioned in a Following Index and Made upon Bills of Mortality (1662), Preface. Reproduced in Cornelius Walford, The Insurance Cyclopaedia (1871), Vol. 1, 286-287.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Arise (162)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Blossom (22)  |  Burial (8)  |  Casualty (3)  |  Certainly (185)  |  City (87)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Consider (428)  |  Data (162)  |  Death (406)  |  Design (203)  |  Disease (340)  |  Division (67)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Greater (288)  |  Happening (59)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Matter (821)  |  Meditation (19)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Neglected (23)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Practice (212)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Record (161)  |  Respect (212)  |  Respectively (13)  |  Season (47)  |  Short (200)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Table (105)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

I took this view of the subject. The medulla spinalis has a central division, and also a distinction into anterior and posterior fasciculi, corresponding with the anterior and posterior portions of the brain. Further we can trace down the crura of the cerebrum into the anterior fasciculus of the spinal marrow, and the crura of the cerebellum into the posterior fasciculus. I thought that here I might have an opportunity of touching the cerebellum, as it were, through the posterior portion of the spinal marrow, and the cerebrum by the anterior portion. To this end I made experiments which, though they were not conclusive, encouraged me in the view I had taken. I found that injury done to the anterior portion of the spinal marrow, convulsed the animal more certainly than injury done to the posterior portion; but I found it difficult to make the experiment without injuring both portions.
Idea of a New Anatomy of the Brain (1811), 21-22.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Both (496)  |  Brain (281)  |  Central (81)  |  Cerebellum (4)  |  Cerebrum (10)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Conclusive (11)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Division (67)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Injury (36)  |  More (2558)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Portion (86)  |  Posterior (7)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Touching (16)  |  Trace (109)

I turn my eyes to the schools & universities of Europe
And there behold the loom of Locke whose woof rages dire,
Washed by the water-wheels of Newton. Black the cloth
In heavy wreaths folds over every nation; cruel works
Of many wheels I view, wheel without wheel, with cogs tyrannic
Moving by compulsion each other: not as those in Eden, which
Wheel within wheel in freedom revolve, in harmony & peace.
'Jerusalem, The Emanation of the Giant Albion' (1804-20), First Chapter, Pl.15, lines 14-20. In W. H. Stevenson (ed.), The Poems of William Blake (1971), 654-55.
Science quotes on:  |  Cog (7)  |  Compulsion (19)  |  Cruel (25)  |  Dire (6)  |  Education (423)  |  Eye (440)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Harmony (105)  |  John Locke (61)  |  Loom (20)  |  Nation (208)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peace (116)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Revolve (26)  |  School (227)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wash (23)  |  Water (503)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Work (1402)

I view the major features of my own odyssey as a set of mostly fortunate contingencies. I was not destined by inherited mentality or family tradition to become a paleontologist. I can locate no tradition for scientific or intellectual careers anywhere on either side of my eastern European Jewish background ... I view my serious and lifelong commitment to baseball in entirely the same manner: purely as a contingent circumstance of numerous, albeit not entirely capricious, accidents.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Anywhere (16)  |  Background (44)  |  Baseball (3)  |  Become (821)  |  Capricious (9)  |  Career (86)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Contingency (11)  |  Contingent (12)  |  Destined (42)  |  Eastern (3)  |  Entirely (36)  |  European (5)  |  Family (101)  |  Feature (49)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Inherit (35)  |  Inherited (21)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Jewish (15)  |  Lifelong (10)  |  Locate (7)  |  Major (88)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mentality (5)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Paleontologist (19)  |  Purely (111)  |  Same (166)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Serious (98)  |  Set (400)  |  Side (236)  |  Tradition (76)

I was aware of Darwin's views fourteen years before I adopted them and I have done so solely and entirely from an independent study of the plants themselves.
Letter to W.H. Harvey (c. 1860), in L. Huxley, Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1918), Vol. 1, 520. As cited in Charles Coulston Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1972), 490, footnote 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Awareness (42)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Fourteen (2)  |  Independent (74)  |  Plant (320)  |  Solely (9)  |  Study (701)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Year (963)

I well know what a spendidly great difference there is [between] a man and a bestia when I look at them from a point of view of morality. Man is the animal which the Creator has seen fit to honor with such a magnificent mind and has condescended to adopt as his favorite and for which he has prepared a nobler life; indeed, sent out for its salvation his only son; but all this belongs to another forum; it behooves me like a cobbler to stick to my last, in my own workshop, and as a naturalist to consider man and his body, for I know scarcely one feature by which man can be distinguished from apes, if it be not that all the apes have a gap between their fangs and their other teeth, which will be shown by the results of further investigation.
T. Fredbärj (ed.), Menniskans Cousiner (Valda Avhandlingar av Carl von Linné nr, 21) (1955), 4. Trans. Gunnar Broberg, 'Linnaeus's Classification of Man', in Tore Frängsmyr (ed.), Linnaeus: The Man and his Work (1983), 167.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Ape (54)  |  Beast (58)  |  Behoove (6)  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |  Consider (428)  |  Creator (97)  |  Difference (355)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Favorite (37)  |  Fit (139)  |  Gap (36)  |  Great (1610)  |  Honor (57)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Result (700)  |  Salvation (13)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Teeth (43)  |  Will (2350)  |  Workshop (14)

I’m convinced that the best solutions are often the ones that are counterintuitive—that challenge conventional thinking—and end in breakthroughs. It is always easier to do things the same old way … why change? To fight this, keep your dissatisfaction index high and break with tradition. Don’t be too quick to accept the way things are being done. Question whether there’s a better way. Very often you will find that once you make this break from the usual way - and incidentally, this is probably the hardest thing to do—and start on a new track your horizon of new thoughts immediately broadens. New ideas flow in like water. Always keep your interests broad - don’t let your mind be stunted by a limited view.
1988
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Break (109)  |  Breakthrough (18)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Change (639)  |  Conventional (31)  |  Counterintuitive (4)  |  Dissatisfaction (13)  |  Do (1905)  |  Easier (53)  |  End (603)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flow (89)  |  High (370)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Innovation (49)  |  Interest (416)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mind (1377)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Question (649)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Start (237)  |  Stunt (7)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Track (42)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)

I’ve always been inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, who articulated his Dream of an America where people are judged not by skin color but “by the content of their character.” In the scientific world, people are judged by the content of their ideas. Advances are made with new insights, but the final arbitrator of any point of view are experiments that seek the unbiased truth, not information cherry picked to support a particular point of view.
In letter (1 Feb 2013) to Energy Department employees announcing his decision not to serve a second term.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  America (143)  |  Articulate (8)  |  Character (259)  |  Color (155)  |  Content (75)  |  Dream (222)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Final (121)  |  Idea (881)  |  Information (173)  |  Insight (107)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Judge (114)  |  Martin Luther King, Jr. (17)  |  New (1273)  |  Particular (80)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seek (218)  |  Skin (48)  |  Support (151)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unbiased (7)  |  World (1850)

If a mathematician of the past, an Archimedes or even a Descartes, could view the field of geometry in its present condition, the first feature to impress him would be its lack of concreteness. There are whole classes of geometric theories which proceed not only without models and diagrams, but without the slightest (apparent) use of spatial intuition. In the main this is due, to the power of the analytic instruments of investigations as compared with the purely geometric.
In 'The Present Problems in Geometry', Bulletin American Mathematical Society (1906), 286.
Science quotes on:  |  Analytic (11)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Class (168)  |  Compare (76)  |  Concreteness (5)  |  Condition (362)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Diagram (20)  |  Due (143)  |  Feature (49)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Geometric (5)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Impress (66)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Lack (127)  |  Main (29)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Model (106)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Past (355)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Purely (111)  |  Slight (32)  |  Spatial (10)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Use (771)  |  Whole (756)

If a specific question has meaning, it must be possible to find operations by which an answer may be given to it ... I believe that many of the questions asked about social and philosophical subjects will be found to be meaningless when examined from the point of view of operations.
The Logic of Modern Physics (1960), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Find (1014)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Must (1525)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possible (560)  |  Question (649)  |  Social (261)  |  Specific (98)  |  Subject (543)  |  Will (2350)

If arithmetical skill is the measure of intelligence, then computers have been more intelligent than all human beings all along. If the ability to play chess is the measure, then there are computers now in existence that are more intelligent than any but a very few human beings. However, if insight, intuition, creativity, the ability to view a problem as a whole and guess the answer by the “feel” of the situation, is a measure of intelligence, computers are very unintelligent indeed. Nor can we see right now how this deficiency in computers can be easily remedied, since human beings cannot program a computer to be intuitive or creative for the very good reason that we do not know what we ourselves do when we exercise these qualities.
In Machines That Think (1983).
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Answer (389)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chess (27)  |  Computer (131)  |  Creative (144)  |  Creativity (84)  |  Deficiency (15)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feel (371)  |  Good (906)  |  Guess (67)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Insight (107)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Know (1538)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reason (766)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Situation (117)  |  Skill (116)  |  Whole (756)

If it is true as Whewell says, that the essence of the triumphs of Science and its progress consists in that it enables us to consider evident and necessary, views which our ancestors held to be unintelligible and were unable to comprehend, then the extension of the number concept to include the irrational, and we will at once add, the imaginary, is the greatest forward step which pure mathematics has ever taken.
In Theorie der Complexen Zahlensysteme (1867), 60. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 281. From the original German, “Wenn es wahr ist, dass, wie Whewell meint, das Wesen der Triumphe der Wissenschaft und ihres Fortschrittes darin besteht, dass wir veranlasst werden, Ansichten, welche unsere Vorfahren für unbegreiflich hielten und unfähig waren zu begreifen, für evident und nothwendig zu halten, so war die Erweiterung des Zahlenbegriffes auf das Irrationale, und wollen wir sogleich hinzufügen, das Imaginäre, der grösste Fortschritt, den die reine Mathematik jemals gemacht hat.”
Science quotes on:  |  Add (42)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Concept (242)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consist (223)  |  Enable (122)  |  Essence (85)  |  Evident (92)  |  Extension (60)  |  Forward (104)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Imaginary Number (6)  |  Include (93)  |  Irrational (16)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Number (710)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Say (989)  |  Step (234)  |  Triumph (76)  |  True (239)  |  Unable (25)  |  Unintelligible (17)  |  William Whewell (70)  |  Will (2350)

If physics leads us today to a world view which is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning, 2,500 years ago. ... This time, however, it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.
In The Tao of Physics (1975), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Formalism (7)  |  Great (1610)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Lead (391)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mysticism (14)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Precision (72)  |  Return (133)  |  Rigor (29)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Sophistication (12)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

If the study of all these sciences which we have enumerated, should ever bring us to their mutual association and relationship, and teach us the nature of the ties which bind them together, I believe that the diligent treatment of them will forward the objects which we have in view, and that the labor, which otherwise would be fruitless, will be well bestowed.
Plato
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Association (49)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bestow (18)  |  Bind (26)  |  Bring (95)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Enumerate (3)  |  Forward (104)  |  Fruitless (9)  |  Labor (200)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Study (701)  |  Teach (299)  |  Tie (42)  |  Together (392)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Will (2350)

If the views we have ventured to advance be correct, we may almost consider {greek words} of the ancients to be realised in hydrogen, an opinion, by the by, not altogether new. If we actually consider the specific gravities of bodies in their gaseous state to represent the number of volumes condensed into one; or in other words, the number of the absolute weight of a single volume of the first matter ({greek words}) which they contain, which is extremely probable, multiples in weight must always indicate multiples in volume, and vice versa; and the specific gravities, or absolute weights of all bodies in a gaseous state, must be multiples of the specific gravity or absolute weight of the first matter, ({Greek words}), because all bodies in the gaseous state which unite with one another unite with reference to their volume.
'Correction of a Mistake in the Essay on the Relation between the Specific Gravities of Bodies in their Gaseous State and the Weights of their Atoms', Annals of Philosophy (1816), 7, 113.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Advance (298)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Body (557)  |  Condensation (12)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Correctness (12)  |  First (1302)  |  Gas (89)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greek (109)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Matter (821)  |  Multiple (19)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Realization (44)  |  Represent (157)  |  Single (365)  |  Specific (98)  |  Specific Gravity (2)  |  State (505)  |  Unite (43)  |  Venture (19)  |  Vice (42)  |  Volume (25)  |  Weight (140)  |  Word (650)

If we ascribe the ejection of the proton to a Compton recoil from a quantum of 52 x 106 electron volts, then the nitrogen recoil atom arising by a similar process should have an energy not greater than about 400,000 volts, should produce not more than about 10,000 ions, and have a range in the air at N.T.P. of about 1-3mm. Actually, some of the recoil atoms in nitrogen produce at least 30,000 ions. In collaboration with Dr. Feather, I have observed the recoil atoms in an expansion chamber, and their range, estimated visually, was sometimes as much as 3mm. at N.T.P.
These results, and others I have obtained in the course of the work, are very difficult to explain on the assumption that the radiation from beryllium is a quantum radiation, if energy and momentum are to be conserved in the collisions. The difficulties disappear, however, if it be assumed that the radiation consists of particles of mass 1 and charge 0, or neutrons. The capture of the a-particle by the Be9 nucleus may be supposed to result in the formation of a C12 nucleus and the emission of the neutron. From the energy relations of this process the velocity of the neutron emitted in the forward direction may well be about 3 x 109 cm. per sec. The collisions of this neutron with the atoms through which it passes give rise to the recoil atoms, and the observed energies of the recoil atoms are in fair agreement with this view. Moreover, I have observed that the protons ejected from hydrogen by the radiation emitted in the opposite direction to that of the exciting a-particle appear to have a much smaller range than those ejected by the forward radiation.
This again receives a simple explanation on the neutron hypothesis.
'Possible Existence of a Neutron', Letter to the Editor, Nature, 1932, 129, 312.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Air (366)  |  Arising (22)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Atom (381)  |  Beryllium (3)  |  Charge (63)  |  Collaboration (16)  |  Collision (16)  |  Consist (223)  |  Course (413)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direction (185)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Electron (96)  |  Energy (373)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Formation (100)  |  Forward (104)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Ion (21)  |  Mass (160)  |  Momentum (10)  |  More (2558)  |  Neutron (23)  |  Nitrogen (32)  |  Nucleus (54)  |  Observed (149)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particle (200)  |  Process (439)  |  Proton (23)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Range (104)  |  Receive (117)  |  Result (700)  |  Rise (169)  |  Simple (426)  |  Through (846)  |  Velocity (51)  |  Work (1402)

If we knew all the laws of Nature, we should need only one fact or the description of one actual phenomenon to infer all the particular results at that point. Now we know only a few laws, and our result is vitiated, not, of course, by any confusion or irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation. Our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect, but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but really concurring, laws which we have not detected, is still more wonderful. The particular laws are as our points of view, as to the traveler, a mountain outline varies with every step, and it has an infinite number of profiles, though absolutely but one form. Even when cleft or bored through, it is not comprehended in its entireness.
In Walden (1878), 311.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Actual (118)  |  Bored (5)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Commonly (9)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Concur (2)  |  Confine (26)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Conflicting (13)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Course (413)  |  Description (89)  |  Detect (45)  |  Element (322)  |  Essential (210)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Far (158)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Infer (12)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Instance (33)  |  Irregularity (12)  |  Know (1538)  |  Law (913)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Need (320)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Outline (13)  |  Particular (80)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Point (584)  |  Really (77)  |  Result (700)  |  Seemingly (28)  |  Step (234)  |  Still (614)  |  Through (846)  |  Traveler (33)  |  Vary (27)  |  Wonderful (155)

If we view mathematical speculations with reference to their use, it appears that they should be divided into two classes. To the first belong those which furnish some marked advantage either to common life or to some art, and the value of such is usually determined by the magnitude of this advantage. The other class embraces those speculations which, though offering no direct advantage, are nevertheless valuable in that they extend the boundaries of analysis and increase our resources and skill. Now since many investigations, from which great advantage may be expected, must be abandoned solely because of the imperfection of analysis, no small value should be assigned to those speculations which promise to enlarge the field of anaylsis.
In Novi Comm. Petr., Vol. 4, Preface.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Appear (122)  |  Art (680)  |  Assign (15)  |  Belong (168)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Class (168)  |  Common (447)  |  Determine (152)  |  Direct (228)  |  Divide (77)  |  Divided (50)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Expect (203)  |  Extend (129)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Great (1610)  |  Imperfection (32)  |  Increase (225)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Life (1870)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Mark (47)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Offer (142)  |  Other (2233)  |  Promise (72)  |  Reference (33)  |  Resource (74)  |  Skill (116)  |  Small (489)  |  Solely (9)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Value (393)

If we would indicate an idea … striving to remove the barriers which prejudice and limited views of every kind have erected among men, and to treat all mankind, without reference to religion, nation, or color, as one fraternity, one great community, fitted for the attainment of one object, the unrestrained development of the physical powers. This is the ultimate and highest aim of society.
In Ueber die Kawi-Sprache, Vol. 3, 426. As quoted in Alexander von Humboldt, Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (1850), Vol. 1, 358, as translated by Elise C. Otté.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Barrier (34)  |  Color (155)  |  Community (111)  |  Development (441)  |  Fraternity (4)  |  Great (1610)  |  Highest (19)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Kind (564)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Nation (208)  |  Object (438)  |  Physical (518)  |  Power (771)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Religion (369)  |  Remove (50)  |  Society (350)  |  Strive (53)  |  Treat (38)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Unrestrained (4)

If you could meet your grandkids as elderly citizens in the year 2100 … you would view them as being, basically, Greek gods… that's where we're headed.
In Brian Bolduc, 'Captain Michio and the World of Tomorrow', The Wall Street Journal (9 March 2012)
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Elderly (2)  |  God (776)  |  Grandchild (3)  |  Greek (109)  |  Heading (2)  |  Year (963)

If you do not agree with the prevalent point of view, be ready to explain why.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Why (491)

If, in the course of a thousand or two thousand years, science arrives at the necessity of renewing its points of view, that will not mean that science is a liar. Science cannot lie, for it’s always striving, according to the momentary state of knowledge, to deduce what is true. When it makes a mistake, it does so in good faith. It’s Christianity that’s the liar. It’s in perpetual conflict with itself.
In Adolf Hitler, Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, translated by Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens, '14 October 1941', Secret Conversations (1941 - 1944) (1953), 51
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Course (413)  |  Error (339)  |  Faith (209)  |  Good (906)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Point (584)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  State (505)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

In a sense cosmology contains all subjects because it is the story of everything, including biology, psychology and human history. In that single sense it can be said to contain an explanation also of time's arrow. But this is not what is meant by those who advocate the cosmological explanation of irreversibility. They imply that in some way the time arrow of cosmology imposes its sense on the thermodynamic arrow. I wish to disagree with this view. The explanation assumes that the universe is expanding. While this is current orthodoxy, there is no certainty about it. The red-shifts might be due to quite different causes. For example, when light passes through the expanding clouds of gas it will be red-shifted. A large number of such clouds might one day be invoked to explain these red shifts. It seems an odd procedure to attempt to 'explain' everyday occurrences, such as the diffusion of milk into coffee, by means of theories of the universe which are themselves less firmly established than the phenomena to be explained. Most people believe in explaining one set of things in terms of others about which they are more certain, and the explanation of normal irreversible phenomena in terms of the cosmological expansion is not in this category.
'Thermodynamics, Cosmology) and the Physical Constants', in J. T. Fraser (ed.), The Study of Time III (1973), 117-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Advocate (20)  |  Arrow (22)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Biology (232)  |  Category (19)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Coffee (21)  |  Cosmological (11)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Current (122)  |  Different (595)  |  Diffusion (13)  |  Due (143)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everything (489)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Gas (89)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Irreversibility (4)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Large (398)  |  Light (635)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Milk (23)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Orthodoxy (11)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Procedure (48)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Red-Shift (4)  |  Sense (785)  |  Set (400)  |  Shift (45)  |  Single (365)  |  Story (122)  |  Subject (543)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thermodynamics (40)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)

In a sense, the galaxy hardest for us to see is our own. For one thing, we are imprisoned within it, while the others can be viewed as a whole from outside… . Furthermore, we are far out from the center, and to make matters worse, we lie in a spiral arm clogged with dust. In other words, we are on a low roof on the outskirts of the city on a foggy day.
In The Intelligent Man's Guide to the Physical Sciences (1960, 1968), 64. Also in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 185.
Science quotes on:  |  Arm (82)  |  Center (35)  |  City (87)  |  Clog (5)  |  Dust (68)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Hardest (3)  |  Imprison (11)  |  Lie (370)  |  Low (86)  |  Matter (821)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  Outskirts (2)  |  Roof (14)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Spiral (19)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Whole (756)  |  Word (650)

In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying, that ‘a man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants,’ has been an inspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and others. This feeling mercifully not only mitigates the sense of responsibility which so easily becomes paralysing, and it prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too seriously; it conduces to a view of life in which humour, above all, has its due place.
In The World As I See It (1934), 238.
Science quotes on:  |  Accordance (10)  |  Act (278)  |  Become (821)  |  Compulsion (19)  |  Conduce (2)  |  Consolation (9)  |  Continual (44)  |  Definitely (5)  |  Do (1905)  |  Due (143)  |  Easily (36)  |  Everybody (72)  |  External (62)  |  Face (214)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Hardship (4)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humour (116)  |  Inner (72)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mitigate (5)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Patience (58)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosophical (24)  |  Place (192)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Say (989)  |  Schopenhauer (6)  |  Schopenhauers (2)  |  Sense (785)  |  Seriously (20)  |  Spring (140)  |  Unfailing (6)  |  View Of Life (7)  |  Will (2350)  |  Youth (109)

In July [1837] opened first note-book on Transmutation of Species. Had been greatly struck from about the month of previous March on character of South American fossils, and species on Galapagos Archipelago. These facts (especially latter), origin of all my views.
In Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Including an Autobiographical Chapter (1888), Vol. 1, 276.
Science quotes on:  |  Archipelago (7)  |  Beagle (14)  |  Book (413)  |  Character (259)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Galapagos (5)  |  March (48)  |  Month (91)  |  Open (277)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Species (42)  |  South (39)  |  Species (435)  |  Transmutation (24)

In mathematics two ends are constantly kept in view: First, stimulation of the inventive faculty, exercise of judgment, development of logical reasoning, and the habit of concise statement; second, the association of the branches of pure mathematics with each other and with applied science, that the pupil may see clearly the true relations of principles and things.
In 'Aim of the Mathematical Instruction', International Commission on Teaching of Mathematics, American Report: United States Bureau of Education: Bulletin 1912, No. 4, 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Associate (25)  |  Association (49)  |  Branch (155)  |  Concise (9)  |  Development (441)  |  End (603)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Faculty (76)  |  First (1302)  |  Habit (174)  |  Invention (400)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Other (2233)  |  Principle (530)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Relation (166)  |  See (1094)  |  Statement (148)  |  Stimulation (18)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)

In my own view, some advice about what should be known, about what technical education should be acquired, about the intense motivation needed to succeed, and about the carelessness and inclination toward bias that must be avoided is far more useful than all the rules and warnings of theoretical logic.
From Reglas y Consejos sobre Investigacíon Cientifica: Los tónicos de la voluntad. (1897), as translated by Neely and Larry W. Swanson, in Advice for a Young Investigator (1999), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Advice (57)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Avoidance (11)  |  Bias (22)  |  Carelessness (7)  |  Education (423)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Logic (311)  |  More (2558)  |  Motivation (28)  |  Must (1525)  |  Rule (307)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Technical Education (3)  |  Technology (281)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Warning (18)

In my personal view, a failure to discover unimagined objects and answer unasked questions, once HST functions properly, would indicate a lack of imagination in stocking the Universe on the part of the Deity.
In Hubble Space Telescope flaw: hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, second session, July 13, 1990 (1990), 105.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Asking (74)  |  Deity (22)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Failure (176)  |  Function (235)  |  Functioning (4)  |  Hubble Space Telescope (9)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Lack (127)  |  Object (438)  |  Personal (75)  |  Question (649)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Stock (7)  |  Universe (900)

In my view, aiming at simplicity and lucidity is a moral duty of all intellectuals: lack of clarity is a sin, and pretentiousness is a crime.
Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach (1972), 44
Science quotes on:  |  Clarity (49)  |  Crime (39)  |  Duty (71)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Lack (127)  |  Lucidity (7)  |  Moral (203)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Sin (45)

In my view, the only recourse for a scientist concerned about the social consequences of his work is to remain involved with it to the end.
'Science and Social Responsibility: A Case Study', Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1972, 196, 223.
Science quotes on:  |  Concern (239)  |  Consequence (220)  |  End (603)  |  Involved (90)  |  Remain (355)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Responsibility (3)  |  Work (1402)

In my view, the proper attitude of a public-service broadcaster is that it should attempt to cover as broad as possible a spectrum of human interest and should measure success by the width of those views. There shouldn’t be all that large a number of gaps in the spectrum; and a major element in the spectrum is scientific understanding. The fact that it doesn’t necessarily get as big an audience as cookery is of no consequence.
From interview with Brian Cox and Robert Ince, in 'A Life Measured in Heartbeats', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Audience (28)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Education (423)  |  Element (322)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Gap (36)  |  Human (1512)  |  Interest (416)  |  Large (398)  |  Major (88)  |  Measure (241)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Number (710)  |  Possible (560)  |  Proper (150)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Service (110)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Success (327)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Width (5)

In my work I now have the comfortable feeling that I am so to speak on my own ground and territory and almost certainly not competing in an anxious race and that I shall not suddenly read in the literature that someone else had done it all long ago. It is really at this point that the pleasure of research begins, when one is, so to speak, alone with nature and no longer worries about human opinions, views and demands. To put it in a way that is more learned than clear: the philological aspect drops out and only the philosophical remains.
In Davis Baird, R.I.G. Hughes and Alfred Nordmann, Heinrich Hertz: Classical Physicist, Modern Philosopher (1998), 157.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Anxiety (30)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Competition (45)  |  Demand (131)  |  Drop (77)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Ground (222)  |  Human (1512)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Literature (116)  |  Long (778)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Point (584)  |  Race (278)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Remain (355)  |  Research (753)  |  Speak (240)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Territory (25)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

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. It’s very rare that a senator, say, replies, “That’s a good argument. I will now change my political affiliation.”
From keynote address at CSICOP conference, Pasadena, California (3 Apr 1987). Printed in 'The Burden of Skepticism', Skeptical Inquirer (1987), 12, No. 1. Collected in Kendrick Frazier (ed.), The Hundredth Monkey: And Other Paradigms of the Paranormal (1991), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Change (639)  |  Do (1905)  |  Good (906)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Hear (144)  |  Human (1512)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Never (1089)  |  Old (499)  |  Political (124)  |  Politics (122)  |  Rare (94)  |  Religion (369)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Something (718)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

In the endeavor to clearly comprehend and explain the functions of the combination of forces called “brain,” the physiologist is hindered and troubled by the views of the nature of those cerebral forces which the needs of dogmatic theology have imposed on mankind.
In 'General Conclusions, Anatomy of the Vertebrates (1868, 2011), Vol. 3, Chap 40, 823. Excerpt in Noah Porter (ed.), Half Hours with Modern Scientists (1872), 71.
Science quotes on:  |  Brain (281)  |  Call (781)  |  Combination (150)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Dogma (49)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Explain (334)  |  Force (497)  |  Function (235)  |  Hinder (12)  |  Impose (22)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physiologist (31)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Theology (54)

In the field of thinking, the whole history of science from geocentrism to the Copernican revolution, from the false absolutes of Aristotle’s physics to the relativity of Galileo’s principle of inertia and to Einstein’s theory of relativity, shows that it has taken centuries to liberate us from the systematic errors, from the illusions caused by the immediate point of view as opposed to “decentered” systematic thinking.
As quoted in D. E. Berlyne, Structure and Direction in Thinking (1965), 232.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Century (319)  |  Decentered (2)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Error (339)  |  False (105)  |  Field (378)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Inertia (17)  |  Liberate (10)  |  Oppose (27)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Principle (530)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Show (353)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Whole (756)

In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and repossession, and suffer his reason and feelings to determine for themselves; and that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of man, and generously enlarge his view beyond the present day.
In Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America (1792), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Character (259)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Determine (152)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Generous (17)  |  Himself (461)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Offer (142)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plain (34)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Preliminary (6)  |  Present (630)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simple (426)  |  Suffer (43)  |  Themselves (433)  |  True (239)  |  Will (2350)

In the history of science and throughout the whole course of its progress we see certain epochs following one another more or less rapidly. Some important view is expressed, it may be original or only revived; sooner or later it receives recognition; fellow-Workers spring up; the outcome of it finds its way into the schools; it is taught and handed down; and we observe, unhappily, that it does not in the least matter whether the view be true or false. In either case its course is the same; in either case it comes in the end to he a mere phrase, a lifeless word stamped on the memory.
In The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe (1906), 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Case (102)  |  Certain (557)  |  Course (413)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Express (192)  |  False (105)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Find (1014)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Important (229)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Matter (821)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mere (86)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Observe (179)  |  Original (61)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Progress (492)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Receive (117)  |  Recognition (93)  |  School (227)  |  See (1094)  |  Spring (140)  |  Stamp (36)  |  Teach (299)  |  Throughout (98)  |  True (239)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Word (650)

In the mathematical investigations I have usually employed such methods as present themselves naturally to a physicist. The pure mathematician will complain, and (it must be confessed) sometimes with justice, of deficient rigour. But to this question there are two sides. For, however important it may be to maintain a uniformly high standard in pure mathematics, the physicist may occasionally do well to rest content with arguments which are fairly satisfactory and conclusive from his point of view. To his mind, exercised in a different order of ideas, the more severe procedure of the pure mathematician may appear not more but less demonstrative. And further, in many cases of difficulty to insist upon the highest standard would mean the exclusion of the subject altogether in view of the space that would be required.
In Preface to second edition, The Theory of Sound (1894), Vol. 1, vii.
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Argument (145)  |  Complain (10)  |  Conclusive (11)  |  Confess (42)  |  Deficient (3)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Demonstrative (14)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Do (1905)  |  Employ (115)  |  Exclusion (16)  |  High (370)  |  Idea (881)  |  Insist (22)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Justice (40)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Order (638)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Procedure (48)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Question (649)  |  Required (108)  |  Rest (287)  |  Rigour (21)  |  Satisfactory (19)  |  Severe (17)  |  Side (236)  |  Space (523)  |  Standard (64)  |  Subject (543)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Two (936)  |  Usually (176)  |  Will (2350)

In the spring of 1760, [I] went to William and Mary college, where I continued two years. It was my great good fortune, and what probably fixed the destinies of my life, that Dr. William Small of Scotland, was then Professor of Mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of communication, correct and gentlemanly manners, and an enlarged and liberal mind. He, most happily for me, became soon attached to me, and made me his daily companion when not engaged in the school; and from his conversation I got my first views of the expansion of science, and of the system of things in which we are placed.
In Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Adgate Lipscomb (ed.), The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1904), Vol. 1, 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Attach (57)  |  Attached (36)  |  Biography (254)  |  College (71)  |  Communication (101)  |  Companion (22)  |  Conversation (46)  |  Daily (91)  |  Expansion (43)  |  First (1302)  |  Fortune (50)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happy (108)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Professor (133)  |  Profound (105)  |  School (227)  |  Scotland (6)  |  Small (489)  |  Soon (187)  |  Spring (140)  |  System (545)  |  Talent (99)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Useful (260)  |  Year (963)

In truth, ideas and principles are independent of men; the application of them and their illustration is man's duty and merit. The time will come when the author of a view shall be set aside, and the view only taken cognizance of. This will be the millennium of Science.
Notes of hints to Mr Ramsey, Professor of Geology, University College London, 1847. In George Wilson and Archibald Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes F.R.S. (1861), 429.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Author (175)  |  Idea (881)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Man (2252)  |  Merit (51)  |  Principle (530)  |  Set (400)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Will (2350)

In view of all the nests brimming over with eager mouths, it is a good thing that deciduous woodlands provide an incredible wealth of food for the birds that live there. There are … arthropods, snails and … the prodigious menu of nuts, seeds and juicy berries.
In The Amateur Naturalist (1989), 126.
Science quotes on:  |  Berry (3)  |  Bird (163)  |  Brimming (4)  |  Food (213)  |  Good (906)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Insect (89)  |  Live (650)  |  Menu (3)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Nest (26)  |  Nut (7)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Seed (97)  |  Snail (11)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Woodland (3)

In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognise, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support of such views.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Angry (10)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  God (776)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mind (1377)  |  People (1031)  |  Quote (46)  |  Really (77)  |  Recognise (14)  |  Say (989)  |  Support (151)

In view of the kind of matter we work with, it will never be possible to avoid little laboratory explosions.
Letter to Carl Jung, 18 Jun 1909. Quoted in William McGuire (ed.), The Freud-Jung Letters: The Correspondence between Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung (1974), 235.
Science quotes on:  |  Avoid (123)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Kind (564)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Little (717)  |  Matter (821)  |  Never (1089)  |  Possible (560)  |  Psychoanalysis (37)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

Induction for deduction, with a view to construction.
Attributed in John Arthur Thomson, quote at heading of chapter 'Scientific Method', Introduction to Science (1911), 57, but without further citation. Webmaster has found no primary source for confirmation. Please contact if you can help.
Science quotes on:  |  Construction (114)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Induction (81)  |  Scientific Method (200)

Intelligence is important in psychology for two reasons. First, it is one of the most scientifically developed corners of the subject, giving the student as complete a view as is possible anywhere of the way scientific method can be applied to psychological problems. Secondly, it is of immense practical importance, educationally, socially, and in regard to physiology and genetics.
From Intelligence: Its Structure, Growth and Action: Its Structure, Growth and Action (1987), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Complete (209)  |  Corner (59)  |  Develop (278)  |  Developed (11)  |  First (1302)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Immense (89)  |  Importance (299)  |  Important (229)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Method (531)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practical (225)  |  Problem (731)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regard (312)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Socially (3)  |  Student (317)  |  Subject (543)  |  Two (936)  |  Way (1214)

Isolated facts and experiments have in themselves no value, however great their number may be. They only become valuable in a theoretical or practical point of view when they make us acquainted with the law of a series of uniformly recurring phenomena, or, it may be, only give a negative result showing an incompleteness in our knowledge of such a law, till then held to be perfect.
'The Aim and Progress of Physical Science' (1869). Trans. E. Atkinson, Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects (1873), 369.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Great (1610)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Negative (66)  |  Number (710)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Practical (225)  |  Recurring (12)  |  Result (700)  |  Series (153)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Value (393)

It appears that all that can be, is. The Creator’s hand does not appear to have been opened in order to give existence to a certain determinate number of species, but it seems that it has thrown out all at once a world of relative and non-relative creatures, an infinity of harmonic and contrary combinations and a perpetuity of destructions and replacements. What idea of power is not given us by this spectacle! What feeling of respect for its Author is not inspired in us by this view of the universe!
In 'Premier Discours: De la Manière d'Étudier et de Traiter l'Histoire naturelle', Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particulière, Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi (1749), Vol. I, 11. Trans. Phillip R. Sloan.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  Certain (557)  |  Combination (150)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creator (97)  |  Creature (242)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Idea (881)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Order (638)  |  Perpetuity (9)  |  Power (771)  |  Replacement (13)  |  Respect (212)  |  Species (435)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil—which is the view that religion has. The stage is too big for the drama.
'Viewpoint' Interview (with Bill Stout) for Los Angeles KNXT television station (1 May 1959), printed in Michelle Feynman (ed.) Perfectly Reasonable Deviations (from the Beaten Track) (2006), Appendix I, 426. Also quoted in James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992), 372. Gleick adds that KNXT “felt obliged to suppress” the interview. It was not broadcast until after Feynman, asked to redo the interview, wrote back with a letter objecting to “a direct censorship of the expression of my views.”
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Big (55)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Drama (24)  |  Evil (122)  |  Fantastic (21)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Kind (564)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Merely (315)  |  Motion (320)  |  Planet (402)  |  Range (104)  |  Religion (369)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Space (523)  |  Stage (152)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Tremendous (29)  |  Universe (900)  |  Watch (118)

It has become, in my view, a bit too trendy to regard the acceptance of death as something tantamount to intrinsic dignity. Of course I agree with the preacher of Ecclesiastes that there is a time to love and a time to die - and when my skein runs out I hope to face the end calmly and in my own way. For most situations, however, I prefer the more martial view that death is the ultimate enemy - and I find nothing reproachable in those who rage mightily against the dying of the light.
Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections on Natural History (1991).
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Against (332)  |  Become (821)  |  Biography (254)  |  Course (413)  |  Death (406)  |  Dignity (44)  |  End (603)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Face (214)  |  Find (1014)  |  Hope (321)  |  Intrinsic (18)  |  Light (635)  |  Love (328)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Preacher (13)  |  Regard (312)  |  Run (158)  |  Situation (117)  |  Something (718)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Way (1214)

It has occurred to me that possibly the white corpuscles may have the office of picking up and digesting bacterial organisms when by any means they find their way into the blood. The propensity exhibited by the leukocytes for picking up inorganic granules is well known, and that they may be able not only to pick up but to assimilate, and so dispose of, the bacteria which come in their way does not seem to me very improbable in view of the fact that amoebae, which resemble them so closely, feed upon bacteria and similar organisms.
'A Contribution to the Study of the Bacterial Organisms Commonly Found Upon Exposed Mucous Surfaces and in the Alimentary Canal of Healthy Individuals', Studies from the Biological Laboratory (1883), 2, 175.
Science quotes on:  |  Amoeba (21)  |  Assimilation (13)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Blood (144)  |  Corpuscle (14)  |  Digestion (29)  |  Disposal (5)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feeding (7)  |  Find (1014)  |  Granule (3)  |  Improbability (11)  |  Inorganic (14)  |  Known (453)  |  Leukocyte (2)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Office (71)  |  Organism (231)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Propensity (9)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Way (1214)  |  White (132)

It hath been an old remark, that Geometry is an excellent Logic. And it must be owned that when the definitions are clear; when the postulata cannot be refused, nor the axioms denied; when from the distinct contemplation and comparison of figures, their properties are derived, by a perpetual well-connected chain of consequences, the objects being still kept in view, and the attention ever fixed upon them; there is acquired a habit of reasoning, close and exact and methodical; which habit strengthens and sharpens the mind, and being transferred to other subjects is of general use in the inquiry after truth.
In 'The Analyst', in The Works of George Berkeley (1898), Vol. 3, 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Attention (196)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Being (1276)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Connect (126)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Definition (238)  |  Deny (71)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Exact (75)  |  Excellent (29)  |  Figure (162)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Habit (174)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Logic (311)  |  Methodical (8)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Object (438)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Postulate (42)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Sharpen (22)  |  Still (614)  |  Strengthen (25)  |  Subject (543)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)

It is a happy world after all. The air, the earth, the water teem with delighted existence. In a spring noon, or a summer evening, on whichever side I turn my eyes, myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view. “The insect youth are on the wing.” Swarms of new-born flies are trying their pinions in the air. Their sportive motions, their wanton mazes, their gratuitous activity testify their joy and the exultation they feel in their lately discovered faculties … The whole winged insect tribe, it is probable, are equally intent upon their proper employments, and under every variety of constitution, gratified, and perhaps equally gratified, by the offices which the author of their nature has assigned to them.
Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of The Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature (1802), 490-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Air (366)  |  Assignment (12)  |  Author (175)  |  Being (1276)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Delight (111)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Employment (34)  |  Equality (34)  |  Equally (129)  |  Evening (12)  |  Existence (481)  |  Exultation (4)  |  Eye (440)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fly (153)  |  Gratification (22)  |  Happy (108)  |  Insect (89)  |  Intent (9)  |  Joy (117)  |  Lateness (4)  |  Maze (11)  |  Motion (320)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  New-born (2)  |  Noon (14)  |  Office (71)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proper (150)  |  Properness (2)  |  Side (236)  |  Sport (23)  |  Spring (140)  |  Summer (56)  |  Swarm (15)  |  Teeming (5)  |  Testament (4)  |  Tribe (26)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Turn (454)  |  Variety (138)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wing (79)  |  World (1850)  |  Youth (109)

It is a wrong business when the younger cultivators of science put out of sight and deprecate what their predecessors have done; but obviously that is the tendency of Huxley and his friends … It is very true that Huxley was bitter against the Bishop of Oxford, but I was not present at the debate. Perhaps the Bishop was not prudent to venture into a field where no eloquence can supersede the need for precise knowledge. The young naturalists declared themselves in favour of Darwin’s views which tendency I saw already at Leeds two years ago. I am sorry for it, for I reckon Darwin’s book to be an utterly unphilosophical one.
Letter to James D, Forbes (24 Jul 1860). Trinity College Cambridge, Whewell Manuscripts.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Already (226)  |  Bishop (3)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Bitterness (4)  |  Book (413)  |  Business (156)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Debate (40)  |  Declared (24)  |  Deprecate (2)  |  Eloquence (7)  |  Field (378)  |  Friend (180)  |  Thomas Henry Huxley (132)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Oxford (16)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Precise (71)  |  Predecessor (29)  |  Present (630)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Saw (160)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sorry (31)  |  Superseding (2)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Wrong (246)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)  |  Younger (21)

It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory of rationality, rests on too naive a view of man and his social surroundings. To those who look at the rich material provided by history, and who are not intent on impoverishing it in order to please their lower instincts, their craving for intellectual security in the form of clarity, precision, “objectivity”, “truth”, it will become clear that there is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes.
Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975, 1993), 18-19.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Development (441)  |  Form (976)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Method (531)  |  Naive (13)  |  Objectivity (17)  |  Order (638)  |  Please (68)  |  Precision (72)  |  Principle (530)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Rest (287)  |  Security (51)  |  Social (261)  |  Stage (152)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Will (2350)

It is difficult for the matter-of-fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum of everything is of mental character. But no one can deny that mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience, and all else is remote inference—inference either intuitive or deliberate.
From Gifford Lecture, Edinburgh, (1927), 'Reality', collected in The Nature of the Physical World (1928), 281.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Character (259)  |  Deliberate (19)  |  Deny (71)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Direct (228)  |  Everything (489)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fact (1257)  |  First (1302)  |  Inference (45)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Remote (86)  |  Thing (1914)

It is impossible to answer your question briefly; and I am not sure that I could do so, even if I wrote at some length. But I may say that the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God; but whether this is an argument of real value, I have never been able to decide.
[Replying to query about his religious views]
Letter to a Dutch student (2 Apr 1873), in Charles Darwin and Sir Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1896), 276.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Argument (145)  |  Briefly (5)  |  Chance (244)  |  Chief (99)  |  Conceiving (3)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Decide (50)  |  Do (1905)  |  Existence (481)  |  God (776)  |  Grand (29)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Never (1089)  |  Query (4)  |  Question (649)  |  Religious (134)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Self (268)  |  Through (846)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)  |  Wondrous (22)

It is impossible to devise an experiment without a preconceived idea; devising an experiment, we said, is putting a question; we never conceive a question without an idea which invites an answer. I consider it, therefore, an absolute principle that experiments must always be devised in view of a preconceived idea, no matter if the idea be not very clear nor very well defined.
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865, translation 1927, 1957), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Answer (389)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Conceiving (3)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Definition (238)  |  Devise (16)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Idea (881)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Invitation (12)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Never (1089)  |  Preconceive (3)  |  Principle (530)  |  Putting (2)  |  Question (649)

It is more important to have beauty in one's equations than to have them fit experiment... It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one is on a sure line of progress. If there is not complete agreement between the results of one's work and experiment, one should not allow oneself to be too discouraged, because the discrepancy may well be due to minor features that are not properly taken into account and that will get cleared up with further developments of the theory.
In 'The Evolution of the Physicist’s Picture of Nature', Scientific American, May 1963, 208, 47.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Agreement (55)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Complete (209)  |  Development (441)  |  Discrepancy (7)  |  Due (143)  |  Equation (138)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fit (139)  |  Insight (107)  |  More (2558)  |  Oneself (33)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Progress (492)  |  Result (700)  |  Sound (187)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

It is my belief that the basic knowledge that we're providing to the world will have a profound impact on the human condition and the treatments for disease and our view of our place on the biological continuum.
From Text of Remarks on the Completion of the First Survey of the First Survey of the Entire Human Genome Project (26 Jun 2000).
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Belief (615)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Condition (362)  |  Continuum (8)  |  Disease (340)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Condition (6)  |  Impact (45)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Profound (105)  |  Provide (79)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

It is not only by the questions we have answered that progress may be measured, but also by those we are still asking. The passionate controversies of one era are viewed as sterile preoccupations by another, for knowledge alters what we seek as well as what we find.
In Freda Adler and Herbert Marcus Adler, Sisters in Crime (1975), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Alter (64)  |  Answer (389)  |  Asking (74)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Era (51)  |  Find (1014)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Passionate (22)  |  Preoccupation (7)  |  Progress (492)  |  Question (649)  |  Seek (218)  |  Sterile (24)  |  Still (614)

It is not surprising, in view of the polydynamic constitution of the genuinely mathematical mind, that many of the major heros of the science, men like Desargues and Pascal, Descartes and Leibnitz, Newton, Gauss and Bolzano, Helmholtz and Clifford, Riemann and Salmon and Plücker and Poincaré, have attained to high distinction in other fields not only of science but of philosophy and letters too. And when we reflect that the very greatest mathematical achievements have been due, not alone to the peering, microscopic, histologic vision of men like Weierstrass, illuminating the hidden recesses, the minute and intimate structure of logical reality, but to the larger vision also of men like Klein who survey the kingdoms of geometry and analysis for the endless variety of things that flourish there, as the eye of Darwin ranged over the flora and fauna of the world, or as a commercial monarch contemplates its industry, or as a statesman beholds an empire; when we reflect not only that the Calculus of Probability is a creation of mathematics but that the master mathematician is constantly required to exercise judgment—judgment, that is, in matters not admitting of certainty—balancing probabilities not yet reduced nor even reducible perhaps to calculation; when we reflect that he is called upon to exercise a function analogous to that of the comparative anatomist like Cuvier, comparing theories and doctrines of every degree of similarity and dissimilarity of structure; when, finally, we reflect that he seldom deals with a single idea at a tune, but is for the most part engaged in wielding organized hosts of them, as a general wields at once the division of an army or as a great civil administrator directs from his central office diverse and scattered but related groups of interests and operations; then, I say, the current opinion that devotion to mathematics unfits the devotee for practical affairs should be known for false on a priori grounds. And one should be thus prepared to find that as a fact Gaspard Monge, creator of descriptive geometry, author of the classic Applications de l’analyse à la géométrie; Lazare Carnot, author of the celebrated works, Géométrie de position, and Réflections sur la Métaphysique du Calcul infinitesimal; Fourier, immortal creator of the Théorie analytique de la chaleur; Arago, rightful inheritor of Monge’s chair of geometry; Poncelet, creator of pure projective geometry; one should not be surprised, I say, to find that these and other mathematicians in a land sagacious enough to invoke their aid, rendered, alike in peace and in war, eminent public service.
In Lectures on Science, Philosophy and Art (1908), 32-33.
Science quotes on:  |  A Priori (26)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Administrator (11)  |  Admit (49)  |  Affair (29)  |  Aid (101)  |  Alike (60)  |  Alone (324)  |  Analogous (7)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Anatomist (24)  |  Application (257)  |  François Arago (15)  |  Army (35)  |  Attain (126)  |  Author (175)  |  Balance (82)  |  Behold (19)  |  Bernhard Bolzano (2)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Call (781)  |  Lazare-Nicolas-Marguerite Carnot (4)  |  Celebrated (2)  |  Central (81)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Chair (25)  |  Civil (26)  |  Classic (13)  |  William Kingdon Clifford (23)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Comparative (14)  |  Compare (76)  |  Constantly (27)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creator (97)  |  Current (122)  |  Baron Georges Cuvier (34)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Deal (192)  |  Degree (277)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Descriptive (18)  |  Descriptive Geometry (3)  |  Devotee (7)  |  Devotion (37)  |  Direct (228)  |  Dissimilar (6)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Division (67)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Due (143)  |  Eminent (20)  |  Empire (17)  |  Endless (60)  |  Engage (41)  |  Enough (341)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  False (105)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Field (378)  |  Finally (26)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flora (9)  |  Flourish (34)  |  Baron Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier (17)  |  Function (235)  |  Carl Friedrich Gauss (79)  |  General (521)  |  Genuinely (4)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Ground (222)  |  Group (83)  |  Hero (45)  |  Hide (70)  |  High (370)  |  Histology (4)  |  Host (16)  |  Idea (881)  |  Illuminate (26)  |  Illuminating (12)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Industry (159)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Inheritor (2)  |  Interest (416)  |  Intimate (21)  |  Invoke (7)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Felix Klein (15)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Land (131)  |  Large (398)  |  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (51)  |  Letter (117)  |  Logical (57)  |  Major (88)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minute (129)  |  Monarch (6)  |  Gaspard Monge (2)  |  Most (1728)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Office (71)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Organize (33)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Blaise Pascal (81)  |  Peace (116)  |  Peer (13)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Henri Poincaré (99)  |  Jean-Victor Poncelet (2)  |  Position (83)  |  Practical (225)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Probability (135)  |  Projective Geometry (3)  |  Public Service (6)  |  Pure (299)  |  Range (104)  |  Reality (274)  |  Recess (8)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Reducible (2)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Relate (26)  |  Render (96)  |  Require (229)  |  Required (108)  |  Bernhard Riemann (7)  |  Rightful (3)  |  Sagacious (7)  |  Salmon (7)  |  Say (989)  |  Scatter (7)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Service (110)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Single (365)  |  Statesman (20)  |  Structure (365)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Survey (36)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tune (20)  |  Unfit (13)  |  Variety (138)  |  Vision (127)  |  War (233)  |   Karl Weierstrass, (10)  |  Wield (10)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

It is not therefore the business of philosophy, in our present situation in the universe, to attempt to take in at once, in one view, the whole scheme of nature; but to extend, with great care and circumspection, our knowledge, by just steps, from sensible things, as far as our observations or reasonings from them will carry us, in our enquiries concerning either the greater motions and operations of nature, or her more subtile and hidden works. In this way Sir Isaac Newton proceeded in his discoveries.
An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, in Four Books (1748), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Business (156)  |  Care (203)  |  Carry (130)  |  Circumspection (5)  |  Concern (239)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Extend (129)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Observation (593)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Present (630)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Sensible (28)  |  Situation (117)  |  Step (234)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

It is odd to think that there is a word for something which, strictly speaking, does not exist, namely, “rest.” We distinguish between living and dead matter; between moving bodies and bodies at rest. This is a primitive point of view. What seems dead, a stone or the proverbial “door-nail,” say, is actually forever in motion. We have merely become accustomed to judge by outward appearances; by the deceptive impressions we get through our senses.
Max Born
The Restless Universe (1935), I.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Become (821)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Door (94)  |  Exist (458)  |  Forever (111)  |  Impression (118)  |  Judge (114)  |  Living (492)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  Motion (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Proverbial (8)  |  Reference Frame (2)  |  Rest (287)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Something (718)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Stone (168)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Word (650)

It is often held that scientific hypotheses are constructed, and are to be constructed, only after a detailed weighing of all possible evidence bearing on the matter, and that then and only then may one consider, and still only tentatively, any hypotheses. This traditional view however, is largely incorrect, for not only is it absurdly impossible of application, but it is contradicted by the history of the development of any scientific theory. What happens in practice is that by intuitive insight, or other inexplicable inspiration, the theorist decides that certain features seem to him more important than others and capable of explanation by certain hypotheses. Then basing his study on these hypotheses the attempt is made to deduce their consequences. The successful pioneer of theoretical science is he whose intuitions yield hypotheses on which satisfactory theories can be built, and conversely for the unsuccessful (as judged from a purely scientific standpoint).
Co-author with Raymond Arthur Lyttleton, in 'The Internal Constitution of the Stars', Occasional Notes of the Royal Astronomical Society 1948, 12, 90.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Capable (174)  |  Certain (557)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Construct (129)  |  Contradict (42)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Detail (150)  |  Development (441)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Happen (282)  |  History (716)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Inexplicable (8)  |  Insight (107)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practice (212)  |  Purely (111)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientific Theory (24)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Successful (134)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Yield (86)

It is one of the little ironies of our times that while the layman was being indoctrinated with the stereotype image of black holes as the ultimate cookie monsters, the professionals have been swinging round to the almost directly opposing view that black holes, like growing old, are really not so bad when you consider the alternative.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alternative (32)  |  Bad (185)  |  Being (1276)  |  Black Hole (17)  |  Black Holes (4)  |  Consider (428)  |  Cookie (2)  |  Directly (25)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growing (99)  |  Image (97)  |  Irony (9)  |  Layman (21)  |  Little (717)  |  Monster (33)  |  Old (499)  |  Oppose (27)  |  Professional (77)  |  Really (77)  |  Round (26)  |  Stereotype (4)  |  Swing (12)  |  Time (1911)  |  Ultimate (152)

It is the task of science, as a collective human undertaking, to describe from the external side, (on which alone agreement is possible), such statistical regularity as there is in a world “in which every event has a unique aspect, and to indicate where possible the limits of such description. It is not part of its task to make imaginative interpretation of the internal aspect of reality—what it is like, for example, to be a lion, an ant or an ant hill, a liver cell, or a hydrogen ion. The only qualification is in the field of introspective psychology in which each human being is both observer and observed, and regularities may be established by comparing notes. Science is thus a limited venture. It must act as if all phenomena were deterministic at least in the sense of determinable probabilities. It cannot properly explain the behaviour of an amoeba as due partly to surface and other physical forces and partly to what the amoeba wants to do, with out danger of something like 100 per cent duplication. It must stick to the former. It cannot introduce such principles as creative activity into its interpretation of evolution for similar reasons. The point of view indicated by a consideration of the hierarchy of physical and biological organisms, now being bridged by the concept of the gene, is one in which science deliberately accepts a rigorous limitation of its activities to the description of the external aspects of events. In carrying out this program, the scientist should not, however, deceive himself or others into thinking that he is giving an account of all of reality. The unique inner creative aspect of every event necessarily escapes him.
In 'Gene and Organism', American Naturalist, (1953), 87, 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Account (195)  |  Act (278)  |  Activity (218)  |  Agreement (55)  |  Alone (324)  |  Amoeba (21)  |  Ant (34)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Being (1276)  |  Biological (137)  |  Both (496)  |  Carrying Out (13)  |  Cell (146)  |  Concept (242)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Creative (144)  |  Danger (127)  |  Deceive (26)  |  Describe (132)  |  Do (1905)  |  Due (143)  |  Escape (85)  |  Event (222)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Explain (334)  |  Field (378)  |  Force (497)  |  Former (138)  |  Gene (105)  |  Hierarchy (17)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Inner (72)  |  Internal (69)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Ion (21)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Limited (102)  |  Lion (23)  |  Liver (22)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Organism (231)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possible (560)  |  Principle (530)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Qualification (15)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regularity (40)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Side (236)  |  Something (718)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Surface (223)  |  Task (152)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Undertaking (17)  |  Unique (72)  |  Want (504)  |  World (1850)

It is true that Fourier had the opinion that the principal end of mathematics was public utility and the explanation of natural phenomena; but a philosopher as he is should have known that the unique end of science is the honor of the human mind and that from this point of view a question of [the theory of] number is as important as a question of the system of the world.
From letter to Legendre, translation as given in F.R. Moulton, 'The Influence of Astronomy on Mathematics', Science (10 Mar 1911), N.S. Vol. 33, No. 845, 359. A different translation begins, “It is true that M. Fourier believed…” on the Karl Jacobi Quotes web page on this site.
Science quotes on:  |  End (603)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Baron Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier (17)  |  Honor (57)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Important (229)  |  Known (453)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Natural (810)  |  Number (710)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Principal (69)  |  Public (100)  |  Question (649)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Numbers (7)  |  Unique (72)  |  Utility (52)  |  World (1850)

It may be conceit, but I believe the subject will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original.
Letter to his publisher, John Murray (5 Apr 1959). In Charles Darwin and Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887), Vol. 2, 155.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Book (413)  |  Conceit (15)  |  Interest (416)  |  Originality (21)  |  Public (100)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sureness (2)  |  Will (2350)

It must be admitted that science has its castes. The man whose chief apparatus is the differential equation looks down upon one who uses a galvanometer, and he in turn upon those who putter about with sticky and smelly things in test tubes. But all of these, and most biologists too, join together in their contempt for the pariah who, not through a glass darkly, but with keen unaided vision, observes the massing of a thundercloud on the horizon, the petal as it unfolds, or the swarming of a hive of bees. And yet sometimes I think that our laboratories are but little earthworks which men build about themselves, and whose puny tops too often conceal from view the Olympian heights; that we who work in these laboratories are but skilled artisans compared with the man who is able to observe, and to draw accurate deductions from the world about him.
The Anatomy of Science (1926), 170- 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Bee (44)  |  Biologist (70)  |  Build (211)  |  Caste (3)  |  Chief (99)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Contempt (20)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Differential Equation (18)  |  Differentiation (28)  |  Down (455)  |  Draw (140)  |  Equation (138)  |  Flower (112)  |  Galvanometer (4)  |  Glass (94)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Puny (8)  |  Skill (116)  |  Test (221)  |  Test Tube (13)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Thunder (21)  |  Together (392)  |  Top (100)  |  Turn (454)  |  Use (771)  |  Vision (127)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

It seems to me that the evidence ... is opposed to the view that the spirals are individual galaxies comparable with our own. In fact, there appears as yet no reason for modifying the tentative hypothesis that the spirals are not composed of typical stars at all, but are truly nebulous objects.
[Contradicting the view of Heber Curtis during the Shapley-Curtis debate on 26 Apr 1920 to the National Academy of Sciences.]
In Aleksandr Sergeevich Sharov and Igor Dmitrievich Novikov, Edwin Hubble: The Discoverer of the Big Bang Universe (1993), 27.
Science quotes on:  |  Academy (37)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Composition (86)  |  Debate (40)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Individual (420)  |  Modification (57)  |  Nebula (16)  |  Object (438)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Reason (766)  |  Spiral (19)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Tentative (18)  |  Truly (118)  |  Typical (16)

It seems to me that the view toward which we are tending is that the specificity in gene action is always a chemical specificity, probably the production of enzymes which guide metabolic processes along particular channels. A given array of genes thus determines the production of a particular kind of protoplasm with particular properties—such, for example, as that of responding to surface forces by the formation of a special sort of semipermeable membrane, and that of responding to trivial asymmetries in the play of external stimuli by polarization, with consequent orderly quantitative gradients in all physiologic processes. Different genes may now be called into play at different points in this simple pattern, either through the local formation of their specific substrates for action, or by activation of a mutational nature. In either case the pattern becomes more complex and qualitatively differentiated. Successive interactions of differentiated regions and the calling into play of additional genes may lead to any degree of complexity of pattern in the organism as a largely self-contained system. The array of genes, assembled in the course of evolution, must of course be one which determines a highly self­regulatory system of reactions. On this view the genes are highly specific chemically, and thus called into play only under very specific conditions; but their morphological effects, if any, rest on quantitative influences of immediate or remote products on growth gradients, which are resultants of all that has gone on before in the organism.
In 'Genetics of Abnormal Growth in the Guinea Pig', Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology (1934), 2, 142.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Activation (6)  |  Asymmetry (6)  |  Become (821)  |  Call (781)  |  Channel (23)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequent (19)  |  Course (413)  |  Degree (277)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enzyme (19)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Force (497)  |  Formation (100)  |  Gene (105)  |  Gradient (2)  |  Growth (200)  |  Guide (107)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Influence (231)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Kind (564)  |  Lead (391)  |  Membrane (21)  |  Metabolism (15)  |  More (2558)  |  Morphological (3)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Organism (231)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Point (584)  |  Polarization (4)  |  Product (166)  |  Production (190)  |  Protoplasm (13)  |  Qualitative (15)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Remote (86)  |  Rest (287)  |  Self (268)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Special (188)  |  Specific (98)  |  Stimulus (30)  |  Successive (73)  |  Surface (223)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Trivial (59)

It surely can be no offence to state, that the progress of science has led to new views, and that the consequences that can be deduced from the knowledge of a hundred facts may be very different from those deducible from five. It is also possible that the facts first known may be the exceptions to a rule and not the rule itself, and generalisations from these first-known facts, though useful at the time, may be highly mischievous, and impede the progress of the science if retained when it has made some advance.
Sections and Views Illustrative of Geological Phenomena (1830), viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Different (595)  |  Exception (74)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Mischievous (12)  |  New (1273)  |  Possible (560)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Retain (57)  |  Rule (307)  |  State (505)  |  Surely (101)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Useful (260)

It was the method which attracted me [to physics]—the experimental method, which was born with physics, and is now universal in science. It’s asking a question of nature, and listening for the answer from nature … the way in which you’re going about asking the question and detecting the answer. And in my view it’s this kind of method that attracts me.
From 'Asking Nature', collected in Lewis Wolpert and Alison Richards (eds.), Passionate Minds: The Inner World of Scientists (1997), 197.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Attract (25)  |  Detect (45)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Kind (564)  |  Listen (81)  |  Listening (26)  |  Method (531)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Question (649)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Universal (198)  |  Way (1214)

It would appear... that moral phenomena, when observed on a great scale, are found to resemble physical phenomena; and we thus arrive, in inquiries of this kind, at the fundamental principle, that the greater the number of individuals observed, the more do individual peculiarities, whether physical or moral, become effaced, and leave in a prominent point of view the general facts, by virtue of which society exists and is preserved.
A Treatise on Man and the Development of his Faculties (1842). Reprinted with an introduction by Solomon Diamond (1969), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Do (1905)  |  Efface (6)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Greatness (55)  |  Individual (420)  |  Kind (564)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Number (710)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Peculiarity (26)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Preservation (39)  |  Principle (530)  |  Prominent (6)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Scale (122)  |  Society (350)  |  Virtue (117)

It’s humbling to realise that the developmental gulf between a miniscule ant colony and our modern human civilisation is only a tiny fraction of the distance between a Type 0 and a Type III civilisation – a factor of 100 billion billion, in fact. Yet we have such a highly regarded view of ourselves, we believe a Type III civilisation would find us irresistible and would rush to make contact with us. The truth is, however, they may be as interested in communicating with humans as we are keen to communicate with ants.
'Star Makers', Cosmos (Feb 2006).
Science quotes on:  |  Ant (34)  |  Billion (104)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Colony (8)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Communication (101)  |  Contact (66)  |  Development (441)  |  Distance (171)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  Gulf (18)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humility (31)  |  Interest (416)  |  Irresistible (17)  |  Modern (402)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Realization (44)  |  Regard (312)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Type (171)

It’s important to always bear in mind that life occurs in historical time. Everyone in every culture lives in some sort of historical time, though it might not be perceived in the same way an outside observer sees it. It’s an interesting question, “When is now?” “Now” can be drawn from some point like this hour, this day, this month, this lifetime, or this generation. “Now” can also have occurred centuries ago; things like unfair treaties, the Trail of Tears, and the Black Hawk War, for instance, remain part of the “Now” from which many Native Americans view their place in time today. Human beings respond today to people and events that actually occurred hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Ethnohistorians have played a major role in showing how now is a social concept of time, and that time is part of all social life. I can only hope that their work will further the understanding that the study of social life is a study of change over time.
From Robert S. Grumet, 'An Interview with Anthony F. C. Wallace', Ethnohistory (Winter 1998), 45, No. 1, 127.
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  Concept (242)  |  Culture (157)  |  Event (222)  |  Generation (256)  |  Historical (70)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hour (192)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lifetime (40)  |  Live (650)  |  Major (88)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Month (91)  |  Native (41)  |  Native American (4)  |  Now (5)  |  Occur (151)  |  Outside (141)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Question (649)  |  Remain (355)  |  Role (86)  |  See (1094)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Life (8)  |  Study (701)  |  Tear (48)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Treaty (3)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Unfair (9)  |  War (233)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

John Dalton was a very singular Man, a quaker by profession & practice: He has none of the manners or ways of the world. A tolerable mathematician He gained his livelihood I believe by teaching the mathematics to young people. He pursued science always with mathematical views. He seemed little attentive to the labours of men except when they countenanced or confirmed his own ideas... He was a very disinterested man, seemed to have no ambition beyond that of being thought a good Philosopher. He was a very coarse Experimenter & almost always found the results he required.—Memory & observation were subordinate qualities in his mind. He followed with ardour analogies & inductions & however his claims to originality may admit of question I have no doubt that he was one of the most original philosophers of his time & one of the most ingenious.
J. Z. Fullmer, 'Davy's Sketches of his Contemporaries', Chymia, 1967, 12, 133-134.
Science quotes on:  |  Ambition (46)  |  Attentive (15)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Biography (254)  |  Claim (154)  |  Confirm (58)  |  John Dalton (25)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Experimenter (40)  |  Follow (389)  |  Gain (146)  |  Good (906)  |  Idea (881)  |  Induction (81)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Labor (200)  |  Little (717)  |  Livelihood (13)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Observation (593)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Practice (212)  |  Profession (108)  |  Question (649)  |  Required (108)  |  Result (700)  |  Singular (24)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)

Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Entire (50)  |  Expression (181)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Order (638)  |  Penalty (7)  |  Population (115)  |  Present (630)  |  Secure (23)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Tolerance (11)

Lectures with demonstrations are certainly valuable—more valuable than the lectures with text-books alone. Yet analyzing the object itself is infinitely more valuable than to watch the results exposed by another. Wrestling with the part which is being studied, handling it and viewing it from all sides, and tabulating and classifying the parts worked out, give us the greatest reward. All this can be accomplished by practical laboratory work. If we can make the student work thoroughly and carefully, a great result is achieved. It makes of him an artist, an actor, an expert, not a dilettante. He is upon the stage, not in the audience.
As quoted from a paper by Mall (1896), in Florence R. Sabin, Franklin Paine Mall: The Story of a Mind. (1934), 142.
Science quotes on:  |  Actor (9)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Artist (97)  |  Audience (28)  |  Classify (8)  |  Dilettante (2)  |  Handle (29)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Object (438)  |  Practical (225)  |  Result (700)  |  Reward (72)  |  Stage (152)  |  Student (317)  |  Study (701)  |  Tabulate (3)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Value (393)  |  Watch (118)  |  Work (1402)  |  Wrestle (3)

Lest men suspect your tale untrue,
Keep probability in view.
John Gay
In Fable 18, 'The Painter Who Please Nobody and Everybody', Fables by the Late Mr. Gay: In One Volume Complete (1764), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Keep (104)  |  Probability (135)  |  Suspect (18)  |  Tale (17)  |  Untrue (12)

Let him who so wishes take pleasure in boring us with all the wonders of nature: let one spend his life observing insects, another counting the tiny bones in the hearing membrane of certain fish, even in measuring, if you will, how far a flea can jump, not to mention so many other wretched objects of study; for myself, who am curious only about philosophy, who am sorry only not to be able to extend its horizons, active nature will always be my sole point of view; I love to see it from afar, in its breadth and its entirety, and not in specifics or in little details, which, although to some extent necessary in all the sciences, are generally the mark of little genius among those who devote themselves to them.
'L'Homme Plante', in Oeuvres Philosophiques de La Mettrie (1796), Vol. 2, 70-1. Jacques Roger, The Life Sciences in Eighteenth-Century French Thought, edited by Keith R. Benson and trans. Robert Ellrich (1997), 377.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Bone (101)  |  Boring (7)  |  Breadth (15)  |  Certain (557)  |  Counting (26)  |  Curious (95)  |  Detail (150)  |  Ear (69)  |  Entirety (6)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fish (130)  |  Flea (11)  |  Genius (301)  |  Hearing (50)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Insect (89)  |  Jump (31)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Love (328)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Membrane (21)  |  Mention (84)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  See (1094)  |  Sole (50)  |  Sorry (31)  |  Specific (98)  |  Spend (97)  |  Study (701)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wretched (8)

Let us now declare the means whereby our understanding can rise to knowledge without fear of error. There are two such means: intuition and deduction. By intuition I mean not the varying testimony of the senses, nor the deductive judgment of imagination naturally extravagant, but the conception of an attentive mind so distinct and so clear that no doubt remains to it with regard to that which it comprehends; or, what amounts to the same thing, the self-evidencing conception of a sound and attentive mind, a conception which springs from the light of reason alone, and is more certain, because more simple, than deduction itself. …
It may perhaps be asked why to intuition we add this other mode of knowing, by deduction, that is to say, the process which, from something of which we have certain knowledge, draws consequences which necessarily follow therefrom. But we are obliged to admit this second step; for there are a great many things which, without being evident of themselves, nevertheless bear the marks of certainty if only they are deduced from true and incontestable principles by a continuous and uninterrupted movement of thought, with distinct intuition of each thing; just as we know that the last link of a long chain holds to the first, although we can not take in with one glance of the eye the intermediate links, provided that, after having run over them in succession, we can recall them all, each as being joined to its fellows, from the first up to the last. Thus we distinguish intuition from deduction, inasmuch as in the latter case there is conceived a certain progress or succession, while it is not so in the former; … whence it follows that primary propositions, derived immediately from principles, may be said to be known, according to the way we view them, now by intuition, now by deduction; although the principles themselves can be known only by intuition, the remote consequences only by deduction.
In Rules for the Direction of the Mind, Philosophy of Descartes. [Torrey] (1892), 64-65.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  According (236)  |  Add (42)  |  Admit (49)  |  Alone (324)  |  Amount (153)  |  Ask (420)  |  Attentive (15)  |  Bear (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Case (102)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Chain (51)  |  Clear (111)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Conception (160)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Declare (48)  |  Deduce (27)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Deductive (13)  |  Derive (70)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Draw (140)  |  Error (339)  |  Evident (92)  |  Extravagant (10)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fear (212)  |  Fellow (88)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Former (138)  |  Glance (36)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hold (96)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Inasmuch (5)  |  Incontestable (3)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Join (32)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Last (425)  |  Latter (21)  |  Let (64)  |  Light (635)  |  Link (48)  |  Long (778)  |  Mark (47)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mode (43)  |  More (2558)  |  Movement (162)  |  Naturally (11)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Obliged (6)  |  Other (2233)  |  Primary (82)  |  Principle (530)  |  Process (439)  |  Progress (492)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Provide (79)  |  Reason (766)  |  Recall (11)  |  Regard (312)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remote (86)  |  Rise (169)  |  Run (158)  |  Same (166)  |  Say (989)  |  Second (66)  |  Self (268)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simple (426)  |  Something (718)  |  Sound (187)  |  Spring (140)  |  Step (234)  |  Succession (80)  |  Testimony (21)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Therefrom (2)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  True (239)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Uninterrupted (7)  |  Vary (27)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whereby (2)  |  Why (491)

Like all sciences and all valuations, the psychology of women has hitherto been considered only from the point of view of men. (1926)
The Flight from Womanhood', Femine Psychology (1967). Quoted in Elaine Partnow, The Quotable Woman, 1800-1975 (1977), 197.
Science quotes on:  |  Consider (428)  |  Man (2252)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Woman (160)

Like taxes, radioactivity has long been with us and in increasing amounts; it is not to be hated and feared, but accepted and controlled. Radiation is dangerous, let there be no mistake about that—but the modern world abounds in dangerous substances and situations too numerous to mention. ... Consider radiation as something to be treated with respect, avoided when practicable, and accepted when inevitable.
Recommending the same view towards radiation as the risks of automobile travel.
While in the Office of Naval Research. In Must we Hide? (1949), 44.
Science quotes on:  |  Abound (17)  |  Accept (198)  |  Amount (153)  |  Automobile (23)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Consider (428)  |  Control (182)  |  Danger (127)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Fear (212)  |  Hate (68)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Long (778)  |  Mention (84)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Modern (402)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Respect (212)  |  Risk (68)  |  Situation (117)  |  Something (718)  |  Substance (253)  |  Tax (27)  |  Travel (125)  |  World (1850)

Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.
Aphorism in The Complete Book of Business Success (2000), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Mirror (43)  |  Rear-View (2)  |  Through (846)  |  Windshield (2)

Looking through the telescope, one saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet swimming in the field. It seemed such a little thing, so bright and small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly flattened from the perfect round. But so little it was, so silvery warm—a pin’s-head of light! It was as if it quivered, but really this was the telescope vibrating with the activity of the clockwork that kept the planet in view.
As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and smaller and to advance and recede, but that was simply that my eye was tired. Forty millions of miles it was from us—more than forty millions of miles of void. Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims.
The War of the Worlds (1898), editted by Frank D. McConnell (1977), 128.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Advance (298)  |  Bright (81)  |  Circle (117)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dust (68)  |  Eye (440)  |  Field (378)  |  Grow (247)  |  Immensity (30)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Looking (191)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mars (47)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Pin (20)  |  Planet (402)  |  Recede (11)  |  Saw (160)  |  Small (489)  |  Still (614)  |  Swim (32)  |  Swimming (19)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Universe (900)  |  Void (31)  |  Warm (74)  |  Watch (118)

Man does not live by bread alone, there are other wants to be supplied, and even in a practical point of view, a single thought may be fraught with a thousand useful inventions.
Presidential Address (Aug 1853) to the American Association for the Advancement of Education, in Proceedings of the Third Session of the American Association for the Advancement of Education (1854), 29.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Bread (42)  |  Invention (400)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Practical (225)  |  Single (365)  |  Supply (100)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Useful (260)  |  Want (504)

Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. … Aristotle, so far as I know, was the first man to proclaim explicitly that man is a rational animal. His reason for this view was … that some people can do sums. … It is in virtue of the intellect that man is a rational animal. The intellect is shown in various ways, but most emphatically by mastery of arithmetic. The Greek system of numerals was very bad, so that the multiplication table was quite difficult, and complicated calculations could only be made by very clever people.
From An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1937, 1943), 5. Collected in The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (2009), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Bad (185)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Clever (41)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Complication (30)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Do (1905)  |  Emphatically (8)  |  First (1302)  |  Greece (9)  |  Greek (109)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Know (1538)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mastery (36)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiplication (46)  |  Multiplication Table (16)  |  People (1031)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Rational (95)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sum (103)  |  System (545)  |  Table (105)  |  Various (205)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Way (1214)

Many consider that the conflict of religion and science is a temporary phase, and that in due course the two mighty rivers of human understanding will merge into an even mightier Amazon of comprehension. I take the opposite view, that reconciliation is impossible. I consider that Science is mightier than the Word, and that the river of religion will (or, at least, should) atrophy and die.
In 'Religion - The Antithesis to Science', Chemistry & Industry (Feb 1997).
Science quotes on:  |  Amazon (11)  |  Atrophy (8)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Consider (428)  |  Course (413)  |  Die (94)  |  Due (143)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Merge (3)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Phase (37)  |  Reconciliation (10)  |  Religion (369)  |  River (140)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Temporary (24)  |  Two (936)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

Mathematical studies … when combined, as they now generally are, with a taste for physical science, enlarge infinitely our views of the wisdom and power displayed in the universe. The very intimate connexion indeed, which, since the date of the Newtonian philosophy, has existed between the different branches of mathematical and physical knowledge, renders such a character as that of a mere mathematician a very rare and scarcely possible occurrence.
In Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1827), Vol. 3, Chap. 1, Sec. 3, 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Branch (155)  |  Character (259)  |  Connection (171)  |  Different (595)  |  Display (59)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Exist (458)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mere (86)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Rare (94)  |  Render (96)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Taste (93)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wisdom (235)

Mathematics … above all other subjects, makes the student lust after knowledge, fills him, as it were, with a longing to fathom the cause of things and to employ his own powers independently; it collects his mental forces and concentrates them on a single point and thus awakens the spirit of individual inquiry, self-confidence and the joy of doing; it fascinates because of the view-points which it offers and creates certainty and assurance, owing to the universal validity of its methods. Thus, both what he receives and what he himself contributes toward the proper conception and solution of a problem, combine to mature the student and to make him skillful, to lead him away from the surface of things and to exercise him in the perception of their essence. A student thus prepared thirsts after knowledge and is ready for the university and its sciences. Thus it appears, that higher mathematics is the best guide to philosophy and to the philosophic conception of the world (considered as a self-contained whole) and of one’s own being.
In Die Mathematik die Fackelträgerin einer neuen Zeit (1889), 40. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 49.
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Assurance (17)  |  Awaken (17)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Both (496)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Collect (19)  |  Combine (58)  |  Concentrate (28)  |  Conception (160)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Create (245)  |  Doing (277)  |  Employ (115)  |  Essence (85)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Fascinate (12)  |  Fathom (15)  |  Fill (67)  |  Force (497)  |  Guide (107)  |  Himself (461)  |  Independently (24)  |  Individual (420)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Joy (117)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Long (778)  |  Longing (19)  |  Lust (7)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mature (17)  |  Mental (179)  |  Method (531)  |  Offer (142)  |  Other (2233)  |  Owe (71)  |  Owing (39)  |  Perception (97)  |  Philosophic (6)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proper (150)  |  Ready (43)  |  Receive (117)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Confidence (11)  |  Self-Contained (3)  |  Single (365)  |  Skillful (17)  |  Solution (282)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Student (317)  |  Subject (543)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thirst (11)  |  Universal (198)  |  University (130)  |  Validity (50)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

Mathematics gives the young man a clear idea of demonstration and habituates him to form long trains of thought and reasoning methodically connected and sustained by the final certainty of the result; and it has the further advantage, from a purely moral point of view, of inspiring an absolute and fanatical respect for truth. In addition to all this, mathematics, and chiefly algebra and infinitesimal calculus, excite to a high degree the conception of the signs and symbols—necessary instruments to extend the power and reach of the human mind by summarizing an aggregate of relations in a condensed form and in a kind of mechanical way. These auxiliaries are of special value in mathematics because they are there adequate to their definitions, a characteristic which they do not possess to the same degree in the physical and mathematical [natural?] sciences.
There are, in fact, a mass of mental and moral faculties that can be put in full play only by instruction in mathematics; and they would be made still more available if the teaching was directed so as to leave free play to the personal work of the student.
In 'Science as an Instrument of Education', Popular Science Monthly (1897), 253.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Addition (70)  |  Adequate (50)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Auxiliary (11)  |  Available (80)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Clear (111)  |  Conception (160)  |  Condense (15)  |  Connect (126)  |  Definition (238)  |  Degree (277)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Direct (228)  |  Do (1905)  |  Excite (17)  |  Extend (129)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Fanatical (3)  |  Far (158)  |  Final (121)  |  Form (976)  |  Free (239)  |  Full (68)  |  Give (208)  |  Habituate (3)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Idea (881)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Kind (564)  |  Leave (138)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mental (179)  |  Methodically (2)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Personal (75)  |  Physical (518)  |  Play (116)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possess (157)  |  Power (771)  |  Purely (111)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Relation (166)  |  Respect (212)  |  Result (700)  |  Same (166)  |  Sign (63)  |  Special (188)  |  Still (614)  |  Student (317)  |  Summarize (10)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Thought (995)  |  Train (118)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Value (393)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)  |  Young (253)

Mathematics is often erroneously referred to as the science of common sense. Actually, it may transcend common sense and go beyond either imagination or intuition. It has become a very strange and perhaps frightening subject from the ordinary point of view, but anyone who penetrates into it will find a veritable fairyland, a fairyland which is strange, but makes sense, if not common sense.
With co-author James R. Newman, in Mathematics and the Imagination (1940), 359.
Science quotes on:  |  Actually (27)  |  Become (821)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Find (1014)  |  Frightening (3)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Refer (14)  |  Sense (785)  |  Strange (160)  |  Subject (543)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Veritable (5)  |  Will (2350)

Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture, without appeal to any part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show.
Essay, 'The Study of Mathematics' (1902), collected in Philosophical Essays (1910), 73-74. Also collected in Mysticism and Logic: And Other Essays (1918), 60.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Austere (7)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Capable (174)  |  Cold (115)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Mathematical Beauty (19)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Music (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Painting (46)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Pure (299)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Show (353)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Truth (1109)

Mathematics, the science of the ideal, becomes the means of investigating, understanding and making known the world of the real. The complex is expressed in terms of the simple. From one point of view mathematics may be defined as the science of successive substitutions of simpler concepts for more complex.
In A Scrap-book of Elementary Mathematics (1908), 215.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Complex (202)  |  Concept (242)  |  Define (53)  |  Definitions and Objects of Mathematics (33)  |  Express (192)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Making (300)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Real (159)  |  Simple (426)  |  Substitution (16)  |  Successive (73)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  World (1850)

Metals are the great agents by which we can examine the recesses of nature; and their uses are so multiplied, that they have become of the greatest importance in every occupation of life. They are the instruments of all our improvements, of civilization itself, and are even subservient to the progress of the human mind towards perfection. They differ so much from each other, that nature seems to have had in view all the necessities of man, in order that she might suit every possible purpose his ingenuity can invent or his wants require.
From 'Artist and Mechanic', The artist & Tradesman’s Guide: embracing some leading facts & principles of science, and a variety of matter adapted to the wants of the artist, mechanic, manufacturer, and mercantile community (1827), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Agent (73)  |  Become (821)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Differ (88)  |  Difference (355)  |  Examine (84)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Importance (299)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Ingenuity (42)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Invent (57)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Metal (88)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Possible (560)  |  Progress (492)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Recess (8)  |  Require (229)  |  Use (771)  |  Want (504)

Modern civilization depends on science … James Smithson was well aware that knowledge should not be viewed as existing in isolated parts, but as a whole, each portion of which throws light on all the other, and that the tendency of all is to improve the human mind, and give it new sources of power and enjoyment … narrow minds think nothing of importance but their own favorite pursuit, but liberal views exclude no branch of science or literature, for they all contribute to sweeten, to adorn, and to embellish life … science is the pursuit above all which impresses us with the capacity of man for intellectual and moral progress and awakens the human intellect to aspiration for a higher condition of humanity.
[Joseph Henry was the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, named after its benefactor, James Smithson.]
The first clause is inscribed on the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. In Library of Congress, Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989), 313. From 'On the Smithsonian Institution', (Aug 1853), Proceedings of the Third Session of the American Association for the Advancement of Education (1854), 101.
Science quotes on:  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Branch (155)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Condition (362)  |  Depend (238)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Favorite (37)  |  First (1302)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Intellect (32)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Importance (299)  |  Institution (73)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Literature (116)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Modern (402)  |  Moral (203)  |  Narrow (85)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Portion (86)  |  Power (771)  |  Progress (492)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Smithsonian Institution (2)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Think (1122)  |  Whole (756)

Most impediments to scientific understanding are conceptual locks, not factual lacks. Most difficult to dislodge are those biases that escape our scrutiny because they seem so obviously, even ineluctably, just. We know ourselves best and tend to view other creatures as mirrors of our own constitution and social arrangements. (Aristotle, and nearly two millennia of successors, designated the large bee that leads the swarm as a king.)
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Bee (44)  |  Best (467)  |  Conceptual (11)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Creature (242)  |  Designation (13)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Escape (85)  |  Factual (8)  |  Impediment (12)  |  Ineluctably (2)  |  King (39)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lack (127)  |  Large (398)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lock (14)  |  Millennia (4)  |  Mirror (43)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Obviously (11)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scrutiny (15)  |  Seem (150)  |  Social (261)  |  Successor (16)  |  Swarm (15)  |  Tend (124)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

My first view - a panorama of brilliant deep blue ocean, shot with shades of green and gray and white - was of atolls and clouds. Close to the window I could see that this Pacific scene in motion was rimmed by the great curved limb of the Earth. It had a thin halo of blue held close, and beyond, black space. I held my breath, but something was missing - I felt strangely unfulfilled. Here was a tremendous visual spectacle, but viewed in silence. There was no grand musical accompaniment; no triumphant, inspired sonata or symphony. Each one of us must write the music of this sphere for ourselves.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Black (46)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breath (61)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Close (77)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Curve (49)  |  Deep (241)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  Grand (29)  |  Gray (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Green (65)  |  Halo (7)  |  Hold (96)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Limb (9)  |  Miss (51)  |  Missing (21)  |  Motion (320)  |  Music (133)  |  Musical (10)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Pacific (4)  |  Panorama (5)  |  Rim (5)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Shade (35)  |  Shoot (21)  |  Silence (62)  |  Something (718)  |  Sonata (2)  |  Space (523)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Strangely (5)  |  Symphony (10)  |  Thin (18)  |  Tremendous (29)  |  Triumphant (10)  |  Unfulfilled (3)  |  Visual (16)  |  White (132)  |  Window (59)  |  Write (250)

My point of view is that science is essentially private, whereas the almost universal counter point of view, explicitly stated in many of the articles in the Encyclopaedia, is that it must be public.
Reflections of a Physicist (1950), 44.
Science quotes on:  |  Encyclopaedia (3)  |  Must (1525)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Universal (198)

My view of life is that it’s next to impossible to convince anybody of anything.
(20 Feb 1890). Quoted in Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (1898), 291.
Science quotes on:  |  Anybody (42)  |  Anyone (38)  |  Anything (9)  |  Convince (43)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Life (1870)  |  Next (238)  |  View Of Life (7)

My view of our planet was a glimpse of divinity.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Divinity (23)  |  Glimpse (16)  |  Planet (402)

My view of the matter, for what it is worth, is that there is no such thing as a logical method of having new ideas, or a logical reconstruction of this process. My view may be expressed by saying that every discovery contains an “irrational element,” or “a creative intuition,” in Bergson's sense. In a similar way Einstein speaks of the “search for those highly universal laws … from which a picture of the world can be obtained by pure deduction. There is no logical path.” he says, “leading to these … laws. They can only be reached by intuition, based upon something like an intellectual love (Einfühlung) of the objects of experience.”
In The Logic of Scientific Discovery: Logik Der Forschung (1959, 2002), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Creative (144)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Element (322)  |  Experience (494)  |  Express (192)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Law (913)  |  Love (328)  |  Matter (821)  |  Method (531)  |  New (1273)  |  Object (438)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Path (159)  |  Picture (148)  |  Process (439)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reconstruction (16)  |  Say (989)  |  Search (175)  |  Sense (785)  |  Something (718)  |  Speak (240)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universal (198)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

My view, the skeptical one, holds that we may be as far away from an understanding of elementary particles as Newton's successors were from quantum mechanics. Like them, we have two tremendous tasks ahead of us. One is to study and explore the mathematics of the existing theories. The existing quantum field-theories may or may not be correct, but they certainly conceal mathematical depths which will take the genius of an Euler or a Hamilton to plumb. Our second task is to press on with the exploration of the wide range of physical phenomena of which the existing theories take no account. This means pressing on with experiments in the fashionable area of particle physics. Outstanding among the areas of physics which have been left out of recent theories of elementary particles are gravitation and cosmology
In Scientific American (Sep 1958). As cited in '50, 100 & 150 years ago', Scientific American (Sep 2008), 299, No. 3, 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Concealing (2)  |  Correctness (12)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Depth (97)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Leonhard Euler (35)  |  Existing (10)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Fashionable (15)  |  Field (378)  |  Genius (301)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Outstanding (16)  |  Particle (200)  |  Particle Physics (13)  |  Phenomena (8)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Field Theory (3)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Range (104)  |  Recent (78)  |  Skeptic (8)  |  Skeptical (21)  |  Study (701)  |  Successor (16)  |  Task (152)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Tremendous (29)  |  Two (936)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Wide (97)  |  Will (2350)

Mythology is wondrous, a balm for the soul. But its problems cannot be ignored. At worst, it buys inspiration at the price of physical impossibility ... At best, it purveys the same myopic view of history that made this most fascinating subject so boring and misleading in grade school as a sequential take of monarchs and battles.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bad (185)  |  Battle (36)  |  Best (467)  |  Boring (7)  |  Buy (21)  |  Fascinating (38)  |  Grade (12)  |  History (716)  |  Ignore (52)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Misleading (21)  |  Monarch (6)  |  Most (1728)  |  Myopic (2)  |  Mythology (19)  |  Physical (518)  |  Price (57)  |  Problem (731)  |  Same (166)  |  School (227)  |  Sequential (2)  |  Soul (235)  |  Subject (543)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  Worst (57)

Natural science is founded on minute critical views of the general order of events taking place upon our globe, corrected, enlarged, or exalted by experiments, in which the agents concerned are placed under new circumstances, and their diversified properties separately examined. The body of natural science, then, consists of facts; is analogy,—the relation of resemblance of facts by which its different parts are connected, arranged, and employed, either for popular use, or for new speculative improvements.
'Introductory Lecture to the Chemistry of Nature' (1807), in J. Davy (ed.), The Collected Works of Sir Humphry Davy (1839-40), Vol 8, 167-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Agent (73)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Body (557)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Concern (239)  |  Connect (126)  |  Consist (223)  |  Critical (73)  |  Different (595)  |  Employ (115)  |  Event (222)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Exalted (22)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  General (521)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Minute (129)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  New (1273)  |  Order (638)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Use (771)

Nature is disordered, powerful and chaotic, and through fear of the chaos we impose system on it. We abhor complexity, and seek to simplify things whenever we can by whatever means we have at hand. We need to have an overall explanation of what the universe is and how it functions. In order to achieve this overall view we develop explanatory theories which will give structure to natural phenomena: we classify nature into a coherent system which appears to do what we say it does.
In Day the Universe Changed (1985), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Abhorrence (8)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Classification (102)  |  Coherence (13)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Disorder (45)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fear (212)  |  Function (235)  |  Imposition (5)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Need (320)  |  Order (638)  |  Overall (10)  |  Phenomena (8)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Research (753)  |  Say (989)  |  Seek (218)  |  Seeking (31)  |  Simplification (20)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Structure (365)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Whenever (81)  |  Will (2350)

Nature is objective, and nature is knowable, but we can only view her through a glass darkly–and many clouds upon our vision are of our own making: social and cultural biases, psychological preferences, and mental limitations (in universal modes of thought, not just individualized stupidity).
In Chap. 1, 'Huxley’s Chessboard', Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin (1996, 2011), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Bias (22)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Darkly (2)  |  Glass (94)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Making (300)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mode (43)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Objective (96)  |  Preference (28)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Social (261)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Universal (198)  |  Vision (127)

Nature knows no political boundaries. She puts living creatures on this globe and watches the free play of forces. She then confers the master's right on her favourite child, the strongest in courage and industry ... The stronger must dominate and not blend with the weaker, thus sacrificing his own greatness. Only the born weakling can view this as cruel.
Mein Kampf (1925-26), American Edition (1943), 134-5. In William Lawrence Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1990), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Child (333)  |  Courage (82)  |  Creature (242)  |  Cruel (25)  |  Force (497)  |  Free (239)  |  Greatness (55)  |  Industry (159)  |  Know (1538)  |  Living (492)  |  Master (182)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Political (124)  |  Right (473)  |  Strength (139)  |  Stronger (36)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Survival Of The Fittest (43)  |  Weakling (3)

Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralisation of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accompany (22)  |  Achievement (187)  |  All-Powerful (2)  |  Assure (16)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Bureaucracy (8)  |  Complete (209)  |  Democratic (12)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Economic (84)  |  Economy (59)  |  Enslavement (3)  |  Extremely (17)  |  Far-Reaching (9)  |  Individual (420)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Plan (122)  |  Political (124)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Problem (731)  |  Protect (65)  |  Remember (189)  |  Require (229)  |  Right (473)  |  Socialism (4)  |  Solution (282)

No aphorism is more frequently repeated in connection with field trials, than that we must ask Nature few questions, or, ideally, one question, at a time. The writer is convinced that this view is wholly mistaken. Nature, he suggests, will best respond to a logical and carefully thought out questionnaire; indeed, if we ask her a single question, she will often refuse to answer until some other topic has been discussed.
'The Arrangement of Field Experiments', The Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1926, 33, 511.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Aphorism (22)  |  Ask (420)  |  Best (467)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Connection (171)  |  Field (378)  |  Indeed (323)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Question (649)  |  Questionnaire (3)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Research (753)  |  Single (365)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Topic (23)  |  Trial (59)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Will (2350)  |  Writer (90)

No body can desire more ardently than myself to concur in whatever may promote useful science, and I view no science with more partiality than Natural history.
Letter (24 May 1807) from Jefferson in Washington to G.C. de la Coste.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Concur (2)  |  Desire (212)  |  History (716)  |  More (2558)  |  Myself (211)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Partiality (3)  |  Promote (32)  |  Useful (260)  |  Whatever (234)

No known theory can be distorted so as to provide even an approximate explanation [of wave-particle duality]. There must be some fact of which we are entirely ignorant and whose discovery may revolutionize our views of the relations between waves and ether and matter. For the present we have to work on both theories. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we use the wave theory; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays we think in streams of flying energy quanta or corpuscles.
'Electrons and Ether Waves', The Robert Boyle Lecture 1921, Scientific Monthly, 1922, 14, 158.
Science quotes on:  |  Approximate (25)  |  Both (496)  |  Corpuscle (14)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distort (22)  |  Energy (373)  |  Ether (37)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flying (74)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Known (453)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Particle (200)  |  Present (630)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Revolutionize (8)  |  Saturday (11)  |  Stream (83)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Use (771)  |  Wave (112)  |  Wave-Particle Duality (3)  |  Work (1402)

No matter how much proponents of “intelligent design” try to clothe their views in the apparel of science, it is what it is: religion. Whose intelligence? Whose design?
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, column also distributed by United Press Syndicate, American Know-How Hobbled by Know-Nothings (9 Aug 2005).
Science quotes on:  |  Design (203)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Intelligent Design (5)  |  Matter (821)  |  Proponent (2)  |  Religion (369)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Try (296)

No, not a feminist. I’m a humanist. I’m neither one side nor the other. It’s about the human being. And wanting human beings to be better off so they don’t view children as an insurance for the future.
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalist’s best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
Science quotes on:  |  Better Off (7)  |  Child (333)  |  Feminist (3)  |  Future (467)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Humanist (8)  |  Insurance (12)  |  Side (236)

Nobody knows more than a tiny fragment of science well enough to judge its validity and value at first hand. For the rest he has to rely on views accepted at second hand on the authority of a community of people accredited as scientists. But this accrediting depends in its turn on a complex organization. For each member of the community can judge at first hand only a small number of his fellow members, and yet eventually each is accredited by all. What happens is that each recognizes as scientists a number of others by whom he is recognized as such in return, and these relations form chains which transmit these mutual recognitions at second hand through the whole community. This is how each member becomes directly or indirectly accredited by all. The system extends into the past. Its members recognize the same set of persons as their masters and derive from this allegiance a common tradition, of which each carries on a particular strand.
Personal Knowledge (1958), 163.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Allegiance (5)  |  Authority (99)  |  Become (821)  |  Carrying (7)  |  Chain (51)  |  Common (447)  |  Community (111)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependance (4)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Derive (70)  |  Directly (25)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Extend (129)  |  Extension (60)  |  Fellow (88)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Fragment (58)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happening (59)  |  Indirectly (7)  |  Judge (114)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Master (182)  |  Member (42)  |  More (2558)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Number (710)  |  Organization (120)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  Past (355)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Rest (287)  |  Return (133)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Secondhand (6)  |  Set (400)  |  Small (489)  |  Strand (9)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Turn (454)  |  Validity (50)  |  Value (393)  |  Whole (756)

Not greatly moved with awe am I
To learn that we may spy
Five thousand firmaments beyond our own.
The best that's known
Of the heavenly bodies does them credit small.
View'd close, the Moon's fair ball
Is of ill objects worst,
A corpse in Night's highway, naked, fire-scarr'd, accurst;
And now they tell
That the Sun is plainly seen to boil and burst
Too horribly for hell.
So, judging from these two,
As we must do,
The Universe, outside our living Earth,
Was all conceiv'd in the Creator's mirth,
Forecasting at the time Man's spirit deep,
To make dirt cheap.
Put by the Telescope!
Better without it man may see,
Stretch'd awful in the hush'd midnight,
The ghost of his eternity.
'The Two Deserts' (1880-85). Poems, Introduction Basil Champneys (1906), 302.
Science quotes on:  |  Awe (43)  |  Ball (64)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Boil (24)  |  Burst (41)  |  Cheap (13)  |  Conception (160)  |  Corpse (7)  |  Creator (97)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dirt (17)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Fire (203)  |  Firmament (18)  |  Forecast (15)  |  Ghost (36)  |  Hell (32)  |  Highway (15)  |  Horrible (10)  |  Judge (114)  |  Known (453)  |  Learn (672)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Midnight (12)  |  Moon (252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naked (10)  |  Night (133)  |  Object (438)  |  Outside (141)  |  Poem (104)  |  Scar (8)  |  See (1094)  |  Small (489)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spy (9)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Sun (407)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Worst (57)

Now that we locate them [genes] in the chromosomes are we justified in regarding them as material units; as chemical bodies of a higher order than molecules? Frankly, these are questions with which the working geneticist has not much concern himself, except now and then to speculate as to the nature of the postulated elements. There is no consensus of opinion amongst geneticists as to what the genes are—whether they are real or purely fictitious—because at the level at which the genetic experiments lie, it does not make the slightest difference whether the gene is a hypothetical unit, or whether the gene is a material particle. In either case the unit is associated with a specific chromosome, and can be localized there by purely genetic analysis. Hence, if the gene is a material unit, it is a piece of chromosome; if it is a fictitious unit, it must be referred to a definite location in a chromosome—the same place as on the other hypothesis. Therefore, it makes no difference in the actual work in genetics which point of view is taken. Between the characters that are used by the geneticist and the genes that his theory postulates lies the whole field of embryonic development.
'The Relation of Genetics to Physiology and Medicine', Nobel Lecture (4 Jun 1934). In Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1922-1941 (1965), 315.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Character (259)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chromosome (23)  |  Chromosomes (17)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consensus (8)  |  Definite (114)  |  Development (441)  |  Difference (355)  |  Element (322)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Field (378)  |  Gene (105)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Geneticist (16)  |  Himself (461)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Lie (370)  |  Location (15)  |  Material (366)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particle (200)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Postulate (42)  |  Purely (111)  |  Question (649)  |  Specific (98)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Whole (756)  |  Work (1402)

Observation by means of the microscope will reveal more wonderful things than those viewed in regard to mere structure and connection: for while the heart is still beating the contrary (i.e., in opposite directions in the different vessels) movement of the blood is observed in the vessels—though with difficulty—so that the circulation of the blood is clearly exposed.
De Pulmonibus (1661), trans. James Young, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine (1929-30), 23, 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Beat (42)  |  Blood (144)  |  Capillary (4)  |  Circulation (27)  |  Connection (171)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Direction (185)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Heart (243)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Microscope (85)  |  More (2558)  |  Movement (162)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Regard (312)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Still (614)  |  Structure (365)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wonderful (155)

October 9, 1863
Always, however great the height of the balloon, when I have seen the horizon it has roughly appeared to be on the level of the car though of course the dip of the horizon is a very appreciable quantity or the same height as the eye. From this one might infer that, could the earth be seen without a cloud or anything to obscure it, and the boundary line of the plane approximately the same height as the eye, the general appearance would be that of a slight concavity; but I have never seen any part of the surface of the earth other than as a plane.
Towns and cities, when viewed from the balloon are like models in motion. I shall always remember the ascent of 9th October, 1863, when we passed over London about sunset. At the time when we were 7,000 feet high, and directly over London Bridge, the scene around was one that cannot probably be equalled in the world. We were still so low as not to have lost sight of the details of the spectacle which presented itself to our eyes; and with one glance the homes of 3,000,000 people could be seen, and so distinct was the view, that every large building was easily distinguishable. In fact, the whole of London was visible, and some parts most clearly. All round, the suburbs were also very distinct, with their lines of detached villas, imbedded as it were in a mass of shrubs; beyond, the country was like a garden, its fields, well marked, becoming smaller and smaller as the eye wandered farther and farther away.
Again looking down, there was the Thames, throughout its whole length, without the slightest mist, dotted over its winding course with innumerable ships and steamboats, like moving toys. Gravesend was visible, also the mouth of the Thames, and the coast around as far as Norfolk. The southern shore of the mouth of the Thames was not so clear, but the sea beyond was seen for many miles; when at a higher elevation, I looked for the coast of France, but was unable to see it. On looking round, the eye was arrested by the garden-like appearance of the county of Kent, till again London claimed yet more careful attention.
Smoke, thin and blue, was curling from it, and slowly moving away in beautiful curves, from all except one part, south of the Thames, where it was less blue and seemed more dense, till the cause became evident; it was mixed with mist rising from the ground, the southern limit of which was bounded by an even line, doubtless indicating the meeting of the subsoils of gravel and clay. The whole scene was surmounted by a canopy of blue, everywhere free from cloud, except near the horizon, where a band of cumulus and stratus extended all round, forming a fitting boundary to such a glorious view.
As seen from the earth, the sunset this evening was described as fine, the air being clear and the shadows well defined; but, as we rose to view it and its effects, the golden hues increased in intensity; their richness decreased as the distance from the sun increased, both right and left; but still as far as 90º from the sun, rose-coloured clouds extended. The remainder of the circle was completed, for the most part, by pure white cumulus of well-rounded and symmetrical forms.
I have seen London by night. I have crossed it during the day at the height of four miles. I have often admired the splendour of sky scenery, but never have I seen anything which surpassed this spectacle. The roar of the town heard at this elevation was a deep, rich, continuous sound the voice of labour. At four miles above London, all was hushed; no sound reached our ears.
Travels in the Air (1871), 99-100.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Attention (196)  |  Balloon (16)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Both (496)  |  Bound (120)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Bridge (49)  |  Building (158)  |  Canopy (8)  |  Car (75)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circle (117)  |  Claim (154)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Completed (30)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Country (269)  |  Course (413)  |  Curve (49)  |  Deep (241)  |  Detail (150)  |  Distance (171)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Down (455)  |  Ear (69)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Effect (414)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Evident (92)  |  Extend (129)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Farther (51)  |  Field (378)  |  Flight (101)  |  Form (976)  |  Forming (42)  |  Free (239)  |  Garden (64)  |  General (521)  |  Glance (36)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Golden (47)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Labor (200)  |  Large (398)  |  Limit (294)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Low (86)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mist (17)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Never (1089)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  People (1031)  |  Present (630)  |  Pure (299)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Reach (286)  |  Remainder (7)  |  Remember (189)  |  Right (473)  |  Rising (44)  |  Rose (36)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Ship (69)  |  Shrub (5)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sky (174)  |  Smoke (32)  |  Sound (187)  |  South (39)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Splendour (8)  |  Steamboat (7)  |  Still (614)  |  Suburb (7)  |  Sun (407)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Thames (6)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Toy (22)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wander (44)  |  White (132)  |  Whole (756)  |  Winding (8)  |  World (1850)

Of … habitable worlds, such as the Earth, all which we may suppose to be of a terrestrial or terraqueous nature, and filled with beings of the human species, subject to mortality, it may not be amiss in this place to compute how many may he conceived within our finite view every clear Star-light night. … In all together then we may safely reckon 170,000,000, and yet be much within compass, exclusive Of the Comets which I judge to be by far the most numerous part of the creation.
In The Universe and the Stars: Being an Original Theory on the Visible Creation, Founded on the Laws of Nature (1750, 1837), 131-132.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Clear (111)  |  Comet (65)  |  Compass (37)  |  Compute (19)  |  Creation (350)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Exclusive (29)  |  Finite (60)  |  Habitable (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Judge (114)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Night (133)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Species (435)  |  Star (460)  |  Starlight (5)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Together (392)  |  World (1850)

Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Essay, 'The Study of Mathematics' (1902), collected in Philosophical Essays (1910), 73-74. Also collected in Mysticism and Logic: And Other Essays (1919), 73.
Science quotes on:  |  Chief (99)  |  Encouragement (27)  |  End (603)  |  Faith (209)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Habit (174)  |  Learning (291)  |  Love (328)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Study (701)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Virtue (117)

One and all
We lend an ear—nay, Science takes thereto—
Encourages the meanest who has racked
Nature until he gains from her some fact,
To state what truth is from his point of view,
Mere pin-point though it be: since many such
Conduce to make a whole, she bids our friend
Come forward unabashed and haply lend
His little life-experience to our much
Of modern knowledge.
'With Francis Furini', The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning (1895), 967.
Science quotes on:  |  Ear (69)  |  Encourage (43)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Forward (104)  |  Friend (180)  |  Gain (146)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Modern (402)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Pin (20)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Research (753)  |  State (505)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Whole (756)

One Form of Failure. From a worldly point of view there is no mistake so great as that of being always right.
Samuel Butler, Henry Festing Jones (ed.), The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1917), 224.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Failure (176)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Right (473)

One of Euler’s main recreations was music, and by cultivating it he brought with it all his geometrical spirit; … he rested his serious researches and composed his Essay of a New Theory of Music, published in 1739; a book full of new ideas presented in a new point of view, but that did not have a great success, apparently for the sole reason that it contains too much of geometry for the musician and too much music for the geometer.
From his Eulogy of Leonhard Euler, read at the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Saint Petersburg (23 Oct 1783). Published in 'Éloge de Léonard Euler, Prononcé en Français par Nicolas Fuss'. Collected in Leonard Euler, Oeuvres Complètes en Français de L. Euler (1839), Vol. 1, xii. From the original French, “Un des principaux délassements d'Euler était la musique, et en la cultivant il y apporta tout son esprit géométrique; … il accordait à ses recherches profondes, il composa son Essai d'une nouvelle théorie de la musique, publié en 1739; ouvrage rempli d'idées neuves ou présentées sous un nouveau point de vue, mais qui n’eut pas un grand succès, apparemment par la seule raison qu’il renferme trop de géométrie pour le musicien et trop de musique pour le géomètre.” English version by Webmaster using Google translate.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparently (22)  |  Book (413)  |  Compose (20)  |  Contain (68)  |  Essay (27)  |  Leonhard Euler (35)  |  Geometer (24)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Great (1610)  |  Idea (881)  |  Music (133)  |  Musician (23)  |  New (1273)  |  New Ideas (17)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Publish (42)  |  Reason (766)  |  Recreation (23)  |  Research (753)  |  Rest (287)  |  Serious (98)  |  Sole (50)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Success (327)  |  Theory (1015)

One of the great problems of philosophy, is the relationship between the realm of knowledge and the realm of values. Knowledge is what is; values are what ought to be. I would say that all traditional philosophies up to and including Marxism have tried to derive the “ought” from the “is.” My point of view is that this is impossible, this is a farce.
Quoted in John C. Hess, 'French Nobel Biologist Says World Based On Chance', New York Times (15 Mar 1971), 6. Cited in Barbara Bennett, Linda Amster, Who Said what (and When, and Where, and How) in 1971 (1972, 168.
Science quotes on:  |  Derive (70)  |  Farce (5)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Problem (731)  |  Realm (87)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Say (989)  |  Value (393)

One of the most immediate consequences of the electrochemical theory is the necessity of regarding all chemical compounds as binary substances. It is necessary to discover in each of them the positive and negative constituents... No view was ever more fitted to retard the progress of organic chemistry. Where the theory of substitution and the theory of types assume similar molecules, in which some of the elements can be replaced by others without the edifice becoming modified either in form or outward behaviour, the electrochemical theory divides these same molecules, simply and solely, it may be said, in order to find in them two opposite groups, which it then supposes to be combined with each other in virtue of their mutual electrical activity... I have tried to show that in organic chemistry there exist types which are capable, without destruction, of undergoing the most singular transformations according to the nature of the elements.
Traité de Chemie Appliquée aux Arts, Vol. I (1828), 53. Trans. J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry, Vol. 4, 366.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Activity (218)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Binary (12)  |  Capable (174)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Compound (117)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Discover (571)  |  Divide (77)  |  Edifice (26)  |  Electrical (57)  |  Electrochemical (4)  |  Electrochemistry (5)  |  Element (322)  |  Exist (458)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Molecule (185)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Negative (66)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Order (638)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Chemistry (41)  |  Other (2233)  |  Positive (98)  |  Progress (492)  |  Show (353)  |  Singular (24)  |  Substance (253)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Two (936)  |  Type (171)  |  Virtue (117)

One of the principal objects of theoretical research in my department of knowledge is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in its greatest simplicity.
In letter published in Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1881), 420.
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Department (93)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Object (438)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Principal (69)  |  Research (753)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Subject (543)  |  Theoretical (27)

One's instinct is at first to try and get rid of a discrepancy, but I believe that experience shows such an endeavour to be a mistake. What one ought to do is to magnify a small discrepancy with a view to finding out the explanation.
General Monthly Meeting, on Argon, (1 Apr 1895), Proceedings of the Royal Institution (1895), 14, 525.
Science quotes on:  |  Discrepancy (7)  |  Do (1905)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Experience (494)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Magnification (10)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Show (353)  |  Small (489)  |  Try (296)

Our view is that there is a matter of the perceptible bodies, but that this is not separable but is always together with a contrariety, from which the so-called “elements” come to be.
Aristotle
As quoted in Christopher Shields, The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle (2012). 218.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Call (781)  |  Element (322)  |  Matter (821)  |  Perceptible (7)  |  Separable (3)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Together (392)

Pavlov’s data on the two fundamental antagonistic nervous processes—stimulation and inhibition—and his profound generalizations regarding them, in particular, that these processes are parts of a united whole, that they are in a state of constant conflict and constant transition of the one to the other, and his views on the dominant role they play in the formation of the higher nervous activity—all those belong to the most established natural—scientific validation of the Marxist dialectal method. They are in complete accord with the Leninist concepts on the role of the struggle between opposites in the evolution, the motion of matter.
In E. A. Asratyan, I. P. Pavlov: His Life and Work (1953), 153.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  Activity (218)  |  Antagonist (2)  |  Belong (168)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Complete (209)  |  Concept (242)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Constancy (12)  |  Constant (148)  |  Data (162)  |  Dominance (5)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Higher (37)  |  Inhibition (13)  |  Vladimir Lenin (3)  |  Karl Marx (22)  |  Matter (821)  |  Method (531)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Particular (80)  |  Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (18)  |  Play (116)  |  Process (439)  |  Profound (105)  |  Profoundness (2)  |  Regard (312)  |  Role (86)  |  Scientific (955)  |  State (505)  |  Stimulation (18)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Transition (28)  |  Two (936)  |  Union (52)  |  Validation (2)  |  Whole (756)

Perhaps the greatest joy of flying is the magnificence of the view. … Colors stand out and the shades of the earth, unseen from below, form an endless magic carpet. If anyone really wishes to see the seasons’ changes, he should fly. Autumn turns its most flaming leaves upward and spring hints its coming first for birds and aviators.
In The Fun of It (1932), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Autumn (11)  |  Aviator (2)  |  Flying (74)  |  Joy (117)  |  Magnificence (14)  |  Spring (140)

Perseverance is the chief, but perseverance must have some practical end, or it does not avail the man possessing it. A person without a practical end in view becomes a crank or an idiot. Such persons fill our asylums.
In Orison Swett Marden, 'Bell Telephone Talk: Hints on Success by Alexander G. Bell', How They Succeeded: Life Stories of Successful Men Told by Themselves (1901), 32.
Science quotes on:  |  Asylum (5)  |  Become (821)  |  Chief (99)  |  Crank (18)  |  End (603)  |  Idiot (22)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Person (366)  |  Practical (225)

Philosophers, if they have much imagination, are apt to let it loose as well as other people, and in such cases are sometimes led to mistake a fancy for a fact. Geologists, in particular, have very frequently amused themselves in this way, and it is not a little amusing to follow them in their fancies and their waking dreams. Geology, indeed, in this view, may be called a romantic science.
Conversations on Geology (1840), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Amusement (37)  |  Call (781)  |  Dream (222)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Follow (389)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Little (717)  |  Loose (14)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Romance (18)  |  Romantic (13)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Waking (17)  |  Way (1214)

Psychology appeared to be a jungle of confusing, conflicting, and arbitrary concepts. These pre-scientific theories doubtless contained insights which still surpass in refinement those depended upon by psychiatrists or psychologists today. But who knows, among the many brilliant ideas offered, which are the true ones? Some will claim that the statements of one theorist are correct, but others will favour the views of another. Then there is no objective way of sorting out the truth except through scientific research.
From The Scientific Analysis of Personality (1965), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Arbitrary (27)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Claim (154)  |  Concept (242)  |  Conflicting (13)  |  Confusing (2)  |  Correct (95)  |  Depend (238)  |  Idea (881)  |  Insight (107)  |  Jungle (24)  |  Know (1538)  |  Objective (96)  |  Offer (142)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pre-Scientific (5)  |  Psychiatrist (16)  |  Psychologist (26)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Refinement (19)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Theory (24)  |  Statement (148)  |  Still (614)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Through (846)  |  Today (321)  |  True (239)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics. It is granted that the behavior of animals can be investigated without appeal to consciousness. Heretofore the viewpoint has been that such data have value only in so far as they can be interpreted by analogy in terms of consciousness. The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be considered in the same plane.
In Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It (1913), 176.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Animal (651)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Branch (155)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Data (162)  |  Do (1905)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Grant (76)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Introspection (6)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Need (320)  |  Objective (96)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Plane (22)  |  Position (83)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Purely (111)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Value (393)  |  Viewpoint (13)

Reason must approach nature with the view, indeed, of receiving information from it, not, however, in the character of a pupil, who listens to all that his master chooses to tell him, but in that of a judge, who compels the witnesses to reply to those questions which he himself thinks fit to propose. To this single idea must the revolution be ascribed, by which, after groping in the dark for so many centuries, natural science was at length conducted into the path of certain progress.
Critique of Pure Reason, translated by J.M.D. Meiklejohn (1855), Preface to the Second Edition, xxvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Ascribe (18)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Character (259)  |  Choose (116)  |  Compel (31)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Dark (145)  |  Fit (139)  |  Grope (5)  |  Himself (461)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Information (173)  |  Judge (114)  |  Listen (81)  |  Master (182)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Path (159)  |  Progress (492)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reply (58)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Single (365)  |  Tell (344)  |  Think (1122)  |  Witness (57)

Relations between authors and referees are, of course, almost always strained. Authors are convinced that the malicious stupidity of the referee is alone preventing them from laying their discoveries before an admiring world. Referees are convinced that authors are too arrogant and obtuse to recognize blatant fallacies in their own reasoning, even when these have been called to their attention with crystalline lucidity. All physicists know this, because all physicists are both authors and referees, but it does no good. The ability of one person to hold both views is an example of what Bohr called complementarity.
In Boojums All the Way Through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age (1990), 19-20.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Admiration (61)  |  Alone (324)  |  Arrogance (22)  |  Attention (196)  |  Author (175)  |  Blatant (4)  |  Niels Bohr (55)  |  Both (496)  |  Call (781)  |  Complementarity (6)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Course (413)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Fallacy (31)  |  Good (906)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lucidity (7)  |  Malice (6)  |  Malicious (8)  |  Obtuse (2)  |  Person (366)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physicists (2)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Referee (8)  |  Relation (166)  |  Strain (13)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  World (1850)

Religion, in contrast to science, deploys the repugnant view that the world is too big for our understanding. Science, in contrast to religion, opens up the great questions of being to rational discussion, to discussion with the prospect of resolution and elucidation.
Essay collected in John Cornwell (ed.), 'The Limitless Power of Science', Nature's Imagination: The Frontiers of Scientific Vision (1995), 125.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Deploy (3)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Elucidation (7)  |  Great (1610)  |  Open (277)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Question (649)  |  Rational (95)  |  Religion (369)  |  Repugnant (8)  |  Resolution (24)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Understanding (527)  |  World (1850)

Research may start from definite problems whose importance it recognizes and whose solution is sought more or less directly by all forces. But equally legitimate is the other method of research which only selects the field of its activity and, contrary to the first method, freely reconnoitres in the search for problems which are capable of solution. Different individuals will hold different views as to the relative value of these two methods. If the first method leads to greater penetration it is also easily exposed to the danger of unproductivity. To the second method we owe the acquisition of large and new fields, in which the details of many things remain to be determined and explored by the first method.
In Zum Gedächtniss an Julius Plucker', Göttinger Abhandlungen (1871), 16, Mathematische Classe, 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Activity (218)  |  Capable (174)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Danger (127)  |  Definite (114)  |  Detail (150)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Easy (213)  |  Equally (129)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Expose (28)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Force (497)  |  Freely (13)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hold (96)  |  Importance (299)  |  Individual (420)  |  Large (398)  |  Lead (391)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Owe (71)  |  Penetration (18)  |  Problem (731)  |  Productivity (23)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Reconnoitre (2)  |  Relative (42)  |  Remain (355)  |  Research (753)  |  Search (175)  |  Select (45)  |  Solution (282)  |  Start (237)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Two (936)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)

Science adjusts its views based on what’s observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved.
In Storm: The Animated Movie (2011).
Science quotes on:  |  Adjust (11)  |  Based (10)  |  Belief (615)  |  Denial (20)  |  Faith (209)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Preserve (91)

Science cannot determine origin, and so cannot determine destiny. As it presents only a sectional view of creation, it gives only a sectional view of everything in creation.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Creation (350)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Determine (152)  |  Everything (489)  |  Give (208)  |  Origin (250)  |  Present (630)

Science gives us the grounds of premises from which religious truths are to be inferred; but it does not set about inferring them, much less does it reach the inference; that is not its province. It brings before us phenomena, and it leaves us, if we will, to call them works of design, wisdom, or benevolence; and further still, if we will, to proceed to confess an Intelligent Creator. We have to take its facts, and to give them a meaning, and to draw our own conclusions from them. First comes Knowledge, then a view, then reasoning, then belief. This is why Science has so little of a religious tendency; deductions have no power of persuasion. The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination, by means of direct impressions, by the testimony of facts and events, by history, by description. Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon a dogma; no man will be a martyr for a conclusion.
Letter collected in Tamworth Reading Room: Letters on an Address Delivered by Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P. on the Establishment of a Reading Room at Tamworth (1841), 32. Excerpted in John Henry Newman, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (1870), 89 & 94 footnote.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Benevolence (11)  |  Bring (95)  |  Call (781)  |  Commonly (9)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Confess (42)  |  Creator (97)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Deed (34)  |  Description (89)  |  Design (203)  |  Die (94)  |  Direct (228)  |  Dogma (49)  |  Draw (140)  |  Event (222)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Far (158)  |  First (1302)  |  Give (208)  |  Ground (222)  |  Heart (243)  |  History (716)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Impression (118)  |  Infer (12)  |  Inference (45)  |  Inflame (2)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Leave (138)  |  Less (105)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Martyr (3)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Means (587)  |  Melt (16)  |  Person (366)  |  Persuasion (9)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Power (771)  |  Premise (40)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Province (37)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Religious (134)  |  Set (400)  |  Still (614)  |  Subdue (7)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Testimony (21)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Voice (54)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Work (1402)

Science is uncertain. Theories are subject to revision; observations are open to a variety of interpretations, and scientists quarrel amongst themselves. This is disillusioning for those untrained in the scientific method, who thus turn to the rigid certainty of the Bible instead. There is something comfortable about a view that allows for no deviation and that spares you the painful necessity of having to think.
The 'Threat' of Creationism. In Ashley Montagu (ed.), Science and Creationism (1984), 192.
Science quotes on:  |  Bible (105)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Creationist (16)  |  Deviation (21)  |  Disillusionment (2)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Method (531)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Observation (593)  |  Open (277)  |  Quarrel (10)  |  Religion (369)  |  Revision (7)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Something (718)  |  Subject (543)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Turn (454)  |  Uncertain (45)  |  Uncertainty (58)  |  Untrained (2)  |  Variety (138)

Science would have us believe that such accuracy, leading to certainty, is the only criterion of knowledge, would make the trial of Galileo the paradigm of the two points of view which aspire to truth, would suggest, that is, that the cardinals represent only superstition and repression, while Galileo represents freedom. But there is another criterion which is systematically neglected in this elevation of science. Man does not now—and will not ever—live by the bread of scientific method alone. He must deal with life and death, with love and cruelty and despair, and so must make conjectures of great importance which may or may not be true and which do not lend themselves to experimentation: It is better to give than to receive; Love thy neighbor as thyself; Better to risk slavery through non-violence than to defend freedom with murder. We must deal with such propositions, must decide whether they are true, whether to believe them, whether to act on them—and scientific method is no help for by their nature these matters lie forever beyond the realm of science.
In The End of the Modern Age (1973), 89.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Act (278)  |  Alone (324)  |  Aspire (15)  |  Belief (615)  |  Better (493)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bread (42)  |  Cardinal (9)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Criterion (28)  |  Cruelty (24)  |  Deal (192)  |  Death (406)  |  Decide (50)  |  Despair (40)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Experimentation (7)  |  Forever (111)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Great (1610)  |  Importance (299)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Method (531)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Neglected (23)  |  Paradigm (16)  |  Point (584)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Realm (87)  |  Receive (117)  |  Represent (157)  |  Repression (3)  |  Risk (68)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Slavery (13)  |  Superstition (70)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Through (846)  |  Trial (59)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Violence (37)  |  Will (2350)

Science’s defenders have identified five hallmark moves of pseudoscientists. They argue that the scientific consensus emerges from a conspiracy to suppress dissenting views. They produce fake experts, who have views contrary to established knowledge but do not actually have a credible scientific track record. They cherry-pick the data and papers that challenge the dominant view as a means of discrediting an entire field. They deploy false analogies and other logical fallacies. And they set impossible expectations of research: when scientists produce one level of certainty, the pseudoscientists insist they achieve another.
In Commencement Address at the California Institute of Technology (10 Jun 2016). Published on the website of The New Yorker (10 Jun 2016).
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Cherry-Pick (2)  |  Consensus (8)  |  Conspiracy (6)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Data (162)  |  Defender (5)  |  Discredit (8)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Expert (67)  |  Fake (3)  |  Fallacy (31)  |  False (105)  |  Field (378)  |  Hallmark (6)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Insist (22)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Logical (57)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Move (223)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Record (161)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Set (400)  |  Suppress (6)  |  Track (42)  |  Track Record (4)

Scientific discovery and scientific knowledge have been achieved only by those who have gone in pursuit of them without any practical purpose whatsoever in view.
The New Science (1959), 93.
Science quotes on:  |  Discovery (837)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Practical (225)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Whatsoever (41)

Scientific inquiry would thus he conceived of as analogous to terrestrial exploration, whose product—geography—yields results of continually smaller significance which fill in ever more minute gaps in our information. In such a view, later investigations yield findings of ever smaller importance, with each successive accretion making a relatively smaller contribution to what has already come to hand. The advance of science leads, step by diminished step, toward a fixed and final view of things.
In The Limits Of Science (1984, Rev. 1999), 67.
Science quotes on:  |  Accretion (5)  |  Advance (298)  |  Already (226)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Fill (67)  |  Final (121)  |  Findings (6)  |  Gap (36)  |  Geography (39)  |  Importance (299)  |  Information (173)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Lead (391)  |  Making (300)  |  Minute (129)  |  More (2558)  |  Product (166)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Significance (114)  |  Small (489)  |  Step (234)  |  Successive (73)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Yield (86)

Scientific truth, like puristic truth, must come about by controversy. Personally this view is abhorrent to me. It seems to mean that scientific truth must transcend the individual, that the best hope of science lies in its greatest minds being often brilliantly and determinedly wrong, but in opposition, with some third, eclectically minded, middle-of-the-road nonentity seizing the prize while the great fight for it, running off with it, and sticking it into a textbook for sophomores written from no point of view and in defense of nothing whatsoever. I hate this view, for it is not dramatic and it is not fair; and yet I believe that it is the verdict of the history of science.
From Address of the President before the American Psychological Association at New York (28 Dec 1928) 'The Psychology of Controversy', Psychological Review (1929), 36, 97. Collected in Robert I. Watson and Donald T. Campbell (eds.), History, Psychology and Science: Selected Papers by Edwin Boring (1963), 68.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Book (413)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Defense (26)  |  Dramatic (19)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Hate (68)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Hope (321)  |  Individual (420)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mean (810)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nonentity (2)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Running (61)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Truth (23)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Verdict (8)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Wrong (246)

Secondly, the study of mathematics would show them the necessity there is in reasoning, to separate all the distinct ideas, and to see the habitudes that all those concerned in the present inquiry have to one another, and to lay by those which relate not to the proposition in hand, and wholly to leave them out of the reckoning. This is that which, in other respects besides quantity is absolutely requisite to just reasoning, though in them it is not so easily observed and so carefully practised. In those parts of knowledge where it is thought demonstration has nothing to do, men reason as it were in a lump; and if upon a summary and confused view, or upon a partial consideration, they can raise the appearance of a probability, they usually rest content; especially if it be in a dispute where every little straw is laid hold on, and everything that can but be drawn in any way to give color to the argument is advanced with ostentation. But that mind is not in a posture to find truth that does not distinctly take all the parts asunder, and, omitting what is not at all to the point, draws a conclusion from the result of all the particulars which in any way influence it.
In Conduct of the Understanding, Sect. 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Advance (298)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Argument (145)  |  Asunder (4)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Color (155)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Confused (13)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Content (75)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Distinctly (5)  |  Do (1905)  |  Draw (140)  |  Easily (36)  |  Especially (31)  |  Everything (489)  |  Find (1014)  |  Give (208)  |  Habit (174)  |  Hold (96)  |  Idea (881)  |  Influence (231)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Laid (7)  |  Little (717)  |  Lump (5)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Omit (12)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Partial (10)  |  Particular (80)  |  Point (584)  |  Posture (7)  |  Practise (7)  |  Present (630)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Raise (38)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Reckoning (19)  |  Requisite (12)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rest (287)  |  Result (700)  |  See (1094)  |  Separate (151)  |  Show (353)  |  Straw (7)  |  Study (701)  |  Summary (11)  |  Thought (995)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Usually (176)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wholly (88)

Shall it any longer be said that a science [geology], which unfolds such abundant evidence of the Being and Attributes of God, can reasonably be viewed in any other light than as the efficient Auxiliary and Handmaid of Religion?
Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (1836), Vol. I, 593.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundant (23)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Auxiliary (11)  |  Being (1276)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Geology (240)  |  God (776)  |  Light (635)  |  Other (2233)  |  Religion (369)

Shoe leather epidemiology.
[Langmuir stressed that investigators go into the field to collect their own data and directly view the locale of a public health problem. His graduates wore lapel pins of a shoe with a hole in the sole.]
As stated in 'Alexander Langmuir Dies at 83', New York Times (24 Nov 1993), D19.
Science quotes on:  |  Collection (68)  |  Data (162)  |  Epidemiology (3)  |  Field (378)  |  Graduate (32)  |  Health (210)  |  Hole (17)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Leather (4)  |  Locale (2)  |  Pin (20)  |  Problem (731)  |  Public Health (12)  |  Shoe (12)  |  Sole (50)  |  Stress (22)

Significant inventions are not mere accidents. The erroneous view [that they are] is widely held, and it is one that the scientific and technical community, unfortunately, has done little to dispel. Happenstance usually plays a part, to be sure, but there is much more to invention than the popular notion of a bolt out of the blue. Knowledge in depth and in breadth are virtual prerequisites. Unless the mind is thoroughly charged beforehand, the proverbial spark of genius, if it should manifest itself, probably will find nothing to ignite.
Speech, at award of Perkin Medal. As quoted in 'Introduction', Royston M. Roberts, Serendipity (1989), x.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Bolt (11)  |  Breadth (15)  |  Charge (63)  |  Community (111)  |  Depth (97)  |  Dispel (5)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Find (1014)  |  Genius (301)  |  Happenstance (2)  |  Ignite (3)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Mere (86)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  Prerequisite (9)  |  Proverbial (8)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Significant (78)  |  Spark (32)  |  Technical (53)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Unfortunately (40)  |  Usually (176)  |  Will (2350)

Since many cases are known in which the specificities of antigens and enzymes appear to bear a direct relation to gene specificities, it seems reasonable to suppose that the gene’s primary and possibly sole function is in directing the final configurations of protein molecules.
Assuming that each specific protein of the organism has its unique configuration copied from that of a gene, it follows that every enzyme whose specificity depends on a protein should be subject to modification or inactivation through gene mutation. This would, of course, mean that the reaction normally catalyzed by the enzyme in question would either have its rate or products modified or be blocked entirely.
Such a view does not mean that genes directly “make” proteins. Regardless of precisely how proteins are synthesized, and from what component parts, these parts must themselves be synthesized by reactions which are enzymatically catalyzed and which in turn depend on the functioning of many genes. Thus in the synthesis of a single protein molecule, probably at least several hundred different genes contribute. But the final molecule corresponds to only one of them and this is the gene we visualize as being in primary control.
In 'Genetics and Metabolism in Neurospora', Physiological Reviews, 1945, 25, 660.
Science quotes on:  |  Antigen (5)  |  Bear (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Component (51)  |  Control (182)  |  Course (413)  |  Depend (238)  |  Different (595)  |  Direct (228)  |  Enzyme (19)  |  Final (121)  |  Follow (389)  |  Function (235)  |  Gene (105)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Known (453)  |  Mean (810)  |  Modification (57)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Organism (231)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Primary (82)  |  Product (166)  |  Protein (56)  |  Question (649)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Single (365)  |  Sole (50)  |  Specific (98)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Through (846)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unique (72)

So numerous are the objects which meet our view in the heavens, that we cannot imagine a point of space where some light would not strike the eye;—innumerable stars, thousands of double and multiple systems, clusters in one blaze with their tens of thousands of stars, and the nebulae amazing us by the strangeness of their forms and the incomprehensibility of their nature, till at last, from the limit of our senses, even these thin and airy phantoms vanish in the distance.
On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1858), 420.
Science quotes on:  |  Airy (2)  |  Amazement (19)  |  Amazing (35)  |  Blaze (14)  |  Cluster (16)  |  Distance (171)  |  Eye (440)  |  Form (976)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Incomprehensibility (2)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Last (425)  |  Light (635)  |  Limit (294)  |  Multiple (19)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nebula (16)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Object (438)  |  Phantom (9)  |  Point (584)  |  Sense (785)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Strangeness (10)  |  Strike (72)  |  System (545)  |  Thin (18)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Vanish (19)

Society is becoming increasingly aware of the power of science to bring weal or woe to mankind. But now when it is seen that the same science that brings prosperity and comfort may lead to depression and discomfort, men are beginning to look with mixed feelings at this monster which society may exalt or persecute, but cannot view with indifference. Perhaps my topic today should have read “Ought Scientists to be Burnt at the Stake?” I shall not attempt to decide this question, but only to present in a cursory way some of the pros and cons … But if scientists are to be destroyed, let them not alone by the victims; every creative thought must be extirpated. A philosopher’s epigram may kindle a world war. So scientist, inventor, artist, poet and every sort of troublous enthusiast must together be brought before the bar of the new inquisition
As quoted in Lecture (1981), American Chemical Society, Symposium of the Division of Chemical Education on Gilbert Newton Lewis Melvin Calvin, 'Gilbert Newton Lewis: His Influence on Physical-Organic Chemists at Berkeley', published in Chemical Biodynamics Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Proceedings (Mar 1982).
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Artist (97)  |  Aware (36)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Burn (99)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Creative (144)  |  Depression (26)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Discomfort (4)  |  Enthusiast (9)  |  Epigram (2)  |  Exalt (29)  |  Extirpate (3)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Increase (225)  |  Indifference (16)  |  Inquisition (9)  |  Inventor (79)  |  Kindle (9)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mix (24)  |  Monster (33)  |  Persecute (6)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Poet (97)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Prosperity (31)  |  Question (649)  |  Science (39)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Society (350)  |  Sort (50)  |  Stake (20)  |  Thought (995)  |  Topic (23)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Victim (37)  |  World War (2)

Sociobiology is not just any statement that biology, genetics, and evolutionary theory have something to do with human behavior. Sociobiology is a specific theory about the nature of genetic and evolutionary input into human behavior. It rests upon the view that natural selection is a virtually omnipotent architect, constructing organisms part by part as best solutions to problems of life in local environments. It fragments organisms into “traits,” explains their existence as a set of best solutions, and argues that each trait is a product of natural selection operating “for” the form or behavior in question. Applied to humans, it must view specific behaviors (not just general potentials) as adaptations built by natural selection and rooted in genetic determinants, for natural selection is a theory of genetic change. Thus, we are presented with unproved and unprovable speculations about the adaptive and genetic basis of specific human behaviors: why some (or all) people are aggressive, xenophobic, religious, acquisitive, or homosexual.
In Hen's Teeth and Horses Toes (1983, 2010), 242-243.
Science quotes on:  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Aggression (10)  |  Applied (176)  |  Architect (32)  |  Basis (180)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Best (467)  |  Biology (232)  |  Change (639)  |  Do (1905)  |  Environment (239)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explain (334)  |  Form (976)  |  Fragment (58)  |  General (521)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Behavior (10)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Omnipotent (13)  |  Organism (231)  |  People (1031)  |  Potential (75)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Product (166)  |  Question (649)  |  Religious (134)  |  Rest (287)  |  Root (121)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Selection (130)  |  Set (400)  |  Sociobiology (5)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Something (718)  |  Specific (98)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Statement (148)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Trait (23)  |  Why (491)

Some guns were fired to give notice that the departure of the balloon was near. ... Means were used, I am told, to prevent the great balloon's rising so high as might endanger its bursting. Several bags of sand were taken on board before the cord that held it down was cut, and the whole weight being then too much to be lifted, such a quantity was discharged as would permit its rising slowly. Thus it would sooner arrive at that region where it would be in equilibrio with the surrounding air, and by discharging more sand afterwards, it might go higher if desired. Between one and two o’clock, all eyes were gratified with seeing it rise majestically from above the trees, and ascend gradually above the buildings, a most beautiful spectacle. When it was about two hundred feet high, the brave adventurers held out and waved a little white pennant, on both sides of their car, to salute the spectators, who returned loud claps of applause. The wind was very little, so that the object though moving to the northward, continued long in view; and it was a great while before the admiring people began to disperse. The persons embarked were Mr. Charles, professor of experimental philosophy, and a zealous promoter of that science; and one of the Messrs Robert, the very ingenious constructors of the machine.
While U.S. ambassador to France, writing about witnessing, from his carriage outside the garden of Tuileries, Paris, the first manned balloon ascent using hydrogen gas on the afternoon of 1 Dec 1783. A few days earlier, he had watched the first manned ascent in Montgolfier's hot-air balloon, on 21 Nov 1783.
Letter to Sir Charles Banks (1 Dec 1783). In The Writings of Benjamin Franklin: 1783-1788 (1906), Vol. 9, 119-120.
Science quotes on:  |  Aeronautics (15)  |  Air (366)  |  Ascend (30)  |  Balloon (16)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Brave (16)  |  Building (158)  |  Car (75)  |  Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles (2)  |  Clock (51)  |  Cut (116)  |  Down (455)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Eye (440)  |  First (1302)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gas (89)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Lift (57)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Machine (271)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Notice (81)  |  Object (438)  |  Outside (141)  |  People (1031)  |  Permit (61)  |  Person (366)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Professor (133)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Return (133)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rising (44)  |  Salute (3)  |  Sand (63)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Side (236)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Tree (269)  |  Two (936)  |  Watch (118)  |  Weight (140)  |  White (132)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wind (141)  |  Writing (192)

Some Physiologists will have it that the Stomach is a Mill; others, that it is a fermenting Vat; others, again that it is a Stew-pan; but in my view of the matter, it is neither a Mill, a Fermenting vat nor a stew-pan, but a STOMACH, Gentlemen, a Stomach.
Epigraph on title page of J. A. Paris, A Treatise on Diet (1824, 1827), cited as a 'Manuscript Note From Hunter’s Lectures',
Science quotes on:  |  Matter (821)  |  Mill (16)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physiologist (31)  |  Stomach (40)  |  Will (2350)

Some things mankind can finish and be done with, but not ... science, that persists, and changes from ancient Chaldeans studying the stars to a new telescope with a 200-inch reflector and beyond; not religion, that persists, and changes from old credulities and world views to new thoughts of God and larger apprehensions of his meaning.
In 'What Keeps Religion Going?', collected in Living Under Tension: Sermons On Christianity Today (1941), 51-52.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Chaldea (4)  |  Change (639)  |  Credulity (16)  |  Finish (62)  |  God (776)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Meaning (244)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Persist (13)  |  Reflector (4)  |  Religion (369)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Studying (70)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  World (1850)  |  WorldView (5)

Sooner or later for good or ill, a united mankind, equipped with science and power, will probably turn its attention to the other planets, not only for economic exploitation, but also as possible homes for man... The goal for the solar system would seem to be that it should become an interplanetary community of very diverse worlds... each contributing to the common experience its characteristic view of the universe. Through the pooling of this wealth of experience, through this “commonwealth of worlds,” new levels of mental and spiritual development should become possible, levels at present quite inconceivable to man.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Attention (196)  |  Become (821)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Common (447)  |  Commonwealth (5)  |  Community (111)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Development (441)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Economic (84)  |  Equip (6)  |  Equipped (17)  |  Experience (494)  |  Exploitation (14)  |  Goal (155)  |  Good (906)  |  Home (184)  |  Inconceivable (13)  |  Interplanetary (2)  |  Level (69)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mental (179)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pool (16)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Probably (50)  |  Seem (150)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sooner Or Later (7)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Turn (454)  |  United (15)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Statistics are far from being the barren array of figures ingeniously and laboriously combined into columns and tables, which many persons are apt to suppose them. They constitute rather the ledger of a nation, in which, like the merchant in his books, the citizen can read, at one view, all of the results of a year or of a period of years, as compared with other periods, and deduce the profit or the loss which has been made, in morals, education, wealth or power.
Statistical View of the United States: A Compendium of the Seventh Census (1854), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Barren (33)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Education (423)  |  Figure (162)  |  Loss (117)  |  Moral (203)  |  Nation (208)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Person (366)  |  Power (771)  |  Profit (56)  |  Read (308)  |  Result (700)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Table (105)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Year (963)

Superficially, it might be said that the function of the kidneys is to make urine; but in a more considered view one can say that the kidneys make the stuff of philosophy itself.
'The Evolution of the Kidney', Lectures on the Kidney (1943), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Consider (428)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Function (235)  |  Kidney (19)  |  More (2558)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Say (989)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Stuff (24)  |  Superficial (12)  |  Urine (18)

Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief and he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor for convincing and converting other people to his view.
In When Prophecy Fails (1956), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Belief (615)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Convert (22)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fervor (8)  |  Happen (282)  |  Heart (243)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Individual (420)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Present (630)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Show (353)  |  Something (718)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wrong (246)

Taken on the whole, I would believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time. We should strive to do things in his spirit ... not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in what we believe is evil.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Cause (561)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Evil (122)  |  Fight (49)  |  Most (1728)  |  Participation (15)  |  Political (124)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Strive (53)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Use (771)  |  Violence (37)  |  Whole (756)

Taking a very gloomy view of the future of the human race, let us suppose that it can only expect to survive for two thousand millions years longer, a period about equal to the past age of the earth. Then, regarded as a being destined to live for three-score years and ten, humanity although it has been born in a house seventy years old, is itself only three days old. But only in the last few minutes has it become conscious that the whole world does not centre round its cradle and its trappings, and only in the last few ticks of the clock has any adequate conception of the size of the external world dawned upon it. For our clock does not tick seconds, but years; its minutes are the lives of men.
EOS: Or the Wider Aspects of Cosmology (1928), 12-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequate (50)  |  Age (509)  |  Age Of The Earth (12)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Clock (51)  |  Conception (160)  |  Cradle (19)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Destined (42)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Expect (203)  |  Future (467)  |  House (143)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Last (425)  |  Live (650)  |  Minute (129)  |  Old (499)  |  Past (355)  |  Period (200)  |  Race (278)  |  Regard (312)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Survive (87)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tick (9)  |  Two (936)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

That this subject [of imaginary magnitudes] has hitherto been considered from the wrong point of view and surrounded by a mysterious obscurity, is to be attributed largely to an ill-adapted notation. If, for example, +1, -1, and the square root of -1 had been called direct, inverse and lateral units, instead of positive, negative and imaginary (or even impossible), such an obscurity would have been out of the question.
Theoria Residiorum Biquadraticorum, Commentario secunda', Werke (1863), Vol. 2. Quoted in Robert Edouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica (1914), 282.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Call (781)  |  Consider (428)  |  Direct (228)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Mysterious (83)  |  Negative (66)  |  Notation (28)  |  Number (710)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Positive (98)  |  Question (649)  |  Root (121)  |  Square (73)  |  Square Root (12)  |  Subject (543)  |  Wrong (246)

The ‘mad idea’ which will lie at the basis of a future fundamental physical theory will come from a realization that physical meaning has some mathematical form not previously associated with reality. From this point of view the problem of the ‘mad idea’ is the problem of choosing, not of generating, the right idea. One should not understand that too literally. In the 1960s it was said (in a certain connection) that the most important discovery of recent years in physics was the complex numbers. The author [Yuri Manin] has something like that in mind.
Mathematics and Physics (1981), Foreward. Reprinted in Mathematics as Metaphor: Selected Essays of Yuri I. Manin (2007), 90.
Science quotes on:  |  Associate (25)  |  Author (175)  |  Basis (180)  |  Certain (557)  |  Choose (116)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complex Number (3)  |  Complex Numbers (2)  |  Connection (171)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Form (976)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Future (467)  |  Generate (16)  |  Idea (881)  |  Important (229)  |  Lie (370)  |  Literally (30)  |  Mad (54)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Previously (12)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reality (274)  |  Realization (44)  |  Recent (78)  |  Right (473)  |  Say (989)  |  Something (718)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

The alchemists of past centuries tried hard to make the elixir of life: ... Those efforts were in vain; it is not in our power to obtain the experiences and the views of the future by prolonging our lives forward in this direction. However, it is well possible in a certain sense to prolong our lives backwards by acquiring the experiences of those who existed before us and by learning to know their views as well as if we were their contemporaries. The means for doing this is also an elixir of life.
Foreword to Die Entwicklung der Chemie in der neueren Zeit (1873), trans. W. H. Brock.
Science quotes on:  |  Alchemist (23)  |  Backwards (18)  |  Certain (557)  |  Direction (185)  |  Doing (277)  |  Effort (243)  |  Elixir (6)  |  Exist (458)  |  Experience (494)  |  Forward (104)  |  Future (467)  |  Hard (246)  |  History (716)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learning (291)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Past (355)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Prolong (29)  |  Sense (785)  |  Vain (86)

The argument of the ‘long view’ may be correct in some meaninglessly abstract sense, but it represents a fundamental mistake in categories and time scales. Our only legitimate long view extends to our children and our children’s children’s children–hundreds or a few thousands of years down the road. If we let the slaughter continue, they will share a bleak world with rats, dogs, cockroaches, pigeons, and mosquitoes. A potential recovery millions of years later has no meaning at our appropriate scale.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Argument (145)  |  Bleak (2)  |  Category (19)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Cockroach (6)  |  Continue (179)  |  Correct (95)  |  Dog (70)  |  Down (455)  |  Extend (129)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hundreds (6)  |  Late (119)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  Let (64)  |  Long (778)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Millions (17)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Pigeon (8)  |  Potential (75)  |  Rat (37)  |  Recovery (24)  |  Represent (157)  |  Road (71)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sense (785)  |  Share (82)  |  Slaughter (8)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The automatic computing engine now being designed at N.P.L. [National Physics Laboratory] is atypical large scale electronic digital computing machine. In a single lecture it will not be possible to give much technical detail of this machine, and most of what I shall say will apply equally to any other machine of this type now being planned. From the point of view of the mathematician the property of being digital should be of greater interest than that of being electronic. That it is electronic is certainly important because these machines owe their high speed to this, and without the speed it is doubtful if financial support for their construction would be forthcoming. But this is virtually all that there is to be said on that subject. That the machine is digital however has more subtle significance. It means firstly that numbers are represented by sequences of digits which can be as long as one wishes. One can therefore work to any desired degree of accuracy. This accuracy is not obtained by more careful machining of parts, control of temperature variations, and such means, but by a slight increase in the amount of equipment in the machine.
Lecture to the London Mathematical Society, 20 February 1947. Quoted in B. E. Carpenter and R. W. Doran (eds.), A. M. Turing's Ace Report of 1946 and Other Papers (1986), 106.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Amount (153)  |  Apply (170)  |  Atypical (2)  |  Automatic (16)  |  Being (1276)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Computer (131)  |  Construction (114)  |  Control (182)  |  Degree (277)  |  Design (203)  |  Designed (2)  |  Desired (5)  |  Detail (150)  |  Digital (10)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Electronics (21)  |  Engine (99)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Equally (129)  |  Equipment (45)  |  Greater (288)  |  High (370)  |  Increase (225)  |  Interest (416)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Large (398)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Long (778)  |  Machine (271)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Other (2233)  |  Owe (71)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possible (560)  |  Property (177)  |  Represent (157)  |  Say (989)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Significance (114)  |  Single (365)  |  Speed (66)  |  Subject (543)  |  Support (151)  |  Technology (281)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Type (171)  |  Variation (93)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

The average English author [of mathematical texts] leaves one under the impression that he has made a bargain with his reader to put before him the truth, the greater part of the truth, and nothing but the truth; and that if he has put the facts of his subject into his book, however difficult it may be to unearth them, he has fulfilled his contract with his reader. This is a very much mistaken view, because effective teaching requires a great deal more than a bare recitation of facts, even if these are duly set forth in logical order—as in English books they often are not. The probable difficulties which will occur to the student, the objections which the intelligent student will naturally and necessarily raise to some statement of fact or theory—these things our authors seldom or never notice, and yet a recognition and anticipation of them by the author would be often of priceless value to the student. Again, a touch of humour (strange as the contention may seem) in mathematical works is not only possible with perfect propriety, but very helpful; and I could give instances of this even from the pure mathematics of Salmon and the physics of Clerk Maxwell.
In Perry, Teaching of Mathematics (1902), 59-61.
Science quotes on:  |  Anticipation (18)  |  Author (175)  |  Average (89)  |  Bare (33)  |  Bargain (5)  |  Book (413)  |  Clerk (13)  |  Contention (14)  |  Contract (11)  |  Deal (192)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Effective (68)  |  English (35)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Forth (14)  |  Fulfill (19)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Helpful (16)  |  Humour (116)  |  Impression (118)  |  Instance (33)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Leave (138)  |  Logical (57)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Mistake (180)  |  More (2558)  |  Naturally (11)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notice (81)  |  Objection (34)  |  Occur (151)  |  Often (109)  |  Order (638)  |  Part (235)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possible (560)  |  Priceless (9)  |  Probable (24)  |  Propriety (6)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Raise (38)  |  Reader (42)  |  Recitation (2)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Require (229)  |  Salmon (7)  |  Seem (150)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Set (400)  |  Statement (148)  |  Strange (160)  |  Student (317)  |  Subject (543)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Text (16)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Touch (146)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unearth (2)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

The belief that mathematics, because it is abstract, because it is static and cold and gray, is detached from life, is a mistaken belief. Mathematics, even in its purest and most abstract estate, is not detached from life. It is just the ideal handling of the problems of life, as sculpture may idealize a human figure or as poetry or painting may idealize a figure or a scene. Mathematics is precisely the ideal handling of the problems of life, and the central ideas of the science, the great concepts about which its stately doctrines have been built up, are precisely the chief ideas with which life must always deal and which, as it tumbles and rolls about them through time and space, give it its interests and problems, and its order and rationality. That such is the case a few indications will suffice to show. The mathematical concepts of constant and variable are represented familiarly in life by the notions of fixedness and change. The concept of equation or that of an equational system, imposing restriction upon variability, is matched in life by the concept of natural and spiritual law, giving order to what were else chaotic change and providing partial freedom in lieu of none at all. What is known in mathematics under the name of limit is everywhere present in life in the guise of some ideal, some excellence high-dwelling among the rocks, an “ever flying perfect” as Emerson calls it, unto which we may approximate nearer and nearer, but which we can never quite attain, save in aspiration. The supreme concept of functionality finds its correlate in life in the all-pervasive sense of interdependence and mutual determination among the elements of the world. What is known in mathematics as transformation—that is, lawful transfer of attention, serving to match in orderly fashion the things of one system with those of another—is conceived in life as a process of transmutation by which, in the flux of the world, the content of the present has come out of the past and in its turn, in ceasing to be, gives birth to its successor, as the boy is father to the man and as things, in general, become what they are not. The mathematical concept of invariance and that of infinitude, especially the imposing doctrines that explain their meanings and bear their names—What are they but mathematicizations of that which has ever been the chief of life’s hopes and dreams, of that which has ever been the object of its deepest passion and of its dominant enterprise, I mean the finding of the worth that abides, the finding of permanence in the midst of change, and the discovery of a presence, in what has seemed to be a finite world, of being that is infinite? It is needless further to multiply examples of a correlation that is so abounding and complete as indeed to suggest a doubt whether it be juster to view mathematics as the abstract idealization of life than to regard life as the concrete realization of mathematics.
In 'The Humanization of Teaching of Mathematics', Science, New Series, 35, 645-46.
Science quotes on:  |  Abide (12)  |  Abound (17)  |  Abstract (141)  |  Approximate (25)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attention (196)  |  Bear (162)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Birth (154)  |  Boy (100)  |  Build (211)  |  Call (781)  |  Case (102)  |  Cease (81)  |  Central (81)  |  Change (639)  |  Chaotic (2)  |  Chief (99)  |  Cold (115)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Concept (242)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Constant (148)  |  Content (75)  |  Correlate (7)  |  Correlation (19)  |  Deal (192)  |  Deep (241)  |  Detach (5)  |  Determination (80)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Dream (222)  |  Element (322)  |  Ralph Waldo Emerson (161)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Equation (138)  |  Especially (31)  |  Estate (5)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Example (98)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Explain (334)  |  Far (158)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Father (113)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finite (60)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Flux (21)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Functionality (2)  |  General (521)  |  Give (208)  |  Gray (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guise (6)  |  Handle (29)  |  High (370)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Idealization (3)  |  Impose (22)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Indication (33)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinitude (3)  |  Interdependence (4)  |  Interest (416)  |  Invariance (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Lawful (7)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Man (2252)  |  Match (30)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Meanings (5)  |  Midst (8)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Name (359)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Needless (4)  |  Never (1089)  |  Notion (120)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Painting (46)  |  Partial (10)  |  Passion (121)  |  Past (355)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Pervasive (6)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Presence (63)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Provide (79)  |  Pure (299)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Realization (44)  |  Regard (312)  |  Represent (157)  |  Restriction (14)  |  Rock (176)  |  Roll (41)  |  Save (126)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sense (785)  |  Serve (64)  |  Serving (15)  |  Show (353)  |  Space (523)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Stately (12)  |  Static (9)  |  Successor (16)  |  Suffice (7)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Supreme (73)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Transmutation (24)  |  Tumble (3)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unto (8)  |  Variability (5)  |  Variable (37)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

The big blue area that dominates the view of earth from space was once our home and today represents 97 percent of the biosphere where life exists, providing the water we drink and the air we breathe. And we are destroying it.
In 'Can We Stop Killing Our Oceans Now, Please?', Huffington Post (14 Aug 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Drink (56)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Exist (458)  |  Home (184)  |  Life (1870)  |  Oceanography (17)  |  Provide (79)  |  Represent (157)  |  Space (523)  |  Today (321)  |  Water (503)

The burgeoning field of computer science has shifted our view of the physical world from that of a collection of interacting material particles to one of a seething network of information. In this way of looking at nature, the laws of physics are a form of software, or algorithm, while the material world—the hardware—plays the role of a gigantic computer.
'Laying Down the Laws', New Scientist. In Clifford A. Pickover, Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them (2008), 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Algorithm (5)  |  Burgeoning (2)  |  Collection (68)  |  Computer (131)  |  Computer Science (11)  |  Field (378)  |  Form (976)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Hardware (3)  |  Information (173)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Law (913)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Material (366)  |  Material World (8)  |  Matter (821)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Network (21)  |  Particle (200)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Physics (564)  |  Role (86)  |  Seething (3)  |  Shift (45)  |  Software (14)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

The business of their weekly Meetings shall be, To order, take account, consider, and discourse of Philosophical Experiments, and Observations: to read, hear, and discourse upon Letters, Reports, and other Papers containing Philosophical matters, as also to view, and discourse upon the productions and rarities of Nature, and Art: and to consider what to deduce from them, or how they may be improv'd for use, or discovery.
'An Abstract of the Statutes of the Royal Society', in Thomas Sprat, History of the Royal Society (1667), 145.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Art (680)  |  Business (156)  |  Consider (428)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Discourse (19)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Hear (144)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Letter (117)  |  Matter (821)  |  Meeting (22)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Production (190)  |  Rarity (11)  |  Read (308)  |  Use (771)

The cases of action at a distance are becoming, in a physical point of view, daily more and more important. Sound, light, electricity, magnetism, gravitation, present them as a series.
The nature of sound and its dependence on a medium we think we understand, pretty well. The nature of light as dependent on a medium is now very largely accepted. The presence of a medium in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism becomes more and more probable daily. We employ ourselves, and I think rightly, in endeavouring to elucidate the physical exercise of these forces, or their sets of antecedents and consequents, and surely no one can find fault with the labours which eminent men have entered upon in respect of light, or into which they may enter as regards electricity and magnetism. Then what is there about gravitation that should exclude it from consideration also? Newton did not shut out the physical view, but had evidently thought deeply of it; and if he thought of it, why should not we, in these advanced days, do so too?
Letter to E. Jones, 9 Jun 1857. In Michael Faraday, Bence Jones (ed.), The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870), Vol. 2, 387.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Action (342)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Consequent (19)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Daily (91)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Employ (115)  |  Enter (145)  |  Evidently (26)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Fault (58)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Labor (200)  |  Light (635)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Presence (63)  |  Present (630)  |  Regard (312)  |  Respect (212)  |  Series (153)  |  Set (400)  |  Shut (41)  |  Sound (187)  |  Surely (101)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understand (648)  |  Why (491)

The chances for favorable serendipity are increased if one studies an animal that is not one of the common laboratory species. Atypical animals, or preparations, force one to use non-standard approaches and non-standard techniques, and even to think nonstandard ideas. My own preference is to seek out species which show some extreme of adaptation. Such organisms often force one to abandon standard methods and standard points of view. Almost inevitably they lead one to ask new questions, and most importantly in trying to comprehend their special and often unusual adaptations one often serendipitously stumbles upon new insights.
In 'Scientific innovation and creativity: a zoologist’s point of view', American Zoologist (1982), 22, 234.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Animal (651)  |  Approach (112)  |  Ask (420)  |  Atypical (2)  |  Chance (244)  |  Common (447)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Favorable (24)  |  Force (497)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importantly (3)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inevitably (6)  |  Insight (107)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Lead (391)  |  Method (531)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Often (109)  |  Organism (231)  |  Point (584)  |  Preference (28)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Question (649)  |  Seek (218)  |  Serendipity (17)  |  Show (353)  |  Special (188)  |  Species (435)  |  Standard (64)  |  Study (701)  |  Stumble (19)  |  Technique (84)  |  Think (1122)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Unusual (37)  |  Use (771)

The chemist studies the effects produced by heat and by mixture, in all bodies, or mixtures of bodies, natural or artificial, and studies them with a view to the improvement of arts, and the knowledge of nature.
Restating his own definition in fewer words, 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, 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Body (557)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Definition (238)  |  Effect (414)  |  Heat (180)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Produce (117)  |  Produced (187)  |  Study (701)

The child asks, “What is the moon, and why does it shine?” “What is this water and where does it run?” “What is this wind?” “What makes the waves of the sea?” “Where does this animal live, and what is the use of this plant?” And if not snubbed and stunted by being told not to ask foolish questions, there is no limit to the intellectual craving of a young child; nor any bounds to the slow, but solid, accretion of knowledge and development of the thinking faculty in this way. To all such questions, answers which are necessarily incomplete, though true as far as they go, may be given by any teacher whose ideas represent real knowledge and not mere book learning; and a panoramic view of Nature, accompanied by a strong infusion of the scientific habit of mind, may thus be placed within the reach of every child of nine or ten.
In 'Scientific Education', Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews (1870), 71. https://books.google.com/books?id=13cJAAAAIAAJ Thomas Henry Huxley - 1870
Science quotes on:  |  Accompany (22)  |  Accretion (5)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Bound (120)  |  Child (333)  |  Crave (10)  |  Development (441)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Habit (174)  |  Idea (881)  |  Incomplete (31)  |  Infusion (4)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learning (291)  |  Limit (294)  |  Live (650)  |  Mere (86)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Plant (320)  |  Question (649)  |  Reach (286)  |  Real (159)  |  Represent (157)  |  Run (158)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shine (49)  |  Slow (108)  |  Snub (2)  |  Solid (119)  |  Strong (182)  |  Stunt (7)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thinking (425)  |  True (239)  |  Use (771)  |  Water (503)  |  Wave (112)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Wind (141)  |  Young (253)

The colors are stunning. In a single view, I see - looking out at the edge of the earth: red at the horizon line, blending to orange and yellow, followed by a thin white line, then light blue, gradually turning to dark blue and various gradually darker shades of gray, then black and a million stars above. It’s breathtaking.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Black (46)  |  Blend (9)  |  Blue (63)  |  Breathtaking (4)  |  Color (155)  |  Dark (145)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Edge (51)  |  Follow (389)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Gray (9)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Light (635)  |  Line (100)  |  Looking (191)  |  Million (124)  |  Orange (15)  |  Red (38)  |  See (1094)  |  Shade (35)  |  Single (365)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stunning (4)  |  Thin (18)  |  Turn (454)  |  Various (205)  |  White (132)  |  Yellow (31)

The cult of individual personalities is always, in my view, unjustified. To be sure, nature distributes her gifts variously among her children. But there are plenty of the well-endowed ones too, thank God, and I am firmly convinced that most of them live quiet, unregarded lives. It strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few of them for boundless admiration, attributing superhuman powers of mind and character to them. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular estimate of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque. The consciousness of this extraordinary state of affairs would be unbearable but for one great consoling thought: it is a welcome symptom in an age which is commonly denounced as materialistic, that it makes heroes of men whose ambitions lie wholly in the intellectual and moral sphere. This proves that knowledge and justice are ranked above wealth and power by a large section of the human race. My experience teaches me that this idealistic outlook is particularly prevalent in America, which is usually decried as a particularly materialistic country.
From Mein Weltbild, as translated by Alan Harris (trans.), 'Some Notes on my American Impressions', The World as I See It (1956, 1993), 37-38.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Admiration (61)  |  Age (509)  |  Ambition (46)  |  America (143)  |  Bad (185)  |  Biography (254)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Character (259)  |  Children (201)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Consoling (4)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Country (269)  |  Distribute (16)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Experience (494)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Fate (76)  |  Gift (105)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Individual (420)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Justice (40)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Lie (370)  |  Live (650)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Outlook (32)  |  Power (771)  |  Prove (261)  |  Quiet (37)  |  Race (278)  |  Rank (69)  |  Reality (274)  |  Select (45)  |  Sphere (118)  |  State (505)  |  Strike (72)  |  Superhuman (6)  |  Symptom (38)  |  Taste (93)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thought (995)  |  Usually (176)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Welcome (20)  |  Wholly (88)

The deepest intelligence of philosophy and science are inseparable from a religious view of the world.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Deep (241)  |  Inseparable (18)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Religious (134)  |  World (1850)

The determination of the average man is not merely a matter of speculative curiosity; it may be of the most important service to the science of man and the social system. It ought necessarily to precede every other inquiry into social physics, since it is, as it were, the basis. The average man, indeed, is in a nation what the centre of gravity is in a body; it is by having that central point in view that we arrive at the apprehension of all the phenomena of equilibrium and motion.
A Treatise on Man and the Development of his Faculties (1842). Reprinted with an introduction by Solomon Diamond (1969), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Average (89)  |  Basis (180)  |  Body (557)  |  Central (81)  |  Centre Of Gravity (4)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Determination (80)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nation (208)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Other (2233)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Service (110)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Speculation (137)  |  System (545)

The doctrine that logical reasoning produces no new truths, but only unfolds and brings into view those truths which were, in effect, contained in the first principles of the reasoning, is assented to by almost all who, in modern times, have attended to the science of logic.
In The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences: Founded Upon Their History (1840), Vol. 1, 67.
Science quotes on:  |  Assent (12)  |  Attend (67)  |  Contained (2)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Effect (414)  |  First (1302)  |  Logic (311)  |  Modern (402)  |  New (1273)  |  Principle (530)  |  Produce (117)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unfold (15)

The double horror of two Japanese city names [Hiroshima and Nagasaki] grew for me into another kind of double horror; an estranging awareness of what the United States was capable of, the country that five years before had given me its citizenship; a nauseating terror at the direction the natural sciences were going. Never far from an apocalyptic vision of the world, I saw the end of the essence of mankind an end brought nearer, or even made, possible, by the profession to which I belonged. In my view, all natural sciences were as one; and if one science could no longer plead innocence, none could.
Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life before Nature (1978), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Awareness (42)  |  Belong (168)  |  Capable (174)  |  City (87)  |  Country (269)  |  Direction (185)  |  End (603)  |  Essence (85)  |  Hiroshima (18)  |  Horror (15)  |  Innocence (13)  |  Japanese (7)  |  Kind (564)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Nagasaki (3)  |  Name (359)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Never (1089)  |  Possible (560)  |  Profession (108)  |  Saw (160)  |  State (505)  |  Terror (32)  |  Two (936)  |  Vision (127)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The dreadful cocksureness that is characteristic of scientists in bulk is not only quite foreign to the spirit of true science, it is not even justified by a superficial view.
In Science is a Sacred Cow (1950), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Bulk (24)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Dreadful (16)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Justification (52)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Superficial (12)  |  True Science (25)

The earth’s atmosphere is an imperfect window on the universe. Electromagnetic waves in the optical part of the spectrum (that is, waves longer than X rays and shorter than radio waves) penetrate to the surface of the earth only in a few narrow spectral bands. The widest of the transmitted bands corresponds roughly to the colors of visible light; waves in the flanking ultraviolet and infrared regions of the optical spectrum are almost totally absorbed by the atmosphere. In addition, atmospheric turbulence blurs the images of celestial objects, even when they are viewed through the most powerful ground-based telescopes.
in an article promoting the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope
Scientific American (July 1977)
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Addition (70)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Blur (8)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Color (155)  |  Construction (114)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Electromagnetic Wave (2)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hubble Space Telescope (9)  |  Image (97)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Object (438)  |  Optical (11)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Radio (60)  |  Ray (115)  |  Space (523)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Turbulence (4)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Visible Light (2)  |  Wave (112)  |  Window (59)

The enthusiasm of Sylvester for his own work, which manifests itself here as always, indicates one of his characteristic qualities: a high degree of subjectivity in his productions and publications. Sylvester was so fully possessed by the matter which for the time being engaged his attention, that it appeared to him and was designated by him as the summit of all that is important, remarkable and full of future promise. It would excite his phantasy and power of imagination in even a greater measure than his power of reflection, so much so that he could never marshal the ability to master his subject-matter, much less to present it in an orderly manner.
Considering that he was also somewhat of a poet, it will be easier to overlook the poetic flights which pervade his writing, often bombastic, sometimes furnishing apt illustrations; more damaging is the complete lack of form and orderliness of his publications and their sketchlike character, … which must be accredited at least as much to lack of objectivity as to a superfluity of ideas. Again, the text is permeated with associated emotional expressions, bizarre utterances and paradoxes and is everywhere accompanied by notes, which constitute an essential part of Sylvester’s method of presentation, embodying relations, whether proximate or remote, which momentarily suggested themselves. These notes, full of inspiration and occasional flashes of genius, are the more stimulating owing to their incompleteness. But none of his works manifest a desire to penetrate the subject from all sides and to allow it to mature; each mere surmise, conceptions which arose during publication, immature thoughts and even errors were ushered into publicity at the moment of their inception, with utmost carelessness, and always with complete unfamiliarity of the literature of the subject. Nowhere is there the least trace of self-criticism. No one can be expected to read the treatises entire, for in the form in which they are available they fail to give a clear view of the matter under contemplation.
Sylvester’s was not a harmoniously gifted or well-balanced mind, but rather an instinctively active and creative mind, free from egotism. His reasoning moved in generalizations, was frequently influenced by analysis and at times was guided even by mystical numerical relations. His reasoning consists less frequently of pure intelligible conclusions than of inductions, or rather conjectures incited by individual observations and verifications. In this he was guided by an algebraic sense, developed through long occupation with processes of forms, and this led him luckily to general fundamental truths which in some instances remain veiled. His lack of system is here offset by the advantage of freedom from purely mechanical logical activity.
The exponents of his essential characteristics are an intuitive talent and a faculty of invention to which we owe a series of ideas of lasting value and bearing the germs of fruitful methods. To no one more fittingly than to Sylvester can be applied one of the mottos of the Philosophic Magazine:
“Admiratio generat quaestionem, quaestio investigationem investigatio inventionem.”
In Mathematische Annalen (1898), 50, 155-160. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 176-178.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Active (80)  |  Activity (218)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Applied (176)  |  Attention (196)  |  Available (80)  |  Being (1276)  |  Carelessness (7)  |  Character (259)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conception (160)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Consist (223)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Creative (144)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Degree (277)  |  Desire (212)  |  Develop (278)  |  Easier (53)  |  Enthusiasm (59)  |  Error (339)  |  Essential (210)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Expect (203)  |  Exponent (6)  |  Expression (181)  |  Fail (191)  |  Flight (101)  |  Form (976)  |  Free (239)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Future (467)  |  General (521)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Genius (301)  |  Germ (54)  |  Gift (105)  |  Gifted (25)  |  Greater (288)  |  High (370)  |  Idea (881)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inception (3)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Individual (420)  |  Induction (81)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Invention (400)  |  Lack (127)  |  Literature (116)  |  Long (778)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mature (17)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Never (1089)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Objectivity (17)  |  Observation (593)  |  Occasional (23)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Orderliness (9)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Owe (71)  |  Owing (39)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Possess (157)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Presentation (24)  |  Production (190)  |  Promise (72)  |  Proximate (4)  |  Publication (102)  |  Pure (299)  |  Purely (111)  |  Read (308)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remote (86)  |  Self (268)  |  Sense (785)  |  Series (153)  |  Side (236)  |  Subject (543)  |  Subject-Matter (8)  |  Summit (27)  |  Surmise (7)  |  James Joseph Sylvester (58)  |  System (545)  |  Talent (99)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unfamiliarity (5)  |  Utterance (11)  |  Value (393)  |  Veil (27)  |  Verification (32)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Writing (192)

The examination system, and the fact that instruction is treated mainly as a training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard knowledge from a purely utilitarian point of view as the road to money, not as the gateway to wisdom.
In 'Education as a Political Institution', Atlantic Monthly, (Jun 1916), 117 755. Also in Principles of Social Reconstruction (1916, 2013), 113.
Science quotes on:  |  Examination (102)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Gateway (6)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Livelihood (13)  |  Money (178)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Purely (111)  |  Regard (312)  |  System (545)  |  Training (92)  |  Useful (260)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Young (253)

The Excellence of Modern Geometry is in nothing more evident, than in those full and adequate Solutions it gives to Problems; representing all possible Cases in one view, and in one general Theorem many times comprehending whole Sciences; which deduced at length into Propositions, and demonstrated after the manner of the Ancients, might well become the subjects of large Treatises: For whatsoever Theorem solves the most complicated Problem of the kind, does with a due Reduction reach all the subordinate Cases.
In 'An Instance of the Excellence of Modern Algebra, etc', Philosophical Transactions, 1694, 960.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequate (50)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Become (821)  |  Case (102)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Deduce (27)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Due (143)  |  Evident (92)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Full (68)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Give (208)  |  Kind (564)  |  Large (398)  |  Length (24)  |  Manner (62)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Represent (157)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Solve (145)  |  Subject (543)  |  Subordinate (11)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Whole (756)

The existence of life must be considered as an elementary fact that can not be explained, but must be taken as a starting point in biology, in a similar way as the quantum of action, which appears as an irrational element from the point of view of classical mechanical physics, taken together with the existence of elementary particles, forms the foundation of atomic physics. The asserted impossibility of a physical or chemical explanation of the function peculiar to life would in this sense be analogous to the insufficiency of the mechanical analysis for the understanding of the stability of atoms.
'Light and Life', Nature, 1933, 131, 458.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Assert (69)  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Physics (7)  |  Biology (232)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Classical (49)  |  Classical Physics (6)  |  Consider (428)  |  Element (322)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Form (976)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Function (235)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Insufficiency (3)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Must (1525)  |  Particle (200)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Sense (785)  |  Stability (28)  |  Together (392)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Way (1214)

The extensive literature addressed to the definition or characterization of science is filled with inconsistent points of view and demonstrates that an adequate definition is not easy to attain. Part of the difficulty arises from the fact that the meaning of science is not fixed, but is dynamic. As science has evolved, so has its meaning. It takes on a new meaning and significance with successive ages.
Opening statement on 'The Meaning of “Science”', in Scientific Method: Optimizing Applied Research Decisions (1962), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequate (50)  |  Age (509)  |  Arise (162)  |  Attain (126)  |  Characterization (8)  |  Definition (238)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Easy (213)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Inconsistent (9)  |  Literature (116)  |  Meaning (244)  |  New (1273)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Significance (114)  |  Successive (73)

The facts of nature are what they are, but we can only view them through the spectacles of our mind. Our mind works largely by metaphor and comparison, not always (or often) by relentless logic. When we are caught in conceptual traps, the best exit is often a change in metaphor–not because the new guideline will be truer to nature (for neither the old nor the new metaphor lies ‘out there’ in the woods), but because we need a shift to more fruitful perspectives, and metaphor is often the best agent of conceptual transition.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Agent (73)  |  Best (467)  |  Catch (34)  |  Change (639)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Conceptual (11)  |  Exit (4)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Guideline (4)  |  Largely (14)  |  Lie (370)  |  Logic (311)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Often (109)  |  Old (499)  |  Perspective (28)  |  Relentless (9)  |  Shift (45)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Spectacles (10)  |  Through (846)  |  Transition (28)  |  Trap (7)  |  True (239)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wood (97)  |  Work (1402)

The first fundamental rule of historical science and research, when by these is sought a knowledge of the general destinies of mankind, is to keep these and every object connected with them steadily in view, without losing ourselves in the details of special inquiries and particular facts, for the multitude and variety of these subjects is absolutely boundless; and on the ocean of historical science the main subject easily vanishes from the eye.
In Friedrich von Schlegel and James Burton Robertson (trans.), The Philosophy of History (1835), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Boundless (28)  |  Connect (126)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Detail (150)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  General (521)  |  Historical (70)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Object (438)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Research (753)  |  Rule (307)  |  Special (188)  |  Subject (543)  |  Vanishing (11)  |  Variety (138)

The first objection to Darwinism is that it is only a guess and was never anything more. It is called a “hypothesis,” but the word “hypothesis,” though euphonioous, dignified and high-sounding, is merely a scientific synonym for the old-fashioned word “guess.” If Darwin had advanced his views as a guess they would not have survived for a year, but they have floated for half a century, buoyed up by the inflated word “hypothesis.” When it is understood that “hypothesis” means “guess,” people will inspect it more carefully before accepting it.
'God and Evolution', New York Times (26 Feb 1922), 84. Rebuttals were printed a few days later from Henry Fairfield Osborn and Edwin Grant Conklin.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Accepting (22)  |  Call (781)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Century (319)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Dignified (13)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Evolution (635)  |  First (1302)  |  Float (31)  |  Guess (67)  |  High (370)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Objection (34)  |  Old (499)  |  Old-Fashioned (9)  |  People (1031)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Survival (105)  |  Synonym (2)  |  Understood (155)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)

The frequent allegation that the selective processes in the human species are no longer 'natural' is due to persistence of the obsolete nineteenth-century concept of 'natural' selection. The error of this view is made clear when we ask its proponents such questions as, why should the 'surviving fittest' be able to withstand cold and inclement weather without the benefit of fire and clothing? Is it not ludicrous to expect selection to make us good at defending ourselves against wild beasts when wild beasts are getting to be so rare that it is a privilege to see one outside of a zoo? Is it necessary to eliminate everyone who has poor teeth when our dentists stand ready to provide us with artificial ones? Is it a great virtue to be able to endure pain when anaesthetics are available?
[Co-author with American statistician Gordon Allen]
Theodosius Dobzhansky and Gordon Allen, 'Does Natural Selection Continue to Operate in Modern Mankind?', American Anthropologist, 1956, 58, 595.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Ask (420)  |  Author (175)  |  Available (80)  |  Beast (58)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Century (319)  |  Cold (115)  |  Concept (242)  |  Dentist (4)  |  Due (143)  |  Error (339)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fire (203)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ludicrous (7)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Obsolete (15)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Outside (141)  |  Pain (144)  |  Persistence (25)  |  Poor (139)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Question (649)  |  Rare (94)  |  See (1094)  |  Selection (130)  |  Selective (21)  |  Species (435)  |  Stand (284)  |  Statistician (27)  |  Teeth (43)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Weather (49)  |  Why (491)  |  Wild (96)  |  Zoo (9)

The genotypic constitution of a gamete or a zygote may be parallelized with a complicated chemico-physical structure. This reacts exclusively in consequence of its realized state, but not in consequence of the history of its creation. So it may be with the genotypical constitution of gametes and zygotes: its history is without influence upon its reactions, which are determined exclusively by its actual nature. The genotype-conception is thus an 'ahistoric' view of the reactions of living beings—of course only as far as true heredity is concerned. This view is an analog to the chemical view, as already pointed out; chemical compounds have no compromising ante-act, H2O is always H2O, and reacts always in the same manner, whatsoever may be the 'history' of its formation or the earlier states of its elements. I suggest that it is useful to emphasize this 'radical' ahistoric genotype-conception of heredity in its strict antagonism to the transmission—or phenotype-view.
'The Genotype Conception of Heredity', The American Naturalist (1911), 45, 129.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Actual (118)  |  Already (226)  |  Analog (4)  |  Antagonism (6)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Compound (117)  |  Conception (160)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Course (413)  |  Creation (350)  |  Element (322)  |  Emphasize (25)  |  Formation (100)  |  Gamete (5)  |  Genotype (8)  |  Heredity (62)  |  History (716)  |  Influence (231)  |  Living (492)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Phenotype (5)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Radical (28)  |  Reaction (106)  |  State (505)  |  Structure (365)  |  Transmission (34)  |  Useful (260)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Zygote (3)

The geologist applies a certain number of general views and concepts which are the rules for his scientific practice. Such premises, however, are less fixed than the natural laws postulated by the basic sciences of physics and chemistry. The geologist is therefore forced to test the validity of the greatest possible number of presuppositions (method of multiple working hypotheses).
The Scientific Character of Geology', The Journal of Geology (Jul 1961), 69, No. 4, 453.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic Science (5)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Concept (242)  |  General (521)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Method (531)  |  Multiple (19)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Physics (564)  |  Postulate (42)  |  Premise (40)  |  Presupposition (3)  |  Rule (307)  |  Test (221)  |  Validity (50)

The great revelation of the quantum theory was that features of discreteness were discovered in the Book of Nature, in a context in which anything other than continuity seemed to be absurd according to the views held until then.
What is Life? (1944), 48.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  According (236)  |  Book (413)  |  Book Of Nature (12)  |  Context (31)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Feature (49)  |  Great (1610)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Theory (1015)

The greatest spiritual revolutionary Western history, Saint Francis, proposed what he thought was an alternative Christian view of nature and man’s relation to it: he tried to substitute the idea of the equality of creatures, including man, for the idea of man’s limitless rule of creation. He failed. Both our present science and our present technology are so tinctured with orthodox Christian arrogance toward nature that no solution for our ecologic crisis can be expected from them alone. Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not. We must rethink and refeel our nature and destiny. The profoundly religious, but heretical, sense of the primitive Franciscans for the spiritual autonomy of all parts of nature may point a direction. I propose Francis as a patron saint for ecologists.
In The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis (1967), 1207.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Arrogance (22)  |  Autonomy (6)  |  Both (496)  |  Call (781)  |  Christian (44)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creature (242)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Direction (185)  |  Ecologist (9)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Equality (34)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fail (191)  |  Greatest (330)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Limitless (14)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Relation (166)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remedy (63)  |  Revolutionary (31)  |  Root (121)  |  Rule (307)  |  Saint (17)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sense (785)  |  Solution (282)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Substitute (47)  |  Technology (281)  |  Thought (995)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Western (45)

The idealistic tinge in my conception of the physical world arose out of mathematical researches on the relativity theory. In so far as I had any earlier philosophical views, they were of an entirely different complexion.
From the beginning I have been doubtful whether it was desirable for a scientist to venture so far into extra-scientific territory. The primary justification for such an expedition is that it may afford a better view of his own scientific domain.
From 'Introduction', The Nature of the Physical World (1928), vi.
Science quotes on:  |  Beginning (312)  |  Better (493)  |  Conception (160)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Different (595)  |  Domain (72)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Expedition (9)  |  Justification (52)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Primary (82)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Territory (25)  |  Theory (1015)  |  World (1850)

The importance of a result is largely relative, is judged differently by different men, and changes with the times and circumstances. It has often happened that great importance has been attached to a problem merely on account of the difficulties which it presented; and indeed if for its solution it has been necessary to invent new methods, noteworthy artifices, etc., the science has gained more perhaps through these than through the final result. In general we may call important all investigations relating to things which in themselves are important; all those which have a large degree of generality, or which unite under a single point of view subjects apparently distinct, simplifying and elucidating them; all those which lead to results that promise to be the source of numerous consequences; etc.
From 'On Some Recent Tendencies in Geometric Investigations', Rivista di Matematica (1891), 44. In Bulletin American Mathematical Society (1904), 444.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Artifice (4)  |  Attach (57)  |  Attached (36)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Elucidate (4)  |  Final (121)  |  Gain (146)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Invent (57)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Judge (114)  |  Large (398)  |  Lead (391)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Noteworthy (4)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Promise (72)  |  Relative (42)  |  Result (700)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Single (365)  |  Solution (282)  |  Source (101)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subject (543)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unite (43)

The incessant call in this country for practical results and the confounding of mechanical inventions with scientific discoveries has a very prejudicial influence on science. … A single scientific principle may include a thousand applications and is therefore though if not of immediate use of vastly more importance even in a practical view.
Presidential address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (22 Aug 1850),The Papers of Joseph Henry, Vol. 8, 101-102.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Call (781)  |  Confounding (8)  |  Country (269)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Importance (299)  |  Include (93)  |  Influence (231)  |  Invention (400)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  More (2558)  |  Practical (225)  |  Principle (530)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Single (365)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Use (771)

The invention of the differential calculus marks a crisis in the history of mathematics. The progress of science is divided between periods characterized by a slow accumulation of ideas and periods, when, owing to the new material for thought thus patiently collected, some genius by the invention of a new method or a new point of view, suddenly transforms the whole subject on to a higher level.
In An Introduction to Mathematics (1911), 217. Whitehead continued by quoting the poet, Percy Shelley, who compared the slow accumulation of thoughts leading to an avalanche following the laying down of a great truth. See the poetic quote beginning, “The sun-awakened avalanche…” on the Percy Shelley Quotations page.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulation (51)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Characterize (22)  |  Collect (19)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Differential Calculus (11)  |  Divide (77)  |  Divided (50)  |  Genius (301)  |  Higher Level (3)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Mathematics (7)  |  Idea (881)  |  Invention (400)  |  Material (366)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  New (1273)  |  Owing (39)  |  Patient (209)  |  Period (200)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Slow (108)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Thought (995)  |  Transform (74)  |  Whole (756)

The Johns Hopkins University certifies that John Wentworth Doe does not know anything but Biochemistry. Please pay no attention to any pronouncements he may make on any other subject, particularly when he joins with others of his kind to save the world from something or other. However, he worked hard for this degree and is potentially a most valuable citizen. Please treat him kindly.
[An imaginary academic diploma reworded to give a more realistic view of the value of the training of scientists.]
'Our Splintered Learning and the Nature of Scientists', Science (15 Apr 1955), 121, 516.
Science quotes on:  |  Attention (196)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Degree (277)  |  Diploma (2)  |  Hard (246)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Johns Hopkins (7)  |  Johns Hopkins University (2)  |  Kind (564)  |  Kindness (14)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Please (68)  |  Potential (75)  |  Pronouncement (2)  |  Realistic (6)  |  Save (126)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Something (718)  |  Subject (543)  |  Training (92)  |  University (130)  |  Value (393)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

The last level of metaphor in the Alice books is this: that life, viewed rationally and without illusion, appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician. At the heart of things science finds only a mad, never-ending quadrille of Mock Turtle Waves and Gryphon Particles. For a moment the waves and particles dance in grotesque, inconceivably complex patterns capable of reflecting on their own absurdity.
In 'Introduction', The Annotated Alice (1974), viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurdity (34)  |  Appear (122)  |  Book (413)  |  Capable (174)  |  Complex (202)  |  Dance (35)  |  Find (1014)  |  Grotesque (6)  |  Gryphon (2)  |  Heart (243)  |  Idiot (22)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Inconceivable (13)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mad (54)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Mock Turtle (2)  |  Moment (260)  |  Never (1089)  |  Never-Ending (3)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Particle (200)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Tale (17)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wave (112)

The major credit I think Jim and I deserve … is for selecting the right problem and sticking to it. It’s true that by blundering about we stumbled on gold, but the fact remains that we were looking for gold. Both of us had decided, quite independently of each other, that the central problem in molecular biology was the chemical structure of the gene. … We could not see what the answer was, but we considered it so important that we were determined to think about it long and hard, from any relevant point of view.
In What Mad Pursuit (1990), 74-75.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Autobiography (58)  |  Biology (232)  |  Both (496)  |  Central (81)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Consider (428)  |  Credit (24)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Gene (105)  |  Gold (101)  |  Hard (246)  |  Importance (299)  |  Independently (24)  |  Long (778)  |  Looking (191)  |  Major (88)  |  Molecular Biology (27)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Problem (731)  |  Remain (355)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Structure (365)  |  Structure Of DNA (5)  |  Stumble (19)  |  Think (1122)  |  James Watson (33)

The materialistic point of view in psychology can claim, at best, only the value of an heuristic hypothesis.
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Claim (154)  |  Heuristic (6)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Value (393)

The mathematical giant [Gauss], who from his lofty heights embraces in one view the stars and the abysses …
Kurzer Grundriss eines Versuchs (1851), 44. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 158.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Carl Friedrich Gauss (79)  |  Giant (73)  |  Height (33)  |  Lofty (16)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)

The mathematician who pursues his studies without clear views of this matter, must often have the uncomfortable feeling that his paper and pencil surpass him in intelligence.
From 'The Economy of Science' in The Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Exposition of its Principles (1893), 489.
Science quotes on:  |  Clear (111)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Paper (192)  |  Pencil (20)  |  Pursue (63)  |  Study (701)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Uncomfortable (7)

The meaning of human life and the destiny of man cannot be separable from the meaning and destiny of life in general. 'What is man?' is a special case of 'What is life?' Probably the human species is not intelligent enough to answer either question fully, but even such glimmerings as are within our powers must be precious to us. The extent to which we can hope to understand ourselves and to plan our future depends in some measure on our ability to read the riddles of the past. The present, for all its awesome importance to us who chance to dwell in it, is only a random point in the long flow of time. Terrestrial life is one and continuous in space and time. Any true comprehension of it requires the attempt to view it whole and not in the artificial limits of any one place or epoch. The processes of life can be adequately displayed only in the course of life throughout the long ages of its existence.
The Meaning of Evolution: A Study of the History of Life and of its Significance for Man (1949), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Age (509)  |  Answer (389)  |  Artificiality (2)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Awesome (15)  |  Chance (244)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Course (413)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Display (59)  |  Enough (341)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extent (142)  |  Flow (89)  |  Future (467)  |  General (521)  |  Glimmering (2)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Importance (299)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Measure (241)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Past (355)  |  Place (192)  |  Plan (122)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Precious (43)  |  Present (630)  |  Process (439)  |  Question (649)  |  Random (42)  |  Read (308)  |  Require (229)  |  Requirement (66)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Separation (60)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Special (188)  |  Special Case (9)  |  Species (435)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Whole (756)

The mechanical world view is a testimonial to three men: Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, and Isaac Newton. After 300 years we are still living off their ideas.
In Jeremy Rifkin and Ted Howard, Entropy: Into the Greenhouse World (1980), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Idea (881)  |  Living (492)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Still (614)  |  Testimonial (3)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The metaphysical philosopher from his point of view recognizes mathematics as an instrument of education, which strengthens the power of attention, develops the sense of order and the faculty of construction, and enables the mind to grasp under the simple formulae the quantitative differences of physical phenomena.
In Dialogues of Plato (1897), Vol. 2, 78.
Science quotes on:  |  Attention (196)  |  Construction (114)  |  Develop (278)  |  Difference (355)  |  Education (423)  |  Enable (122)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Formula (102)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Metaphysical (38)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Order (638)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Power (771)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simple (426)  |  Strengthen (25)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)

The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as a sculptor works on his block of stone. In a sense the statue stood there from eternity. But there were a thousand different ones beside it, and the sculptor alone is to thank for having extricated this one from the rest. Just so with the world of each of us, howsoever different our several views of it may be, all lay embedded in the primordial chaos of sensations, which gave the mere matter to the thought of all of us indifferently.
In 'The Stream of Thought', The Principles of Psychology (1890), Vol. 1, 288.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Data (162)  |  Different (595)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Primordial (14)  |  Receive (117)  |  Rest (287)  |  Sculptor (10)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Sense (785)  |  Short (200)  |  Statue (17)  |  Stone (168)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

The modern physicist is a quantum theorist on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and a student of gravitational relativity theory on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Sunday he is neither, but is praying to his God that someone, preferably himself, will find the reconciliation between the two views.
In I Am a Mathematician, the Later Life of a Prodigy (1956), 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Find (1014)  |  God (776)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Himself (461)  |  Modern (402)  |  Monday (3)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Pray (19)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Reconciliation (10)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Saturday (11)  |  Student (317)  |  Sunday (8)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Tuesday (3)  |  Two (936)  |  Wednesday (2)  |  Will (2350)

The moment one has offered an original explanation for a phenomenon which seems satisfactory, that moment affection for his intellectual child springs into existence, and as the explanation grows into a definite theory his parental affections cluster about his offspring and it grows more and more dear to him. ... There springs up also unwittingly a pressing of the theory to make it fit the facts and a pressing of the facts to make them fit the theory... To avoid this grave danger, the method of multiple working hypotheses is urged. It differs from the simple working hypothesis in that it distributes the effort and divides the affections... In developing the multiple hypotheses, the effort is to bring up into view every rational exploration of the phenomenon in hand and to develop every tenable hypothesis relative to its nature, cause or origin, and to give to all of these as impartially as possible a working form and a due place in the investigation. The investigator thus becomes the parent of a family of hypotheses; and by his parental relations to all is morally forbidden to fasten his affections unduly upon anyone. ... Each hypothesis suggests its own criteria, its own method of proof, its own method of developing the truth, and if a group of hypotheses encompass the subject on all sides, the total outcome of means and of methods is full and rich.
'Studies for Students. The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses', Journal of Geology (1897), 5, 840-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Affection (44)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Become (821)  |  Cause (561)  |  Child (333)  |  Cluster (16)  |  Danger (127)  |  Definite (114)  |  Develop (278)  |  Differ (88)  |  Distribute (16)  |  Divide (77)  |  Due (143)  |  Effort (243)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Family (101)  |  Fit (139)  |  Forbidden (18)  |  Form (976)  |  Grave (52)  |  Grow (247)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Method (531)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Multiple (19)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Offer (142)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Origin (250)  |  Parent (80)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Possible (560)  |  Proof (304)  |  Rational (95)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Side (236)  |  Simple (426)  |  Spring (140)  |  Subject (543)  |  Tenable (4)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Total (95)  |  Truth (1109)

The most consequential change in man's view of the world, of living nature and of himself came with the introduction, over a period of some 100 years beginning only in the 18th century, of the idea of change itself, of change over periods of time: in a word, of evolution.
'Evolution', Scientific American (Jul 1978), 239:1, 47.
Science quotes on:  |  18th Century (21)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Himself (461)  |  Idea (881)  |  Introduction (37)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Period (200)  |  Time (1911)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one.
In 'April 29', Once Around the Sun (1951), 115.
Science quotes on:  |  Anybody (42)  |  Fatal (14)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Growth (200)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Kill (100)  |  Life (1870)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Settled (34)

The most fundamental difference between compounds of low molecular weight and macromolecular compounds resides in the fact that the latter may exhibit properties that cannot be deduced from a close examination of the low molecular weight materials. Not very different structures can be obtained from a few building blocks; but if 10,000 or 100,000 blocks are at hand, the most varied structures become possible, such as houses or halls, whose special structure cannot be predicted from the constructions that are possible with only a few building blocks... Thus, a chromosome can be viewed as a material whose macromolecules possess a well defined arrangement, like a living room in which each piece of furniture has its place and not, as in a warehouse, where the pieces of furniture are placed together in a heap without design.
Quoted, without citation, in Ralph E. Oesper (ed.), The Human Side of Scientists (1975), 175.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Become (821)  |  Building (158)  |  Building Block (9)  |  Chromosome (23)  |  Compound (117)  |  Construction (114)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Design (203)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Examination (102)  |  Exhibit (21)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Furniture (8)  |  Hall (5)  |  House (143)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Room (3)  |  Low (86)  |  Macromolecule (3)  |  Material (366)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Place (192)  |  Possess (157)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Predict (86)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Property (177)  |  Reside (25)  |  Special (188)  |  Structure (365)  |  Together (392)  |  Varied (6)  |  Weight (140)

The most satisfactory definition of man from the scientific point of view is probably Man the Tool-maker.
'The Earliest Tool-makers', Antiquity (1956), II 7, 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Definition (238)  |  Maker (34)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Tool (129)

The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the West.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Experience (494)  |  God (776)  |  Lead (391)  |  Multiplicity (14)  |  Mystical (9)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Regularly (3)  |  Stand (284)  |  Strong (182)  |  Union (52)  |  West (21)

The mystic and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to Atman, the reality within.
In The Tao of Physics (1975), 305.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Arrival (15)  |  Brahman (2)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Confirmation (25)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Identical (55)  |  Indian (32)  |  Inner (72)  |  Mystic (23)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outer (13)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Reality (274)  |  Realm (87)  |  Start (237)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Within (7)  |  Without (13)  |  World (1850)

The narrow slit through which the scientist, if he wants to be successful, must view nature constructs, if this goes on for a long time, his entire character; and, more often than not, he ends up becoming what the German language so appropriately calls a Fachidiot (professional idiot).
Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life before Nature (1978), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Becoming (96)  |  Call (781)  |  Character (259)  |  Construct (129)  |  End (603)  |  German (37)  |  Idiot (22)  |  Language (308)  |  Long (778)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Professional (77)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Successful (134)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Want (504)

The new appears as a minority point of view, and hence is unpopular. The function of a university is to give it a sanctuary.
Science quotes on:  |  Function (235)  |  Minority (24)  |  New (1273)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Sanctuary (12)  |  University (130)  |  Unpopular (4)

The next care to be taken, in respect of the Senses, is a supplying of their infirmities with Instruments, and, as it were, the adding of artificial Organs to the natural; this in one of them has been of late years accomplisht with prodigious benefit to all sorts of useful knowledge, by the invention of Optical Glasses. By the means of Telescopes, there is nothing so far distant but may be represented to our view; and by the help of Microscopes, there is nothing so small, as to escape our inquiry; hence there is a new visible World discovered to the understanding. By this means the Heavens are open'd, and a vast number of new Stars, and new Motions, and new Productions appear in them, to which all the ancient Astronomers were utterly Strangers. By this the Earth it self, which lyes so neer us, under our feet, shews quite a new thing to us, and in every little particle of its matter, we now behold almost as great a variety of creatures as we were able before to reckon up on the whole Universe it self.
Micrographia, or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries thereupon (1665), preface, sig. A2V.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancient (198)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Care (203)  |  Creature (242)  |  Discover (571)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Escape (85)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Late (119)  |  Little (717)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Motion (320)  |  Natural (810)  |  New (1273)  |  Next (238)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Open (277)  |  Optical (11)  |  Organ (118)  |  Particle (200)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Production (190)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Represent (157)  |  Respect (212)  |  Self (268)  |  Sense (785)  |  Small (489)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Useful (260)  |  Variety (138)  |  Vast (188)  |  Visible (87)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

The night spread out of the east in a great flood, quenching the red sunlight in a single minute. We wriggled by breathless degrees deep into our sleeping bags. Our sole thought was of comfort; we were not alive to the beauty or the grandeur of our position; we did not reflect on the splendor of our elevation. A regret I shall always have is that I did not muster up the energy to spend a minute or two stargazing. One peep I did make between the tent flaps into the night, and I remember dimly an appalling wealth of stars, not pale and remote as they appear when viewed through the moisture-laden air of lower levels, but brilliant points of electric blue fire standing out almost stereoscopically. It was a sight an astronomer would have given much to see, and here were we lying dully in our sleeping bags concerned only with the importance of keeping warm and comfortable.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Alive (97)  |  Appalling (10)  |  Appear (122)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Bag (4)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Blue (63)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Comfortable (13)  |  Concern (239)  |  Deep (241)  |  Degree (277)  |  Dimly (6)  |  East (18)  |  Electric (76)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Energy (373)  |  Fire (203)  |  Flap (2)  |  Flood (52)  |  Give (208)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Great (1610)  |  Importance (299)  |  Keep (104)  |  Level (69)  |  Lie (370)  |  Low (86)  |  Lying (55)  |  Minute (129)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Muster (2)  |  Night (133)  |  Pale (9)  |  Peep (4)  |  Point (584)  |  Position (83)  |  Red (38)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Regret (31)  |  Remember (189)  |  Remote (86)  |  See (1094)  |  Sight (135)  |  Single (365)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Sole (50)  |  Spend (97)  |  Splendor (20)  |  Spread (86)  |  Stand (284)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sunlight (29)  |  Tent (13)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Two (936)  |  Warm (74)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Wriggle (3)

The oldest empires,—what we called venerable antiquity, now that we have true measures of duration, show like creations of yesterday. … The old six thousand years of chronology become a kitchen clock,—no more a measure of time than an hour-glass or an egg-glass,—since the duration of geologic periods has come into view.
In 'Progress of Culture', an address read to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, 18 July 1867. Collected in Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1883), 475.
Science quotes on:  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Archaeology (51)  |  Become (821)  |  Call (781)  |  Chronology (9)  |  Clock (51)  |  Creation (350)  |  Duration (12)  |  Egg (71)  |  Empire (17)  |  Geologic (2)  |  Glass (94)  |  Hour (192)  |  Kitchen (14)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Old (499)  |  Oldest (9)  |  Period (200)  |  Show (353)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  True (239)  |  Venerable (7)  |  Year (963)  |  Yesterday (37)

The only part of evolution in which any considerable interest is felt is evolution applied to man. A hypothesis in regard to the rocks and plant life does not affect the philosophy upon which one's life is built. Evolution applied to fish, birds and beasts would not materially affect man's view of his own responsibilities except as the acceptance of an unsupported hypothesis as to these would be used to support a similar hypothesis as to man. The evolution that is harmful—distinctly so—is the evolution that destroys man’s family tree as taught by the Bible and makes him a descendant of the lower forms of life. This … is a very vital matter.
'God and Evolution', New York Times (26 Feb 1922), 84. Rebuttals were printed a few days later from Henry Fairfield Osborn and Edwin Grant Conklin.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Animal (651)  |  Applied (176)  |  Beast (58)  |  Bible (105)  |  Bird (163)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Descendant (18)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Family (101)  |  Fish (130)  |  Form (976)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Interest (416)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plant (320)  |  Regard (312)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Rock (176)  |  Support (151)  |  Tree (269)  |  Vital (89)

The only thing harder to understand than a law of statistical origin would be a law that is not of statistical origin, for then there would be no way for it—or its progenitor principles—to come into being. On the other hand, when we view each of the laws of physics—and no laws are more magnificent in scope or better tested—as at bottom statistical in character, then we are at last able to forego the idea of a law that endures from everlasting to everlasting.
In 'Law without Law' (1979), in John Archibald Wheeler and Wojciech Hubert Zurek (eds.), Quantum Theory and Measurement (1983), 203.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Better (493)  |  Character (259)  |  Idea (881)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  More (2558)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Principle (530)  |  Progenitor (5)  |  Scope (44)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Way (1214)

The opinion appears to be gaining ground that this very general conception of functionality, born on mathematical ground, is destined to supersede the narrower notion of causation, traditional in connection with the natural sciences. As an abstract formulation of the idea of determination in its most general sense, the notion of functionality includes and transcends the more special notion of causation as a one-sided determination of future phenomena by means of present conditions; it can be used to express the fact of the subsumption under a general law of past, present, and future alike, in a sequence of phenomena. From this point of view the remark of Huxley that Mathematics “knows nothing of causation” could only be taken to express the whole truth, if by the term “causation” is understood “efficient causation.” The latter notion has, however, in recent times been to an increasing extent regarded as just as irrelevant in the natural sciences as it is in Mathematics; the idea of thorough-going determinancy, in accordance with formal law, being thought to be alone significant in either domain.
In Presidential Address British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sheffield, Section A, Nature (1 Sep 1910), 84, 290.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Alike (60)  |  Alone (324)  |  Appear (122)  |  Being (1276)  |  Born (37)  |  Causation (14)  |  Conception (160)  |  Condition (362)  |  Connection (171)  |  Destined (42)  |  Determination (80)  |  Determine (152)  |  Domain (72)  |  Efficient (34)  |  Express (192)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Formal (37)  |  Formulation (37)  |  Functionality (2)  |  Future (467)  |  Gain (146)  |  General (521)  |  Ground (222)  |  Huxley (2)  |  Idea (881)  |  Include (93)  |  Increase (225)  |  Irrelevant (11)  |  Know (1538)  |  Latter (21)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  One-Sided (2)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Past (355)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Recent (78)  |  Regard (312)  |  Remark (28)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Significant (78)  |  Special (188)  |  Subsumption (3)  |  Supersede (8)  |  Term (357)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Traditional (16)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understood (155)  |  Whole (756)

The opinion of Bacon on this subject [geometry] was diametrically opposed to that of the ancient philosophers. He valued geometry chiefly, if not solely, on account of those uses, which to Plato appeared so base. And it is remarkable that the longer Bacon lived the stronger this feeling became. When in 1605 he wrote the two books on the Advancement of Learning, he dwelt on the advantages which mankind derived from mixed mathematics; but he at the same time admitted that the beneficial effect produced by mathematical study on the intellect, though a collateral advantage, was “no less worthy than that which was principal and intended.” But it is evident that his views underwent a change. When near twenty years later, he published the De Augmentis, which is the Treatise on the Advancement of Learning, greatly expanded and carefully corrected, he made important alterations in the part which related to mathematics. He condemned with severity the pretensions of the mathematicians, “delidas et faslum mathematicorum.” Assuming the well-being of the human race to be the end of knowledge, he pronounced that mathematical science could claim no higher rank than that of an appendage or an auxiliary to other sciences. Mathematical science, he says, is the handmaid of natural philosophy; she ought to demean herself as such; and he declares that he cannot conceive by what ill chance it has happened that she presumes to claim precedence over her mistress.
In 'Lord Bacon', Edinburgh Review (Jul 1837). Collected in Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: Contributed to the Edinburgh Review (1857), Vol. 1, 395.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Admit (49)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Appear (122)  |  Appendage (2)  |  Assume (43)  |  Auxiliary (11)  |  Bacon (4)  |  Base (120)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beneficial (16)  |  Book (413)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Chance (244)  |  Change (639)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Claim (154)  |  Collateral (4)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Condemn (44)  |  Correct (95)  |  Declare (48)  |  Derive (70)  |  Diametrically (6)  |  Dwell (19)  |  Effect (414)  |  End (603)  |  Evident (92)  |  Expand (56)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Greatly (12)  |  Handmaid (6)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Important (229)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intend (18)  |  It Is Evident (6)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Late (119)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Less (105)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mistress (7)  |  Mix (24)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Oppose (27)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plato (80)  |  Precedence (4)  |  Presume (9)  |  Pretension (6)  |  Principal (69)  |  Produce (117)  |  Produced (187)  |  Pronounce (11)  |  Publish (42)  |  Race (278)  |  Rank (69)  |  Relate (26)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  Same (166)  |  Say (989)  |  Severity (6)  |  Solely (9)  |  Strong (182)  |  Stronger (36)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Two (936)  |  Undergo (18)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Well-Being (5)  |  Worthy (35)  |  Write (250)  |  Year (963)

The personal views of the lecturer may seem to be brought forward with undue exclusiveness, but, as it is his business to give a clear exposition of the actual state of the science which he treats, he is obliged to define with precision the principles, the correctness of which he has proved by his own experience.
Cellular Pathology, translated by Frank Chance (1860), xi.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Business (156)  |  Experience (494)  |  Forward (104)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Lecturer (13)  |  Precision (72)  |  Principle (530)  |  Proof (304)  |  State (505)

The phenomena of nature, especially those that fall under the inspection of the astronomer, are to be viewed, not only with the usual attention to facts as they occur, but with the eye of reason and experience.
'An Account of Three Volcanoes on the Moon', read before the Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions (1787). Reprinted in Edward Polehampton, The Gallery of Nature and Art; or, a Tour Through Creation and Science (1815), 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Attention (196)  |  Experience (494)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fall (243)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Occur (151)  |  Reason (766)

The philosopher may very justly be delighted with the extent of his views, the artificer with the readiness of his hands, but let the one remember that without mechanical performance, refined speculation is an empty dream, and the other that without theoretical reasoning, dexterity is little more than brute instinct.
In 'The Rambler' (17 Apr 1750), No. 9. Collected in The Rambler (1763), Vol. 1, 48.
Science quotes on:  |  Artificer (5)  |  Brute (30)  |  Delight (111)  |  Dexterity (8)  |  Dream (222)  |  Empty (82)  |  Extent (142)  |  Hand (149)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Justly (7)  |  Little (717)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Performance (51)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Readiness (9)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Refined (8)  |  Remember (189)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Theoretical (27)

The popular and scientific views of “race” no longer coincide. The word “race,” as applied scientifically to human groupings, has lost any sharpness of meaning. To-day it is hardly definable in scientific terms, except as an abstract concept which may, under certain conditions, very different from those now prevalent, have been realized approximately in the past and might, under certain other but equally different conditions, be realized in the distant future.
Co-author with British anthropologist Alfred Cort Haddon (1855-1940).
In Julian S. Huxley and A.C. Haddon, We Europeans: A survey of “Racial” Problems (1935), 107.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Applied (176)  |  Author (175)  |  British (42)  |  Certain (557)  |  Concept (242)  |  Condition (362)  |  Different (595)  |  Equally (129)  |  Future (467)  |  Human (1512)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Race (278)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sharpness (9)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Word (650)

The present lack of a definitely acceptable account of the origin of life should certainly not be taken as a stumbling block for the whole Darwinian world view.
In The Blind Watchmaker (1991), 166.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Account (195)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Darwinian (10)  |  Definite (114)  |  Lack (127)  |  Life (1870)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Life (37)  |  Present (630)  |  Stumbling Block (6)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)  |  World View (3)

The prevailing trend in modern physics is thus much against any sort of view giving primacy to ... undivided wholeness of flowing movement. Indeed, those aspects of relativity theory and quantum theory which do suggest the need for such a view tend to be de-emphasized and in fact hardly noticed by most physicists, because they are regarded largely as features of the mathematical calculus and not as indications of the real nature of things.
Wholeness and the Implicate Order? (1981), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feature (49)  |  Flow (89)  |  Give (208)  |  Hardly (19)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Indication (33)  |  Largely (14)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Physics (23)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Things (30)  |  Need (320)  |  Notice (81)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Primacy (3)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Physics (19)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Real (159)  |  Reality (274)  |  Regard (312)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Sort (50)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Tend (124)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Trend (23)  |  Undivided (3)  |  Wholeness (9)

The progress of mathematics can be viewed as progress from the infinite to the finite.
In 'A Mathematician's Gossip', Indiscrete Thoughts, (2008), 214.
Science quotes on:  |  Finite (60)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Progress (492)

The progress of science requires more than new data; it needs novel frameworks and contexts. And where do these fundamentally new views of the world arise? They are not simply discovered by pure observation; they require new modes of thought. And where can we find them, if old modes do not even include the right metaphors? The nature of true genius must lie in the elusive capacity to construct these new modes from apparent darkness. The basic chanciness and unpredictability of science must also reside in the inherent difficulty of such a task.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Arise (162)  |  Basic (144)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Construct (129)  |  Context (31)  |  Darkness (72)  |  Data (162)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elusive (8)  |  Find (1014)  |  Framework (33)  |  Fundamentally (3)  |  Genius (301)  |  Include (93)  |  Inherent (43)  |  Lie (370)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Mode (43)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Novel (35)  |  Observation (593)  |  Old (499)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Pure (299)  |  Require (229)  |  Reside (25)  |  Right (473)  |  Science Requires (6)  |  Simply (53)  |  Task (152)  |  Thought (995)  |  True (239)  |  Unpredictability (7)  |  World (1850)

The purpose of the history of science is to establish the genesis and the development of scientific facts and ideas, taking into account all intellectual exchanges and all influences brought into play by the very progress of civilization. It is indeed a history of civilization considered from its highest point of view. The center of interest is the evolution of science, but general history remains always in the background.
In 'The History of Science', The Monist (July 1916), 26, No. 3, 333.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Background (44)  |  Center (35)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Considered (12)  |  Development (441)  |  Establish (63)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  General (521)  |   Genesis (26)  |  Highest (19)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Interest (416)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Progress (492)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remains (9)  |  Scientific (955)

The pursuit of mathematical science makes its votary appear singularly indifferent to the ordinary interests and cares of men. Seeking eternal truths, and finding his pleasures in the realities of form and number, he has little interest in the disputes and contentions of the passing hour. His views on social and political questions partake of the grandeur of his favorite contemplations, and, while careful to throw his mite of influence on the side of right and truth, he is content to abide the workings of those general laws by which he doubts not that the fluctuations of human history are as unerringly guided as are the perturbations of the planetary hosts.
In 'Imagination in Mathematics', North American Review, 85, 227.
Science quotes on:  |  Abide (12)  |  Appear (122)  |  Care (203)  |  Careful (28)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Content (75)  |  Contention (14)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Favorite (37)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fluctuation (15)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  Guide (107)  |  History (716)  |  Host (16)  |  Hour (192)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human History (7)  |  Indifferent (17)  |  Influence (231)  |  Interest (416)  |  Law (913)  |  Little (717)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mite (5)  |  Number (710)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Pass (241)  |  Passing (76)  |  Perturbation (7)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Political (124)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Question (649)  |  Reality (274)  |  Right (473)  |  Seek (218)  |  Side (236)  |  Social (261)  |  Throw (45)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Votary (3)

The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out, the conservative adopts them.
In Albert Bigelow Paine (ed.), Mark Twain's Notebook (1935, 1971), Chap. 31, 344, (1898 entry).
Science quotes on:  |  Adopt (22)  |  Conservative (16)  |  Invent (57)  |  Radical (28)

The regularity with which we conclude that further advances in a particular field are impossible seems equaled only by the regularity with which events prove that we are of too limited vision. And it always seems to be those who have the fullest opportunity to know who are the most limited in view. What, then, is the trouble? I think that one answer should be: we do not realize sufficiently that the unknown is absolutely infinite, and that new knowledge is always being produced.
Quoted in Guy Suits, 'Willis Rodney Whitney', National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs (1960), 357.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Advance (298)  |  Answer (389)  |  Being (1276)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Do (1905)  |  Event (222)  |  Field (378)  |  Further (6)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Particular (80)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prove (261)  |  Realization (44)  |  Realize (157)  |  Regularity (40)  |  Sufficiency (16)  |  Think (1122)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Vision (127)

The rigid electron is in my view a monster in relation to Maxwell's equations, whose innermost harmony is the principle of relativity... the rigid electron is no working hypothesis, but a working hindrance. Approaching Maxwell's equations with the concept of the rigid electron seems to me the same thing as going to a concert with your ears stopped up with cotton wool. We must admire the courage and the power of the school of the rigid electron which leaps across the widest mathematical hurdles with fabulous hypotheses, with the hope to land safely over there on experimental-physical ground.
In Arthur I. Miller, Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (1981), 350.
Science quotes on:  |  Concept (242)  |  Concert (7)  |  Courage (82)  |  Ear (69)  |  Electron (96)  |  Equation (138)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Ground (222)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Hindrance (9)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Leap (57)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Monster (33)  |  Must (1525)  |  Physical (518)  |  Power (771)  |  Principle (530)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Safe (61)  |  School (227)  |  Thing (1914)

The saying of Protagoras is like the views we have mentioned; he said that man is the measure of all things, meaning simply that that which seems to each man assuredly is. If this is so, it follows that the same thing both is and is not, and is bad and good, and that the contents of all other opposite statements are true, because often a particular thing appears beautiful to some and ugly to others, and that which appears to each man is the measure
Aristotle
Metaphysics, 1062b, 12- I 9. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. 2, 1678.
Science quotes on:  |  Bad (185)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Both (496)  |  Follow (389)  |  Good (906)  |  Man (2252)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mention (84)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Statement (148)  |  Thing (1914)

The smallest particles of matter were said [by Plato] to be right-angled triangles which, after combining in pairs, ... joined together into the regular bodies of solid geometry; cubes, tetrahedrons, octahedrons and icosahedrons. These four bodies were said to be the building blocks of the four elements, earth, fire, air and water ... [The] whole thing seemed to be wild speculation. ... Even so, I was enthralled by the idea that the smallest particles of matter must reduce to some mathematical form ... The most important result of it all, perhaps, was the conviction that, in order to interpret the material world we need to know something about its smallest parts.
[Recalling how as a teenager at school, he found Plato's Timaeus to be a memorable poetic and beautiful view of atoms.]
In Werner Heisenberg and A.J. Pomerans (trans.) The Physicist's Conception of Nature (1958), 58-59. Quoted in Jagdish Mehra and Helmut Rechenberg, The Historical Development of Quantum Theory (2001), Vol. 2, 12. Cited in Mauro Dardo, Nobel Laureates and Twentieth-Century Physics (2004), 178.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Atom (381)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Body (557)  |  Building (158)  |  Building Block (9)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Cube (14)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Element (322)  |  Fire (203)  |  Form (976)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Know (1538)  |  Material (366)  |  Material World (8)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Order (638)  |  Pair (10)  |  Particle (200)  |  Plato (80)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Regular (48)  |  Result (700)  |  Right (473)  |  School (227)  |  Solid (119)  |  Solid Geometry (2)  |  Something (718)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Tetrahedron (4)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Triangle (20)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wild (96)  |  World (1850)

The student of biology is often struck with the feeling that historians, when dealing with the rise and fall of nations, do not generally view the phenomena from a sufficiently high biological standpoint. To me, at least, they seem to attach too much importance to individual rulers and soldiers, and to particular wars, policies, religions, and customs; while at the same time they make little attempt to extract the fundamental causes of national success or failure.
Introduction written by Ross for William Henry Samuel Jones, Malaria, a Neglected Factor in the History of Greece and Rome (1907), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Attach (57)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Cause (561)  |  Custom (44)  |  Do (1905)  |  Extract (40)  |  Failure (176)  |  Fall (243)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  High (370)  |  Historian (59)  |  Importance (299)  |  Individual (420)  |  Little (717)  |  Nation (208)  |  Policy (27)  |  Religion (369)  |  Rise (169)  |  Ruler (21)  |  Soldier (28)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Striking (48)  |  Student (317)  |  Success (327)  |  Time (1911)  |  War (233)

The study of nature with a view to works is engaged in by the mechanic, the mathematician, the physician, the alchemist, and the magician; but by all (as things now are) with slight endeavour and scanty success.
From Novum Organum (1620), Book 1, Aphorism 5. Translated as The New Organon: Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man), collected in James Spedding, Robert Ellis and Douglas Heath (eds.), The Works of Francis Bacon (1857), Vol. 4, 47-48.
Science quotes on:  |  Alchemist (23)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Magician (15)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physician (284)  |  Scanty (3)  |  Slight (32)  |  Study (701)  |  Success (327)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Work (1402)

The theory of punctuated equilibrium, proposed by Niles Eldredge and myself, is not, as so often misunderstood, a radical claim for truly sudden change, but a recognition that ordinary processes of speciation, properly conceived as glacially slow by the standard of our own life-span, do not resolve into geological time as long sequences of insensibly graded intermediates (the traditional, or gradualistic, view), but as geologically ‘sudden’ origins at single bedding planes.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bed (25)  |  Change (639)  |  Claim (154)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Do (1905)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Geological (11)  |  Grade (12)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Misunderstand (3)  |  Myself (211)  |  Often (109)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Origin (250)  |  Plane (22)  |  Process (439)  |  Properly (21)  |  Propose (24)  |  Punctuated Equilibrium (2)  |  Radical (28)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Single (365)  |  Slow (108)  |  Standard (64)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Traditional (16)  |  Truly (118)

The transition from a paradigm in crisis to a new one from which a new tradition of normal science can emerge is far from a cumulative process, one achieved by an articulation or extension of the old paradigm. Rather it is a reconstruction of the field from new fundamentals, a reconstruction that changes some of the field's most elementary theoretical generalizations as well as many of its paradigm methods and applications. During the transition period there will be a large but never complete overlap between the problems that can be solved by the old and by the new paradigm. But there will also be a decisive difference in the modes of solution. When the transition is complete, the profession will have changed its view of the field, its methods, and its goals.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), 84-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Change (639)  |  Complete (209)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Cumulative (14)  |  Decisive (25)  |  Difference (355)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Extension (60)  |  Field (378)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Goal (155)  |  Large (398)  |  Method (531)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Overlap (9)  |  Paradigm (16)  |  Period (200)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Profession (108)  |  Reconstruction (16)  |  Solution (282)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Transition (28)  |  Will (2350)

The transition from sea-floor spreading to plate tectonics is largely a change of emphasis. Sea-floor spreading is a view about the method of production of new oceans floor on the ridge axis. The magnetic lineations give the history of this production back into the late Mesozoic and illuminate the history of the new aseismic parts of the ocean floor. This naturally directed attention to the relation of the sea-floor to the continents. There are two approaches: in the first, one looks back in time to earlier arrangements of the continents; in the second, one considers the current problem of the disposal of the rapidly growing sea floor.
'The Emergence of Plate Tectonics: A Personal View', Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1975, 3, 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Attention (196)  |  Back (395)  |  Change (639)  |  Consider (428)  |  Continent (79)  |  Current (122)  |  Direct (228)  |  First (1302)  |  Growing (99)  |  History (716)  |  Late (119)  |  Look (584)  |  Magnetic (44)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Method (531)  |  New (1273)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Ocean Floor (6)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Problem (731)  |  Production (190)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sea-Floor Spreading (2)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transition (28)  |  Two (936)

The true excellence and importance of those arts and sciences which exert and display themselves in writing, may be seen, in a more general point of view, in the great influence which they have exerted on the character and fate of nations, throughout the history of the world.
In Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern (1841), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Character (259)  |  Display (59)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Exert (40)  |  Fate (76)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Importance (299)  |  Influence (231)  |  More (2558)  |  Nation (208)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Throughout (98)  |  World (1850)  |  Writing (192)

The union of philosophical and mathematical productivity, which besides in Plato we find only in Pythagoras, Descartes and Leibnitz, has always yielded the choicest fruits to mathematics; To the first we owe scientific mathematics in general, Plato discovered the analytic method, by means of which mathematics was elevated above the view-point of the elements, Descartes created the analytical geometry, our own illustrious countryman discovered the infinitesimal calculus—and just these are the four greatest steps in the development of mathematics.
In Geschichte der Mathematik im Altertum und im Mittelalter (1874), 149-150. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 210. From the original German, “Die Verbindung philosophischer und mathematischer Productivität, wie wir sie ausser in Platon wohl nur noch in Pythagoras, Descartes, Leibnitz vorfinden, hat der Mathematik immer die schönsten Früchte gebracht: Ersterem verdanken wir die wissenschaftliche Mathematik überhaupt, Platon erfand die analytische Methode, durch welche sich die Mathematik über den Standpunct der Elemente erhob, Descartes schuf die analytische Geometrie, unser berühmter Landsmann den Infinitesimalcalcül—und eben daß sind die vier grössten Stufen in der Entwickelung der Mathematik.”
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Analytic (11)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Countryman (4)  |  Create (245)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Development (441)  |  Discover (571)  |  Element (322)  |  Elevate (15)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Fruit (108)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Illustrious (10)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (51)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Method (531)  |  Owe (71)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plato (80)  |  Point (584)  |  Productivity (23)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Step (234)  |  Union (52)  |  Viewpoint (13)  |  Yield (86)

The universality of parasitism as an offshoot of the predatory habit negatives the position taken by man that it is a pathological phenomenon or a deviation from the normal processes of nature. The pathological manifestations are only incidents in a developing parasitism. As human beings intent on maintaining man's domination over nature we may regard parasitism as pathological insofar as it becomes a drain upon human resources. In our efforts to protect ourselves we may make every kind of sacrifice to limit, reduce, and even eliminate parasitism as a factor in human life. Science attempts to define the terms on which this policy of elimination may or may not succeed. We must first of all thoroughly understand the problem, put ourselves in possession of all the facts in order to estimate the cost. Too often it has been assumed that parasitism was abnormal and that it needed only a slight force to reestablish what was believed to be a normal equilibrium without parasitism. On the contrary, biology teaches us that parasitism is a normal phenomenon and if we accept this view we shall be more ready to pay the price of freedom as a permanent and ever recurring levy of nature for immunity from a condition to which all life is subject. The greatest victory of man over nature in the physical realm would undoubtedly be his own delivery from the heavy encumbrance of parasitism with which all life is burdened.
Parasitism and Disease (1934), 4.
Science quotes on:  |  Abnormality (2)  |  Accept (198)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Biology (232)  |  Burden (30)  |  Condition (362)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Cost (94)  |  Development (441)  |  Deviation (21)  |  Domination (12)  |  Drain (12)  |  Effort (243)  |  Elimination (26)  |  Encumbrance (5)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Force (497)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Habit (174)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Immunity (8)  |  Incident (4)  |  Kind (564)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Maintenance (21)  |  Man (2252)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Negative (66)  |  Order (638)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Pathological (21)  |  Pathology (19)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physical (518)  |  Policy (27)  |  Possession (68)  |  Predator (6)  |  Price (57)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Protect (65)  |  Protection (41)  |  Realm (87)  |  Recurring (12)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Regard (312)  |  Resource (74)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Subject (543)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universality (22)  |  Victory (40)

The universe is wider than our views of it.
In 'Conclusion', Walden (1892), Vol. 2, 493.
Science quotes on:  |  Universe (900)  |  Wide (97)

The view of the Earth from the Moon fascinated me - a small disk, 240,000 miles away… Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don’t show from that distance.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Disk (3)  |  Distance (171)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Famine (18)  |  Fascinate (12)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mile (43)  |  Moon (252)  |  Nationalistic (2)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Rage (10)  |  Show (353)  |  Small (489)  |  War (233)

The view of the moon that we’ve been having recently is really spectacular. It fills about three-quarters of the hatch window, and of course we can see the entire circumference even though part of it is in complete shadow and part of it is in earthshine. It’s a view worth the price of the trip.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Circumference (23)  |  Complete (209)  |  Course (413)  |  Entire (50)  |  Fill (67)  |  Hatch (4)  |  Moon (252)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Part (235)  |  Price (57)  |  Really (77)  |  Recently (3)  |  See (1094)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Three-Quarters (3)  |  Trip (11)  |  Window (59)  |  Worth (172)

The view that a peptic ulcer may be the hole in a man's stomach through which he crawls to escape from his wife has fairly wide acceptance.
A New Look at Social Medicine (1965)
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Crawl (9)  |  Escape (85)  |  Man (2252)  |  Peptic Ulcer (3)  |  Stomach (40)  |  Through (846)  |  Ulcer (2)  |  Wide (97)  |  Wife (41)

The views of space and time which I wish to lay before you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics, and therein lies their strength. They are radical. Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality.
'Space And Time', a translation of an address delivered at the 80th Assembly of German Natural Scientists and Physicians, at Cologne, 21 Sep 1908. In H.A. Lorentz, H. Weyl, H. Minkowski, et al., The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original Memoirs on the Special and General Theory of Relativity (1952), 74. Also seen translated as, “From henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, have vanished into the merest shadows and only a kind of blend of the two exists in its own right.”
Science quotes on:  |  Doom (34)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Kind (564)  |  Lie (370)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Radical (28)  |  Reality (274)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Soil (98)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Space-Time (20)  |  Strength (139)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Union (52)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)

The views of the Earth are really beautiful. If you’ve ever seen a space IMAX movie, that’s really what it looks like. I wish I’d had more time just to sit and look out the window with a map, but our science program kept us very busy in the lab most of the time.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Busy (32)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Keep (104)  |  Look (584)  |  Map (50)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movie (21)  |  Program (57)  |  Really (77)  |  See (1094)  |  Sit (51)  |  Space (523)  |  Time (1911)  |  Window (59)  |  Wish (216)

The wise man, however, will avoid partial views of things. He will not, with the miser, look to gold and silver as the only blessings of life; nor will he, with the cynic, snarl at mankind for preferring them to copper and iron. … That which is convenient is that which is useful, and that which is useful is that which is valuable.
From 13th Lecture in 1818, in Bence Jones, The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870), Vol. 1, 255.
Science quotes on:  |  Avoid (123)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Copper (25)  |  Cynic (7)  |  Gold (101)  |  Iron (99)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Miser (3)  |  Silver (49)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Useful (260)  |  Value (393)  |  Viewpoint (13)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)  |  Wise Man (17)

The word, “Vitamine,” served as a catchword which meant something even to the uninitiated, and it was not by mere accident that just at that time, research developed so markedly in this direction. Our view as to the fortunate choice of this name is strengthened, on the one hand, because it has become popular (and a badly chosen catchword, like a folksong without feeling, can never become popular), and on the other, because of the untiring efforts of other workers to introduce a varied nomenclature, for example, “accessory food factors, food hormones, water-soluble B and fat-soluble A, nutramine, and auximone” (for plants). Some of these designations are certainly not better, while others are much worse than “Vitamine.”
The Vitamines translated by Harry Ennis Dubin (1922), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Badly (32)  |  Become (821)  |  Better (493)  |  Catchword (3)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Choice (114)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Designation (13)  |  Develop (278)  |  Direction (185)  |  Effort (243)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Food (213)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Hormone (11)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Name (359)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nomencalture (4)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plant (320)  |  Popularity (4)  |  Research (753)  |  Soluble (5)  |  Something (718)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vitamin (13)  |  Water (503)  |  Word (650)

The world probably being of much greater antiquity than physical science has thought to be possible, it is interesting and harmless to speculate whether man has shared with the world its more remote history. … Some of the beliefs and legends which have come down to us from antiquity are so universal and deep-rooted that we have are accustomed to consider them almost as old as the race itself. One is tempted to inquire how far the unsuspected aptness of some of these beliefs and sayings to the point of view so recently disclosed is the result of mere chance or coincidence, and how far it may be evidence of a wholly unknown and unsuspected ancient civilization of which all other relic has disappeared.
In 'The Elixir of Life', The Interpretation of Radium: Being the Substance of Six Free Popular Lectures Delivered at the University of Glasgow (1909, 1912), 248-250. The original lectures of early 1908, were greatly edited, rearranged and supplemented by the author for the book form.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Anthropology (61)  |  Antiquity (34)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Chance (244)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Coincidence (20)  |  Consider (428)  |  Deep (241)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Down (455)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Greater (288)  |  Harmless (9)  |  History (716)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Legend (18)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  More (2558)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possible (560)  |  Race (278)  |  Relic (8)  |  Remote (86)  |  Result (700)  |  Root (121)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universal (198)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Wholly (88)  |  World (1850)

The wound is granulating well, the matter formed is diminishing in quantity and is laudable. But the wound is still deep and must be dressed from the bottom to ensure sound healing. … In view of the fact that sinister stories continue to be manufactured and to be printed, it may again be stated, as emphatically as possible, that during the operation no trace of malignant disease was observed, … His Majesty will leave Buckingham Palace for change of air shortly, and the date of the Coronation will be announced almost immediately.
Anonymous
In 'The King’s Progress Towards Recovery', British Medical Journal (1902), 144. The appendectomy caused the coronation of King Edward VII to be postponed.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Change (639)  |  Continue (179)  |  Deep (241)  |  Disease (340)  |  Emphatically (8)  |  Ensure (27)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Form (976)  |  Healing (28)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Majesty (21)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observed (149)  |  Operation (221)  |  Possible (560)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Royalty (3)  |  Sound (187)  |  Still (614)  |  Trace (109)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wound (26)

The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern “knowledge” is that it is wrong.
The young man then quoted with approval what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed him the wisest man in Greece. “If I am the wisest man,” said Socrates, “it is because I alone know that I know nothing.” The implication was that I was very foolish because I was under the impression I knew a great deal.
Alas, none of this was new to me. (There is very little that is new to me; I wish my correspondents would realize this.) This particular theme was addressed to me a quarter of a century ago by John Campbell, who specialized in irritating me. He also told me that all theories are proven wrong in time.
My answer to him was, “John, when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.”
In The Relativity of Wrong (1989), 214.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Answer (389)  |  Both (496)  |  Century (319)  |  Deal (192)  |  Delphic (4)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flat (34)  |  Follow (389)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impression (118)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Learning (291)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Modern (402)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Realize (157)  |  Say (989)  |   Socrates, (17)  |  Specialist (33)  |  Theme (17)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Understood (155)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wish (216)  |  Wrong (246)  |  Young (253)

Then we upon our globe’s last verge shall go,
And view the ocean leaning on the sky:
From thence our rolling Neighbours we shall know,
And on the Lunar world securely pry.
'Annus Mirabilis The year of Wonders, 1666' (1667), lines 653-6, in James Kinsley (ed.), The Poems and Fables of John Dryden (1962), 81.
Science quotes on:  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Moon (252)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Poem (104)  |  Sky (174)  |  Verge (10)  |  World (1850)

There are diverse views as to what makes a science, but three constituents will be judged essential by most, viz: (1) intellectual content, (2) organization into an understandable form, (3) reliance upon the test of experience as the ultimate standard of validity. By these tests, mathematics is not a science, since its ultimate standard of validity is an agreed-upon sort of logical consistency and provability.
In 'The Future of Data Analysis', Annals of Mathematical Statistics (1962), 33, No. 1, 5-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Agree (31)  |  Consistency (31)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Content (75)  |  Definition (238)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Essential (210)  |  Experience (494)  |  Form (976)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Logical (57)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Organization (120)  |  Reliance (11)  |  Standard (64)  |  Test (221)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understandable (12)  |  Validity (50)  |  Will (2350)

There are pessimists who hold that such a state of affairs is necessarily inherent in human nature; it is those who propound such views that are the enemies of true religion, for they imply thereby that religious teachings are utopian ideals and unsuited to afford guidance in human affairs. The study of the social patterns in certain so-called primitive cultures, however, seems to have made it sufficiently evident that such a defeatist view is wholly unwarranted.
From a response to a greeting sent by the Liberal Ministers' Club of New York City, published in The Christian Register (Jun 1948). Collected as 'Religion and Science: Irreconcilable?', in Carl Seelig (ed.)Ideas and Opinions (1954, 2010), 52.
Science quotes on:  |  Afford (19)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Culture (157)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Evident (92)  |  Guidance (30)  |  Hold (96)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Affairs (6)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Imply (20)  |  Inherent (43)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Pessimist (7)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Propound (2)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Seem (150)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Social (261)  |  State (505)  |  State Of affairs (5)  |  Study (701)  |  Sufficiently (9)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Teachings (11)  |  Thereby (5)  |  True (239)  |  Unwarranted (2)  |  Utopian (3)  |  Wholly (88)

There are three ruling ideas, three so to say, spheres of thought, which pervade the whole body of mathematical science, to some one or other of which, or to two or all three of them combined, every mathematical truth admits of being referred; these are the three cardinal notions, of Number, Space and Order.
Arithmetic has for its object the properties of number in the abstract. In algebra, viewed as a science of operations, order is the predominating idea. The business of geometry is with the evolution of the properties of space, or of bodies viewed as existing in space.
In 'A Probationary Lecture on Geometry, York British Association Report (1844), Part 2; Collected Mathematical Papers, Vol. 2, 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Admit (49)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Business (156)  |  Cardinal (9)  |  Combine (58)  |  Definitions and Objects of Mathematics (33)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exist (458)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Idea (881)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Object (438)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pervade (10)  |  Predominate (7)  |  Property (177)  |  Refer (14)  |  Rule (307)  |  Say (989)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Thought (995)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Whole (756)

There are two types of mind … the mathematical, and what might be called the intuitive. The former arrives at its views slowly, but they are firm and rigid; the latter is endowed with greater flexibility and applies itself simultaneously to the diverse lovable parts of that which it loves.
In Discours sur les passions de l’amour (1653).
Science quotes on:  |  Apply (170)  |  Arrive (40)  |  Call (781)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Endow (17)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Firm (47)  |  Flexibility (6)  |  Former (138)  |  Greater (288)  |  Intuitive (14)  |  Love (328)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Part (235)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Simultaneous (23)  |  Slowly (19)  |  Two (936)  |  Type (171)

There could not be a language more universal and more simple, more exempt from errors and obscurities, that is to say, more worthy of expressing the invariable relations of natural objects. Considered from this point of view, it is coextensive with nature itself; it defines all the sensible relations, measures the times, the spaces, the forces, the temperatures; this difficult science is formed slowly, but it retains all the principles it has once acquired. It grows and becomes more certain without limit in the midst of so many errors of the human mind.
From Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur, Discours Préliminaire (Theory of Heat, Introduction), quoted as translated in F.R. Moulton, 'The Influence of Astronomy on Mathematics', Science (10 Mar 1911), N.S. Vol. 33, No. 845, 359.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Become (821)  |  Certain (557)  |  Consider (428)  |  Considered (12)  |  Definition (238)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Error (339)  |  Exempt (3)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Grow (247)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Invariable (6)  |  Language (308)  |  Limit (294)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Object (438)  |  Obscurity (28)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Principle (530)  |  Relation (166)  |  Retain (57)  |  Say (989)  |  Sensible (28)  |  Simple (426)  |  Slowly (19)  |  Space (523)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universal (198)

There is a curious illusion today that nature is both wise and good. The awful truth is that nature is a bitch from the human point of view I care about the whooping crane a little. I would even give $10 to save the whooping crane. The whooping crane doesn’t give a damn about me.
From paper presented at Laramie College of Commerce and Industry, University of Wyoming, 'Energy and the Environment' (Jan 1976), 12, as quoted in Kenneth Ewart Boulding and Richard P. Beilock (ed.), Illustrating Economics: Beasts, Ballads and Aphorisms (1980, 2009), 153.
Science quotes on:  |  Awful (9)  |  Both (496)  |  Care (203)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Curious (95)  |  Damn (12)  |  Give (208)  |  Give A Damn (3)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Little (717)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Save (126)  |  Today (321)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Whooping Crane (3)  |  Wise (143)

There is a point of view among astronomical researchers that is generally referred to as the Principle of Mediocrity. ... If the Sun and its retinue of worlds is only one system among many, then many other systems will be like ours: home to life. Indeed, to the extent that this is true, we should be prepared for the possibility that, even in the Milky Way galaxy, billions of planets may be carpeted by the dirty, nasty business known as life.
Quoted in 'Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way', PBS web page for WGBH Nova, 'Origins.'
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Business (156)  |  Carpet (3)  |  Dirty (17)  |  Extent (142)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Home (184)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Known (453)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mediocrity (8)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Nasty (8)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Principle (530)  |  Researcher (36)  |  Retinue (3)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

There is a tradition of opposition between adherents of induction and of deduction. In my view it would be just as sensible for the two ends of a worm to quarrel.
From address to the Mathematical and Physical Science Section of the British Association, Newcastle-on-Tyne (1916). In The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science (22 Sep 1916), 142.114, No. 2965,
Science quotes on:  |  Adherent (6)  |  Deduction (90)  |  End (603)  |  Induction (81)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Quarrel (10)  |  Sensible (28)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Two (936)  |  Worm (47)

There is another approach to the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO origins. This assessment depends on a large number of factors about which we know little, and a few about which we know literally nothing. I want to make some crude numerical estimate of the probability that we are frequently visited by extraterrestrial beings.
Now, there is a range of hypotheses that can be examined in such a way. Let me give a simple example: Consider the Santa Claus hypothesis, which maintains that, in a period of eight hours or so on December 24-25 of each year, an outsized elf visits one hundred million homes in the United States. This is an interesting and widely discussed hypothesis. Some strong emotions ride on it, and it is argued that at least it does no harm.
We can do some calculations. Suppose that the elf in question spends one second per house. This isn't quite the usual picture—“Ho, Ho, Ho,” and so on—but imagine that he is terribly efficient and very speedy; that would explain why nobody ever sees him very much-only one second per house, after all. With a hundred million houses he has to spend three years just filling stockings. I have assumed he spends no time at all in going from house to house. Even with relativistic reindeer, the time spent in a hundred million houses is three years and not eight hours. This is an example of hypothesis-testing independent of reindeer propulsion mechanisms or debates on the origins of elves. We examine the hypothesis itself, making very straightforward assumptions, and derive a result inconsistent with the hypothesis by many orders of magnitude. We would then suggest that the hypothesis is untenable.
We can make a similar examination, but with greater uncertainty, of the extraterrestrial hypothesis that holds that a wide range of UFOs viewed on the planet Earth are space vehicles from planets of other stars.
The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective (1973), 200.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crude (32)  |  Debate (40)  |  Depend (238)  |  Derive (70)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Elf (7)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Examination (102)  |  Examine (84)  |  Explain (334)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Greater (288)  |  Home (184)  |  Hour (192)  |  House (143)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Literally (30)  |  Little (717)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Making (300)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Order (638)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Picture (148)  |  Plane (22)  |  Planet (402)  |  Probability (135)  |  Propulsion (10)  |  Question (649)  |  Range (104)  |  Reindeer (2)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Result (700)  |  Ride (23)  |  Santa Claus (2)  |  See (1094)  |  Simple (426)  |  Space (523)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spent (85)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  State (505)  |  Straightforward (10)  |  Strong (182)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Test (221)  |  Time (1911)  |  UFO (4)  |  Uncertainty (58)  |  Untenable (5)  |  Vehicle (11)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Wide (97)  |  Year (963)

There is nothing distinctively scientific about the hypothetico-deductive process. It is not even distinctively intellectual. It is merely a scientific context for a much more general stratagem that underlies almost all regulative processes or processes of continuous control, namely feedback, the control of performance by the consequences of the act performed. In the hypothetico-deductive scheme the inferences we draw from a hypothesis are, in a sense, its logical output. If they are true, the hypothesis need not be altered, but correction is obligatory if they are false. The continuous feedback from inference to hypothesis is implicit in Whewell’s account of scientific method; he would not have dissented from the view that scientific behaviour can be classified as appropriately under cybernetics as under logic.
Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought (1969), 54-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Act (278)  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Altered (32)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Classification (102)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Context (31)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Control (182)  |  Correction (42)  |  Cybernetic (5)  |  Cybernetics (5)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Dissent (8)  |  Distinctive (25)  |  Draw (140)  |  False (105)  |  Feedback (10)  |  General (521)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Implicit (12)  |  Inference (45)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Logic (311)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Obligatory (3)  |  Output (12)  |  Perform (123)  |  Performance (51)  |  Process (439)  |  Regulation (25)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Sense (785)  |  Stratagem (2)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Underlie (19)  |  William Whewell (70)

Therefore, these [geotectonic] models cannot be expected to assume that the deeper parts of the earth’s crust were put together and built in a simpler way. The myth about the increasing simplicity with depth results from a general pre-scientific trend according to which the unknown or little known has to be considered simpler than the known. Many examples of this myth occur in the history of geology as, for instance, the development of views on the nature of the seafloor from the past to the present.
In 'Stockwerktektonik und Madelle van Esteinsdifferentiation', in Geotektonisches Symposium zu Ehren von Hans Stille, als Festschrift zur Vollendung seines 80, Lebensjahres (1956), 17, trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crust (43)  |  Depth (97)  |  Development (441)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Example (98)  |  Expect (203)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Known (453)  |  Little (717)  |  Model (106)  |  Myth (58)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Occur (151)  |  Past (355)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Pre-Scientific (5)  |  Present (630)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seafloor (2)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Together (392)  |  Trend (23)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Way (1214)

These Disciplines [mathematics] serve to inure and corroborate the Mind to a constant Diligence in Study; to undergo the Trouble of an attentive Meditation, and cheerfully contend with such Difficulties as lie in the Way. They wholly deliver us from a credulous Simplicity, most strongly fortify us against the Vanity of Scepticism, effectually restrain from a rash Presumption, most easily incline us to a due Assent, perfectly subject us to the Government of right Reason, and inspire us with Resolution to wrestle against the unjust Tyranny of false Prejudices. If the Fancy be unstable and fluctuating, it is to be poized by this Ballast, and steadied by this Anchor, if the Wit be blunt it is sharpened upon this Whetstone; if luxuriant it is pared by this Knife; if headstrong it is restrained by this Bridle; and if dull it is rouzed by this Spur. The Steps are guided by no Lamp more clearly through the dark Mazes of Nature, by no Thread more surely through the intricate Labyrinths of Philosophy, nor lastly is the Bottom of Truth sounded more happily by any other Line. I will not mention how plentiful a Stock of Knowledge the Mind is furnished from these, with what wholesome Food it is nourished, and what sincere Pleasure it enjoys. But if I speak farther, I shall neither be the only Person, nor the first, who affirms it; that while the Mind is abstracted and elevated from sensible Matter, distinctly views pure Forms, conceives the Beauty of Ideas, and investigates the Harmony of Proportions; the Manners themselves are sensibly corrected and improved, the Affections composed and rectified, the Fancy calmed and settled, and the Understanding raised and excited to more divine Contemplations. All which I might defend by Authority, and confirm by the Suffrages of the greatest Philosophers.
Prefatory Oration in Mathematical Lectures (1734), xxxi.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Affection (44)  |  Against (332)  |  Anchor (10)  |  Assent (12)  |  Attentive (15)  |  Authority (99)  |  Ballast (2)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Calm (32)  |  Chemical Biodynamics (2)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Constant (148)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Credulous (9)  |  Dark (145)  |  Deliver (30)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Diligence (22)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Divine (112)  |  Due (143)  |  Dull (58)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Farther (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Food (213)  |  Form (976)  |  Fortify (4)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Government (116)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Knife (24)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Labyrinth (12)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Maze (11)  |  Meditation (19)  |  Mention (84)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Person (366)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Presumption (15)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Pure (299)  |  Rash (15)  |  Reason (766)  |  Rectified (4)  |  Resolution (24)  |  Right (473)  |  Scepticism (17)  |  Settled (34)  |  Sharpen (22)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Sound (187)  |  Speak (240)  |  Spur (4)  |  Step (234)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suffrage (4)  |  Surely (101)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thread (36)  |  Through (846)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Tyranny (15)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Vanity (20)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whetstone (2)  |  Wholesome (12)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wit (61)

These specimens, which I could easily multiply, may suffice to justify a profound distrust of Auguste Comte, wherever he may venture to speak as a mathematician. But his vast general ability, and that personal intimacy with the great Fourier, which I most willingly take his own word for having enjoyed, must always give an interest to his views on any subject of pure or applied mathematics.
In R. Graves, Life of W. R. Hamilton (1882-89), Vol. 3, 475.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Mathematics (15)  |  Auguste Comte (24)  |  Distrust (11)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Fourier (5)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  Interest (416)  |  Intimacy (6)  |  Justify (26)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Must (1525)  |  Personal (75)  |  Profound (105)  |  Pure (299)  |  Speak (240)  |  Specimen (32)  |  Subject (543)  |  Vast (188)  |  Venture (19)  |  Wherever (51)  |  Willing (44)  |  Word (650)

This is really the cornerstone of our situation. Now, I believe what we should try to bring about is the general conviction that the first thing you have to abolish is war at all costs, and every other point of view must be of secondary importance.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Abolish (13)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bring (95)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Cornerstone (8)  |  Cost (94)  |  First (1302)  |  General (521)  |  Importance (299)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Really (77)  |  Secondary (15)  |  Situation (117)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Try (296)  |  War (233)

This leads us to ask for the reasons which call for this new theory of transmutation. The beginning of things must needs lie in obscurity, beyond the bounds of proof, though within those of conjecture or of analogical inference. Why not hold fast to the customary view, that all species were directly, instead of indirectly, created after their respective kinds, as we now behold them,--and that in a manner which, passing our comprehension, we intuitively refer to the supernatural? Why this continual striving after “the unattained and dim,”—these anxious endeavors, especially of late years, by naturalists and philosophers of various schools and different tendencies, to penetrate what one of them calls “the mystery of mysteries,” the origin of species? To this, in general, sufficient answer may be found in the activity of the human intellect, “the delirious yet divine desire to know,” stimulated as it has been by its own success in unveiling the laws and processes of inorganic Nature,—in the fact that the principal triumphs of our age in physical science have consisted in tracing connections where none were known before, in reducing heterogeneous phenomena to a common cause or origin, in a manner quite analogous to that of the reduction of supposed independently originated species to a common ultimate origin,—thus, and in various other ways, largely and legitimately extending the domain of secondary causes. Surely the scientific mind of an age which contemplates the solar system as evolved from a common, revolving, fluid mass,— which, through experimental research, has come to regard light, heat, electricity, magnetism, chemical affinity, and mechanical power as varieties or derivative and convertible forms of one force, instead of independent species,—which has brought the so-called elementary kinds of matter, such as the metals, into kindred groups, and raised the question, whether the members of each group may not be mere varieties of one species,—and which speculates steadily in the direction of the ultimate unity of matter, of a sort of prototype or simple element which may be to the ordinary species of matter what the protozoa or component cells of an organism are to the higher sorts of animals and plants,—the mind of such an age cannot be expected to let the old belief about species pass unquestioned.
Asa Gray
'Darwin on the Origin of Species', The Atlantic Monthly (Jul 1860), 112-3. Also in 'Natural Selection Not Inconsistent With Natural Theology', Darwiniana: Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism (1876), 94-95.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Affinity (27)  |  Age (509)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Belief (615)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bound (120)  |  Call (781)  |  Cause (561)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Common (447)  |  Component (51)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Connection (171)  |  Consist (223)  |  Continual (44)  |  Customary (18)  |  Desire (212)  |  Different (595)  |  Direction (185)  |  Divine (112)  |  Domain (72)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Element (322)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expect (203)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Heat (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Intellect (32)  |  Independently (24)  |  Inference (45)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Kind (564)  |  Kindred (12)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Late (119)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lie (370)  |  Light (635)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Mass (160)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Metal (88)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Organism (231)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Passing (76)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Plant (320)  |  Power (771)  |  Principal (69)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prototype (9)  |  Protozoa (6)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Regard (312)  |  Research (753)  |  School (227)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Mind (13)  |  Simple (426)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Species (435)  |  Success (327)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Supernatural (26)  |  Surely (101)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Transmutation (24)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Unity (81)  |  Unquestioned (7)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)  |  Why (491)  |  Year (963)

This science [experimental science] alone, therefore, knows how to test perfectly what can be done by nature, what by the effort of art, what by trickery, what the incantations, conjurations, invocations, deprecations, sacrifices that belong to magic mean and dream of, and what is in them, so that all falsity may be removed and the truth alone of art and nature may be retained. This science alone teaches us how to view the mad acts of magicians, that they may be not ratified but shunned, just as logic considers sophistical reasoning.
In Opus Majus (1267).
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Alone (324)  |  Art (680)  |  Belong (168)  |  Consider (428)  |  Dream (222)  |  Effort (243)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Falsity (16)  |  Incantation (6)  |  Know (1538)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mad (54)  |  Magic (92)  |  Mean (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Retain (57)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Test (221)  |  Truth (1109)

This whole theory of electrostatics constitutes a group of abstract ideas and general propositions, formulated in the clear and precise language of geometry and algebra, and connected with one another by the rules of strict logic. This whole fully satisfies the reason of a French physicist and his taste for clarity, simplicity and order. The same does not hold for the Englishman. These abstract notions of material points, force, line of force, and equipotential surface do not satisfy his need to imagine concrete, material, visible, and tangible things. 'So long as we cling to this mode of representation,' says an English physicist, 'we cannot form a mental representation of the phenomena which are really happening.' It is to satisfy the need that he goes and creates a model.
The French or German physicist conceives, in the space separating two conductors, abstract lines of force having no thickness or real existence; the English physicist materializes these lines and thickens them to the dimensions of a tube which he will fill with vulcanised rubber. In place of a family of lines of ideal forces, conceivable only by reason, he will have a bundle of elastic strings, visible and tangible, firmly glued at both ends to the surfaces of the two conductors, and, when stretched, trying both to contact and to expand. When the two conductors approach each other, he sees the elastic strings drawing closer together; then he sees each of them bunch up and grow large. Such is the famous model of electrostatic action imagined by Faraday and admired as a work of genius by Maxwell and the whole English school.
The employment of similar mechanical models, recalling by certain more or less rough analogies the particular features of the theory being expounded, is a regular feature of the English treatises on physics. Here is a book* [by Oliver Lodge] intended to expound the modern theories of electricity and to expound a new theory. In it are nothing but strings which move around pulleys, which roll around drums, which go through pearl beads, which carry weights; and tubes which pump water while others swell and contract; toothed wheels which are geared to one another and engage hooks. We thought we were entering the tranquil and neatly ordered abode of reason, but we find ourselves in a factory.
*Footnote: O. Lodge, Les Théories Modernes (Modern Views on Electricity) (1889), 16.
The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory (1906), 2nd edition (1914), trans. Philip P. Wiener (1954), 70-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Action (342)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Approach (112)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Both (496)  |  Carry (130)  |  Certain (557)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Closer (43)  |  Conceivable (28)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Conductor (17)  |  Connect (126)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Contact (66)  |  Create (245)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Drum (8)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Electrostatic (7)  |  Electrostatics (6)  |  Employment (34)  |  End (603)  |  Engage (41)  |  Existence (481)  |  Expand (56)  |  Factory (20)  |  Family (101)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Genius (301)  |  Geometry (271)  |  German (37)  |  Grow (247)  |  Happening (59)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Language (308)  |  Large (398)  |  Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (13)  |  Logic (311)  |  Long (778)  |  Material (366)  |  Materialize (2)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Mental (179)  |  Model (106)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Move (223)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Precise (71)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regular (48)  |  Representation (55)  |  Roll (41)  |  Rubber (11)  |  Rule (307)  |  Say (989)  |  School (227)  |  See (1094)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Surface (223)  |  Tangible (15)  |  Taste (93)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Tooth (32)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Trying (144)  |  Two (936)  |  Visible (87)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

To a body of infinite size there can be ascribed neither center nor boundary ... Just as we regard ourselves as at the center of that universally equidistant circle, which is the great horizon and the limit of our own encircling ethereal region, so doubtless the inhabitants of the moon believe themselves to be at the center (of a great horizon) that embraces this earth, the sun, and the stars, and is the boundary of the radii of their own horizon. Thus the earth no more than any other world is at the center; moreover no points constitute determined celestial poles for our earth, just as she herself is not a definite and determined pole to any other point of the ether, or of the world-space; and the same is true for all other bodies. From various points of view these may all be regarded either as centers, or as points on the circumference, as poles, or zeniths and so forth. Thus the earth is not in the center of the universe; it is central only to our own surrounding space.
Irving Louis Horowitz, The Renaissance Philosophy of Giordano Bruno (1952), 60.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Central (81)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Definite (114)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Ether (37)  |  Ethereal (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Limit (294)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Point (584)  |  Pole (49)  |  Regard (312)  |  Space (523)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  World (1850)

To fully understand the mathematical genius of Sophus Lie, one must not turn to books recently published by him in collaboration with Dr. Engel, but to his earlier memoirs, written during the first years of his scientific career. There Lie shows himself the true geometer that he is, while in his later publications, finding that he was but imperfectly understood by the mathematicians accustomed to the analytic point of view, he adopted a very general analytic form of treatment that is not always easy to follow.
In Lectures on Mathematics (1911), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Adopt (22)  |  Analytic (11)  |  Book (413)  |  Career (86)  |  Collaboration (16)  |  Early (196)  |  Easy (213)  |   Ernst Engel, (2)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Form (976)  |  Fully (20)  |  General (521)  |  Genius (301)  |  Geometer (24)  |  Himself (461)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Late (119)  |  Lie (370)  |  Sophus Lie (6)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Memoir (13)  |  Must (1525)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Publication (102)  |  Publish (42)  |  Recently (3)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Show (353)  |  Treatment (135)  |  True (239)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understood (155)  |  Write (250)  |  Year (963)

To inquisitive minds like yours and mine the reflection that the quantity of human knowledge bears no proportion to the quantity of human ignorance must be in one view rather pleasing, viz., that though we are to live forever we may be continually amused and delighted with learning something new.
In letter to Dr. Ingenhouz. Quoted in Theodore Diller, Franklin's Contribution to Medicine (1912), 65. The source gives no specific cite for the letter, and Webmaster has found the quote in no other book checked, so authenticity is in question.
Science quotes on:  |  Amusement (37)  |  Bear (162)  |  Continually (17)  |  Delight (111)  |  Forever (111)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Inquisitiveness (6)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learning (291)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mine (78)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Something (718)

To prove to an indignant questioner on the spur of the moment that the work I do was useful seemed a thankless task and I gave it up. I turned to him with a smile and finished, “To tell you the truth we don’t do it because it is useful but because it’s amusing.” The answer was thought of and given in a moment: it came from deep down in my soul, and the results were as admirable from my point of view as unexpected. My audience was clearly on my side. Prolonged and hearty applause greeted my confession. My questioner retired shaking his head over my wickedness and the newspapers next day, with obvious approval, came out with headlines “Scientist Does It Because It’s Amusing!” And if that is not the best reason why a scientist should do his work, I want to know what is. Would it be any good to ask a mother what practical use her baby is? That, as I say, was the first evening I ever spent in the United States and from that moment I felt at home. I realised that all talk about science purely for its practical and wealth-producing results is as idle in this country as in England. Practical results will follow right enough. No real knowledge is sterile. The most useless investigation may prove to have the most startling practical importance: Wireless telegraphy might not yet have come if Clerk Maxwell had been drawn away from his obviously “useless” equations to do something of more practical importance. Large branches of chemistry would have remained obscure had Willard Gibbs not spent his time at mathematical calculations which only about two men of his generation could understand. With this faith in the ultimate usefulness of all real knowledge a man may proceed to devote himself to a study of first causes without apology, and without hope of immediate return.
A.V. Hill
From lecture to a scientific society in Philadelphia on “The Mechanism of the Muscle” given by invitation after he received a Nobel Prize for that work. The quote is Hill’s response to a post-talk audience question asking disapprovingly what practical use the speaker thought there was in his research. The above quoted answer, in brief, is—for the intellectual curiosity. As quoted about Hill by Bernard Katz in his own autobiographical chapter, 'Sir Bernard Katz', collected in Larry R. Squire (ed.), The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography (1996), Vol. 1, 350-351. Two excerpts from the above have been highlighted as standalone quotes here in this same quote collection for A. V. Hill. They begin “All talk about science…” and “The most useless investigation may prove…”.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Apology (8)  |  Ask (420)  |  Audience (28)  |  Baby (29)  |  Best (467)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Cause (561)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Clerk (13)  |  Confession (9)  |  Country (269)  |  Deep (241)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Enough (341)  |  Equation (138)  |  Faith (209)  |  Finish (62)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Generation (256)  |  J. Willard Gibbs (9)  |  Good (906)  |  Headline (8)  |  Himself (461)  |  Home (184)  |  Hope (321)  |  Idle (34)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Importance (299)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Man (2252)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mother (116)  |  Next (238)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Practical (225)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Prolong (29)  |  Prove (261)  |  Purely (111)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remain (355)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Return (133)  |  Right (473)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Side (236)  |  Smile (34)  |  Something (718)  |  Soul (235)  |  Spent (85)  |  Startling (15)  |  State (505)  |  Sterile (24)  |  Study (701)  |  Task (152)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Use (771)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Want (504)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

To the mind which looks not to general results in the economy of Nature, the earth may seem to present a scene of perpetual warfare, and incessant carnage: but the more enlarged view, while it regards individuals in their conjoint relations to the general benefit of their own species, and that of other species with which they are associated in the great family of Nature, resolves each apparent case of individual evil, into an example of subserviency to universal good.
Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (1836), Vol. I, 131-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Evil (122)  |  Family (101)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Individual (420)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Present (630)  |  Regard (312)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Result (700)  |  Scene (36)  |  Species (435)  |  Universal (198)  |  Warfare (12)

To turn Karl [Popper]'s view on its head, it is precisely the abandonment of critical discourse that marks the transition of science. Once a field has made the transition, critical discourse recurs only at moments of crisis when the bases of the field are again in jeopardy. Only when they must choose between competing theories do scientists behave like philosophers.
'Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research', in I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave (eds.), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (1970), 6-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Base (120)  |  Choose (116)  |  Competition (45)  |  Crisis (25)  |  Critical (73)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Discourse (19)  |  Do (1905)  |  Field (378)  |  Jeopardy (2)  |  Moment (260)  |  Must (1525)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Karl Raimund Popper (48)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transition (28)  |  Turn (454)

To us … the only acceptable point of view appears to be the one that recognizes both sides of reality—the quantitative and the qualitative, the physical and the psychical—as compatible with each other, and can embrace them simultaneously … It would be most satisfactory of all if physis and psyche (i.e., matter and mind) could be seen as complementary aspects of the same reality.
From Lecture at the Psychological Club of Zurich (1948), 'The Influence of Archetypal Ideas on the Scientific Theories of Kepler', collected in Writings on Physics and Philosophy (1994), 260, as translated by Robert Schlapp.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Both (496)  |  Compatible (4)  |  Complementary (15)  |  Embrace (47)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Psyche (9)  |  Qualitative (15)  |  Quantitative (31)  |  Reality (274)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Satisfactory (19)  |  Side (236)  |  Simultaneous (23)

Two extreme views have always been held as to the use of mathematics. To some, mathematics is only measuring and calculating instruments, and their interest ceases as soon as discussions arise which cannot benefit those who use the instruments for the purposes of application in mechanics, astronomy, physics, statistics, and other sciences. At the other extreme we have those who are animated exclusively by the love of pure science. To them pure mathematics, with the theory of numbers at the head, is the only real and genuine science, and the applications have only an interest in so far as they contain or suggest problems in pure mathematics.
Of the two greatest mathematicians of modern tunes, Newton and Gauss, the former can be considered as a representative of the first, the latter of the second class; neither of them was exclusively so, and Newton’s inventions in the science of pure mathematics were probably equal to Gauss’s work in applied mathematics. Newton’s reluctance to publish the method of fluxions invented and used by him may perhaps be attributed to the fact that he was not satisfied with the logical foundations of the Calculus; and Gauss is known to have abandoned his electro-dynamic speculations, as he could not find a satisfying physical basis. …
Newton’s greatest work, the Principia, laid the foundation of mathematical physics; Gauss’s greatest work, the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, that of higher arithmetic as distinguished from algebra. Both works, written in the synthetic style of the ancients, are difficult, if not deterrent, in their form, neither of them leading the reader by easy steps to the results. It took twenty or more years before either of these works received due recognition; neither found favour at once before that great tribunal of mathematical thought, the Paris Academy of Sciences. …
The country of Newton is still pre-eminent for its culture of mathematical physics, that of Gauss for the most abstract work in mathematics.
In History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century (1903), 630.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Abstract (141)  |  Academy (37)  |  Academy Of Sciences (4)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Animated (5)  |  Application (257)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Mathematics (15)  |  Arise (162)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Basis (180)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Both (496)  |  Calculate (58)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Cease (81)  |  Class (168)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contain (68)  |  Country (269)  |  Culture (157)  |  Deterrent (3)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Due (143)  |  Easy (213)  |  Equal (88)  |  Exclusively (10)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Far (158)  |  Favor (69)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Fluxion (7)  |  Fluxions (2)  |  Form (976)  |  Former (138)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Carl Friedrich Gauss (79)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Head (87)  |  High (370)  |  Hold (96)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Interest (416)  |  Invent (57)  |  Invention (400)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Laid (7)  |  Latter (21)  |  Lead (391)  |  Logical (57)  |  Love (328)  |  Mathematical Physics (12)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Number (710)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paris (11)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Preeminent (6)  |  Principia (14)  |  Probably (50)  |  Problem (731)  |  Publish (42)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Mathematics (72)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reader (42)  |  Real (159)  |  Receive (117)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Reluctance (6)  |  Representative (14)  |  Result (700)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  Satisfy (29)  |  Second (66)  |  Snake (29)  |  Soon (187)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Step (234)  |  Still (614)  |  Style (24)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Synthetic (27)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Numbers (7)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tribunal (2)  |  Tune (20)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)  |  Work (1402)  |  Write (250)  |  Year (963)

Very old and wide-spread is the opinion that forests have an important impact on rainfall. ... If forests enhance the amount and frequency of precipitation simply by being there, deforestation as part of agricultural expansion everywhere, must necessarily result in less rainfall and more frequent droughts. This view is most poignantly expressed by the saying: Man walks the earth and desert follows his steps! ... It is not surprising that under such circumstances the issue of a link between forests and climate has ... been addressed by governments. Lately, the Italian government has been paying special attention to reforestation in Italy and its expected improvement of the climate. ... It must be prevented that periods of heavy rainfall alternate with droughts. ...In the Unites States deforestation plays an important role as well and is seen as the cause for a reduction in rainfall. ... committee chairman of the American Association for Advancement of Science demands decisive steps to extend woodland in order to counteract the increasing drought. ... some serious concerns. In 1873, in Vienna, the congress for agriculture and forestry discussed the problem in detail; and when the Prussian house of representatives ordered a special commission to examine a proposed law pertaining to the preservation and implementation of forests for safeguarding, it pointed out that the steady decrease in the water levels of Prussian rivers was one of the most serious consequences of deforestation only to be rectified by reforestation programs. It is worth mentioning that ... the same concerns were raised in Russia as well and governmental circles reconsidered the issue of deforestation.
as quoted in Eduard Brückner - The Sources and Consequences of Climate Change and Climate Variability in Historical Times editted by N. Stehr and H. von Storch (2000)
Science quotes on:  |  Advancement (63)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Amount (153)  |  Association (49)  |  Attention (196)  |  Being (1276)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Climate (102)  |  Concern (239)  |  Congress (20)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Decisive (25)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Demand (131)  |  Desert (59)  |  Detail (150)  |  Drought (14)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Enhance (17)  |  Environment (239)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Examine (84)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Expect (203)  |  Express (192)  |  Extend (129)  |  Follow (389)  |  Forest (161)  |  Forestry (17)  |  Frequency (25)  |  Government (116)  |  House (143)  |  Impact (45)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Italian (13)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Old (499)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Order (638)  |  Period (200)  |  Point (584)  |  Precipitation (7)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Problem (731)  |  Rectified (4)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Reforestation (6)  |  Result (700)  |  River (140)  |  Role (86)  |  Serious (98)  |  Special (188)  |  Spread (86)  |  State (505)  |  Steady (45)  |  Step (234)  |  Unite (43)  |  Walk (138)  |  Water (503)  |  Wide (97)  |  Worth (172)

Visible from Earth orbit … tropical rain forests of equatorial regions are huge expanses of monotonous, mottled dark green. During the day they are frequently covered with enormous thunderstorms that extend for hundreds of miles. The view has an air of fantasy about it, and you grope for words to describe what you see. My personal reaction was one of feeling humble, awed, and privileged to be witness to such a scene.
In How Do You Go To The Bathroom In Space?: All the Answers to All the Questions You Have About Living in Space (1999), 107.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Awe (43)  |  Covered (5)  |  Dark (145)  |  Describe (132)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Equatorial (3)  |  Expanse (6)  |  Extend (129)  |  Fantasy (15)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Forest (161)  |  Green (65)  |  Grope (5)  |  Humble (54)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Mile (43)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Privilege (41)  |  Rain (70)  |  Rain Forest (34)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Thunderstorm (7)  |  Tropical (9)  |  Visible (87)  |  Witness (57)  |  Word (650)

Vision, in my view, is the cause of the greatest benefit to us, inasmuch as none of the accounts now given concerning the Universe would ever have been given if men had not seen the stars or the sun or the heavens. But as it is, the vision of day and night and of months and circling years has created the art of number and has given us not only the notion of Time but also means of research into the nature of the Universe. From these we have procured Philosophy in all its range, than which no greater boon ever has come or will come, by divine bestowal, unto the race of mortals.
Plato
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Art (680)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Boon (7)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circle (117)  |  Concern (239)  |  Create (245)  |  Day And Night (3)  |  Divine (112)  |  Give (208)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Inasmuch (5)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Month (91)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Procure (6)  |  Race (278)  |  Range (104)  |  Research (753)  |  See (1094)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unto (8)  |  Vision (127)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

We all have a tendency to think that the world must conform to our prejudices. The opposite view involves some effort of thought, and most people would die sooner than think–in fact they do so.
In The ABC of Relativity (1925), 166. A paraphrase from this quote is often seen as, “Most people would rather die than think; many do.”
Science quotes on:  |  Conform (15)  |  Die (94)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effort (243)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Involve (93)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Opposite (110)  |  People (1031)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  World (1850)

We cannot doubt the existence of an ultimate reality. It is the universe forever masked. We are a part of it, and the masks figured by us are the universe observing and understanding itself from a human point of view.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Doubt (314)  |  Existence (481)  |  Figure (162)  |  Forever (111)  |  Human (1512)  |  Mask (12)  |  Observe (179)  |  Part (235)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Reality (274)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)

We debase the richness of both nature and our own minds if we view the great pageant of our intellectual history as a compendium of new in formation leading from primal superstition to final exactitude. We know that the sun is hub of our little corner of the universe, and that ties of genealogy connect all living things on our planet, because these theories assemble and explain so much otherwise disparate and unrelated information–not because Galileo trained his telescope on the moons of Jupiter or because Darwin took a ride on a Galápagos tortoise.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Assemble (14)  |  Both (496)  |  Compendium (5)  |  Connect (126)  |  Corner (59)  |  Darwin (14)  |  Debase (2)  |  Exactitude (10)  |  Explain (334)  |  Final (121)  |  Formation (100)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Genealogy (4)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Hub (3)  |  Information (173)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lead (391)  |  Little (717)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Things (8)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  Moons Of Jupiter (2)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  Pageant (3)  |  Planet (402)  |  Primal (5)  |  Richness (15)  |  Ride (23)  |  Sun (407)  |  Superstition (70)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tie (42)  |  Tortoise (10)  |  Train (118)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unrelated (6)

We do 'custom-tailor' mice. We view them as the canvas upon which we do these genetic transplantations.
Quoted in Michael Schrage, 'Biomedical Researchers Scurry to Make Genetically Altered Mice', San Jose Mercury News (8 Feb 1993), 3D. In Donna Jeanne Haraway and Lynn M. Randolph, [email protected]: Feminism and Technoscience (1996), 98.
Science quotes on:  |  Custom (44)  |  Do (1905)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetic Engineering (16)  |  Mouse (33)

We don’t teach our students enough of the intellectual content of experiments—their novelty and their capacity for opening new fields… . My own view is that you take these things personally. You do an experiment because your own philosophy makes you want to know the result. It’s too hard, and life is too short, to spend your time doing something because someone else has said it’s important. You must feel the thing yourself—feel that it will change your outlook and your way of life.
In Bernstein, 'Profiles: Physicists: I', The New Yorker (13 Oct 1975), 108.
Science quotes on:  |  Capacity (105)  |  Change (639)  |  Content (75)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Enough (341)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Feel (371)  |  Field (378)  |  Hard (246)  |  Important (229)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  New (1273)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Outlook (32)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Result (700)  |  Science And Education (17)  |  Short (200)  |  Something (718)  |  Spend (97)  |  Student (317)  |  Teach (299)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Way Of Life (15)  |  Will (2350)

We forget how strained and paradoxical is the view of nature which modern science imposes on our thoughts.
In Science and the Modern World (1925), 104.
Science quotes on:  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgetting (13)  |  Imposition (5)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Paradoxical (3)  |  Strain (13)  |  Thought (995)

We have really, that I know of, no philosophical basis for high and low. Moreover, the vegetable kingdom does not culminate, as the animal kingdom does. It is not a kingdom, but a common-wealth; a democracy, and therefore puzzling and unaccountable from the former point of view.
Asa Gray
Letter to Charles Darwin (27 Jan 1863), collected in Letters of Asa Gray (1893), Vol. 2, 496. Gray was replying to Darwin’s question, “If flowers of an Oak or Beech tree had fine well-colored corolla & calyx, would they still be classed as low in the Vegetable Kingdom?”
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Kingdom (21)  |  Basis (180)  |  Common (447)  |  Democracy (36)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Former (138)  |  High (370)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Know (1538)  |  Low (86)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Puzzling (8)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Wealth (100)

We keep, in science, getting a more and more sophisticated view of our essential ignorance.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Essential (210)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Keep (104)  |  More (2558)  |  Sophisticated (16)

We may regard the cell quite apart from its familiar morphological aspects, and contemplate its constitution from the purely chemical standpoint. We are obliged to adopt the view, that the protoplasm is equipped with certain atomic groups, whose function especially consists in fixing to themselves food-stuffs, of importance to the cell-life. Adopting the nomenclature of organic chemistry, these groups may be designated side-chains. We may assume that the protoplasm consists of a special executive centre (Leistungs-centrum) in connection with which are nutritive side-chains… The relationship of the corresponding groups, i.e., those of the food-stuff, and those of the cell, must be specific. They must be adapted to one another, as, e.g., male and female screw (Pasteur), or as lock and key (E. Fischer).
Croonian Lecture, 'On Immunity with Special Reference to Cell Life', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1900, 66, 433-434.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Cell (146)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Connection (171)  |  Consist (223)  |  Constitution (78)  |  Equipped (17)  |  Female (50)  |  Emil Fischer (7)  |  Food (213)  |  Function (235)  |  Importance (299)  |  Life (1870)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Chemistry (41)  |  Louis Pasteur (85)  |  Protoplasm (13)  |  Purely (111)  |  Regard (312)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Screw (17)  |  Side (236)  |  Special (188)  |  Specific (98)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Themselves (433)

We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.
Lecture at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (14 May 1921). In Cambridge Editorial Partnership, Speeches that Changed the World, 53.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Become (821)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Chance (244)  |  Consider (428)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Forget (125)  |  Hospital (45)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Must (1525)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prove (261)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Radium (29)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Work (1402)

We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled, but as candles to be lit.
Quoted, without citation, in Robert Grover, Collaboration (1996).
Science quotes on:  |  Bottle (17)  |  Candle (32)  |  Education (423)  |  Empty (82)  |  Filled (3)  |  Light (635)  |  Must (1525)  |  People (1031)  |  Young (253)

We regard as 'scientific' a method based on deep analysis of facts, theories, and views, presupposing unprejudiced, unfearing open discussion and conclusions. The complexity and diversity of all the phenomena of modern life, the great possibilities and dangers linked with the scientific-technical revolution and with a number of social tendencies demand precisely such an approach, as has been acknowledged in a number of official statements.
Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom (1968), 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Acknowledgment (13)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Approach (112)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Danger (127)  |  Deep (241)  |  Demand (131)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Great (1610)  |  Life (1870)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern (402)  |  Number (710)  |  Official (8)  |  Open (277)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Regard (312)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Statement (148)  |  Technology (281)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Theory (1015)

We shall therefore take an appropriately correct view of the origin of our life, if we consider our own embryos to have sprung immediately from those embryos whence our parents were developed, and these from the embryos of their parents, and so on for ever. We should in this way look on the nature of mankind, and perhaps on that of the whole animated creation, as one Continuous System, ever pushing out new branches in all directions, that variously interlace, and that bud into separate lives at every point of interlacement.
'Hereditary Talent and Character', Macmillan's Magazine, 1865, 12, 322.
Science quotes on:  |  Consider (428)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Creation (350)  |  Develop (278)  |  Direction (185)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Look (584)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Origin (250)  |  Parent (80)  |  Point (584)  |  Separate (151)  |  System (545)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

We still view the sea as a limitless wilderness, which of course, it is not. We view the sea apart from the earth.
From 'Remarks Delivered at Symposium', after Ray’s paper, 'The Scientific Need for Shallow-Water Marine Sanctuaries,' collected as Article VI, in Julia Allen Field and Henry Field (eds.), Scientific Use of Natural Areas: Symposium (1965), 92. The Symposium was the XVI International Congress of Zoology, Washington (Aug 1963). Ray’s remark continues with, “We call this planet Earth…” quoted separately on this web page.
Science quotes on:  |  Earth (1076)  |  Limitless (14)  |  Sea (326)  |  Wilderness (57)

What is the use of straining after an amiable view of things, when a cynical view is most likely to be the true one?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Amiable (10)  |  Cynical (3)  |  Likely (36)  |  Most (1728)  |  Strain (13)  |  Thing (1914)  |  True (239)  |  Use (771)

When asked what it was like to set about proving something, the mathematician likened proving a theorem to seeing the peak of a mountain and trying to climb to the top. One establishes a base camp and begins scaling the mountain’s sheer face, encountering obstacles at every turn, often retracing one’s steps and struggling every foot of the journey. Finally when the top is reached, one stands examining the peak, taking in the view of the surrounding countryside and then noting the automobile road up the other side!
Space-filler in The Two-Year College Mathematics Journal (Nov 1980), 11, No. 5, 295.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Automobile (23)  |  Base (120)  |  Begin (275)  |  Camp (12)  |  Climb (39)  |  Countryside (5)  |  Encounter (23)  |  Establish (63)  |  Examine (84)  |  Face (214)  |  Journey (48)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peak (20)  |  Prove (261)  |  Reach (286)  |  Retrace (3)  |  Road (71)  |  Scale (122)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Set (400)  |  Sheer (9)  |  Side (236)  |  Something (718)  |  Stand (284)  |  Step (234)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Surrounding (13)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Top (100)  |  Trying (144)  |  Turn (454)

When one begins to speak of something it sounds plausible, but when we reflect on it we find it false. The initial impression a thing makes on my mind is very important. Taking an overall view of a thing the mind sees every side of it obscurely, which is often of more value than a clear idea of only one side of it.
Aphorism 47 in Notebook D (1773-1775), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 50-51.
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Find (1014)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Impression (118)  |  Initial (17)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Obscurity (28)  |  Overall (10)  |  Plausibility (7)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Reflection (93)  |  See (1094)  |  Side (236)  |  Something (718)  |  Sound (187)  |  Speak (240)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Value (393)

When the logician has resolved each demonstration into a host of elementary operations, all of them correct, he will not yet be in possession of the whole reality, that indefinable something that constitutes the unity ... Now pure logic cannot give us this view of the whole; it is to intuition that we must look for it.
Science and Method (1914 edition, reprint 2003), 126.
Science quotes on:  |  Constitute (99)  |  Correct (95)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Indefinable (5)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Logic (311)  |  Logician (18)  |  Look (584)  |  Must (1525)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Possession (68)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reality (274)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Something (718)  |  Unity (81)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

When the simplest compounds of this element are considered (marsh gas, chloride of carbon, chloroform, carbonic acid, phosgene, sulphide of carbon, hydrocyanic acid, etc.) it is seen that the quantity of carbon which chemists have recognised as the smallest possible, that is, as an atom, always unites with 4 atoms of a monatomic or with two atoms of a diatomic element; that in general, the sum of the chemical units of the elements united with one atom of carbon is 4. This leads us to the view that carbon is tetratomic or tetrabasic. In the cases of substances which contain several atoms of carbon, it must be assumed that at least some of the atoms are in some way held in the compound by the affinity of carbon, and that the carbon atoms attach themselves to one another, whereby a part of the affinity of the one is naturally engaged with an equal part of the affinity of the other. The simplest and therefore the most probable case of such an association of carbon atoms is that in which one affinity unit of one is bound by one of the other. Of the 2 x 4 affinity units of the two carbon atoms, two are used up in holding the atoms together, and six remain over, which can be bound by atom)' of other elements.
'Ueber die Konstitution und die Metamorphosen der chemischen Verbindungen', Annalen (1858) 5, 106. Trans. in J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry (1972), Vol. 4, 536.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Affinity (27)  |  Association (49)  |  Atom (381)  |  Attach (57)  |  Bond (46)  |  Bound (120)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Carbonic Acid (4)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Chloroform (5)  |  Compound (117)  |  Consider (428)  |  Element (322)  |  Gas (89)  |  General (521)  |  Lead (391)  |  Methane (9)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Phosgene (2)  |  Possible (560)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Remain (355)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sum (103)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Together (392)  |  Two (936)  |  Unite (43)  |  Way (1214)

When the views entertained in this volume on the origin of species, or when analogous views are generally admitted, we can dimly forsee that there will be a considerable revolution in natural history.
The Origin of Species (1859), Penguin edn , J. W. Burrow (ed.) (1968), 455.
Science quotes on:  |  Considerable (75)  |  Entertain (27)  |  History (716)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Species (42)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Species (435)  |  Will (2350)

When we no longer look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as something wholly beyond his comprehension; when we regard every production of nature as one which has had a long history; when we contemplate every complex structure and instinct as the summing up of many contrivances, each useful to the possessor, in the same way as any great mechanical invention is the summing up of the labour, the experience, the reason, and even the blunders of numerous workmen; when we thus view each organic being, how far more interesting, I speak from experience, does the study of natural history become!
From the Conclusion of Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (3rd. ed., 1861), 521.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Blunder (21)  |  Complex (202)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Contrivance (12)  |  Experience (494)  |  Great (1610)  |  History (716)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Invention (400)  |  Labor (200)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organism (231)  |  Production (190)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regard (312)  |  Savage (33)  |  Ship (69)  |  Something (718)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Structure (365)  |  Study (701)  |  Summation (3)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Workman (13)

When we trace the part of which this terrestrial system is composed, and when we view the general connection of those several parts, the whole presents a machine of a peculiar construction by which it is adapted to a certain end. We perceive a fabric, erected in wisdom, to obtain a purpose worthy of the power that is apparent in the production of it.
'Theory of the Earth', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1788), 1, 209.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Certain (557)  |  Connection (171)  |  Construction (114)  |  Earth (1076)  |  End (603)  |  Fabric (27)  |  General (521)  |  Geology (240)  |  Machine (271)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Production (190)  |  Purpose (336)  |  System (545)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Trace (109)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wisdom (235)

Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?
Victor Hugo and Charles E. Wilbour (trans.), Les Misérables (1862), 41.
Science quotes on:  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  End (603)  |  Grand (29)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Two (936)  |  Which (2)

While working with staphylococcus variants a number of culture-plates were set aside on the laboratory bench and examined from time to time. In the examinations these plates were necessarily exposed to the air and they became contaminated with various micro-organisms. It was noticed that around a large colony of a contaminating mould the staphylococcus colonies became transparent and were obviously undergoing lysis. Subcultures of this mould were made and experiments conducted with a view to ascertaining something of the properties of the bacteriolytic substance which had evidently been formed in the mould culture and which had diffused into the surrounding medium. It was found that broth in which the mould had been grown at room temperature for one or two weeks had acquired marked inhibitory, bacteriocidal and bacteriolytic properties to many of the more common pathogenic bacteria.
'On the Antibacterial Action of Cultures of a Penicillium, with Special Reference to their Use in the Isolation of B. Influenzae', British Journal of Experimental Pathology, 1929, 10, 226.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Air (366)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Bacteriology (5)  |  Bench (8)  |  Common (447)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Culture (157)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Evidently (26)  |  Examination (102)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Form (976)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Large (398)  |  Lysis (4)  |  Marked (55)  |  Micro-Organism (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Number (710)  |  Organism (231)  |  Penicillin (18)  |  Set (400)  |  Something (718)  |  Staphylococcus (2)  |  Substance (253)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Time (1911)  |  Transparent (16)  |  Two (936)  |  Variant (9)  |  Various (205)  |  Week (73)

Will we ever again be able to view a public object with civic dignity, unencumbered by commercial messages? Must city buses be fully painted as movable ads, lampposts smothered, taxis festooned, even seats in concert halls sold one by one to donors and embellished in perpetuity with their names on silver plaques?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  City (87)  |  Civic (3)  |  Commercial (28)  |  Concert (7)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Embellish (4)  |  Festoon (3)  |  Fully (20)  |  Hall (5)  |  Message (53)  |  Movable (2)  |  Must (1525)  |  Name (359)  |  Object (438)  |  Paint (22)  |  Perpetuity (9)  |  Plaque (2)  |  Public (100)  |  Seat (7)  |  Sell (15)  |  Silver (49)  |  Smother (3)  |  Taxi (4)  |  Will (2350)

With all reserve we advance the view that a supernova represents the transition of an ordinary star into a neutron star consisting mainly of neutrons. Such a star may possess a very small radius and an extremely high density. As neutrons can be packed much more closely than ordinary nuclei and electrons, the gravitational packing energy in a cold neutron star may become very large, and under certain conditions may far exceed the ordinary nuclear packing fractions...
[Co-author with Walter Baade]
Paper presented to American Physical Society meeting at Stanford (15-16 Dec 1933). Published in Physical Review (15 Jan 1934). Cited in P. Haensel, Paweł Haensel and A. Y. Potekhin, D. G. Yakovlev, Neutron Stars: Equation of State and Structure (2007), 2-3. Longer version of quote from Freeman Dyson, From Eros to Gaia (1992), 34. The theoretical prediction of neutron stars was made after analyzing observations of supernovae and proposed as an explanation of the enormous energy released in such explosions. It was written just two years after Chadwick discovered the neutron.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Author (175)  |  Become (821)  |  Certain (557)  |  Closely (12)  |  Cold (115)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consisting (5)  |  Density (25)  |  Electron (96)  |  Energy (373)  |  Final (121)  |  High (370)  |  Large (398)  |  More (2558)  |  Neutron (23)  |  Neutron Star (3)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Packing (3)  |  Possess (157)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Represent (157)  |  Representation (55)  |  Reserve (26)  |  Small (489)  |  Stage (152)  |  Star (460)  |  Supernova (7)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transition (28)

With whom [do] the adherents of historicism actually empathize[?] The answer is inevitable: with the victor. And all rulers are the heirs of those who conquered before them. Hence, empathy with the victor invariably benefits the rulers. Historical materialists know what that means. Whoever has emerged victorious participates to this day in the triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate. According to traditional practice, the spoils are carried along in the procession. They are called cultural treasures, and a historical materialist views them with cautious detachment. For without exception the cultural treasures he surveys have an origin which he cannot contemplate without horror. They owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.
'Theses on the Philosophy of History' (completed 1940, first published 1950). In Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt and trans. Harry Zohn (1970), 258.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Answer (389)  |  Barbarism (8)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Call (781)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Detachment (8)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effort (243)  |  Empathy (4)  |  Exception (74)  |  Existence (481)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heir (12)  |  Historical (70)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Horror (15)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lying (55)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Origin (250)  |  Owe (71)  |  Practice (212)  |  Present (630)  |  Procession (5)  |  Ruler (21)  |  Step (234)  |  Survey (36)  |  Talent (99)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Toil (29)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Whoever (42)

Wollaston may be compared to Dalton for originality of view & was far his superior in accuracy. He was an admirable manipulator, steady, cautious & sure. His judgement was cool.—His views sagacious.—His inductions made with care, slowly formed & seldom renounced. He had much of the same spirit of Philosophy as Cavendish, he applied science to purposes of profit & for many years sold manufactured platinum. He died very rich.
In J. Z. Fullmer, 'Davy's Sketches of his Contemporaries', Chymia (1967), 12, 134.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Care (203)  |  Henry Cavendish (7)  |  John Dalton (25)  |  Form (976)  |  Induction (81)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Manipulator (5)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Platinum (6)  |  Profit (56)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Sagacious (7)  |  Sagacity (11)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Steady (45)  |  Superior (88)  |  William Hyde Wollaston (3)  |  Year (963)

World views are social constructions and they channel the search for facts. But facts are found and knowledge progresses, however fitfully.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Channel (23)  |  Construction (114)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fitfully (2)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Progress (492)  |  Search (175)  |  Social (261)  |  World (1850)

Years ago I used to worry about the degree to which I specialized. Vision is limited enough, yet I was not really working on vision, for I hardly made contact with visual sensations, except as signals, nor with the nervous pathways, nor the structure of the eye, except the retina. Actually my studies involved only the rods and cones of the retina, and in them only the visual pigments. A sadly limited peripheral business, fit for escapists. But it is as though this were a very narrow window through which at a distance, one can only see a crack of light. As one comes closer the view grows wider and wider, until finally looking through the same narrow window one is looking at the universe. It is like the pupil of the eye, an opening only two to three millimetres across in daylight, but yielding a wide angle of view, and manoeuvrable enough to be turned in all directions. I think this is always the way it goes in science, because science is all one. It hardly matters where one enters, provided one can come closer, and then one does not see less and less, but more and more, because one is not dealing with an opaque object, but with a window.
In Scientific American, 1960s, attributed.
Science quotes on:  |  Angle (25)  |  Business (156)  |  Closer (43)  |  Cone (8)  |  Contact (66)  |  Crack (15)  |  Daylight (23)  |  Dealing (11)  |  Degree (277)  |  Direction (185)  |  Distance (171)  |  Enough (341)  |  Enter (145)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fit (139)  |  Grow (247)  |  Involved (90)  |  Light (635)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Looking (191)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Object (438)  |  Opaque (7)  |  Opening (15)  |  Pathway (15)  |  Peripheral (3)  |  Pigment (9)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Really (77)  |  Retina (4)  |  Rod (6)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Signal (29)  |  Structure (365)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vision (127)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wide (97)  |  Window (59)  |  Year (963)

Yet as I cast my eye over the whole course of science I behold instances of false science, even more pretentious and popular than that of Einstein gradually fading into ineptitude under the searchlight; and I have no doubt that there will arise a new generation who will look with a wonder and amazement, deeper than now accompany Einstein, at our galaxy of thinkers, men of science, popular critics, authoritative professors and witty dramatists, who have been satisfied to waive their common sense in view of Einstein's absurdities.
In Elizabeth Dilling, A "Who's Who" and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots (1934), 49.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurdity (34)  |  Accompany (22)  |  Amazement (19)  |  Arise (162)  |  Authority (99)  |  Cast (69)  |  Common (447)  |  Common Sense (136)  |  Course (413)  |  Critic (21)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Dramatist (2)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fading (3)  |  Falsity (16)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Generation (256)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Ineptitude (2)  |  Instance (33)  |  Look (584)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Popular (34)  |  Pretention (2)  |  Pretentious (4)  |  Professor (133)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Searchlight (5)  |  Sense (785)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Thinker (41)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wit (61)  |  Wonder (251)

You boil it in sawdust: you salt it in glue:
You condense it with locusts and tape:
Still keeping one principal object in view—
To preserve its symmetrical shape.
In 'The Beaver’s Lesson', The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits (1876), 56.
Science quotes on:  |  Boil (24)  |  Condense (15)  |  Glue (2)  |  Locust (2)  |  Object (438)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Principal (69)  |  Salt (48)  |  Shape (77)  |  Still (614)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Tape (5)

You cannot do without one specialty. You must have some base-line to measure the work and attainments of others. For a general view of the subject, study the history of the sciences. Broad knowledge of all Nature has been the possession of no naturalist except Humboldt, and general relations constituted his specialty.
Lecture at a teaching laboratory on Penikese Island, Buzzard's Bay. Quoted from the lecture notes by David Starr Jordan, Science Sketches (1911), 146.
Science quotes on:  |  Attainment (48)  |  Base (120)  |  Broad (28)  |  Do (1905)  |  General (521)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Baron Alexander von Humboldt (21)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Measure (241)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possession (68)  |  Specialty (13)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Work (1402)

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:  |  Acquire (46)  |  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)  |  World (1850)

You see layers as you look down. You see clouds towering up. You see their shadows on the sunlit plains, and you see a ship’s wake in the Indian Ocean and brush fires in Africa and a lightning storm walking its way across Australia. You see the reds and the pinks of the Australian desert, and it’s just like a stereoscopic view of all nature, except you’re a hundred ninety miles up.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Africa (38)  |  Australia (11)  |  Australian (2)  |  Brush (5)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Desert (59)  |  Down (455)  |  Fire (203)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Indian (32)  |  Layer (41)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Look (584)  |  Look Down (3)  |  Mile (43)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Ninety (2)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Pink (4)  |  Plain (34)  |  Red (38)  |  See (1094)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Ship (69)  |  Storm (56)  |  Sunlit (2)  |  Tower (45)  |  Towering (11)  |  Wake (17)  |  Walk (138)  |  Way (1214)

Your remarks upon chemical notation with the variety of systems which have arisen, &c., &c., had almost stirred me up to regret publicly that such hindrances to the progress of science should exist. I cannot help thinking it a most unfortunate thing that men who as experimentalists & philosophers are the most fitted to advance the general cause of science & knowledge should by promulgation of their own theoretical views under the form of nomenclature, notation, or scale, actually retard its progress.
Letter to William Whewell (21 Feb 1831). In Isaac Todhunter, William Whewell, An Account of his Writings (1876), Vol. 1., 307. Faraday may have been referring to a paper by Whewell published in the Journal of the Royal Institution of England (1831), 437-453.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Advancement (63)  |  Cause (561)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Exist (458)  |  Experimentalist (20)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Hindrance (9)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Notation (28)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Promulgation (5)  |  Regret (31)  |  Remark (28)  |  Retardation (5)  |  Scale (122)  |  Stir (23)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Unfortunate (19)  |  Variety (138)

Rosalind Franklin quote: In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer
Your theories are those which you and many other people find easiest and pleasantest to believe, but, so far as I can see, they have no foundation other than they lead to a pleasant view of life … I agree that faith is essential to success in life … but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e. belief in life after death. In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining … I maintain that faith in this world is perfectly possible without faith in another world.
Letter to her father, Ellis Franklin (undated, summer 1940? while she was an undergraduate at Cambridge). Excerpted in Brenda Maddox, The Dark Lady of DNA (2002), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Aim (175)  |  Belief (615)  |  Best (467)  |  Death (406)  |  Definition (238)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Essential (210)  |  Experience (494)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faith (209)  |  Find (1014)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Future (467)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lot (151)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Pleasantness (3)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  See (1094)  |  Success (327)  |  Theory (1015)  |  View Of Life (7)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

Zero-g and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around. … Oh, that view is tremendous!
From the transcript of in-flight communications, 5 min 12 sec after launch, about his view through the porthole.
Science quotes on:  |  Capsule (7)  |  Feel (371)  |  Tremendous (29)  |  Zero (38)

Zoocentrism is the primary fallacy of human sociobiology, for this view of human behavior rests on the argument that if the actions of ‘lower’ animals with simple nervous systems arise as genetic products of natural selection, then human behavior should have a similar basis.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Animal (651)  |  Argument (145)  |  Arise (162)  |  Basis (180)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Fallacy (31)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Behavior (10)  |  Low (86)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Nervous System (35)  |  Primary (82)  |  Product (166)  |  Rest (287)  |  Selection (130)  |  Similar (36)  |  Simple (426)  |  Sociobiology (5)  |  System (545)


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.