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 W > Category: Why

Why Quotes (491 quotes)

...the scientific cast of mind examines the world critically, as if many alternative worlds might exist, as if other things might be here which are not. Then we are forced to ask why what we see is present and not something else. Why are the Sun and moon and the planets spheres? Why not pyramids, or cubes, or dodecahedra? Why not irregular, jumbly shapes? Why so symmetrical, worlds? If you spend any time spinning hypotheses, checking to see whether they make sense, whether they conform to what else we know. Thinking of tests you can pose to substantiate or deflate hypotheses, you will find yourself doing science.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alternative (32)  |  Ask (420)  |  Cast (69)  |  Check (26)  |  Conform (15)  |  Critical (73)  |  Cube (14)  |  Deflate (2)  |  Doing (277)  |  Examine (84)  |  Exist (458)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Irregular (7)  |  Jumble (10)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Pose (9)  |  Present (630)  |  Pyramid (9)  |  Scientific (955)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shape (77)  |  Something (718)  |  Spend (97)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Spin (26)  |  Spinning (18)  |  Substantiate (4)  |  Sun (407)  |  Symmetrical (3)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

“I see nobody on the road,” said Alice.
“I only wish I had such eyes,” the King remarked in a fretful tone. “To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too! Why, it’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light.”
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871, 1950), 53.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eye (440)  |  Light (635)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Observation (593)  |  People (1031)  |  See (1094)  |  Tone (22)  |  Wish (216)

“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)  |  View (496)

“Why do you think it is…”, I asked Dr. Cook … “that brain surgery, above all else—even rocket science—gets singled out as the most challenging of human feats, the one demanding the utmost of human intelligence?”
[Dr. Cook answered,] “No margin for error.”
In Lucky Man (2002), 208.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Brain (281)  |  Brain Surgery (2)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Do (1905)  |  Error (339)  |  Feat (11)  |  Human (1512)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Most (1728)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Rocket Science (2)  |  Surgery (54)  |  Think (1122)

“Why so hard!” said the charcoal unto the diamond, “are we not near relations?”
Why so soft? O my brethren, thus I ask you. Are ye not—my brethren?
From 'The Hammer Speaketh', The Twilight of the Idols (1888), collected in Thomas Common (trans.), The Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (1896), Vol. 11, 235.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Brother (47)  |  Charcoal (10)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Hard (246)  |  Relation (166)  |  Soft (30)

“Why,” said the Dodo, “the best way to explain it is to do it.”
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865, 1869), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dodo (7)  |  Explain (334)  |  Way (1214)

[At the end of the story, its main character, Tom] is now a great man of science, and can plan railroads, and steam-engines, and electric telegraphs, and rifled guns, and so forth; and knows everything about everything, except why a hen's egg don't turn into a crocodile, and two or three other little things that no one will know till the coming of the Cocqcigrues.
The Water-babies (1886), 368-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Character (259)  |  Coming (114)  |  Crocodile (14)  |  Egg (71)  |  Electric (76)  |  End (603)  |  Engine (99)  |  Everything (489)  |  Great (1610)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plan (122)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Steam (81)  |  Story (122)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Turn (454)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)

[Boundless curiosity.] That’s what being alive is about. I mean, it’s the fun of it all, making sense of it, understanding it. There’s a great pleasure in knowing why trees shed their leaves in winter. Everybody knows they do, but why? If you lose that, then you’ve lost pleasure.
From interview with Sophie Elmhirst, 'I Think the BBC Has Strayed From the Straight and Narrow', New Statesman (10 Jan 2011), 140, No. 5035, 32.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Being (1276)  |  Boundless (28)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Do (1905)  |  Everybody (72)  |  Fun (42)  |  Great (1610)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Leaf (73)  |  Lose (165)  |  Making (300)  |  Mean (810)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shed (6)  |  Tree (269)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Winter (46)

[During a violent dust storm, Bartender (Dewey Robinson):] You ain't aimin' to drive back to your farm tonight, mister?
[John Phillips (John Wayne):] Why not?
[Bartender:] Save time by stayin' put. Let the wind blow the farm to you.
From movie Three Faces West (1940). Writers, F. Hugh Herbert, Joseph Moncure March, Samuel Ornitz. In Larry Langman and Paul Gold, Comedy Quotes from the Movies (2001), 241.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Blow (45)  |  Driving (28)  |  Dust (68)  |  Dust Storm (2)  |  Farm (28)  |  Joke (90)  |  Save (126)  |  Stay (26)  |  Storm (56)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tonight (9)  |  Wind (141)

[Having already asserted his opposition to communism in every respect by signing the regents' oath, his answer to a question why a non-Communist professor should refuse to take a non-Communist oath as a condition of University employment was that to do so would imply it was] up to an accused person to clear himself. ... That sort of thing is going on in Washington today and is a cause of alarm to thoughtful citizens. It is the method used in totalitarian countries. It sounds un-American to people who don’t like to be pushed around. If someone says I ought to do a certain thing the burden should be on him to show I why I should, not on me to show why I should not.
As quoted in 'Educator Scores Oath For Faculty', New York Times (16 Apr 1950), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Accusation (6)  |  Alarm (19)  |  Already (226)  |  Answer (389)  |  Assert (69)  |  Burden (30)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Communism (11)  |  Communist (9)  |  Condition (362)  |  Country (269)  |  Do (1905)  |  Employment (34)  |  Himself (461)  |  Method (531)  |  Oath (10)  |  Opposition (49)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Professor (133)  |  Push (66)  |  Question (649)  |  Refusal (23)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Respect (212)  |  Say (989)  |  Show (353)  |  Sound (187)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Today (321)  |  Totalitarian (6)  |  Un-American (3)  |  Unamerican (2)  |  University (130)  |  Washington (7)

[In my home workshop,] generally I’m mending things, which is interesting because you learn a lot about why they broke.
Interview by Melanie D.G. Kaplan, 'James Dyson: Why we need to re-focus on the old economy' posted on smartplanet.com (3 Nov 2010).
Science quotes on:  |  Broken (56)  |  Home (184)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mending (3)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Workshop (14)

[O]ne might ask why, in a galaxy of a few hundred billion stars, the aliens are so intent on coming to Earth at all. It would be as if every vertebrate in North America somehow felt drawn to a particular house in Peoria, Illinois. Are we really that interesting?
Quoted in 'Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way', PBS web page for WGBH Nova, 'Origins.'
Science quotes on:  |  Alien (35)  |  America (143)  |  Ask (420)  |  Billion (104)  |  Come (4)  |  Coming (114)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Global Warming (29)  |  House (143)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Intention (46)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  North America (5)  |  Particular (80)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Vertebrate (22)

[On why are numbers beautiful?] It’s like asking why is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don’t see why, someone can’t tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren’t beautiful, nothing is.
As quoted in Paul Hoffman, The Man who Loves Only Numbers (1998), 44.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beethoven (14)  |  Beethoven_Ludwig (8)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mathematical Beauty (19)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  See (1094)  |  Symphony (10)  |  Tell (344)

[The teaching of Nature] is harsh and wasteful in its operation. Ignorance is visited as sharply as wilful disobedience—incapacity meets with the same punishment as crime. Nature’s discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow first; but the blow without the word. It is left to you to find out why your ears are boxed.
The object of what we commonly call education—that education in which man intervenes, and which I shall distinguish as artificial education—is to make good these defects in Nature’s methods; to prepare the child to receive Nature’s education, neither incapably, nor ignorantly, nor with wilful disobedience; and to understand the preliminary symptoms of her displeasure, without waiting for the box on the ear. In short, all artificial education ought to he an anticipation of natural education. And a liberal education is an artificial education, which has not only prepared a man to escape the great evils of disobedience to natural laws, but has trained him to appreciate and to seize upon the rewards, which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her penalties.
From Inaugural Address as Principal, South London Working Men’s College, in 'A Liberal Education; and Where to Find it', Macmillan's Magazine (Mar 1868), 17, 370.
Science quotes on:  |  Anticipation (18)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Blow (45)  |  Box (22)  |  Call (781)  |  Child (333)  |  Crime (39)  |  Defect (31)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Disobedience (4)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Ear (69)  |  Education (423)  |  Escape (85)  |  Evil (122)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Free (239)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Harsh (9)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Incapacity (3)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Method (531)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Object (438)  |  Operation (221)  |  Penalty (7)  |  Punishment (14)  |  Receive (117)  |  Reward (72)  |  Short (200)  |  Symptom (38)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Train (118)  |  Understand (648)  |  Waiting (42)  |  Word (650)

[Why people buy quarter-inch drill bits.] They don't want quarter-inch bits. They want quarter-inch holes.
As quoted in Theodore Levitt, The Marketing Imagination (1983, 1986), 128. The quote is sometimes attributed to Theodore Levitt, who popularized it. If you know biographical information about Leo McGinneva, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Bit (21)  |  Buy (21)  |  Drill (12)  |  Hole (17)  |  Marketing (3)  |  People (1031)  |  Tool (129)  |  Want (504)

[In refutation of evolution] You know what, evolution is a myth. … Why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?
From interview on TV show, Politically Incorrect (15 Oct 1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Evolution (635)  |  Human (1512)  |  Know (1538)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Myth (58)  |  Still (614)

[When asked “Dr. Einstein, why is it that when the mind of man has stretched so far as to discover the structure of the atom we have been unable to devise the political means to keep the atom from destroying us?”] That is simple, my friend. It is because politics is more difficult than physics.
Einstein’s answer to a conferee at a meeting at Princeton, N.J. (Jan 1946), as recalled by Greenville Clark in 'Letters to the Times', in New York Times (22 Apr 1955), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Control (182)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Discover (571)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Friend (180)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Political (124)  |  Politics (122)  |  Science And Politics (16)  |  Simple (426)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Structure (365)

Air Force Chief of Staff: Doctor, what do you think of our new creation, the … Corporation?
von Kármán: Why, General, I think that corporation has already had an effect on the whole industry.
Air Force Chief of Staff: I’m delighted. What effect is that?
von Kármán: Why, they’ve upset the salary schedule of the whole industry.
As quoted by William R. Sears in 'Some Recollections of Theodore von Kármán', Address to the Symposium in Memory of Theodore von Kármán, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, National Meeting (13-14 May 1964), Washington, D.C. Printed in Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (Mar 1965), 13>, No. 1, 181. These are likely not verbatim words of Karman, but as recollected by Sears, giving an example of von Kármán’s willingness to speak truth to power.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Air Force (2)  |  Already (226)  |  Chief (99)  |  Corporation (6)  |  Creation (350)  |  Delight (111)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Effect (414)  |  Force (497)  |  General (521)  |  Industry (159)  |  New (1273)  |  Salary (8)  |  Think (1122)  |  Upset (18)  |  Whole (756)

Bernard: Oh, you’re going to zap me with penicillin and pesticides. Spare me that and I’ll spare you the bomb and aerosols. But don’t confuse progress with perfectibility. A great poet is always timely. A great philosopher is an urgent need. There’s no rush for Isaac Newton. We were quite happy with Aristotle’s cosmos. Personally, I preferred it. Fifty-five crystal spheres geared to God’s crankshaft is my idea of a satisfying universe. I can’t think of anything more trivial than the speed of light. Quarks, quasars—big bangs, black holes—who [cares]? How did you people con us out of all that status? All that money? And why are you so pleased with yourselves?
Chloe: Are you against penicillin, Bernard?
Bernard: Don’t feed the animals.
In the play, Acadia (1993), Act 2, Scene 5, 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Aerosol (2)  |  Against (332)  |  Animal (651)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Bang (29)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Black Hole (17)  |  Bomb (20)  |  Care (203)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Feed (31)  |  Gear (5)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatness (55)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Happy (108)  |  Idea (881)  |  Light (635)  |  Money (178)  |  More (2558)  |  Need (320)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Penicillin (18)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfectibility (3)  |  Pesticide (5)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Poet (97)  |  Progress (492)  |  Quark (9)  |  Quasar (4)  |  Rush (18)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Sparing (2)  |  Speed (66)  |  Speed Of Light (18)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Status (35)  |  Think (1122)  |  Timely (3)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Universe (900)  |  Urgency (13)  |  Urgent (15)

Man is the result of slow growth; that is why he occupies the position he does in animal life. What does a pup amount to that has gained its growth in a few days or weeks, beside a man who only attains it in as many years.
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), 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Life (21)  |  Attain (126)  |  Gain (146)  |  Growth (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Position (83)  |  Puppy (2)  |  Result (700)  |  Slow (108)  |  Week (73)  |  Year (963)

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: Pierre de Fermat: I just don’t have room here to give the full explanation.
Anonymous
[Note: Pierre de Fermat is famous for an enigmatic marginal note in his notebook, “I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain.”]
Science quotes on:  |  Chicken (12)  |  Cross (20)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Pierre de Fermat (15)  |  Full (68)  |  Give (208)  |  Joke (90)  |  Road (71)  |  Room (42)

Question: Explain why pipes burst in cold weather.
Answer: People who have not studied acoustics think that Thor bursts the pipes, but we know that is nothing of the kind for Professor Tyndall has burst the mythologies and has taught us that it is the natural behaviour of water (and bismuth) without which all fish would die and the earth be held in an iron grip. (1881)
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1881), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 186-7, Question 10. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.) Webmaster notes that “fish would die” may refer to being taught that water's greatest density is at 4°C, and sinks below a frozen surface, so bodies of water can remain liquid underneath, to the benefit of the fish. The student was likely taught that bismuth, like water, expands when it freezes.
Science quotes on:  |  Acoustics (4)  |  Answer (389)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Bismuth (7)  |  Blunder (21)  |  Burst (41)  |  Cold (115)  |  Death (406)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Examination (102)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fish (130)  |  Freezing (16)  |  Grip (10)  |  Ice (58)  |  Iron (99)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mythology (19)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Pipe (7)  |  Professor (133)  |  Question (649)  |  Schoolboy (9)  |  Study (701)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Think (1122)  |  John Tyndall (53)  |  Water (503)  |  Weather (49)

Question: Explain why, in order to cook food by boiling, at the top of a high mountain, you must employ a different method from that used at the sea level.
Answer: It is easy to cook food at the sea level by boiling it, but once you get above the sea level the only plan is to fry it in its own fat. It is, in fact, impossible to boil water above the sea level by any amount of heat. A different method, therefore, would have to be employed to boil food at the top of a high mountain, but what that method is has not yet been discovered. The future may reveal it to a daring experimentalist.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 178-9, Question 11. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Answer (389)  |  Boil (24)  |  Boiling (3)  |  Cooking (12)  |  Daring (17)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Easy (213)  |  Employ (115)  |  Examination (102)  |  Experimentalist (20)  |  Experimenter (40)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fat (11)  |  Food (213)  |  Frying (2)  |  Future (467)  |  Heat (180)  |  High (370)  |  Howler (15)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Method (531)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Order (638)  |  Plan (122)  |  Question (649)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sea Level (5)  |  Top (100)  |  Water (503)

Question: If you were to pour a pound of molten lead and a pound of molten iron, each at the temperature of its melting point, upon two blocks of ice, which would melt the most ice, and why?
Answer: This question relates to diathermancy. Iron is said to be a diathermanous body (from dia, through, and thermo, I heat), meaning that it gets heated through and through, and accordingly contains a large quantity of real heat. Lead is said to be an athermanous body (from a, privative, and thermo, I heat), meaning that it gets heated secretly or in a latent manner. Hence the answer to this question depends on which will get the best of it, the real heat of the iron or the latent heat of the lead. Probably the iron will smite furthest into the ice, as molten iron is white and glowing, while melted lead is dull.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 180-1, Question 14. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Best (467)  |  Block (13)  |  Body (557)  |  Depend (238)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Dull (58)  |  Examination (102)  |  Heat (180)  |  Howler (15)  |  Ice (58)  |  Iron (99)  |  Large (398)  |  Latent (13)  |  Latent Heat (7)  |  Lead (391)  |  Manner (62)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Melting Point (3)  |  Molten (3)  |  Most (1728)  |  Point (584)  |  Pound (15)  |  Pour (9)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Question (649)  |  Secret (216)  |  Smite (4)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Through (846)  |  Two (936)  |  White (132)  |  Will (2350)

Question: On freezing water in a glass tube, the tube sometimes breaks. Why is this? An iceberg floats with 1,000,000 tons of ice above the water line. About how many tons are below the water line?
Answer: The water breaks the tube because of capallarity. The iceberg floats on the top because it is lighter, hence no tons are below the water line. Another reason is that an iceberg cannot exceed 1,000,000 tons in weight: hence if this much is above water, none is below. Ice is exceptional to all other bodies except bismuth. All other bodies have 1090 feet below the surface and 2 feet extra for every degree centigrade. If it were not for this, all fish would die, and the earth be held in an iron grip.
P.S.—When I say 1090 feet, I mean 1090 feet per second.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 179-80, Question 13. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Above (7)  |  Answer (389)  |  Below (26)  |  Bismuth (7)  |  Break (109)  |  Centigrade (2)  |  Death (406)  |  Degree (277)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Examination (102)  |  Exception (74)  |  Exceptional (19)  |  Extra (7)  |  Fish (130)  |  Float (31)  |  Freezing (16)  |  Glass (94)  |  Grip (10)  |  Howler (15)  |  Ice (58)  |  Iceberg (4)  |  Iron (99)  |  Lighter (2)  |  Mean (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Say (989)  |  Surface (223)  |  Ton (25)  |  Top (100)  |  Tube (6)  |  Water (503)  |  Weight (140)

Question: State what are the conditions favourable for the formation of dew. Describe an instrument for determining the dew point, and the method of using it.
Answer: This is easily proved from question 1. A body of gas as it ascends expands, cools, and deposits moisture; so if you walk up a hill the body of gas inside you expands, gives its heat to you, and deposits its moisture in the form of dew or common sweat. Hence these are the favourable conditions; and moreover it explains why you get warm by ascending a hill, in opposition to the well-known law of the Conservation of Energy.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 179, Question 12. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ascend (30)  |  Ascension (4)  |  Body (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Condition (362)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Conservation Of Energy (30)  |  Cooling (10)  |  Deposition (4)  |  Describe (132)  |  Description (89)  |  Determination (80)  |  Dew (10)  |  Easy (213)  |  Energy (373)  |  Examination (102)  |  Expand (56)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Favor (69)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Gas (89)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hill (23)  |  Howler (15)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Method (531)  |  Moisture (21)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Point (584)  |  Proof (304)  |  Question (649)  |  State (505)  |  Sweat (17)  |  Use (771)  |  Walk (138)  |  Warm (74)  |  Well-Known (4)

Question: What is the reason that the hammers which strike the strings of a pianoforte are made not to strike the middle of the strings? Why are the bass strings loaded with coils of wire?
Answer: Because the tint of the clang would be bad. Because to jockey them heavily.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 176, Question 3. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Bad (185)  |  Bass (2)  |  Coil (4)  |  Examination (102)  |  Hammer (26)  |  Heavily (14)  |  Heavy (24)  |  Howler (15)  |  Jockey (2)  |  Load (12)  |  Middle (19)  |  Piano (12)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Strike (72)  |  String (22)  |  Tint (3)  |  Wire (36)

Question: Why do the inhabitants of cold climates eat fat? How would you find experimentally the relative quantities of heat given off when equal weights of sulphur, phosphorus, and carbon are thoroughly burned?
Answer: An inhabitant of cold climates (called Frigid Zoans) eats fat principally because he can't get no lean, also because he wants to rise is temperature. But if equal weights of sulphur phosphorus and carbon are burned in his neighbourhood he will give off eating quite so much. The relative quantities of eat given off will depend upon how much sulphur etc. is burnt and how near it is burned to him. If I knew these facts it would be an easy sum to find the answer.
Genuine student answer* to an Acoustics, Light and Heat paper (1880), Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, collected by Prof. Oliver Lodge. Quoted in Henry B. Wheatley, Literary Blunders (1893), 183, Question 32. (*From a collection in which Answers are not given verbatim et literatim, and some instances may combine several students' blunders.)
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Call (781)  |  Carbon (68)  |  Climate (102)  |  Cold (115)  |  Depend (238)  |  Do (1905)  |  Easy (213)  |  Eat (108)  |  Eating (46)  |  Emission (20)  |  Equal (88)  |  Examination (102)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fat (11)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finding (34)  |  Heat (180)  |  Howler (15)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lean (7)  |  Neighborhood (12)  |  Phosphorus (18)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Question (649)  |  Relative (42)  |  Rise (169)  |  Sulphur (19)  |  Sum (103)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Want (504)  |  Weight (140)  |  Will (2350)  |  Zone (5)

Sir Robert Chiltern: You think science cannot grapple with the problem of women?
Mrs. Cheveley: Science can never grapple with the irrational. That is why it has no future before it in this world.
In play, An Ideal Husband (1912, 2001), Act 1, 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Future (467)  |  Grapple (11)  |  Irrational (16)  |  Never (1089)  |  Problem (731)  |  Think (1122)  |  World (1850)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Warily (2)  |  Whenever (81)

Third Fisherman: Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.
First Fisherman: Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones: I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale; a’ plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful: such whales have I heard on o’ the land, who never leave gaping till they’ve swallowed the whole parish, church, steeple, bells, and all.
In Pericles (1609), Act 2, Scene 1, line 29-38.
Science quotes on:  |  Bell (35)  |  Church (64)  |  Compare (76)  |  Devour (29)  |  Do (1905)  |  Driving (28)  |  Eat (108)  |  First (1302)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fisherman (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Last (425)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Marvel (37)  |  Master (182)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Poor (139)  |  Sea (326)  |  Steeple (4)  |  Swallow (32)  |  Whale (45)  |  Whole (756)

Thomasina: Every week I plot your equations dot for dot, x’s against y’s in all manner of algebraical relation, and every week they draw themselves as commonplace geometry, as if the world of forms were nothing but arcs and angles. God’s truth, Septimus, if there is an equation for a curve like a bell, there must be an equation for one like a bluebell, and if a bluebell, why not a rose? Do we believe nature is written in numbers?
Septimus: We do.
Thomasina: Then why do your shapes describe only the shapes of manufacture?
Septimus: I do not know.
Thomasina: Armed thus, God could only make a cabinet.
In the play, Acadia (1993), Scene 3, 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Angle (25)  |  Arc (14)  |  Arm (82)  |  Armed (2)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bell (35)  |  Cabinet (5)  |  Commonplace (24)  |  Curve (49)  |  Describe (132)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dot (18)  |  Draw (140)  |  Equation (138)  |  Form (976)  |  Geometry (271)  |  God (776)  |  Know (1538)  |  Manufacture (30)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Plot (11)  |  Relation (166)  |  Rose (36)  |  Shape (77)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Week (73)  |  World (1850)  |  Written (6)

GLENDOWER: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
HOTSPUR: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?
Henry IV, Part I (1597), III, i.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Deep (241)  |  Do (1905)  |  Man (2252)  |  Small (489)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Will (2350)

~~[Unverified]~~ Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it.
Webmaster has thus far found no primary source for verification. (Can you help?)
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Disadvantage (10)  |  Education (423)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Good (906)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hard Work (25)  |  Little (717)  |  Need (320)  |  Work (1402)

A discovery in science, or a new theory, even when it appears most unitary and most all-embracing, deals with some immediate element of novelty or paradox within the framework of far vaster, unanalysed, unarticulated reserves of knowledge, experience, faith, and presupposition. Our progress is narrow; it takes a vast world unchallenged and for granted. This is one reason why, however great the novelty or scope of new discovery, we neither can, nor need, rebuild the house of the mind very rapidly. This is one reason why science, for all its revolutions, is conservative. This is why we will have to accept the fact that no one of us really will ever know very much. This is why we shall have to find comfort in the fact that, taken together, we know more and more.
Science and the Common Understanding (1954), 53-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Articulation (2)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Conservative (16)  |  Deal (192)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Element (322)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faith (209)  |  Find (1014)  |  Framework (33)  |  Grant (76)  |  Granted (5)  |  Great (1610)  |  House (143)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Presupposition (3)  |  Progress (492)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Reason (766)  |  Rebuild (4)  |  Reserve (26)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Scope (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Together (392)  |  Unitary (3)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vastness (15)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

A graduate with a science degree asks: 'Why does it work?'
A graduate with an engineering degree asks: 'How does it work?'
A graduate with an accounting degree asks: 'How much will it cost?'
A graduate with an arts degree asks: 'Do you want fries with that?'
Anonymous
In Geoff Tibballs, The Mammoth Book of Humor (2000), 83.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Ask (420)  |  Cost (94)  |  Degree (277)  |  Do (1905)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Graduate (32)  |  Humour (116)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great or beautiful cathedral. The extermination of the passenger pigeon meant that mankind was just so much poorer; exactly as in the case of the destruction of the cathedral at Rheims. And to lose the chance to see frigate-birds soaring in circles above the storm, or a file of pelicans winging their way homeward across the crimson afterglow of the sunset, or a myriad terns flashing in the bright light of midday as they hover in a shifting maze above the beach—why, the loss is like the loss of a gallery of the masterpieces of the artists of old time.
In A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open (1916), 316-317.
Science quotes on:  |  Artist (97)  |  Beach (23)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Bird (163)  |  Bright (81)  |  Cathedral (27)  |  Chance (244)  |  Circle (117)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Flash (49)  |  Gallery (7)  |  Giant (73)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grove (7)  |  Hover (8)  |  Hovering (5)  |  Light (635)  |  Lose (165)  |  Loss (117)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Masterpiece (9)  |  Maze (11)  |  Midday (4)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Old (499)  |  Pigeon (8)  |  Poor (139)  |  Redwood (8)  |  See (1094)  |  Sequoia (4)  |  Shift (45)  |  Soaring (9)  |  Storm (56)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Tern (2)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tree (269)  |  Way (1214)

A hundred years ago … an engineer, Herbert Spencer, was willing to expound every aspect of life, with an effect on his admiring readers which has not worn off today.
Things do not happen quite in this way nowadays. This, we are told, is an age of specialists. The pursuit of knowledge has become a profession. The time when a man could master several sciences is past. He must now, they say, put all his efforts into one subject. And presumably, he must get all his ideas from this one subject. The world, to be sure, needs men who will follow such a rule with enthusiasm. It needs the greatest numbers of the ablest technicians. But apart from them it also needs men who will converse and think and even work in more than one science and know how to combine or connect them. Such men, I believe, are still to be found today. They are still as glad to exchange ideas as they have been in the past. But we cannot say that our way of life is well-fitted to help them. Why is this?
In 'The Unification of Biology', New Scientist (11 Jan 1962), 13, No. 269, 72.
Science quotes on:  |  Able (2)  |  Age (509)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Become (821)  |  Combine (58)  |  Connect (126)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effect (414)  |  Effort (243)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Enthusiasm (59)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Follow (389)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Happen (282)  |  Help (116)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Idea (881)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Need (320)  |  Number (710)  |  Past (355)  |  Profession (108)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Rule (307)  |  Say (989)  |  Several (33)  |  Specialist (33)  |  Herbert Spencer (37)  |  Still (614)  |  Subject (543)  |  Technician (9)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Way (1214)  |  Way Of Life (15)  |  Will (2350)  |  Willing (44)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

A little science is something that they must have. I should like my nephews to know what air is, and water; why we breathe, and why wood burns; the nutritive elements essential to plant life, and the constituents of the soil. And it is no vague and imperfect knowledge from hearsay I would have them gain of these fundamental truths, on which depend agriculture and the industrial arts and our health itself; I would have them know these things thoroughly from their own observation and experience. Books here are insufficient, and can serve merely as aids to scientific experiment.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Aid (101)  |  Air (366)  |  Art (680)  |  Book (413)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Burn (99)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Depend (238)  |  Element (322)  |  Essential (210)  |  Experience (494)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Gain (146)  |  Health (210)  |  Hearsay (5)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Industrial (15)  |  Insufficient (10)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Merely (315)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nephew (2)  |  Observation (593)  |  Plant (320)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Serve (64)  |  Soil (98)  |  Something (718)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Vague (50)  |  Water (503)  |  Wood (97)

A man who sets out to justify his existence and his activities has to distinguish two different questions. The first is whether the work which he does is worth doing; and the second is why he does it (whatever its value may be).
In A Mathematician's Apology (1940, 2012), 66.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguishing (14)  |  Doing (277)  |  Existence (481)  |  First (1302)  |  Justification (52)  |  Man (2252)  |  Question (649)  |  Set (400)  |  Two (936)  |  Value (393)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worth (172)

A Miracle is a Violation of the Laws of Nature; and as a firm and unalterable Experience has established these Laws, the Proof against a Miracle, from the very Nature of the Fact, is as entire as any Argument from Experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable, that all Men must die; that Lead cannot, of itself, remain suspended in the Air; that Fire consumes Wood, and is extinguished by Water; unless it be, that these Events are found agreeable to the Laws of Nature, and there is required a Violation of these Laws, or in other Words, a Miracle to prevent them? Nothing is esteem'd a Miracle, if it ever happen in the common Course of Nature... There must, therefore, be a uniform Experience against every miraculous Event, otherwise the Event would not merit that Appellation. And as a uniform Experience amounts to a Proof, there is here a direct and full Proof, from the Nature of the Fact, against the Existence of any Miracle; nor can such a Proof be destroy'd, or the Miracle render'd credible, but by an opposite Proof, which is superior.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), 180-181.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Agreeable (20)  |  Air (366)  |  Amount (153)  |  Argument (145)  |  Common (447)  |  Course (413)  |  Death (406)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Direct (228)  |  Event (222)  |  Existence (481)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fire (203)  |  Firm (47)  |  Happen (282)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Merit (51)  |  Miracle (85)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Probable (24)  |  Proof (304)  |  Remain (355)  |  Render (96)  |  Required (108)  |  Superior (88)  |  Violation (7)  |  Water (503)  |  Wood (97)  |  Word (650)

A physician’s subject of study is necessarily the patient, and his first field for observation is the hospital. But if clinical observation teaches him to know the form and course of diseases, it cannot suffice to make him understand their nature; to this end he must penetrate into the body to find which of the internal parts are injured in their functions. That is why dissection of cadavers and microscopic study of diseases were soon added to clinical observation. But to-day these various methods no longer suffice; we must push investigation further and, in analyzing the elementary phenomena of organic bodies, must compare normal with abnormal states. We showed elsewhere how incapable is anatomy alone to take account of vital phenenoma, and we saw that we must add study of all physico-chemical conditions which contribute necessary elements to normal or pathological manifestations of life. This simple suggestion already makes us feel that the laboratory of a physiologist-physician must be the most complicated of all laboratories, because he has to experiment with phenomena of life which are the most complex of all natural phenomena.
From An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865), as translated by Henry Copley Greene (1957), 140-141.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Alone (324)  |  Already (226)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Body (557)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Clinical (18)  |  Compare (76)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Condition (362)  |  Course (413)  |  Diagnosis (65)  |  Disease (340)  |  Dissection (35)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Element (322)  |  Elementary (98)  |  End (603)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Feel (371)  |  Field (378)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Function (235)  |  Hospital (45)  |  Incapable (41)  |  Internal (69)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Life (1870)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Method (531)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Observation (593)  |  Organic (161)  |  Pathological (21)  |  Patient (209)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Physician (284)  |  Physiologist (31)  |  Push (66)  |  Saw (160)  |  Show (353)  |  Simple (426)  |  Soon (187)  |  State (505)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suggestion (49)  |  Understand (648)  |  Various (205)  |  Vital (89)

A principle of induction would be a statement with the help of which we could put inductive inferences into a logically acceptable form. In the eyes of the upholders of inductive logic, a principle of induction is of supreme importance for scientific method: “... this principle”, says Reichenbach, “determines the truth of scientific theories. To eliminate it from science would mean nothing less than to deprive science of the power to decide the truth or falsity of its theories. Without it, clearly, science would no longer have the right to distinguish its theories from the fanciful and arbitrary creations of the poet’s mind.” Now this principle of induction cannot be a purely logical truth like a tautology or an analytic statement. Indeed, if there were such a thing as a purely logical principle of induction, there would be no problem of induction; for in this case, all inductive inferences would have to be regarded as purely logical or tautological transformations, just like inferences in inductive logic. Thus the principle of induction must be a synthetic statement; that is, a statement whose negation is not self-contradictory but logically possible. So the question arises why such a principle should be accepted at all, and how we can justify its acceptance on rational grounds.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acceptable (14)  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Analytic (11)  |  Arbitrary (27)  |  Arise (162)  |  Case (102)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Creation (350)  |  Decide (50)  |  Deprive (14)  |  Determine (152)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Eliminate (25)  |  Eye (440)  |  Falsity (16)  |  Fanciful (6)  |  Form (976)  |  Ground (222)  |  Help (116)  |  Importance (299)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Induction (81)  |  Inductive (20)  |  Inference (45)  |  Justify (26)  |  Less (105)  |  Logic (311)  |  Logical (57)  |  Long (778)  |  Mean (810)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Negation (2)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Poet (97)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Purely (111)  |  Question (649)  |  Rational (95)  |  Regard (312)  |  Right (473)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientific Theory (24)  |  Self (268)  |  Statement (148)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Synthetic (27)  |  Tautological (2)  |  Tautology (4)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Truth (1109)

A strict materialist believes that everything depends on the motion of matter. He knows the form of the laws of motion though he does not know all their consequences when applied to systems of unknown complexity.
Now one thing in which the materialist (fortified with dynamical knowledge) believes is that if every motion great & small were accurately reversed, and the world left to itself again, everything would happen backwards the fresh water would collect out of the sea and run up the rivers and finally fly up to the clouds in drops which would extract heat from the air and evaporate and afterwards in condensing would shoot out rays of light to the sun and so on. Of course all living things would regrede from the grave to the cradle and we should have a memory of the future but not of the past.
The reason why we do not expect anything of this kind to take place at any time is our experience of irreversible processes, all of one kind, and this leads to the doctrine of a beginning & an end instead of cyclical progression for ever.
Letter to Mark Pattison (7 Apr 1868). In P. M. Hannan (ed.), The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (1995), Vol. 2, 1862-1873, 360-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Applied (176)  |  Backwards (18)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Course (413)  |  Cradle (19)  |  Cycle (42)  |  Depend (238)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drop (77)  |  Dynamical (15)  |  End (603)  |  Everything (489)  |  Expect (203)  |  Experience (494)  |  Extract (40)  |  Fly (153)  |  Form (976)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Future (467)  |  Grave (52)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happen (282)  |  Heat (180)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Kind (564)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Laws Of Motion (10)  |  Lead (391)  |  Light (635)  |  Living (492)  |  Materialist (4)  |  Matter (821)  |  Memory (144)  |  Motion (320)  |  Past (355)  |  Process (439)  |  Progression (23)  |  Ray (115)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reverse (33)  |  River (140)  |  Run (158)  |  Sea (326)  |  Small (489)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Water (503)  |  World (1850)

Abstruse mathematical researches … are … often abused for having no obvious physical application. The fact is that the most useful parts of science have been investigated for the sake of truth, and not for their usefulness. A new branch of mathematics, which has sprung up in the last twenty years, was denounced by the Astronomer Royal before the University of Cambridge as doomed to be forgotten, on account of its uselessness. Now it turns out that the reason why we cannot go further in our investigations of molecular action is that we do not know enough of this branch of mathematics.
In 'Conditions of Mental Development', Lectures and Essays (1901), Vol. 1, 115.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstruse (12)  |  Abuse (25)  |  Account (195)  |  Action (342)  |  Application (257)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Branch (155)  |  Cambridge (17)  |  Denounce (6)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doom (34)  |  Enough (341)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Far (158)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgotten (53)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Molecular (7)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Often (109)  |  Part (235)  |  Physical (518)  |  Reason (766)  |  Research (753)  |  Royal (56)  |  Sake (61)  |  Spring (140)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Turn Out (9)  |  University (130)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Uselessness (22)  |  Year (963)

According to astronomers, next week Wednesday will occur twice. They say such a thing happens only once every 60,000 years and although they don’t know why it occurs, they’re glad they have an extra day to figure it out.
In Napalm and Silly Putty (2002), 105.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Extra (7)  |  Figure (162)  |  Happen (282)  |  Know (1538)  |  Next (238)  |  Occur (151)  |  Say (989)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wednesday (2)  |  Week (73)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

According to the Boshongo people of central Africa, in the beginning, there was only darkness, water, and the great god Bumba. One day Bumba, in pain from a stomach ache, vomited up the sun. The sun dried up some of the water, leaving land. Still in pain, Bumba vomited up the moon, the stars, and then some animals. The leopard, the crocodile, the turtle, and finally, man. This creation myth, like many others, tries to answer the questions we all ask. Why are we here? Where did we come from?
Lecture (1987), 'The Origin of the Universe', collected in Black Holes And Baby Universes And Other Essays (1993), 99.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Africa (38)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Central (81)  |  Creation (350)  |  Crocodile (14)  |  Darkness (72)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Land (131)  |  Leopard (3)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Myth (58)  |  Origin Of The Earth (13)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pain (144)  |  People (1031)  |  Question (649)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Still (614)  |  Stomach (40)  |  Stomachache (3)  |  Sun (407)  |  Turtle (8)  |  Vomit (4)  |  Water (503)

After that cancellation [of the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas, after $2 billion had been spent on it], we physicists learned that we have to sing for our supper. ... The Cold War is over. You can't simply say “Russia!” to Congress, and they whip out their checkbook and say, “How much?” We have to tell the people why this atom-smasher is going to benefit their lives.
As quoted in Alan Boyle, 'Discovery of Doom? Collider Stirs Debate', article (8 Sep 2008) on a msnbc.com web page.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Atom Smasher (2)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Billion (104)  |  Cold (115)  |  Cold War (2)  |  Congress (20)  |  Dollar (22)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Learning (291)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  People (1031)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Russia (14)  |  Say (989)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Singing (19)  |  Spent (85)  |  Supper (10)  |  Tell (344)  |  Telling (24)  |  Texas (4)  |  War (233)

After what has been premised, I think we may lay down the following Conclusions. First, It is plain Philosophers amuse themselves in vain, when they inquire for any natural efficient Cause, distinct from a Mind or Spirit. Secondly, Considering the whole Creation is the Workmanship of a wise and good Agent, it should seem to become Philosophers, to employ their Thoughts (contrary to what some hold) about the final Causes of Things: And I must confess, I see no reason, why pointing out the various Ends, to which natural Things are adapted and for which they were originally with unspeakable Wisdom contrived, should not be thought one good way of accounting for them, and altogether worthy a Philosopher.
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge [first published 1710], (1734), 126-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Agent (73)  |  Become (821)  |  Cause (561)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Confess (42)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Creation (350)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Down (455)  |  Employ (115)  |  End (603)  |  Final (121)  |  First (1302)  |  Good (906)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Reason (766)  |  See (1094)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Vain (86)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)  |  Workmanship (7)

Again there is another great and powerful cause why the sciences have made but little progress; which is this. It is not possible to run a course aright when the goal itself has not been rightly placed.
Translation of Novum Organum, LXXXI. In Francis Bacon, James Spedding, The Works of Francis Bacon (1864), Vol. 8, 113.
Science quotes on:  |  Cause (561)  |  Course (413)  |  Goal (155)  |  Great (1610)  |  Little (717)  |  Possible (560)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progress Of Science (40)  |  Run (158)

Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
In Through the Looking-glass: And what Alice Found There (1875), 100.
Science quotes on:  |  Alice (8)  |  Belief (615)  |  Breakfast (10)  |  Hour (192)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Practice (212)  |  Queen (14)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Use (771)  |  Younger (21)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Viewpoint (13)

All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive.
From 'What Do They Think', The Thing: Why I Am Catholic (1929), 78. In Collected Works (1990), Vol. 3, 191.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Dead (65)  |  Detect (45)  |  Detective (11)  |  Divine (112)  |  Man (2252)  |  Secret (216)  |  Set (400)  |  Story (122)  |  Sublime (50)

All the more recent work on alkaptonuria has... strengthened the belief that the homogentisic acid excreted is derived from tyrosin, but why alkaptonuric individuals pass the benzene ring of their tyrosin unbroken and how and where the peculiar chemical change from tyrosin to homogentisic acid is brought about, remain unsolved problems.
'The Incidence of Alkaptonuria: A Study in Chemical Individuality', The Lancet, 1902, 2, 1616.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Belief (615)  |  Benzene (7)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Change (639)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Change (8)  |  Individual (420)  |  More (2558)  |  Pass (241)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Problem (731)  |  Recent (78)  |  Remain (355)  |  Unsolved (15)  |  Work (1402)

Although the cooking of food presents some unsolved problems, the quick warming of cooked food and the thawing of frozen food both open up some attractive uses. ... There is no important reason why the the housewife of the future should not purchase completely frozen meals at the grocery store just as she buys quick frozen vegetables. With a quick heating, high-frequency unit in her kitchen, food preparation from a pre-cooked, frozen meal becomes a simple matter.
[Predicting home kitchen appliances could be developed from the radionic tube employed to jam enemy radar in World War II.]
In 'Physics of Today Become the Engineering of Tomorrow', Proceedings of the National Electronics Conference (1947), Vols. 1-2, 24-25. Note: by 1947 Ratheon was able to demonstrate a refrigerator-sized commercial microwave oven.
Science quotes on:  |  Appliance (9)  |  Attractive (25)  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Completely (137)  |  Cooking (12)  |  Develop (278)  |  Employ (115)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Food (213)  |  Frequency (25)  |  Future (467)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Kitchen (14)  |  Matter (821)  |  Meal (19)  |  Microwave (4)  |  Open (277)  |  Oven (5)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Radar (9)  |  Reason (766)  |  Simple (426)  |  Store (49)  |  Unsolved (15)  |  Use (771)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  War (233)  |  Warming (24)  |  World (1850)

Always listen to experts.They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.
In 'From the Notebooks of Lazarus Long', Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long (1973), 256.
Science quotes on:  |  Can�t (16)  |  Do (1905)  |  Expert (67)  |  Listen (81)  |  Tell (344)

An engineer [is] one of those people who make things work without even understanding how they function. … Today I would add: one of those people who are unable to make anything work, but think they know why it doesn’t function!
In 'Sundays in a Quantum Engineer’s Life', collected in Reinhold A. Bertlmann, A. Zeilinger (eds.),Quantum (Un)speakables: From Bell to Quantum Information (2002), 199.
Science quotes on:  |  Engineer (136)  |  Function (235)  |  Functioning (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  People (1031)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Today (321)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Work (1402)

An engineer passing a pond heard a frog say, “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess.” He picked up the frog, looked at it, and put it in his pocket. The frog said, “Why didn’t you kiss me?” Replied the engineer, “Look, I’m an engineer. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool.”
Anonymous
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Frog (44)  |  Girlfriend (2)  |  Joke (90)  |  Kiss (9)  |  Look (584)  |  Passing (76)  |  Pocket (11)  |  Pond (17)  |  Say (989)  |  Talk (108)  |  Talking (76)  |  Time (1911)  |  Turn (454)

And from this such small difference of eight minutes [of arc] it is clear why Ptolemy, since he was working with bisection [of the linear eccentricity], accepted a fixed equant point… . For Ptolemy set out that he actually did not get below ten minutes [of arc], that is a sixth of a degree, in making observations. To us, on whom Divine benevolence has bestowed the most diligent of observers, Tycho Brahe, from whose observations this eight-minute error of Ptolemy’s in regard to Mars is deduced, it is fitting that we accept with grateful minds this gift from God, and both acknowledge and build upon it. So let us work upon it so as to at last track down the real form of celestial motions (these arguments giving support to our belief that the assumptions are incorrect). This is the path I shall, in my own way, strike out in what follows. For if I thought the eight minutes in [ecliptic] longitude were unimportant, I could make a sufficient correction (by bisecting the [linear] eccentricity) to the hypothesis found in Chapter 16. Now, because they could not be disregarded, these eight minutes alone will lead us along a path to the reform of the whole of Astronomy, and they are the matter for a great part of this work.
Astronomia Nova, New Astronomy (1609), ch. 19, 113-4, Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke (1937-), Vol. 3, 177-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acknowledge (33)  |  Alone (324)  |  Arc (14)  |  Argument (145)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Belief (615)  |  Benevolence (11)  |  Bestow (18)  |  Both (496)  |  Tycho Brahe (24)  |  Build (211)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Correction (42)  |  Degree (277)  |  Difference (355)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Divine (112)  |  Down (455)  |  Error (339)  |  Follow (389)  |  Form (976)  |  Gift (105)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Last (425)  |  Lead (391)  |  Linear (13)  |  Longitude (8)  |  Making (300)  |  Mars (47)  |  Matter (821)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minute (129)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Observation (593)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Path (159)  |  Point (584)  |  Ptolemy (19)  |  Reform (22)  |  Regard (312)  |  Set (400)  |  Small (489)  |  Strike (72)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Support (151)  |  Thought (995)  |  Track (42)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

And so many think incorrectly that everything was created by the Creator in the beginning as it is seen, that not only the mountains, valleys, and waters, but also various types of minerals occurred together with the rest of the world, and therefore it is said that it is unnecessary to investigate the reasons why they differ in their internal properties and their locations. Such considerations are very dangerous for the growth of all the sciences, and hence for natural knowledge of the Earth, particularly the art of mining, though it is very easy for those clever people to be philosophers, having learnt by heart the three words 'God so created' and to give them in reply in place of all reasons.
About the Layers of the Earth and other Works on Geology (1757), trans. A. P. Lapov (1949), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Clever (41)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creator (97)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Differ (88)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Easy (213)  |  Everything (489)  |  Geology (240)  |  God (776)  |  Growth (200)  |  Heart (243)  |  Internal (69)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Location (15)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Mining (22)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Natural (810)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reply (58)  |  Rest (287)  |  Think (1122)  |  Together (392)  |  Type (171)  |  Unnecessary (23)  |  Valley (37)  |  Various (205)  |  Water (503)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

And why does England thus persecute the votaries of her science? Why does she depress them to the level of her hewers of wood and her drawers of water? Is it because science flatters no courtier, mingles in no political strife? … Can we behold unmoved the science of England, the vital principle of her arts, struggling for existence, the meek and unarmed victim of political strife?
From his review of the book by Charles Babbage, Reflections on the Decline of Science in England(1830). In Quarterly Review, 1830, 43, 323-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  England (43)  |  Existence (481)  |  Meek (2)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mingle (9)  |  Persecution (14)  |  Political (124)  |  Principle (530)  |  Victim (37)  |  Vital (89)  |  Water (503)  |  Wood (97)

Anybody who looks at living organisms knows perfectly well that they can produce other organisms like themselves. This is their normal function, they wouldn’t exist if they didn’t do this, and it’s not plausible that this is the reason why they abound in the world. In other words, living organisms are very complicated aggregations of elementary parts, and by any reasonable theory of probability or thermodynamics highly improbable. That they should occur in the world at all is a miracle of the first magnitude; the only thing which removes, or mitigates, this miracle is that they reproduce themselves. Therefore, if by any peculiar accident there should ever be one of them, from there on the rules of probability do not apply, and there will be many of them, at least if the milieu is reasonable. But a reasonable milieu is already a thermodynamically much less improbable thing. So, the operations of probability somehow leave a loophole at this point, and it is by the process of self-reproduction that they are pierced.
From lecture series on self-replicating machines at the University of Illinois, Lecture 5 (Dec 1949), 'Re-evaluation of the Problems of Complicated Automata—Problems of Hierarchy and Evolution', Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata (1966).
Science quotes on:  |  Abound (17)  |  Accident (92)  |  Aggregation (6)  |  Already (226)  |  Anybody (42)  |  Apply (170)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Exist (458)  |  First (1302)  |  Function (235)  |  Improbable (15)  |  In Other Words (9)  |  Know (1538)  |  Living (492)  |  Look (584)  |  Loophole (2)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Milieu (5)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Mitigate (5)  |  Normal (29)  |  Occur (151)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Organism (231)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Pierce (4)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Point (584)  |  Probability (135)  |  Process (439)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remove (50)  |  Reproduce (12)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Rule (307)  |  Self (268)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thermodynamics (40)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

Archimedes said Eureka,
Cos in English he weren't too aversed in,
when he discovered that the volume of a body in the bath,
is equal to the stuff it is immersed in,
That is the law of displacement,
Thats why ships don't sink,
Its a shame he weren't around in 1912,
The Titanic would have made him think.
From lyrics of song Sod’s Law.
Science quotes on:  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Bath (11)  |  Body (557)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Displacement (9)  |  English (35)  |  Equal (88)  |  Eureka (13)  |  Immersion (4)  |  Law (913)  |  Shame (15)  |  Ship (69)  |  Sink (38)  |  Stuff (24)  |  Think (1122)  |  Titanic (4)  |  Volume (25)

As he sat alone in a garden, he [Isaac Newton in 1666, age 24] fell into a speculation on the power of gravity; that as this power is not found sensibly diminished at the remotest distance from the centre of the earth to which we can rise, neither at the tops of the loftiest buildings, nor even on the summits of the highest mountains, it appeared to him reasonable to conclude that this power must extend much further than was usually thought: why not as high as the moon? said he to himself; and if so, her motion must be influenced by it; perhaps she is retained in her orbit thereby.
View of Newton's Philosophy (1728), preface. In William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences (1847), Vol. 2, 166. Pemberton's narrative is based on firsthand conversations with Newton himself.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Building (158)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Distance (171)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Extend (129)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gravity (140)  |  High (370)  |  Himself (461)  |  Moon (252)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Power (771)  |  Retain (57)  |  Rise (169)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Summit (27)  |  Thought (995)  |  Top (100)  |  Usually (176)

As I stood behind the coffin of my little son the other day, with my mind bent on anything but disputation, the officiating minister read, as part of his duty, the words, 'If the dead rise not again, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' I cannot tell you how inexpressibly they shocked me. Paul had neither wife nor child, or he must have known that his alternative involved a blasphemy against all that well best and noblest in human nature. I could have laughed with scorn. What! Because I am face to face with irreparable loss, because I have given back to the source from whence it came, the cause of a great happiness, still retaining through all my life the blessings which have sprung and will spring from that cause, I am to renounce my manhood, and, howling, grovel in bestiality? Why, the very apes know better, and if you shoot their young, the poor brutes grieve their grief out and do not immediately seek distraction in a gorge.
Letter to Charles Kingsley (23 Sep 1860). In L. Huxley, The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley (1903), Vol. 1, 318.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Ape (54)  |  Back (395)  |  Behind (139)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Blasphemy (8)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Brute (30)  |  Cause (561)  |  Child (333)  |  Coffin (7)  |  Death (406)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drink (56)  |  Eat (108)  |  Face (214)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grief (20)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Involved (90)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Loss (117)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Poor (139)  |  Read (308)  |  Renounce (6)  |  Rise (169)  |  Scorn (12)  |  Seek (218)  |  Shock (38)  |  Son (25)  |  Spring (140)  |  Still (614)  |  Tell (344)  |  Through (846)  |  Wife (41)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)  |  Young (253)

As kids we started smoking because we thought it was smart. Why don't we stop smoking for the same reason?
Anonymous
In E.C. McKenzie, 14,000 Quips and Quotes for Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers (1990), 85.
Science quotes on:  |  Cigarette (26)  |  Quit (10)  |  Reason (766)  |  Smart (33)  |  Smoking (27)  |  Start (237)  |  Stop (89)  |  Thought (995)

Ask why God made the GEM so small,
And why so huge the granite?
Because God meant, mankind should set
That higher value on it.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Gem (17)  |  God (776)  |  Granite (8)  |  High (370)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Set (400)  |  Small (489)  |  Value (393)

Bias has to be taught. If you hear your parents downgrading women or people of different backgrounds, why, you are going to do that.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Background (44)  |  Bias (22)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Downgrade (2)  |  Hear (144)  |  Parent (80)  |  People (1031)  |  Teach (299)  |  Woman (160)

Bottom trawling is a ghastly process that brings untold damage to sea beds that support ocean life. It’s akin to using a bulldozer to catch a butterfly, destroying a whole ecosystem for the sake of a few pounds of protein. We wouldn’t do this on land, so why do it in the oceans?
In 'Can We Stop Killing Our Oceans Now, Please?', Huffington Post (14 Aug 2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Bottom (36)  |  Bulldozer (6)  |  Butterfly (26)  |  Catch (34)  |  Damage (38)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ecosystem (33)  |  Environment (239)  |  Ghastly (5)  |  Land (131)  |  Life (1870)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Pound (15)  |  Process (439)  |  Protein (56)  |  Sake (61)  |  Sea (326)  |  Support (151)  |  Trawling (6)  |  Untold (6)  |  Whole (756)

But beyond the bright searchlights of science,
Out of sight of the windows of sense,
Old riddles still bid us defiance,
Old questions of Why and of Whence.
from Recent Development of Physical Science (p. 10)
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bright (81)  |  Old (499)  |  Poem (104)  |  Question (649)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Searchlight (5)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sight (135)  |  Still (614)  |  Window (59)

But how is it that they [astrologers] have never been able to explain why, in the life of twins, in their actions, in their experiences, their professions, their accomplishments, their positions—in all the other circumstances of human life, and even in death itself, there is often found such a diversity that in those respects many strangers show more resemblance to them than they show to one another, even though the smallest possible interval separated their births and though they were conceived at the same moment, by a single act of intercourse.
De Civitate Dei (The City of God) [413-426], Book V, chapter I, trans. H. Bettenson (1972),180-181.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Astrology (46)  |  Birth (154)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Death (406)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Experience (494)  |  Explain (334)  |  Human (1512)  |  Life (1870)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possible (560)  |  Profession (108)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Respect (212)  |  Show (353)  |  Single (365)  |  Twin (16)  |  Twins (2)

But in my opinion we can now be assured sufficiently that no animals, however small they may be, take their origin in putrefaction, but exclusively in procreation… For seeing that animals, from the largest down to the little despised animal, the flea, have animalcules in their semen, seeing also that some of the vessels of the lungs of horses and cows consist of rings and that these rings can occur on the flea's veins, why cannot we come to the conclusion that as well as the male sperm of that large animal the horse and similar animals, and of all manner of little animals, the flea included, is furnished with animalcules (and other intestines, for I have often been astonished when I beheld the numerous vessels in a flea), why, I say should not the male sperm of the smallest animals, smaller than a flea may even the very smallest animalcules have the perfection that we find in a flea.
Letter to Robert Hooke, 12 Nov 1680. In The Collected Letters of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1957), Vol. 3, 329.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Animalcule (12)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Consist (223)  |  Cow (42)  |  Down (455)  |  Find (1014)  |  Flea (11)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Horse (78)  |  Intestine (16)  |  Large (398)  |  Largest (39)  |  Little (717)  |  Lung (37)  |  Microorganism (29)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Occur (151)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Procreation (4)  |  Say (989)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Semen (5)  |  Small (489)  |  Sperm (7)  |  Vein (27)  |  Vessel (63)

But when great and ingenious artists behold their so inept performances, not undeservedly do they ridicule the blindness of such men; since sane judgment abhors nothing so much as a picture perpetrated with no technical knowledge, although with plenty of care and diligence. Now the sole reason why painters of this sort are not aware of their own error is that they have not learnt Geometry, without which no one can either be or become an absolute artist; but the blame for this should be laid upon their masters, who are themselves ignorant of this art.
In The Art of Measurement (1525). As quoted in Albrecht Dürer and R.T. Nichol (trans.), 'Preface', Of the Just Shaping of Letters (1965), Book 3, 1-2.
Science quotes on:  |  Abhor (8)  |  Absolute (153)  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Aware (36)  |  Become (821)  |  Blame (31)  |  Blindness (11)  |  Care (203)  |  Diligence (22)  |  Do (1905)  |  Error (339)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Inept (4)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Master (182)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Painter (30)  |  Performance (51)  |  Perpetrate (3)  |  Picture (148)  |  Reason (766)  |  Ridicule (23)  |  Sole (50)  |  Technical (53)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Undeserved (3)

But why, it has been asked, did you go there [the Antarctic]? Of what use to civilization can this lifeless continent be? ... [Earlier] expeditions contributed something to the accumulating knowledge of the Antarctic ... that helps us thrust back further the physical and spiritual shadows enfolding our terrestrial existence. Is it not true that one of the strongest and most continuously sustained impulses working in civilization is that which leads to discovery? As long as any part of the world remains obscure, the curiosity of man must draw him there, as the lodestone draws the mariner's needle, until he comprehends its secret.
In 'Hoover Presents Special Medal to Byrd...', New York Times (21 Jun 1930), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulation (51)  |  Antarctic (7)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Back (395)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Continent (79)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Draw (140)  |  Existence (481)  |  Expedition (9)  |  Going (6)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Lodestone (7)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mariner (12)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Obscurity (28)  |  Physical (518)  |  Remain (355)  |  Secret (216)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Something (718)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Thrust (13)  |  Use (771)  |  World (1850)

But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask; why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
From Address at Rice Stadium (12 Sep 1962). On website of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. [This go-to-the-moon speech was largely written by presidential advisor and speechwriter Ted Sorensen.]
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Atlantic (8)  |  Choose (116)  |  Climb (39)  |  Fly (153)  |  Goal (155)  |  High (370)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Play (116)  |  Rice (5)  |  Say (989)  |  Texas (4)  |  Year (963)

Charlie Holloway (human): “What we hoped to achieve was to meet our makers. To get answers. Why they even made us in the first place.”
David (AI robot): “Why do you think your people made me?”
Charlie Holloway (human): “We made you because we could.”
David (AI robot): “Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator?”
Charlie Holloway (human): “I guess it’s good you can’t be disappointed.”
Prometheus (2012)
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Answer (389)  |  Artificial Intelligence (12)  |  Creator (97)  |  David (6)  |  Disappoint (14)  |  Disappointed (6)  |  Do (1905)  |  First (1302)  |  Good (906)  |  Guess (67)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Maker (34)  |  Meet (36)  |  People (1031)  |  Place (192)  |  Robot (14)  |  Same (166)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)

Chemistry has been termed by the physicist as the messy part of physics, but that is no reason why the physicists should be permitted to make a mess of chemistry when they invade it.
Attributed. As quoted in American Journal of Physics (1946),14 248. Also in Robert L. Weber, More Random Walks in Science: An Anthology (1982), 64, without citation. Contact Webmaster if you know any primary source.
Science quotes on:  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Invasion (9)  |  Mess (14)  |  Messy (6)  |  Permission (7)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Reason (766)  |  Term (357)

Chief Seattle, of the Indians that inhabited the Seattle area, wrote a wonderful paper that has to do with putting oneself in tune with the universe. He said, “Why should I lament the disappearance of my people! All things end, and the white man will find this out also.” And this goes for the universe. One can be at peace with that. This doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t participate in efforts to correct the situation. But underlying the effort to change must be an “at peace.” To win a dog sled race is great. To lose is okay too.
In Diane K. Osbon (ed.), A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living (Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) (1991, 1995), 98-99.
Science quotes on:  |  Area (33)  |  Change (639)  |  Chief (99)  |  Correct (95)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dog (70)  |  Effort (243)  |  End (603)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Indian (32)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Lament (11)  |  Lose (165)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Must (1525)  |  Oneself (33)  |  Paper (192)  |  Participate (10)  |  Peace (116)  |  People (1031)  |  Race (278)  |  Say (989)  |  Situation (117)  |  Sled (2)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tune (20)  |  Underlying (33)  |  Universe (900)  |  White (132)  |  Will (2350)  |  Win (53)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Write (250)

Carl Sagan quote A Subject Called Chemistry
Wellington College. CC by-NC 2.0 (source)
Chlorine is a deadly poison gas employed on European battlefields in World War I. Sodium is a corrosive metal which burns upon contact with water. Together they make a placid and unpoisonous material, table salt. Why each of these substances has the properties it does is a subject called chemistry.
In Broca's Brain: The Romance of Science (1979), 18, footnote.
Science quotes on:  |  Battlefield (9)  |  Burn (99)  |  Call (781)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Chlorine (15)  |  Contact (66)  |  Deadly (21)  |  Employ (115)  |  Gas (89)  |  Material (366)  |  Metal (88)  |  Poison (46)  |  Property (177)  |  Salt (48)  |  Sodium (15)  |  Subject (543)  |  Substance (253)  |  Table (105)  |  Together (392)  |  War (233)  |  Water (503)  |  Weapon (98)  |  World (1850)

Computers and rocket ships are examples of invention, not of understanding. … All that is needed to build machines is the knowledge that when one thing happens, another thing happens as a result. It’s an accumulation of simple patterns. A dog can learn patterns. There is no “why” in those examples. We don’t understand why electricity travels. We don’t know why light travels at a constant speed forever. All we can do is observe and record patterns.
In God's Debris: A Thought Experiment (2004), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulation (51)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Computer (131)  |  Constant (148)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dog (70)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Example (98)  |  Forever (111)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happening (59)  |  Invention (400)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Light (635)  |  Machine (271)  |  Need (320)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Record (161)  |  Result (700)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Ship (69)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Speed (66)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Travel (125)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist, nor what sort of form they may have; there are many reasons why knowledge on this subject is not possible, owing to the lack of evidence and the shortness of human life.
Protagoras, fr. 1, quoted in E. Hussey, The Pre-Socratics (1972), 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Form (976)  |  God (776)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lack (127)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Owing (39)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Reason (766)  |  Shortness (2)  |  Subject (543)

Correct is to recognize what diseases are and whence they come; which are long and which are short; which are mortal and which are not; which are in the process of changing into others; which are increasing and which are diminishing; which are major and which are minor; to treat the diseases that can be treated, but to recognize the ones that cannot be, and to know why they cannot be; by treating patients with the former, to give them the benefit of treatment as far as it is possible.
Diseases, in Hippocrates, trans. P. Potter (1988), Vol. 5, 113.
Science quotes on:  |  Benefit (123)  |  Diagnosis (65)  |  Disease (340)  |  Former (138)  |  Know (1538)  |  Long (778)  |  Major (88)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Other (2233)  |  Patient (209)  |  Possible (560)  |  Process (439)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Short (200)  |  Treatment (135)

Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before. Some day, I doubt not, we shall arrive at an understanding of the evolution of the aesthetic faculty; but all the understanding in the world will neither increase nor diminish the force of the intuition that this is beautiful and that is ugly.
'Evolution and Ethics' (1893). In Collected Essays (1894), Vol. 9, 80.
Science quotes on:  |  Aesthetic (48)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Better (493)  |  Call (781)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Evil (122)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Force (497)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Good (906)  |  Increase (225)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Man (2252)  |  Reason (766)  |  Teach (299)  |  Ugly (14)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Creation science has not entered the curriculum for a reason so simple and so basic that we often forget to mention it: because it is false, and because good teachers understand why it is false. What could be more destructive of that most fragile yet most precious commodity in our entire intellectual heritage—good teaching—than a bill forcing our honorable teachers to sully their sacred trust by granting equal treatment to a doctrine not only known to be false, but calculated to undermine any general understanding of science as an enterprise?.
In 'The Verdict on Creationism' The Sketical Inquirer (Winter 1987/88), 12, 186.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Bill (14)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Commodity (5)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creation Science (2)  |  Creationism (8)  |  Curriculum (11)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Enter (145)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Equal (88)  |  False (105)  |  Forcing (2)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgetting (13)  |  Fragile (26)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Heritage (22)  |  Honor (57)  |  Honorable (14)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Known (453)  |  Mention (84)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Precious (43)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Trust (72)  |  Undermining (2)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

Daylight savings time—why are they saving it, and where do they keep it?
Anonymous
Seen, for example, collected in Stephen Motway, Jokes, Quotes, and Other Assorted Things (2010), 327.
Science quotes on:  |  Daylight (23)  |  Daylight Saving Time (10)  |  Do (1905)  |  Keep (104)  |  Save (126)  |  Time (1911)

Did Newton, dreaming in his orchard there
Beside the dreaming Witham, see the moon
Burn like a huge gold apple in the boughs
And wonder why should moons not fall like fruit?
In Watchers of the Sky (1922), 193-194.
Science quotes on:  |  Apple (46)  |  Bough (10)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Dreaming (3)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Gold (101)  |  Huge (30)  |  Moon (252)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Orchard (4)  |  See (1094)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wondering (3)

Do not enter upon research unless you can not help it. Ask yourself the “why” of every statement that is made and think out your own answer. If through your thoughtful work you get a worthwhile idea, it will get you. The force of the conviction will compel you to forsake all and seek the relief of your mind in research work.
From Cameron Prize Lecture (1928), delivered before the University of Edinburgh. As quoted in J.B. Collip 'Frederick Grant Banting, Discoverer of Insulin', The Scientific Monthly (May 1941), 52, No. 5, 473.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Compel (31)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enter (145)  |  Force (497)  |  Forsake (4)  |  Help (116)  |  Idea (881)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Relief (30)  |  Research (753)  |  Seek (218)  |  Statement (148)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Through (846)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worthwhile (18)

Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.
Spoken by character, Sherlock Holmes, in A Study in Scarlet (1887), Chap. 5. Collected in Works of Arthur Conan Doyle (1902), Vol. 11, 68-69.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Century (319)  |  Childhood (42)  |  Claim (154)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exist (458)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Influence (231)  |  Long (778)  |  Memory (144)  |  Misty (6)  |  Music (133)  |  Power (771)  |  Produce (117)  |  Race (278)  |  Remember (189)  |  Say (989)  |  Soul (235)  |  Speech (66)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Vague (50)  |  World (1850)

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.
In a personal notebook (1945-46). Discussed in Hugh Rawson and Margaret Miner, The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations (2005), 201, as possibly being a very brief paraphrase of a verse by Robert Frost from 'The Wall' (1914) (See Robert Frost quotations page on this site). Elsewhere, it has been suggested to be a summary paraphrase of a much longer passage in G.K. Chesterton, The Thing (1929). (See G.K. Chesterton quotations on this site.) Meanwhile, many collections of quotations incorrectly attribute the short quote as worded above directly to either Robert Frost or G.K. Chesterton.
Science quotes on:  |  Down (455)  |  Fence (11)  |  Know (1538)  |  Reason (766)  |  Taking (9)

Gertrude B. Elion quote: Nothing worthwhile comes easily
Don’t be afraid of hard work. Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Don’t let others discourage you or tell you that you can’t do it. In my day I was told women didn’t go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn’t.
from her lecture notes
Science quotes on:  |  Biography (254)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Discourage (14)  |  Do (1905)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hard Work (25)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Reason (766)  |  Saw (160)  |  Tell (344)  |  Women Scientists (18)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worthwhile (18)

Einstein uses his concept of God more often than a Catholic priest. Once I asked him:
'Tomorrow is Sunday. Do you want me to come to you, so we can work?'
'Why not?'
'Because I thought perhaps you would like to rest on Sunday.'
Einstein settled the question by saying with a loud laugh: 'God does not rest on Sunday either.'
Quest: The Evolution of a Scientist (1941), 247.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Catholic (18)  |  Concept (242)  |  Do (1905)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  God (776)  |  Laugh (50)  |  More (2558)  |  Priest (29)  |  Question (649)  |  Rest (287)  |  Settled (34)  |  Sunday (8)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Use (771)  |  Want (504)  |  Work (1402)

Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?
A Brief History of Time (1998), 190.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Approach (112)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Describe (132)  |  Description (89)  |  Equation (138)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fire (203)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Model (106)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Question (649)  |  Rule (307)  |  Set (400)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unified Theory (7)  |  Universe (900)

Even today I still get letters from young students here and there who say, Why are you people trying to program intelligence? Why don’t you try to find a way to build a nervous system that will just spontaneously create it? Finally I decided that this was either a bad idea or else it would take thousands or millions of neurons to make it work and I couldn’t afford to try to build a machine like that.
As quoted in Jeremy Bernstein, 'A.I.', The New Yorker (14 Dec 1981), 57, 70.
Science quotes on:  |  Afford (19)  |  Bad (185)  |  Build (211)  |  Computer Science (11)  |  Create (245)  |  Decide (50)  |  Find (1014)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Letter (117)  |  Machine (271)  |  Million (124)  |  Nervous (7)  |  Nervous System (35)  |  Neuron (10)  |  People (1031)  |  Program (57)  |  Say (989)  |  Still (614)  |  Student (317)  |  System (545)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Today (321)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Young (253)

Every discovery in science is a tacit criticism of things as they are. That is why the wise man is invariably called a fool.
Martin H. Fischer, Howard Fabing (ed.) and Ray Marr (ed.), Fischerisms (1944).
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Called (9)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Fool (121)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Man (2252)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)  |  Wise Man (17)

Every species of plant and animal is determined by a pool of germ plasm that has been most carefully selected over a period of hundreds of millions of years. We can understand now why it is that mutations in these carefully selected organisms almost invariably are detrimental.The situation can be suggested by a statement by Dr. J.B.S. Haldane: “My clock is not keeping perfect time. It is conceivable that it will run better if I shoot a bullet through it; but it is much more probable that it will stop altogether.” Professor George Beadle, in this connection, has asked: “What is the chance that a typographical error would improve Hamlet?”
In No More War! (1958), Chap. 4, 53.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Ask (420)  |  George Beadle (9)  |  Better (493)  |  Bullet (6)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Chance (244)  |  Clock (51)  |  Conceivable (28)  |  Connection (171)  |  Determine (152)  |  Detrimental (2)  |  Error (339)  |  Germ (54)  |  J.B.S. Haldane (50)  |  Hamlet (10)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Improve (64)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Million (124)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Organism (231)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Period (200)  |  Plant (320)  |  Plasm (3)  |  Pool (16)  |  Probable (24)  |  Professor (133)  |  Run (158)  |  Select (45)  |  Shoot (21)  |  Situation (117)  |  Species (435)  |  Statement (148)  |  Stop (89)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

Evolution pays and that is why there is evolution
From chapter 'Jottings from a Note-Book', in Canadian Stories (1918), 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Evolution (635)  |  Pay (45)

Faced with a new mutation in an organism, or a fundamental change in its living conditions, the biologist is frequently in no position whatever to predict its future prospects. He has to wait and see. For instance, the hairy mammoth seems to have been an admirable animal, intelligent and well-accoutered. Now that it is extinct, we try to understand why it failed. I doubt that any biologist thinks he could have predicted that failure. Fitness and survival are by nature estimates of past performance.
In Scientific American (Sep 1958). As cited in '50, 100 & 150 years ago', Scientific American (Sep 2008), 299, No. 3, 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Admirable (20)  |  Animal (651)  |  Biologist (70)  |  Change (639)  |  Condition (362)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Fitness (9)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Future (467)  |  Hairy (2)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Mammoth (9)  |  Mutation (40)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Organism (231)  |  Past (355)  |  Performance (51)  |  Predict (86)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Prospect (31)  |  See (1094)  |  Survival (105)  |  Think (1122)  |  Try (296)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Whatever (234)

Falling in love is not at all the most stupid thing that people do, but gravitation cannot be held responsible for it.
Scribbled by Einstein on a letter received during a visit to England (1933) from a man who suggested that gravity meant that as the world rotated people were sometimes upside down, horizontal, or at 'left angles' and that perhaps, this disorientation explained why people do foolish things like falling in love.
In Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffmann (editors.), Einstein: The Human Side (1981), 56.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Explain (334)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Horizontal (9)  |  Letter (117)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  People (1031)  |  Stupid (38)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Upside Down (8)  |  World (1850)

FAUSTUS: How many heavens or spheres are there?
MEPHASTOPHILIS: Nine: the seven planets, the firmament, and the empyreal heaven.
FAUSTUS: But is there not coelum igneum, et crystallinum?
MEPH.: No Faustus, they be but fables.
FAUSTUS: Resolve me then in this one question: Why are not conjunctions, oppositions, aspects, eclipses all at one time, but in some years we have more, in some less?
MEPH.: Per inaequalem motum respectu totius.
FAUSTUS: Well, I am answered. Now tell me who made the world.
MEPH.: I will not.
FAUSTUS: Sweet Mephastophilis, tell me.
MEPH.: Move me not, Faustus.
FAUSTUS: Villain, have I not bound thee to tell me any thing?
MEPH.: Ay, that is not against our kingdom.
This is. Thou are damn'd, think thou of hell.
FAUSTUS: Think, Faustus, upon God that made the world!
MEPH.: Remember this.
Doctor Faustus: A 1604-Version Edition, edited by Michael Keefer (1991), Act II, Scene iii, lines 60-77, 43-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Answer (389)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Bound (120)  |  Conjunction (12)  |  Eclipse (25)  |  Fable (12)  |  Firmament (18)  |  God (776)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Maker (34)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Planet (402)  |  Question (649)  |  Remember (189)  |  Resolve (43)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

Finally, I aim at giving denominations to things, as agreeable to truth as possible. I am not ignorant that words, like money, possess an ideal value, and that great danger of confusion may be apprehended from a change of names; in the mean time it cannot be denied that chemistry, like the other sciences, was formerly filled with improper names. In different branches of knowledge, we see those matters long since reformed: why then should chemistry, which examines the real nature of things, still adopt vague names, which suggest false ideas, and favour strongly of ignorance and imposition? Besides, there is little doubt but that many corrections may be made without any inconvenience.
Physical and Chemical Essays (1784), Vol. I, xxxvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreeable (20)  |  Aim (175)  |  Change (639)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Correction (42)  |  Danger (127)  |  Denomination (6)  |  Different (595)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Error (339)  |  Examine (84)  |  Great (1610)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mean (810)  |  Money (178)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Things (30)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possess (157)  |  Possible (560)  |  Reform (22)  |  Reformed (4)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Vague (50)  |  Value (393)  |  Word (650)

For if as scientists we seek simplicity, then obviously we try the simplest surviving theory first, and retreat from it only when it proves false. Not this course, but any other, requires explanation. If you want to go somewhere quickly, and several alternate routes are equally likely to be open, no one asks why you take the shortest. The simplest theory is to be chosen not because it is the most likely to be true but because it is scientifically the most rewarding among equally likely alternatives. We aim at simplicity and hope for truth.
Problems and Projects (1972), 352.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Ask (420)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Course (413)  |  Equally (129)  |  Explanation (246)  |  First (1302)  |  Hope (321)  |  Most (1728)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Prove (261)  |  Require (229)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Seek (218)  |  Shortest (16)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Try (296)  |  Want (504)

For if there is any truth in the dynamical theory of gases the different molecules in a gas at uniform temperature are moving with very different velocities. Put such a gas into a vessel with two compartments [A and B] and make a small hole in the wall about the right size to let one molecule through. Provide a lid or stopper for this hole and appoint a doorkeeper, very intelligent and exceedingly quick, with microscopic eyes but still an essentially finite being.
Whenever he sees a molecule of great velocity coming against the door from A into B he is to let it through, but if the molecule happens to be going slow he is to keep the door shut. He is also to let slow molecules pass from B to A but not fast ones ... In this way the temperature of B may be raised and that of A lowered without any expenditure of work, but only by the intelligent action of a mere guiding agent (like a pointsman on a railway with perfectly acting switches who should send the express along one line and the goods along another).
I do not see why even intelligence might not be dispensed with and the thing be made self-acting.
Moral The 2nd law of Thermodynamics has the same degree of truth as the statement that if you throw a tumblerful of water into the sea you cannot get the same tumblerful of water out again.
Letter to John William Strutt (6 Dec 1870). In P. M. Hannan (ed.), The Scientific Letters and Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (1995), Vol. 2, 582-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Against (332)  |  Agent (73)  |  Being (1276)  |  Coming (114)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Door (94)  |  Dynamical (15)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Expenditure (16)  |  Express (192)  |  Eye (440)  |  Finite (60)  |  Gas (89)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happen (282)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Law (913)  |  Maxwell�s Demon (2)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Moral (203)  |  Pass (241)  |  Railway (19)  |  Right (473)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Self (268)  |  Shut (41)  |  Slow (108)  |  Small (489)  |  Statement (148)  |  Still (614)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thermodynamics (40)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Velocity (51)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Wall (71)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whenever (81)  |  Work (1402)

For some months the astronomer Halley and other friends of Newton had been discussing the problem in the following precise form: what is the path of a body attracted by a force directed toward a fixed point, the force varying in intensity as the inverse of the distance? Newton answered instantly, “An ellipse.” “How do you know?” he was asked. “Why, I have calculated it.” Thus originated the imperishable Principia, which Newton later wrote out for Halley. It contained a complete treatise on motion.
In The Handmaiden of the Sciences (1937), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Body (557)  |  Calculate (58)  |  Complete (209)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discuss (26)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ellipse (8)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Friend (180)  |  Edmond Halley (9)  |  Instantly (20)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Know (1538)  |  Month (91)  |  Motion (320)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Other (2233)  |  Path (159)  |  Point (584)  |  Precise (71)  |  Principia (14)  |  Problem (731)  |  Treatise (46)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Void (31)

For, dear me, why abandon a belief
Merely because it ceases to be true.
Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt
It will turn true again, for so it goes.
Most of the change we think we see in life
Is due to truths being in and out of favour.
'The Black Cottage'. In Edward Connery Latham (ed.), The Poetry of Robert Frost (1971), 77.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Cease (81)  |  Change (639)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Due (143)  |  Enough (341)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Merely (315)  |  Most (1728)  |  See (1094)  |  Think (1122)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turn (454)  |  Will (2350)

Formerly one sought the feeling of the grandeur of man by pointing to his divine origin: this has now become a forbidden way, for at its portal stands the ape, together with other gruesome beasts, grinning knowingly as if to say: no further in this direction! One therefore now tries the opposite direction: the way mankind is going shall serve as proof of his grandeur and kinship with God. Alas this, too, is vain! At the end of this way stands the funeral urn of the last man and gravedigger (with the inscription “nihil humani a me alienum puto”). However high mankind may have evolved—and perhaps at the end it will stand even lower than at the beginning!— it cannot pass over into a higher order, as little as the ant and the earwig can at the end of its “earthly course” rise up to kinship with God and eternal life. The becoming drags the has-been along behind it: why should an exception to this eternal spectacle be made on behalf of some little star or for any little species upon it! Away with such sentimentalities!
Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality (1881), trans. R. J. Hollingdale (1982), 32.
Science quotes on:  |  Ant (34)  |  Ape (54)  |  Beast (58)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Behind (139)  |  Course (413)  |  Direction (185)  |  Divine (112)  |  End (603)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exception (74)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Forbidden (18)  |  Funeral (5)  |  God (776)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  High (370)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Kinship (5)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Order (638)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Portal (9)  |  Proof (304)  |  Rise (169)  |  Say (989)  |  Species (435)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Stand (284)  |  Star (460)  |  Together (392)  |  Vain (86)  |  Vanity (20)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.
Quoted in R. Oesper, The Human Side of Scientists (1975), 164.
Science quotes on:  |  Gentlemen (4)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Will (2350)

Geometry is unique and eternal, a reflection of the mind of God. That men are able to participate in it is one of the reasons why man is an image of God.
As quoted in Epilogue, The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe (1959), 524, citing Letter (9 or 10 April 1599) to Herwart von Hohenburg.
Science quotes on:  |  Eternal (113)  |  Geometry (271)  |  God (776)  |  Image (97)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Participate (10)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Unique (72)

Given angel’s wings, where might you fly?
In what sweet heaven might you find your love?
Unwilling to be bound, where might you move,
Lost between the wonder and the why?...
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Angel (47)  |  Bind (26)  |  Bound (120)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fly (153)  |  Give (208)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Lose (165)  |  Love (328)  |  Move (223)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Unwilling (9)  |  Wing (79)  |  Wonder (251)

God in His wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.
'The Fly' (1942), Good Intentions (1943), 220.
Science quotes on:  |  Fly (153)  |  Forget (125)  |  God (776)  |  Tell (344)  |  Wisdom (235)

Good people are seldom fully recognised during their lifetimes, and here, there are serious problems of corruption. One day it will be realised that my findings should have been acknowledged.
It was difficult, but she always smiled when asked why she went on when recognition eluded her in her own country.
Quoted in obituary by Anthony Tucker, 'Alice Stewart', The Guardian newspaper (28 Jun 2002).
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Biography (254)  |  Corruption (17)  |  Country (269)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Fame (51)  |  Good (906)  |  People (1031)  |  Problem (731)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Serious (98)  |  Will (2350)

Gravity tells us why an apple doesn’t go to heaven.
Anonymous
In Cecil Hunt, The Best Howlers (1957).
Science quotes on:  |  Apple (46)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Howler (15)  |  Tell (344)  |  Telling (24)

Have you ever watched an eagle held captive in a zoo, fat and plump and full of food and safe from danger too?
Then have you seen another wheeling high up in the sky, thin and hard and battle-scarred, but free to soar and fly?
Well, which have you pitied the caged one or his brother? Though safe and warm from foe or storm, the captive, not the other!
There’s something of the eagle in climbers, don’t you see; a secret thing, perhaps the soul, that clamors to be free.
It’s a different sort of freedom from the kind we often mean, not free to work and eat and sleep and live in peace serene.
But freedom like a wild thing to leap and soar and strive, to struggle with the icy blast, to really be alive.
That’s why we climb the mountain’s peak from which the cloud-veils flow, to stand and watch the eagle fly, and soar, and wheel... below...
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Below (26)  |  Blast (13)  |  Brother (47)  |  Cage (12)  |  Captive (2)  |  Climb (39)  |  Climber (7)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Danger (127)  |  Different (595)  |  Eagle (20)  |  Eat (108)  |  Fat (11)  |  Flow (89)  |  Fly (153)  |  Foe (11)  |  Food (213)  |  Free (239)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Full (68)  |  Hard (246)  |  High (370)  |  Hold (96)  |  Icy (3)  |  Kind (564)  |  Leap (57)  |  Live (650)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Often (109)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peace (116)  |  Peak (20)  |  Pity (16)  |  Really (77)  |  Safe (61)  |  Secret (216)  |  See (1094)  |  Serene (5)  |  Sky (174)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Soar (23)  |  Something (718)  |  Sort (50)  |  Soul (235)  |  Stand (284)  |  Storm (56)  |  Strive (53)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Thin (18)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Veil (27)  |  Warm (74)  |  Watch (118)  |  Wheel (51)  |  Wheeling (3)  |  Wild (96)  |  Work (1402)  |  Zoo (9)

He [Lord Bacon] appears to have been utterly ignorant of the discoveries which had just been made by Kepler’s calculations … he does not say a word about Napier’s Logarithms, which had been published only nine years before and reprinted more than once in the interval. He complained that no considerable advance had been made in Geometry beyond Euclid, without taking any notice of what had been done by Archimedes and Apollonius. He saw the importance of determining accurately the specific gravities of different substances, and himself attempted to form a table of them by a rude process of his own, without knowing of the more scientific though still imperfect methods previously employed by Archimedes, Ghetaldus and Porta. He speaks of the εὕρηκα of Archimedes in a manner which implies that he did not clearly appreciate either the problem to be solved or the principles upon which the solution depended. In reviewing the progress of Mechanics, he makes no mention either of Archimedes, or Stevinus, Galileo, Guldinus, or Ghetaldus. He makes no allusion to the theory of Equilibrium. He observes that a ball of one pound weight will fall nearly as fast through the air as a ball of two, without alluding to the theory of acceleration of falling bodies, which had been made known by Galileo more than thirty years before. He proposed an inquiry with regard to the lever,—namely, whether in a balance with arms of different length but equal weight the distance from the fulcrum has any effect upon the inclination—though the theory of the lever was as well understood in his own time as it is now. … He speaks of the poles of the earth as fixed, in a manner which seems to imply that he was not acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes; and in another place, of the north pole being above and the south pole below, as a reason why in our hemisphere the north winds predominate over the south.
From Spedding’s 'Preface' to De Interpretations Naturae Proœmium, in The Works of Francis Bacon (1857), Vol. 3, 511-512. [Note: the Greek word “εὕρηκα” is “Eureka” —Webmaster.]
Science quotes on:  |  Acceleration (12)  |  Accurate (88)  |  Advance (298)  |  Air (366)  |  Apollonius (6)  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Arm (82)  |  Arms (37)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Balance (82)  |  Ball (64)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Body (557)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Complain (10)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Depend (238)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distance (171)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Effect (414)  |  Employ (115)  |  Equal (88)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Equinox (5)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Eureka (13)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fast (49)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Form (976)  |  Fulcrum (3)  |  Galileo Galilei (134)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Hemisphere (5)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Importance (299)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Known (453)  |  Length (24)  |  Lever (13)  |  Logarithm (12)  |  Lord (97)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Mention (84)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  John Napier (4)  |  Nearly (137)  |  North Pole (5)  |  North Wind (2)  |  Notice (81)  |  Observe (179)  |  Pole (49)  |  Pound (15)  |  Precession (4)  |  Predominate (7)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regard (312)  |  Saw (160)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  South (39)  |  South Pole (3)  |  Speak (240)  |  Specific (98)  |  Specific Gravity (2)  |  Still (614)  |  Substance (253)  |  Table (105)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understood (155)  |  Weight (140)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)

How did I discover saccharin? Well, it was partly by accident and partly by study. I had worked a long time on the compound radicals and substitution products of coal tar... One evening I was so interested in my laboratory that I forgot about my supper till quite late, and then rushed off for a meal without stopping to wash my hands. I sat down, broke a piece of bread, and put it to my lips. It tasted unspeakably sweet. I did not ask why it was so, probably because I thought it was some cake or sweetmeat. I rinsed my mouth with water, and dried my moustache with my napkin, when, to my surprise the napkin tasted sweeter than the bread. Then I was puzzled. I again raised my goblet, and, as fortune would have it, applied my mouth where my fingers had touched it before. The water seemed syrup. It flashed on me that I was the cause of the singular universal sweetness, and I accordingly tasted the end of my thumb, and found it surpassed any confectionery I had ever eaten. I saw the whole thing at once. I had discovered some coal tar substance which out-sugared sugar. I dropped my dinner, and ran back to the laboratory. There, in my excitement, I tasted the contents of every beaker and evaporating dish on the table.
Interview with American Analyst. Reprinted in Pacific Record of Medicine and Surgery (1886), 1, No. 3, 78.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Applied (176)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Ask (420)  |  Back (395)  |  Beaker (5)  |  Bread (42)  |  Cake (6)  |  Cause (561)  |  Coal (64)  |  Coal Tar (2)  |  Compound (117)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Down (455)  |  Dropped (17)  |  End (603)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Finger (48)  |  Flash (49)  |  Fortune (50)  |  Interest (416)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Late (119)  |  Long (778)  |  Meal (19)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Napkin (2)  |  Product (166)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Radical (28)  |  Research (753)  |  Saccharin (2)  |  Saw (160)  |  Serendipity (17)  |  Singular (24)  |  Study (701)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sugar (26)  |  Supper (10)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Sweet (40)  |  Sweetness (12)  |  Table (105)  |  Taste (93)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thumb (18)  |  Time (1911)  |  Touch (146)  |  Universal (198)  |  Wash (23)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Work (1402)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Weed (19)

Hubble's observations suggested that there was a time, called the big bang, when the universe was infinitesimally small and infinitely dense. Under such conditions all the laws of science, and therefore all ability to predict the future, would break down. If there were events earlier than this time, then they could not affect what happens at the present time. Their existence can be ignored because it would have no observational consequences. One may say that time had a beginning at the big bang, in the sense that earlier times simply would not be defined. It should be emphasized that this beginning in time is very different from those that had been considered previously. In an unchanging universe a beginning in time is something that has to be imposed by some being outside the universe; there is no physical necessity for a beginning. One can imagine that God created the universe at literally any time in the past. On the other hand, if the universe is expanding, there may be physical reasons why there had to be a beginning. One could still imagine that God created the universe at the instant of the big bang, or even afterwards in just such a way as to make it look as though there had been a big bang, but it would be meaningless to suppose that it was created before the big bang. An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job!
A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes (1988), 8-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Bang (29)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Break (109)  |  Call (781)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Creator (97)  |  Different (595)  |  Down (455)  |  Event (222)  |  Existence (481)  |  Future (467)  |  God (776)  |  Happen (282)  |  Edwin Powell Hubble (29)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Instant (46)  |  Job (86)  |  Law (913)  |  Limit (294)  |  Literally (30)  |  Look (584)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observational (15)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  Past (355)  |  Physical (518)  |  Predict (86)  |  Present (630)  |  Reason (766)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Small (489)  |  Something (718)  |  Still (614)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)

Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, “We’ve always done it this way.” I try to fight that. That’s why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise.
As quoted, without citation, by Kurt W. Beyer, 'Grace Murray Hopper', in Joseph J. Thomas, Leadership Embodied: The Secrets to Success of the Most Effective Navy and Marine Corps Leaders (2005), 160.
Science quotes on:  |  Allergy (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Clock (51)  |  Fight (49)  |  Human (1512)  |  Love (328)  |  Run (158)  |  Say (989)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Try (296)  |  Wall (71)  |  Way (1214)

I am born into an environment–I know not whence I came nor whither I go nor who I am. This is my situation as yours, every single one of you. The fact that everyone always was in this same situation, and always will be, tells me nothing. Our burning question as to the whence and whither–all we can ourselves observe about it is the present environment. That is why we are eager to find out about it as much as we can. That is science, learning, knowledge; it is the true source of every spiritual endeavour of man. We try to find out as much as we can about the spatial and temporal surroundings of the place in which we find ourselves put by birth.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Birth (154)  |  Burn (99)  |  Burning (49)  |  Eager (17)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Environment (239)  |  Everyone (35)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  Find Out (25)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Observe (179)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Place (192)  |  Present (630)  |  Question (649)  |  Same (166)  |  Single (365)  |  Situation (117)  |  Source (101)  |  Spatial (10)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Surroundings (6)  |  Tell (344)  |  Temporal (4)  |  True (239)  |  Try (296)  |  Whither (11)  |  Will (2350)

I believe that the useful methods of mathematics are easily to be learned by quite young persons, just as languages are easily learned in youth. What a wondrous philosophy and history underlie the use of almost every word in every language—yet the child learns to use the word unconsciously. No doubt when such a word was first invented it was studied over and lectured upon, just as one might lecture now upon the idea of a rate, or the use of Cartesian co-ordinates, and we may depend upon it that children of the future will use the idea of the calculus, and use squared paper as readily as they now cipher. … When Egyptian and Chaldean philosophers spent years in difficult calculations, which would now be thought easy by young children, doubtless they had the same notions of the depth of their knowledge that Sir William Thomson might now have of his. How is it, then, that Thomson gained his immense knowledge in the time taken by a Chaldean philosopher to acquire a simple knowledge of arithmetic? The reason is plain. Thomson, when a child, was taught in a few years more than all that was known three thousand years ago of the properties of numbers. When it is found essential to a boy’s future that machinery should be given to his brain, it is given to him; he is taught to use it, and his bright memory makes the use of it a second nature to him; but it is not till after-life that he makes a close investigation of what there actually is in his brain which has enabled him to do so much. It is taken because the child has much faith. In after years he will accept nothing without careful consideration. The machinery given to the brain of children is getting more and more complicated as time goes on; but there is really no reason why it should not be taken in as early, and used as readily, as were the axioms of childish education in ancient Chaldea.
In Teaching of Mathematics (1902), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acquire (46)  |  Actually (27)  |  Afterlife (3)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Belief (615)  |  Boy (100)  |  Brain (281)  |  Bright (81)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Careful (28)  |  Cartesian (3)  |  Chaldea (4)  |  Child (333)  |  Childish (20)  |  Children (201)  |  Cipher (3)  |  Close (77)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Coordinate (5)  |  Depend (238)  |  Depth (97)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Doubtless (8)  |  Early (196)  |  Easily (36)  |  Easy (213)  |  Education (423)  |  Egyptian (5)  |  Enable (122)  |  Essential (210)  |  Faith (209)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Future (467)  |  Gain (146)  |  Give (208)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immense (89)  |  Invent (57)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Language (308)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Life (1870)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Memory (144)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Paper (192)  |  Person (366)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plain (34)  |  Property (177)  |  Rate (31)  |  Readily (10)  |  Reason (766)  |  Same (166)  |  Second Nature (3)  |  Simple (426)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spent (85)  |  Square (73)  |  Study (701)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unconsciously (9)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Use (771)  |  Useful (260)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wondrous (22)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)  |  Young (253)  |  Youth (109)

I can no more explain why I like “natural history” than why I like California canned peaches; nor why I do not care for that enormous brand of natural history which deals with invertebrates any more than why I do not care for brandied peaches. All I can say is that almost as soon as I began to read at all I began to like to read about the natural history of beasts and birds and the more formidable or interesting reptiles and fishes.
In 'My Life as a Naturalist', American Museum Journal (May 1918), 18, 321. As cited in Maurice Garland Fulton (ed.) Roosevelt's Writings: Selections from the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt (1920), 247.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Beast (58)  |  Bird (163)  |  Care (203)  |  Deal (192)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fish (130)  |  Formidable (8)  |  History (716)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Invertebrate (6)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Peach (3)  |  Read (308)  |  Reptile (33)  |  Say (989)  |  Soon (187)

I can’t understand why men make all this fuss about Everest—it’s only a mountain.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Everest (10)  |  Fuss (4)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Understand (648)

I decided that life rationally considered seemed pointless and futile, but it is still interesting in a variety of ways, including the study of science. So why not carry on, following the path of scientific hedonism? Besides, I did not have the courage for the more rational procedure of suicide.
Life of a Scientist (1989), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Carry (130)  |  Consider (428)  |  Courage (82)  |  Decision (98)  |  Futile (13)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Life (1870)  |  More (2558)  |  Path (159)  |  Pointless (7)  |  Procedure (48)  |  Rational (95)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Variety (138)  |  Way (1214)

I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I became man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
'I Died as a Mineral', in Arthur John Arberry, Classical Persian Literature (1994), 241.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Death (406)  |  Fear (212)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Plant (320)  |  Rose (36)

I do not want to write beyond this point, because those days when I studied relentlessly are nostalgic to me; and on the other hand, I am sad when I think how I have become increasingly preoccupied with matters other than study.
Explaining why he went no further in his autobiography than 1934, the year he published his paper describing his great discovery, the meson theory. From the original Japanese autobiography Tabibito, translated as The Traveler (1982), 207.
Science quotes on:  |  Autobiography (58)  |  Become (821)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Biography (254)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Great (1610)  |  Life (1870)  |  Matter (821)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  Point (584)  |  Recording (13)  |  Study (701)  |  Think (1122)  |  Want (504)  |  Write (250)

I don’t need hobbies. I mean, why should I run after a ball on a field after I have kicked papers around from nine to five?
From 'Asking Nature', collected in Lewis Wolpert and Alison Richards (eds.), Passionate Minds: The Inner World of Scientists (1997), 197.
Science quotes on:  |  Ball (64)  |  Field (378)  |  Hobby (14)  |  Kick (11)  |  Mean (810)  |  Need (320)  |  Nine To Five (3)  |  Paper (192)  |  Run (158)

I don’t understand why people insist on pitting concepts of evolution and creation against each other. Why can’t they see that spiritualism and science are one? That bodies evolve and souls evolve and the universe is a fluid package that marries them both in a wonderful package called a human being.
The Art of Racing in the Rain. Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 43
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Both (496)  |  Call (781)  |  Concept (242)  |  Creation (350)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fluid (54)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Insist (22)  |  Marry (11)  |  Other (2233)  |  Package (6)  |  People (1031)  |  Pit (20)  |  See (1094)  |  Soul (235)  |  Spiritualism (3)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wonderful (155)

I don't see why religion and science can't cooperate. What's wrong with using a computer to count our blessings?
In Ashton Applewhite, William R. Evans and Andrew Frothingham, And I Quote (2003), 108.
Science quotes on:  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Computer (131)  |  Count (107)  |  Religion (369)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  See (1094)  |  Wrong (246)

I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a mystery, but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.
As quoted in John Noble Wilford, 'Sizing up the Cosmos: An Astronomers Quest', New York Times (12 Mar 1991), C10.
Science quotes on:  |  Chaos (99)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Find (1014)  |  God (776)  |  Improbable (15)  |  Instead (23)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Order (638)  |  Organize (33)  |  Principle (530)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Something (718)

I fully expect that NASA will send me back to the Moon as they treated Senator [John] Glenn, and if they don’t do otherwise, why, then I’ll have to do it myself.
About looking forward to the day he turned 77. In interview with Associated Press, as quoted in Peter Bond, 'Obituary: Charles Conrad Jnr', The Independent (10 Jul 1999).
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Do (1905)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expectation (67)  |  John Glenn, Jr. (33)  |  Moon (252)  |  Myself (211)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Will (2350)

I had a dislike for [mathematics], and ... was hopelessly short in algebra. ... [One extraordinary teacher of mathematics] got the whole year's course into me in exactly six [after-school] lessons of half an hour each. And how? More accurately, why? Simply because he was an algebra fanatic—because he believed that algebra was not only a science of the utmost importance, but also one of the greatest fascination. ... [H]e convinced me in twenty minutes that ignorance of algebra was as calamitous, socially and intellectually, as ignorance of table manners—That acquiring its elements was as necessary as washing behind the ears. So I fell upon the book and gulped it voraciously. ... To this day I comprehend the binomial theorem.
In Prejudices: third series (1922), 261-262.
For a longer excerpt, see H. L. Mencken's Recollections of School Algebra.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Behind (139)  |  Binomial (6)  |  Binomial Theorem (5)  |  Book (413)  |  Calamity (11)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Convincing (9)  |  Course (413)  |  Dislike (16)  |  Ear (69)  |  Element (322)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Fanatic (7)  |  Fascination (35)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Gulp (3)  |  Half (63)  |  Hopelessness (6)  |  Hour (192)  |  How (3)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Importance (299)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Manners (3)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Minute (129)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  School (227)  |  Short (200)  |  Society (350)  |  Table (105)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Utmost (12)  |  Washing (3)  |  Whole (756)  |  Year (963)

I had a feeling once about Mathematics—that I saw it all. Depth beyond depth was revealed to me—the Byss and Abyss. I saw—as one might see the transit of Venus or even the Lord Mayor’s Show—a quantity passing through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly why it happened and why the tergiversation was inevitable but it was after dinner and I let it go.
In Sir Winston Churchill: A Self-Portrait (1954), 38.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Change (639)  |  Depth (97)  |  Dinner (15)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Lord (97)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Minus (7)  |  Passing (76)  |  Plus (43)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Saw (160)  |  See (1094)  |  Show (353)  |  Sign (63)  |  Through (846)  |  Venus (21)

I had this experience at the age of eight. My parents gave me a microscope. I don’t recall why, but no matter. I then found my own little world, completely wild and unconstrained, no plastic, no teacher, no books, no anything predictable. At first I did not know the names of the water-drop denizens or what they were doing. But neither did the pioneer microscopists. Like them, I graduated to looking at butterfly scales and other miscellaneous objects. I never thought of what I was doing in such a way, but it was pure science. As true as could be of any child so engaged, I was kin to Leeuwenhoek, who said that his work “was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more that most other men.”
In The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth (2010), 143-144.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Book (413)  |  Butterfly (26)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Child (333)  |  Complete (209)  |  Completely (137)  |  Craving (5)  |  Doing (277)  |  Drop (77)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Experience (494)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Gain (146)  |  Graduation (6)  |  Kin (10)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (17)  |  Little (717)  |  Looking (191)  |  Matter (821)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Microscopist (2)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Never (1089)  |  Notice (81)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parent (80)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Plastic (30)  |  Praise (28)  |  Predictability (7)  |  Pure (299)  |  Pure Science (30)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Reside (25)  |  Scale (122)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Thought (995)  |  Unconstrained (2)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wild (96)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

I have always been very fond of mathematics—for one short period, I even toyed with the possibility of abandoning chemistry in its favour. I enjoyed immensely both its conceptual and formal beauties, and the precision and elegance of its relationships and transformations. Why then did I not succumb to its charms? … because by and large, mathematics lacks the sensuous elements which play so large a role in my attraction to chemistry.I love crystals, the beauty of their forms and formation; liquids, dormant, distilling, sloshing! The fumes, the odors—good or bad, the rainbow of colors; the gleaming vessels of every size, shape and purpose.
In Arthur Clay Cope Address, Chicago (28 Aug 1973). In O. T. Benfey and P. J. T. Morris (eds.), Robert Burns Woodward. Architect and Artist in the World of Molecules (2001), 427.
Science quotes on:  |  Attraction (61)  |  Bad (185)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Both (496)  |  Charm (54)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Color (155)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Distillation (11)  |  Dormant (4)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Element (322)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fume (7)  |  Gleam (13)  |  Good (906)  |  Lack (127)  |  Large (398)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Love (328)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Odor (11)  |  Period (200)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Precision (72)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rainbow (17)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Role (86)  |  Shape (77)  |  Short (200)  |  Size (62)  |  Toy (22)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Vessel (63)

I have always felt that astronomical hypotheses should not be regarded as articles of faith, but should only serve as a framework for astronomical calculations, so that it does not matter whether they were right or wrong, as long as the phenomena can be characterized precisely. For who could possibly be certain as to whether the uneven movement of the sun, if we follow the hypotheses of Ptolemy, can be explained by assuming an epicycle or eccentricity. Both assumptions are plausible. That’s why I would consider it quite desirable for you to tell something about that in the preface. In this way you would appease the Aristotelians and the theologians, whose opposition you dread.
From surviving fragment of a Letter (20 Apr 1541) answering a query from Copernicus as to whether he should publish his book (De Revolutionibus). From the German in Leopold Friedrich Prowe, Nicolaus Coppernicus (1883), Vol. 1, Part 2, 521-522. Translated from Prowe by Webmaster using web resources. Original German: “Hypothesen nicht als Glaubens-Artikel zu betrachten seien, sondern nur als Grundlage für die astronomischen Rechnungen zu dienen hätten, so dass es nicht darauf ankomme, ob sie richtig oder falsch seien, wofern sich nur die Erscheinungen dadurch genau bestimmen liessen. »Denn wer dürfte uns wohl darüber sichere Auskunft geben, ob die ungleiche Bewegung der Sonne, wenn wir den Hypothesen des Ptolemaeus folgen, durch Annahme eines Epicykels oder der Ekcentricität zu erklären sei. Beide Annahmen sind gestattet. Daher würde ich—so schliesst Osiander—es für recht wünschenswerth erachten, wenn Du hierüber in der Vorrede etwas beibrächtest. Auf diese Weise würdest Du die Aristoteliker und die Theologen milder stimmen, von denen Du befürchtest, dass sie heftigen Widerspruch kundthun werden.«” Compare Latin text, from Johannes Kepler, 'Apologia Tychonia', Astronomi Opera Omnia (1858), Vol. 1, 246: “De hypothesibus ego sic sensi semper, non esse articulos fidei, sed fundamenta calculi ita ut, etiamsi falsae sint, modo motuum φαινομενα exacte exhibeant, nihil referat; quis enim nos certiores reddet, an Solis inaequalis motus nomine epicycli an nomine eccentricitatis contingat, si Ptolemaei hypotheses sequamur, cum id possit utrumque. Quare plausibile fore videretur, si hac de re in praefatione nonnihil attingeres. Sic enim placidiores redderes peripatheticos et theologos, quos contradicturos metuis.”
Science quotes on:  |  Allowable (2)  |  Appease (6)  |  Aristotelian (2)  |  Article (22)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Both (496)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Certain (557)  |  Characterize (22)  |  Consider (428)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Eccentricity (3)  |  Epicycle (4)  |  Explain (334)  |  Faith (209)  |  Fear (212)  |  Follow (389)  |  Framework (33)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Long (778)  |  Matter (821)  |  Movement (162)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Preface (9)  |  Ptolemy (19)  |  Regard (312)  |  Right (473)  |  Something (718)  |  Sun (407)  |  Tell (344)  |  Theologian (23)  |  Vehement (2)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wrong (246)

I have clearly recorded this: for one can learn good lessons also from what has been tried but clearly has not succeeded, when it is clear why it has not succeeded.
On Joints, 47. Trans. R. W. Sharples.
Science quotes on:  |  Diagnosis (65)  |  Good (906)  |  Learn (672)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Record (161)  |  Succeed (114)

I have indeed lived and worked to my taste either in art or science. What more could a man desire? Knowledge has always been my goal. There is much that I shall leave behind undone…but something at least I was privileged to leave for the world to use, if it so intends…As the Latin poet said I will leave the table of the living like a guest who has eaten his fill. Yes, if I had another life to spend, I certainly would not waste it. But that cannot be, so why complain?
Letter to R. C. Craw, quoted in Tuatara (1984) Vol. 27 (1): 5-7
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Behind (139)  |  Biography (254)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Desire (212)  |  Goal (155)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Latin (44)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Something (718)  |  Spend (97)  |  Table (105)  |  Taste (93)  |  Use (771)  |  Waste (109)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

I have never understood why it should be considered derogatory to the Creator to suppose that he has a sense of humour.
Dean Inge
In 'Confessio Fidei', collected in Outspoken Essays: Second Series (1922), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Consider (428)  |  Creator (97)  |  Derogatory (3)  |  Humour (116)  |  Never (1089)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sense Of Humor (3)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Understood (155)

I have tried to show why I believe that the biologist is the most romantic figure on earth at the present day. At first sight he seems to be just a poor little scrubby underpaid man, groping blindly amid the mazes of the ultra-microscopic, engaging in bitter and lifelong quarrels over the nephridia of flatworms, waking perhaps one morning to find that someone whose name he has never heard has demolished by a few crucial experiments the work which he had hoped would render him immortal.
Daedalus or Science and the Future (1924), 77.
Science quotes on:  |  Biologist (70)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Demolish (8)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Immortal (35)  |  Lifelong (10)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Morning (98)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Never (1089)  |  Poor (139)  |  Present (630)  |  Render (96)  |  Research (753)  |  Romantic (13)  |  Show (353)  |  Sight (135)  |  Waking (17)  |  Work (1402)

I hear you say “Why?” Always “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
Back to Methuselah: a Metabiological Pentateuch (1921), 6. Often seen attributed to John F. Kennedy or Bobby Kennedy who restated this quote as “Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?”
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Dream (222)  |  Hear (144)  |  Look (584)  |  Never (1089)  |  Say (989)  |  Thing (1914)

I hear you say “Why?” Always “Why?” You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
The Serpent. Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 121
Science quotes on:  |  Dream (222)  |  Hear (144)  |  Never (1089)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Wrong (246)

I really enjoy good murder mystery writers, usually women, frequently English, because they have a sense of what the human soul is about and why people do dark and terrible things. I also read quite a lot in the area of particle physics and quantum mechanics, because this is theology. This is about the nature of being. This is what life is all about. I try to read as widely as I possibly can.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Area (33)  |  Being (1276)  |  Dark (145)  |  Do (1905)  |  English (35)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Frequently (21)  |  Good (906)  |  Human (1512)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Murder (16)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Particle (200)  |  Particle Physics (13)  |  People (1031)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Read (308)  |  Really (77)  |  Sense (785)  |  Soul (235)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Theology (54)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Try (296)  |  Usually (176)  |  Widely (9)  |  Woman (160)  |  Writer (90)

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)  |  View (496)

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)  |  View (496)

I see no reason to believe that a creator of protoplasm or primeval matter, if such there be, has any reason to be interested in our insignificant race in a tiny corner of the universe, and still less in us, as still more insignificant individuals. Again, I see no reason why the belief that we are insignificant or fortuitous should lessen our faith.
Letter to her father, Ellis Franklin, undated, perhaps summer 1940 while she was an undergraduate at Cambridge. Excerpted in Brenda Maddox, The Dark Lady of DNA (2002), 61.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Corner (59)  |  Creator (97)  |  Faith (209)  |  Fortuitous (11)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insignificance (12)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Interest (416)  |  Lessen (6)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Primeval (15)  |  Protoplasm (13)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Universe (900)

I see with much pleasure that you are working on a large work on the integral Calculus [ ... ] The reconciliation of the methods which you are planning to make, serves to clarify them mutually, and what they have in common contains very often their true metaphysics; this is why that metaphysics is almost the last thing that one discovers. The spirit arrives at the results as if by instinct; it is only on reflecting upon the route that it and others have followed that it succeeds in generalising the methods and in discovering its metaphysics.
Letter to S. F. Lacroix, 1792. Quoted in S. F. Lacroix, Traité du calcul differentiel et du calcul integral (1797), Vol. 1, xxiv, trans. Ivor Grattan-Guinness.
Science quotes on:  |  Calculus (65)  |  Clarification (8)  |  Common (447)  |  Discover (571)  |  Follow (389)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Integral (26)  |  Integral Calculus (7)  |  Integration (21)  |  Large (398)  |  Last (425)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  Method (531)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planning (21)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Reconciliation (10)  |  Result (700)  |  Route (16)  |  See (1094)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Work (1402)

I should like to compare this rearrangement which the proteins undergo in the animal or vegetable organism to the making up of a railroad train. In their passage through the body parts of the whole may be left behind, and here and there new parts added on. In order to understand fully the change we must remember that the proteins are composed of Bausteine united in very different ways. Some of them contain Bausteine of many kinds. The multiplicity of the proteins is determined by many causes, first through the differences in the nature of the constituent Bausteine; and secondly, through differences in the arrangement of them. The number of Bausteine which may take part in the formation of the proteins is about as large as the number of letters in the alphabet. When we consider that through the combination of letters an infinitely large number of thoughts may be expressed, we can understand how vast a number of the properties of the organism may be recorded in the small space which is occupied by the protein molecules. It enables us to understand how it is possible for the proteins of the sex-cells to contain, to a certain extent, a complete description of the species and even of the individual. We may also comprehend how great and important the task is to determine the structure of the proteins, and why the biochemist has devoted himself with so much industry to their analysis.
'The Chemical Composition of the Cell', The Harvey Lectures (1911), 7, 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Behind (139)  |  Biochemist (9)  |  Body (557)  |  Cause (561)  |  Cell (146)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Combination (150)  |  Compare (76)  |  Complete (209)  |  Consider (428)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Determine (152)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Enable (122)  |  Express (192)  |  Extent (142)  |  First (1302)  |  Formation (100)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Great (1610)  |  Himself (461)  |  Individual (420)  |  Industry (159)  |  Kind (564)  |  Large (398)  |  Letter (117)  |  Making (300)  |  Model (106)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Multiplicity (14)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Order (638)  |  Organism (231)  |  Passage (52)  |  Possible (560)  |  Protein (56)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Rearrangement (5)  |  Record (161)  |  Remember (189)  |  Sex (68)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Species (435)  |  Structure (365)  |  Task (152)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Train (118)  |  Understand (648)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

I thank you for your Expt on the Hedge Hog; but why do you ask me such a question, by way of solving it. I think your solution is just; but why think, why not try the Expt.
[Often seen, without context, briefly as: But why think, why not try the experiment?']
Letter to Edward Jenner (2 Aug 1775). In A. J. Harding Rains (ed.), Letters From the Past: From John Hunter to Edward Jenner (1976), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Context (31)  |  Do (1905)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Hedgehog (4)  |  Question (649)  |  Solution (282)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thank You (8)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Try (296)  |  Way (1214)

I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was 'It won the fight!'
Quoted in George Wald, 'The Origin of Optical Activity', Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (1957), 60, 352-68.
Science quotes on:  |  Charge (63)  |  Electron (96)  |  Last (425)  |  Long (778)  |  Negative (66)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Positive (98)  |  Reason (766)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Wonder (251)

I was suffering from a sharp attack of intermittent fever, and every day during the cold and succeeding hot fits had to lie down for several hours, during which time I had nothing to do but to think over any subjects then particularly interesting me. One day something brought to my recollection Malthus's 'Principles of Population', which I had read about twelve years before. I thought of his clear exposition of 'the positive checks to increase'—disease, accidents, war, and famine—which keep down the population of savage races to so much lower an average than that of more civilized peoples. It then occurred to me that these causes or their equivalents are continually acting in the case of animals also; and as animals usually breed much more rapidly than does mankind, the destruction every year from these causes must be enormous in order to keep down the numbers of each species, since they evidently do not increase regularly from year to year, as otherwise the world would long ago have been densely crowded with those that breed most quickly. Vaguely thinking over the enormous and constant destruction which this implied, it occurred to me to ask the question, Why do some die and some live? The answer was clearly, that on the whole the best fitted live. From the effects of disease the most healthy escaped; from enemies, the strongest, swiftest, or the most cunning; from famine, the best hunters or those with the best digestion; and so on. Then it suddenly flashed upon me that this self-acting process would necessarily improve the race, because in every generation the inferior would inevitably be killed off and the superior would remain—that is, the fittest would survive.
[The phrase 'survival of the fittest,' suggested by the writings of Thomas Robert Malthus, was expressed in those words by Herbert Spencer in 1865. Wallace saw the term in correspondence from Charles Darwin the following year, 1866. However, Wallace did not publish anything on his use of the expression until very much later, and his recollection is likely flawed.]
My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions (1905), Vol. 1, 361-362, or in reprint (2004), 190.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Attack (86)  |  Average (89)  |  Best (467)  |  Cause (561)  |  Cold (115)  |  Constant (148)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Cunning (17)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Digestion (29)  |  Disease (340)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Effect (414)  |  Equivalent (46)  |  Evidently (26)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Express (192)  |  Expression (181)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Famine (18)  |  Fever (34)  |  Fit (139)  |  Flash (49)  |  Flaw (18)  |  Generation (256)  |  Healthy (70)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hour (192)  |  Hunter (28)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inferior (37)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Kill (100)  |  Lie (370)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Thomas Robert Malthus (13)  |  Mankind (356)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Order (638)  |  People (1031)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Population (115)  |  Positive (98)  |  Principle (530)  |  Process (439)  |  Question (649)  |  Race (278)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Read (308)  |  Remain (355)  |  Saw (160)  |  Self (268)  |  Small (489)  |  Something (718)  |  Species (435)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Subject (543)  |  Succeeding (14)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Superior (88)  |  Survival (105)  |  Survival Of The Fittest (43)  |  Survive (87)  |  Term (357)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  War (233)  |  Whole (756)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)  |  Writing (192)  |  Year (963)

I wish people would more generally bring back the seeds of pleasing foreign plants and introduce them broadcast, sowing them by our waysides and in our fields, or in whatever situation is most likely to suit them. It is true, this would puzzle botanists, but there is no reason why botanists should not be puzzled. A botanist is a person whose aim is to uproot, kill and exterminate every plant that is at all remarkable for rarity or any special virtue, and the rarer it is the more bitterly he will hunt it down.
Samuel Butler, Henry Festing Jones (ed.), The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1917), 281.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Back (395)  |  Bitterly (2)  |  Botanist (25)  |  Down (455)  |  Exterminate (10)  |  Field (378)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Hunt (32)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Kill (100)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Plant (320)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Rarity (11)  |  Reason (766)  |  Seed (97)  |  Situation (117)  |  Sowing (9)  |  Special (188)  |  Uproot (2)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Wayside (4)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)

I wish they would use English instead of Greek words. When I want to know why a leaf is green, they tell me it is coloured by “chlorophyll,” which at first sounds very instructive; but if they would only say plainly that a leaf is coloured green by a thing which is called “green leaf,” we should see more precisely how far we had got.
The word “chlorophyll” is formed from the Greek words for “green” “leaf.” In The Queen of the Air: a Study of the Greek Myths of Cloud and Storm (1869, 1889), 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Chlorophyll (5)  |  Color (155)  |  English (35)  |  First (1302)  |  Greek (109)  |  Green (65)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Know (1538)  |  Leaf (73)  |  More (2558)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Sound (187)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Use (771)  |  Want (504)  |  Wish (216)  |  Word (650)

I wondher why ye can always read a doctor's bill an’ ye niver can read his purscription.
'Drugs', Mr. Dooley Says (1910). In The Speaker: A Quarterly Magazine (1913), Vol. 8, 147.
Science quotes on:  |  Bill (14)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Physician (284)  |  Prescription (18)  |  Read (308)

I would picture myself as a virus, or as a cancer cell, for example, and try to sense what it would be like to be either. I would also imagine myself as the immune system, and I would try to reconstruct what I would do as an immune system engaged in combating a virus or cancer cell. When I had played through a series of such scenarios on a particular problem and had acquired new insights, I would design laboratory experiments accordingly… Based upon the results of the experiment, I would then know what question to ask next… When I observed phenomena in the laboratory that I did not understand, I would also ask questions as if interrogating myself: “Why would I do that if I were a virus or a cancer cell, or the immune system?” Before long, this internal dialogue became second nature to me; I found that my mind worked this way all the time.
In Anatomy of Reality: Merging of Intuition and Reason (1983), 7, footnote b, as quoted and cited in Roger Frantz, Two Minds: Intuition and Analysis in the History of Economic Thought (2006), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Ask (420)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Cell (146)  |  Combat (16)  |  Design (203)  |  Dialogue (10)  |  Do (1905)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Immune System (3)  |  Insight (107)  |  Internal (69)  |  Interrogate (4)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Know (1538)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Long (778)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Next (238)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Picture (148)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Result (700)  |  Scenario (3)  |  Second Nature (3)  |  Sense (785)  |  Series (153)  |  System (545)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Try (296)  |  Understand (648)  |  Virus (32)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

I'm not smart. I try to observe. Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked 'why.'
Quoted in New York Post (24 Jun 1965). In Alfred J. Kolatch, Great Jewish Quotations (1996), 38-39.
Science quotes on:  |  Apple (46)  |  Ask (420)  |  Fall (243)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Saw (160)  |  Smart (33)  |  Try (296)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

If a small animal and a lighted candle be placed in a closed flask, so that no air can enter, in a short time the candle will go out, nor will the animal long survive. ... The animal is not suffocated by the smoke of the candle. ... The reason why the animal can live some time after the candle has gone out seems to be that the flame needs a continuous rapid and full supply of nitro-aereal particles. ... For animals, a less aereal spirit is sufficient. ... The movements of the lungs help not a little towards sucking in aereal particles which may remain in said flask and towards transferring them to the blood of the animal.
Remarking (a hundred years before Priestley identified oxygen) that a component of the air is taken into the blood.
Quoted in William Stirling, Some Apostles of Physiology (1902), 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Blood (144)  |  Candle (32)  |  Closed (38)  |  Component (51)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Enter (145)  |  Flame (44)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Lung (37)  |  Movement (162)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Particle (200)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remain (355)  |  Respiration (14)  |  Short (200)  |  Small (489)  |  Smoke (32)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Supply (100)  |  Survive (87)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

If atoms do, by chance, happen to combine themselves into so many shapes, why have they never combined together to form a house or a slipper? By the same token, why do we not believe that if innumerable letters of the Greek alphabet were poured all over the market-place they would eventually happen to form the text of the Iliad?
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, Book 2, Chapter 12, 'Apology for Raymond Sebond', trans. M. A. Screech (1991), 612.
Science quotes on:  |  Alphabet (14)  |  Atom (381)  |  Belief (615)  |  Chance (244)  |  Combination (150)  |  Combine (58)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Greek (109)  |  Happen (282)  |  House (143)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Letter (117)  |  Market (23)  |  Never (1089)  |  Pour (9)  |  Shape (77)  |  Text (16)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Together (392)  |  Token (10)

If God did not intend for us to eat animals, why did he make them taste so good?
Anonymous
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Eat (108)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Intend (18)  |  Nutrition (25)  |  Taste (93)

If it is good to teach students about the chemical industry then why is it not good to assign ethical qualities to substances along with their physical and chemical ones? We might for instance say that CS [gas] is a bad chemical because it can only ever be used by a few people with something to protect against many people with nothing to lose. Terylene or indigotin are neutral chemicals. Under capitalism their production is an exploitive process, under socialism they are used for the common good. Penicillin is a good chemical.
Quoted in T. Pateman (ed.), Countercourse (1972), 215.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Bad (185)  |  Capitalism (12)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Common (447)  |  Ethic (39)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Exploitation (14)  |  Gas (89)  |  Good (906)  |  Industry (159)  |  Lose (165)  |  Loss (117)  |  Neutral (15)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Penicillin (18)  |  People (1031)  |  Physical (518)  |  Process (439)  |  Production (190)  |  Protect (65)  |  Protection (41)  |  Quality (139)  |  Say (989)  |  Socialism (4)  |  Something (718)  |  Student (317)  |  Substance (253)  |  Teach (299)  |  Use (771)

If it were always necessary to reduce everything to intuitive knowledge, demonstration would often be insufferably prolix. This is why mathematicians have had the cleverness to divide the difficulties and to demonstrate separately the intervening propositions. And there is art also in this; for as the mediate truths (which are called lemmas, since they appear to be a digression) may be assigned in many ways, it is well, in order to aid the understanding and memory, to choose of them those which greatly shorten the process, and appear memorable and worthy in themselves of being demonstrated. But there is another obstacle, viz.: that it is not easy to demonstrate all the axioms, and to reduce demonstrations wholly to intuitive knowledge. And if we had chosen to wait for that, perhaps we should not yet have the science of geometry.
In Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz and Alfred Gideon Langley (trans.), New Essays Concerning Human Understanding (1896), 413-414.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Appear (122)  |  Art (680)  |  Assign (15)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Choose (116)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Cleverness (15)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Digression (3)  |  Divide (77)  |  Easy (213)  |  Everything (489)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Insufferable (2)  |  Intervene (8)  |  Intuitive (14)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lemma (2)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mediate (4)  |  Memorable (4)  |  Memory (144)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Often (109)  |  Order (638)  |  Process (439)  |  Prolix (2)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Separate (151)  |  Shorten (5)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Wait (66)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Worthy (35)

If it were possible for a metaphysician to be a golfer, he might perhaps occasionally notice that his ball, instead of moving forward in a vertical plane (like the generality of projectiles, such as brickbats and cricket balls), skewed away gradually to the right. If he did notice it, his methods would naturally lead him to content himself with his caddies’s remark-“ye heeled that yin,” or “Ye jist sliced it.” … But a scientific man is not to be put off with such flimsy verbiage as that. He must know more. What is “Heeling”, what is “slicing”, and why would either operation (if it could be thoroughly carried out) send a ball as if to cover point, thence to long slip, and finally behind back-stop? These, as Falstaff said, are “questions to be asked.”
In 'The Unwritten Chapter on Golf, Nature (1887), 36, 502.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Back (395)  |  Ball (64)  |  Behind (139)  |  Contentment (11)  |  Cricket (8)  |  Flimsy (2)  |  Forward (104)  |  Generality (45)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Golfer (3)  |  Gradual (30)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Himself (461)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lead (391)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Metaphysician (7)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Movement (162)  |  Must (1525)  |  Notice (81)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Operation (221)  |  Plane (22)  |  Point (584)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Projection (5)  |  Question (649)  |  Right (473)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Verbiage (3)  |  Vertical (4)

If Louis Pasteur were to come out of his grave because he heard that the cure for cancer still had not been found, NIH would tell him, “Of course we'll give you assistance. Now write up exactly what you will be doing during the three years of your grant.” Pasteur would say, “Thank you very much,” and would go back to his grave. Why? Because research means going into the unknown. If you know what you are going to do in science, then you are stupid! This is like telling Michelangelo or Renoir that he must tell you in advance how many reds and how many blues he will buy, and exactly how he will put those colors together.
Interview for Saturday Evening Post (Jan/Feb 1981), 30.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Assistance (23)  |  Back (395)  |  Blue (63)  |  Buonarroti_Michelangelo (2)  |  Cancer (61)  |  Color (155)  |  Course (413)  |  Cure (124)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Exactness (29)  |  Finding (34)  |  Giving (11)  |  Grant (76)  |  Grave (52)  |  Hearing (50)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Means (587)  |  Must (1525)  |  Paint (22)  |  Louis Pasteur (85)  |  Red (38)  |  Research (753)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Still (614)  |  Stupid (38)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Tell (344)  |  Telling (24)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thank You (8)  |  Together (392)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Will (2350)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)  |  Year (963)  |  Years (5)

If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
Anonymous
Usually seen without any source. Although sometimes attributed to George Carlin or Stephen Wright, Webmaster has, so far, identified no primary source. Can you help?
Science quotes on:  |  Ape (54)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Still (614)

If the Humours of the Eye by old Age decay, so as by shrinking to make the Cornea and Coat of the Crystalline Humour grow flatter than before, the Light will not be refracted enough, and for want of a sufficient Refraction will not converge to the bottom of the Eye but to some place beyond it, and by consequence paint in the bottom of the Eye a confused Picture, and according to the Indistinctuess of this Picture the Object will appear confused. This is the reason of the decay of sight in old Men, and shews why their Sight is mended by Spectacles. For those Convex glasses supply the defect of plumpness in the Eye, and by increasing the Refraction make the rays converge sooner, so as to convene distinctly at the bottom of the Eye if the Glass have a due degree of convexity. And the contrary happens in short-sighted Men whose Eyes are too plump. For the Refraction being now too great, the Rays converge and convene in the Eyes before they come at the bottom; and therefore the Picture made in the bottom and the Vision caused thereby will not be distinct, unless the Object be brought so near the Eye as that the place where the converging Rays convene may be removed to the bottom, or that the plumpness of the Eye be taken off and the Refractions diminished by a Concave-glass of a due degree of Concavity, or lastly that by Age the Eye grow flatter till it come to a due Figure: For short-sighted Men see remote Objects best in Old Age, and therefore they are accounted to have the most lasting Eyes.
Opticks (1704), Book 1, Part 1, Axiom VII, 10-11.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Account (195)  |  Age (509)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Concave (6)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Converge (10)  |  Convergence (4)  |  Convex (6)  |  Decay (59)  |  Defect (31)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Due (143)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eye (440)  |  Figure (162)  |  Glass (94)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Happen (282)  |  Humour (116)  |  Lens (15)  |  Light (635)  |  Most (1728)  |  Object (438)  |  Old (499)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Picture (148)  |  Ray (115)  |  Reason (766)  |  Refraction (13)  |  Remote (86)  |  See (1094)  |  Short (200)  |  Short-Sighted (5)  |  Sight (135)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Spectacles (10)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Supply (100)  |  Vision (127)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)

If there be an order in which the human race has mastered its various kinds of knowledge, there will arise in every child an aptitude to acquire these kinds of knowledge in the same order. So that even were the order intrinsically indifferent, it would facilitate education to lead the individual mind through the steps traversed by the general mind. But the order is not intrinsically indifferent; and hence the fundamental reason why education should be a repetition of civilization in little.
Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical (1861), 76.
Science quotes on:  |  Aptitude (19)  |  Arise (162)  |  Child (333)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Education (423)  |  Facilitation (2)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  General (521)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Indifference (16)  |  Individual (420)  |  Intrinsic (18)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Little (717)  |  Master (182)  |  Mastery (36)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Order (638)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  Repetition (29)  |  Step (234)  |  Through (846)  |  Traverse (5)  |  Variety (138)  |  Various (205)  |  Will (2350)

If there were some solitary or feral man, the passions of the soul would be sufficient for him; by them he would be conformed to things in order that he might have knowledge of them. But because man is naturally political and social, there is need for one man to make his conceptions known to others, which is done with speech. So significant speech was needed if men were to live together. Which is why those of different tongues do not easily live together.
Sententia super libri Perihermeneias (Commentary on Aristotle’s On Interpretation) [1270-1271], Book I, lesson 2, number 2, trans. R. McInerny, quoted in R. McInerny (ed.) Thomas Aquinas, Selected Writings (1998), 460.
Science quotes on:  |  Communication (101)  |  Conception (160)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Passion (121)  |  Political (124)  |  Significant (78)  |  Social (261)  |  Soul (235)  |  Speech (66)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Tongue (44)

If this “critical openminded attitude” … is wanted, the question at once arises, Is it science that should be studied in order to achieve it? Why not study law? A judge has to do everything that a scientist is exhorted to do in the way of withholding judgment until all the facts are in, and then judging impartially on the merits of the case as well as he can. … Why not a course in Sherlock Holmes? The detectives, or at least the detective-story writers, join with the scientists in excoriating “dogmatic prejudice, lying, falsification of facts, and data, and willful fallacious reasoning.”
In Science is a Sacred Cow (1950), 191.
Science quotes on:  |  Arise (162)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Case (102)  |  Course (413)  |  Critical (73)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Data (162)  |  Detective (11)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dogmatism (15)  |  Everything (489)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fallacious (13)  |  Falsification (11)  |  Impartiality (7)  |  Judge (114)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Law (913)  |  Lie (370)  |  Lying (55)  |  Merit (51)  |  Order (638)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Question (649)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sherlock Holmes (5)  |  Story (122)  |  Study (701)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Willful (3)  |  Writer (90)

If three simple questions and one well chosen laboratory test lead to an unambiguous diagnosis, why harry the patient with more?
Anonymous
Editorial, 'Clinical decision by numbers'. Lancet (1975) 1, 1077.
Science quotes on:  |  Chosen (48)  |  Diagnosis (65)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Lead (391)  |  More (2558)  |  Patient (209)  |  Question (649)  |  Simple (426)  |  Test (221)

If time is treated in modern physics as a dimension on a par with the dimensions of space, why should we a priori exclude the possibility that we are pulled as well as pushed along its axis? The future has, after all, as much or as little reality as the past, and there is nothing logically inconceivable in introducing, as a working hypothesis, an element of finality, supplementary to the element of causality, into our equations. It betrays a great lack of imagination to believe that the concept of “purpose” must necessarily be associated with some anthropomorphic deity.
In 'Epilogue', The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe (1959, 1968), 537.
Science quotes on:  |  A Priori (26)  |  Anthropomorphic (4)  |  Associate (25)  |  Belief (615)  |  Causality (11)  |  Concept (242)  |  Deity (22)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Element (322)  |  Equation (138)  |  Finality (8)  |  Future (467)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inconceivable (13)  |  Lack (127)  |  Little (717)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Physics (23)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Past (355)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Pull (43)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Push (66)  |  Reality (274)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Space (523)  |  Supplementary (4)  |  Time (1911)

If we do discover a complete unified theory, it should be in time understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God.
A Brief History of Time (1988), 191.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Complete (209)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exist (458)  |  Find (1014)  |  God (776)  |  Human (1512)  |  Know (1538)  |  Layman (21)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Principle (530)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understandable (12)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Unified Theory (7)  |  Universe (900)

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)  |  View (496)

If you had come to me a hundred years ago, do you think I should have dreamed of the telephone? Why, even now I cannot understand it! I use it every day, I transact half my correspondence by means of it, but I don’t understand it. Thnk of that little stretched disk of iron at the end of a wire repeating in your ear not only sounds, but words—not only words, but all the most delicate and elusive inflections and nuances of tone which separate one human voice from another! Is not that something of a miracle?
Quoted in Harold Begbie in Pall Mall magazine (Jan 1903). In Albert Shaw, The American Monthly Review of Reviews (1903), 27, 232.
Science quotes on:  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Ear (69)  |  End (603)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Iron (99)  |  Little (717)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Most (1728)  |  Separate (151)  |  Something (718)  |  Sound (187)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Telephone (31)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tone (22)  |  Understand (648)  |  Use (771)  |  Wire (36)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)

If you take a plunge into the sea, you unconsciously close your pores against the cold. If you go out on a cold day, you consciously put on an overcoat. Science can give you reason why you should not make & put on an overcoat without knowing it just as you shut your pores.
Letter to E.C. Chapman (29 Jul 1891), Dan H. Laurence (ed.), Collected Letters (1965), Vol. 1, 303.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Close (77)  |  Cold (115)  |  Consciously (6)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Plunge (11)  |  Pore (7)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shut (41)  |  Unconsciously (9)

If you were going to risk all that, not just risk the hardship and the pain but risk your life. Put everything on line for a dream, for something that’s worth nothing, that can’t be proved to anybody. You just have the transient moment on a summit and when you come back down to the valley it goes. It is actually a completely illogical thing to do. It is not justifiable by any rational terms. That’s probably why you do it.
The Beckoning Silence
Science quotes on:  |  Actually (27)  |  Anybody (42)  |  Back (395)  |  Completely (137)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Dream (222)  |  Everything (489)  |  Hardship (4)  |  Illogical (2)  |  Justifiable (3)  |  Life (1870)  |  Line (100)  |  Moment (260)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pain (144)  |  Probably (50)  |  Prove (261)  |  Rational (95)  |  Risk (68)  |  Something (718)  |  Summit (27)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Transient (13)  |  Valley (37)  |  Worth (172)

Imagine that … the world is something like a great chess game being played by the gods, and we are observers of the game. … If we watch long enough, we may eventually catch on to a few of the rules…. However, we might not be able to understand why a particular move is made in the game, merely because it is too complicated and our minds are limited…. We must limit ourselves to the more basic question of the rules of the game.
If we know the rules, we consider that we “understand” the world.
In 'Basic Physics', The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964, 2013), Vol. 1, 2-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chess (27)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Consider (428)  |  Enough (341)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Game (104)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Know (1538)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Long (778)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Move (223)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observer (48)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Play (116)  |  Question (649)  |  Rule (307)  |  Something (718)  |  Understand (648)  |  Watch (118)  |  World (1850)

In 1684 Dr Halley came to visit him at Cambridge, after they had been some time together, the Dr asked him what he thought the Curve would be that would be described by the Planets supposing the force of attraction towards the Sun to be reciprocal to the square of their distance from it. Sr Isaac replied immediately that it would be an Ellipsis, the Doctor struck with joy & amazement asked him how he knew it, why saith he I have calculated it, whereupon Dr Halley asked him for his calculation without any farther delay. Sr Isaac looked among his papers but could not find it, but he promised him to renew it, & then to send it him.
[Recollecting Newton's account of the meeting after which Halley prompted Newton to write The Principia. When asking Newton this question, Halley was aware, without revealing it to Newton that Robert Hooke had made this hypothesis of plantary motion a decade earlier.]
Quoted in Richard Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1980), 403.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Amazement (19)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Curve (49)  |  Decade (66)  |  Delay (21)  |  Distance (171)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Ellipse (8)  |  Farther (51)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Edmond Halley (9)  |  Robert Hooke (20)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Joy (117)  |  Look (584)  |  Motion (320)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Paper (192)  |  Planet (402)  |  Principia (14)  |  Promise (72)  |  Prompt (14)  |  Question (649)  |  Reciprocal (7)  |  Renew (20)  |  Search (175)  |  Square (73)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Write (250)

In Institutions of a lower grade [secondary schools], it [geology] receives far less attention than its merits deserve. Why should not a science, whose facts possess a thrilling interest; whose reasonings are admirably adapted for mental discipline, and often severely tax the strongest powers; and whose results are, many of them, as grand and ennobling as those of Astronomy itself; … why should not such a science be thought as essential in education as the kindred branches of Chemistry and Astronomy?
In 'Preface', Elementary Geology (1840, 1841), vi.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Admirable (20)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Attention (196)  |  Branch (155)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Education (423)  |  Ennoble (8)  |  Essential (210)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grand (29)  |  Institution (73)  |  Interest (416)  |  Kindred (12)  |  Mental (179)  |  Merit (51)  |  Possess (157)  |  Power (771)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Receive (117)  |  Result (700)  |  School (227)  |  Secondary School (4)  |  Stronger (36)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Tax (27)  |  Thought (995)  |  Thrill (26)

In mathematics, if a pattern occurs, we can go on to ask, Why does it occur? What does it signify? And we can find answers to these questions. In fact, for every pattern that appears, a mathematician feels he ought to know why it appears.
in Prelude to mathematics (1955), 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Occur (151)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Question (649)  |  Signify (17)

In particular, and most importantly, this is the reason why the scientific worldview contains of itself no ethical values, no esthetical values, not a word about our own ultimate scope or destination, and no God, if you please. Whence came I and whither go I?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  Contain (68)  |  Destination (16)  |  Ethical (34)  |  God (776)  |  Importantly (3)  |  Most (1728)  |  Particular (80)  |  Please (68)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scope (44)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Value (393)  |  Whither (11)  |  Word (650)  |  WorldView (5)

In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.
PBS interview with David Frost (Nov 1995). In Lisa Rogak (ed.) The Impatient Optimist - Bill Gates in his Words (2012), 107.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Doing (277)  |  God (776)  |  Happen (282)  |  Know (1538)  |  Principle (530)  |  Religious (134)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)

In the 1860s, Pasteur not only applied his germ theory to create “Pasteurization,” rescuing France’s wine and vinegar industries, but also found both the cause and cure of silkworm disease, saving growers millions of dollars. When Napoleon asked the scientist why he had not legitimately profited by his findings, Pasteur replied: “In France scientists would consider they lowered themselves by doing so.”
In Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein, The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World (2007), 190.
Science quotes on:  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Ask (420)  |  Boneparte_Napoleon (2)  |  Both (496)  |  Cause (561)  |  Consider (428)  |  Create (245)  |  Cure (124)  |  Discover (571)  |  Disease (340)  |  Doing (277)  |  Dollar (22)  |  France (29)  |  Germ (54)  |  Germ Theory (2)  |  Industry (159)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  Lower (11)  |  Million (124)  |  Napoleon (16)  |  Louis Pasteur (85)  |  Profit (56)  |  Reply (58)  |  Rescue (14)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Silkworm (2)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Vinegar (7)  |  Wine (39)

In the modern world, science and society often interact in a perverse way. We live in a technological society, and technology causes political problems. The politicians and the public expect science to provide answers to the problems. Scientific experts are paid and encouraged to provide answers. The public does not have much use for a scientist who says, “Sorry, but we don’t know.” The public prefers to listen to scientists who give confident answers to questions and make confident predictions of what will happen as a result of human activities. So it happens that the experts who talk publicly about politically contentious questions tend to speak more clearly than they think. They make confident predictions about the future, and end up believing their own predictions. Their predictions become dogmas which they do not question. The public is led to believe that the fashionable scientific dogmas are true, and it may sometimes happen that they are wrong. That is why heretics who question the dogmas are needed.
Frederick S. Pardee Distinguished Lecture (Oct 2005), Boston University. Collected in 'Heretical Thoughts About Science and Society', A Many-Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe (2007), 43-44.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Become (821)  |  Belief (615)  |  Cause (561)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Confident (25)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dogma (49)  |  End (603)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expert (67)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Fashionable (15)  |  Future (467)  |  Happen (282)  |  Heretic (8)  |  Human (1512)  |  Interaction (47)  |  Know (1538)  |  Listen (81)  |  Live (650)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Need (320)  |  Perversity (2)  |  Political (124)  |  Politician (40)  |  Politics (122)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Problem (731)  |  Public (100)  |  Question (649)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Society (25)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Society (350)  |  Sorry (31)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Technological (62)  |  Technology (281)  |  Tend (124)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Wrong (246)

In the present state of our knowledge, it would be useless to attempt to speculate on the remote cause of the electrical energy, or the reason why different bodies, after being brought into contact, should be found differently electrified; its relation to chemical affinity is, however, sufficiently evident. May it not be identical with it, and an essential property of matter?
Bakerian Lecture, 'On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1807, 97, 39.
Science quotes on:  |  Affinity (27)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Being (1276)  |  Cause (561)  |  Charge (63)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Contact (66)  |  Different (595)  |  Electrical (57)  |  Energy (373)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evident (92)  |  Identical (55)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Matter (821)  |  Present (630)  |  Property (177)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remote (86)  |  State (505)

In the temple of science are many mansions, and various indeed are they that dwell therein and the motives that have led them thither. Many take to science out of a joyful sense of superior intellectual power; science is their own special sport to which they look for vivid experience and the satisfaction of ambition; many others are to be found in the temple who have offered the products of their brains on this altar for purely utilitarian purposes. Were an angel of the Lord to come and drive all the people belonging to these two categories out of the temple, the assemblage would be seriously depleted, but there would still be some men, of both present and past times, left inside. Our Planck is one of them, and that is why we love him.
Address at Physical Society, Berlin (1918), for Max Planck’s 60th birthday, 'Principles of Research' in Essays in Science (1934, 2004), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Altar (11)  |  Ambition (46)  |  Angel (47)  |  Assemblage (17)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Both (496)  |  Brain (281)  |  Depletion (4)  |  Experience (494)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Joy (117)  |  Look (584)  |  Lord (97)  |  Love (328)  |  Motive (62)  |  Offer (142)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  People (1031)  |  Max Planck (83)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Product (166)  |  Purely (111)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Sense (785)  |  Special (188)  |  Sport (23)  |  Still (614)  |  Superior (88)  |  Temple (45)  |  Temple Of Science (8)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Utility (52)  |  Various (205)  |  Vivid (25)

In the year 1666 he retired again from Cambridge... to his mother in Lincolnshire & whilst he was musing in a garden it came into his thought that the power of gravity (wch brought an apple from the tree to the ground) was not limited to a certain distance from the earth but that this power must extend much farther than was usually thought. Why not as high as the moon said he to himself & if so that must influence her motion & perhaps retain her in her orbit, whereupon he fell a calculating what would be the effect of that supposition but being absent from books & taking the common estimate in use among Geographers & our seamen before Norwood had measured the earth, that 60 English miles were contained in one degree of latitude on the surface of the Earth his computation did not agree with his theory & inclined him then to entertain a notion that together with the force of gravity there might be a mixture of that force wch the moon would have if it was carried along in a vortex.
[The earliest account of Newton, gravity and an apple.]
Memorandum of a conversation with Newton in August 1726. Quoted in Richard Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton (1980), 154.
Science quotes on:  |  Absent (3)  |  Account (195)  |  Apple (46)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Certain (557)  |  Common (447)  |  Computation (28)  |  Degree (277)  |  Distance (171)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Effect (414)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Extend (129)  |  Farther (51)  |  Force (497)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  Himself (461)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Influence (231)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mother (116)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Notion (120)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Power (771)  |  Retain (57)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Tree (269)  |  Use (771)  |  Usually (176)  |  Vortex (10)  |  Year (963)

In this great celestial creation, the catastrophy of a world, such as ours, or even the total dissolution of a system of worlds, may possibly be no more to the great Author of Nature, than the most common accident in life with us, and in all probability such final and general Doomsdays may be as frequent there, as even Birthdays or mortality with us upon the earth. This idea has something so cheerful in it, that I know I can never look upon the stars without wondering why the whole world does not become astronomers; and that men endowed with sense and reason should neglect a science they are naturally so much interested in, and so capable of enlarging their understanding, as next to a demonstration must convince them of their immortality, and reconcile them to all those little difficulties incident to human nature, without the least anxiety. All this the vast apparent provision in the starry mansions seem to promise: What ought we then not to do, to preserve our natural birthright to it and to merit such inheritance, which alas we think created all to gratify alone a race of vain-glorious gigantic beings, while they are confined to this world, chained like so many atoms to a grain of sand.
In The Universe and the Stars: Being an Original Theory on the Visible Creation, Founded on the Laws of Nature (1750, 1837), 132.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Alone (324)  |  Anxiety (30)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Atom (381)  |  Author (175)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Birthday (9)  |  Birthright (5)  |  Capable (174)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Cheerful (10)  |  Common (447)  |  Convince (43)  |  Creation (350)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Dissolution (11)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doomsday (5)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Final (121)  |  General (521)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Grain (50)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Idea (881)  |  Inheritance (35)  |  Interest (416)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Merit (51)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Never (1089)  |  Next (238)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Probability (135)  |  Promise (72)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reconcile (19)  |  Sand (63)  |  Sense (785)  |  Something (718)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  System (545)  |  Think (1122)  |  Total (95)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vain (86)  |  Vast (188)  |  Whole (756)  |  Whole World (29)  |  World (1850)

Is it in Time to hide Eternity?
And why not in an Atom on the Shore,
To cover Ocean? or a Mote, the Sun?
The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality (1742, 1750), Night 6, 127. [A mote means a speck - Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Cover (40)  |  Eternity (64)  |  Hide (70)  |  Mote (3)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Shore (25)  |  Speck (25)  |  Sun (407)  |  Time (1911)

It follows from the supreme perfection of God, that in creating the universe has chosen the best possible plan, in which there is the greatest variety together with the greatest order; the best arranged ground, place, time; the most results produced in the most simple ways; the most of power, knowledge, happiness and goodness the creatures that the universe could permit. For since all the possibles in I understanding of God laid claim to existence in proportion to their perfections, the actual world, as the resultant of all these claims, must be the most perfect possible. And without this it would not be possible to give a reason why things have turned out so rather than otherwise.
The Principles of Nature and Grace (1714), The Philosophical Works of Leibnitz (1890), ed. G. M. Duncan, 213-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Best (467)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Claim (154)  |  Creature (242)  |  Existence (481)  |  Follow (389)  |  God (776)  |  Goodness (26)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Ground (222)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Order (638)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Permit (61)  |  Plan (122)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Produced (187)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Simple (426)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Variety (138)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

It goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory. This most excellent canopy the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging, this majestic roof fretted with golden fire—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is a man. How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving, how express and admirable, in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god—the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me—no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.
Hamlet (1601), II, ii.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Admirable (20)  |  Air (366)  |  Angel (47)  |  Animal (651)  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Brave (16)  |  Canopy (8)  |  Congregation (3)  |  Delight (111)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Dust (68)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Express (192)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Fire (203)  |  Form (976)  |  Foul (15)  |  Frame (26)  |  God (776)  |  Golden (47)  |  Heavily (14)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nobility (5)  |  Noble (93)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paragon (4)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  Promontory (3)  |  Quintessence (4)  |  Reason (766)  |  Roof (14)  |  Say (989)  |  Sterile (24)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vapor (12)  |  Vapour (16)  |  Woman (160)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

It has always irked me as improper that there are still so many people for whom the sky is no more than a mass of random points of light. I do not see why we should recognize a house, a tree, or a flower here below and not, for example, the red Arcturus up there in the heavens as it hangs from its constellation Bootes, like a basket hanging from a balloon.
As quoted in J. L. Locher, Escher: With a Complete Catalogue of the Graphic Works (1982), 113.
Science quotes on:  |  Arcturus (4)  |  Balloon (16)  |  Basket (8)  |  Below (26)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Do (1905)  |  Example (98)  |  Flower (112)  |  Hang (46)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  House (143)  |  Improper (3)  |  Light (635)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Random (42)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Red (38)  |  See (1094)  |  Sky (174)  |  Still (614)  |  Tree (269)

It has often been said, and certainly not without justification, that the man of science is a poor philosopher. Why then should it not be the right thing for the physicist to let the philosopher do the philosophising? Such might indeed be the right thing to do a time when the physicist believes he has at his disposal a rigid system of fundamental laws which are so well that waves of doubt can't reach them; but it cannot be right at a time when the very foundations of physics itself have become problematic as they are now … when experience forces us to seek a newer and more solid foundation.
‘Physics and Reality’, Franklin Institute Journal (Mar 1936). Collected in Out of My Later Years (1950), 58.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Experience (494)  |  Force (497)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Justification (52)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  More (2558)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Poor (139)  |  Reach (286)  |  Right (473)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Seek (218)  |  Solid (119)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wave (112)

It is curious to reflect on how history repeats itself the world over. Why, I remember the same thing was done when I was a boy on the Mississippi River. There was a proposition in a township there to discontinue public schools because they were too expensive. An old farmer spoke up and said if they stopped the schools they would not save anything, because every time a school was closed a jail had to be built.
It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. He'll never get fat. I believe it is better to support schools than jails.
Address at a meeting of the Berkeley Lyceum, New York (23 Nov 1900). Mark Twain's Speeches (2006), 69-70.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Boy (100)  |  Build (211)  |  Close (77)  |  Closed (38)  |  Curious (95)  |  Discontinue (3)  |  Dog (70)  |  Education (423)  |  Expensive (10)  |  Farmer (35)  |  Fat (11)  |  Feed (31)  |  History (716)  |  Jail (4)  |  Never (1089)  |  Old (499)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Public (100)  |  Remember (189)  |  River (140)  |  Save (126)  |  School (227)  |  Support (151)  |  Tail (21)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  World (1850)

It is imperative in the design process to have a full and complete understanding of how failure is being obviated in order to achieve success. Without fully appreciating how close to failing a new design is, its own designer may not fully understand how and why a design works. A new design may prove to be successful because it has a sufficiently large factor of safety (which, of course, has often rightly been called a “factor of ignorance”), but a design's true factor of safety can never be known if the ultimate failure mode is unknown. Thus the design that succeeds (ie, does not fail) can actually provide less reliable information about how or how not to extrapolate from that design than one that fails. It is this observation that has long motivated reflective designers to study failures even more assiduously than successes.
In Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering (1994), 31. books.google.comHenry Petroski - 1994
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Appreciation (37)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Complete (209)  |  Course (413)  |  Design (203)  |  Extrapolation (6)  |  Factor (47)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Imperative (16)  |  Information (173)  |  Known (453)  |  Large (398)  |  Long (778)  |  Mode (43)  |  More (2558)  |  Motivated (14)  |  Motivation (28)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Observation (593)  |  Order (638)  |  Process (439)  |  Prove (261)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Reliability (18)  |  Safety (58)  |  Study (701)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Success (327)  |  Successful (134)  |  Sufficiency (16)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Work (1402)

It is now necessary to indicate more definitely the reason why mathematics not only carries conviction in itself, but also transmits conviction to the objects to which it is applied. The reason is found, first of all, in the perfect precision with which the elementary mathematical concepts are determined; in this respect each science must look to its own salvation .... But this is not all. As soon as human thought attempts long chains of conclusions, or difficult matters generally, there arises not only the danger of error but also the suspicion of error, because since all details cannot be surveyed with clearness at the same instant one must in the end be satisfied with a belief that nothing has been overlooked from the beginning. Every one knows how much this is the case even in arithmetic, the most elementary use of mathematics. No one would imagine that the higher parts of mathematics fare better in this respect; on the contrary, in more complicated conclusions the uncertainty and suspicion of hidden errors increases in rapid progression. How does mathematics manage to rid itself of this inconvenience which attaches to it in the highest degree? By making proofs more rigorous? By giving new rules according to which the old rules shall be applied? Not in the least. A very great uncertainty continues to attach to the result of each single computation. But there are checks. In the realm of mathematics each point may be reached by a hundred different ways; and if each of a hundred ways leads to the same point, one may be sure that the right point has been reached. A calculation without a check is as good as none. Just so it is with every isolated proof in any speculative science whatever; the proof may be ever so ingenious, and ever so perfectly true and correct, it will still fail to convince permanently. He will therefore be much deceived, who, in metaphysics, or in psychology which depends on metaphysics, hopes to see his greatest care in the precise determination of the concepts and in the logical conclusions rewarded by conviction, much less by success in transmitting conviction to others. Not only must the conclusions support each other, without coercion or suspicion of subreption, but in all matters originating in experience, or judging concerning experience, the results of speculation must be verified by experience, not only superficially, but in countless special cases.
In Werke [Kehrbach] (1890), Bd. 5, 105. As quoted, cited and translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  According (236)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Arise (162)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Attach (57)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Belief (615)  |  Better (493)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Care (203)  |  Carry (130)  |  Case (102)  |  Chain (51)  |  Check (26)  |  Clearness (11)  |  Coercion (4)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Computation (28)  |  Concept (242)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Continue (179)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Convince (43)  |  Correct (95)  |  Countless (39)  |  Danger (127)  |  Deceive (26)  |  Definitely (5)  |  Degree (277)  |  Depend (238)  |  Detail (150)  |  Determination (80)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Elementary (98)  |  End (603)  |  Error (339)  |  Experience (494)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fare (5)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Generally (15)  |  Give (208)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Hide (70)  |  High (370)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Thought (7)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Inconvenience (3)  |  Increase (225)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Instant (46)  |  Isolate (24)  |  Judge (114)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lead (391)  |  Least (75)  |  Less (105)  |  Logical (57)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Making (300)  |  Manage (26)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Metaphysic (7)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Object (438)  |  Old (499)  |  Originate (39)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Part (235)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perfectly (10)  |  Permanent (67)  |  Point (584)  |  Precise (71)  |  Precision (72)  |  Progression (23)  |  Proof (304)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Rapid (37)  |  Reach (286)  |  Realm (87)  |  Reason (766)  |  Respect (212)  |  Result (700)  |  Reward (72)  |  Rid (14)  |  Right (473)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Rule (307)  |  Salvation (13)  |  Same (166)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  See (1094)  |  Single (365)  |  Soon (187)  |  Special (188)  |  Special Case (9)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Speculative (12)  |  Still (614)  |  Success (327)  |  Superficial (12)  |  Support (151)  |  Survey (36)  |  Suspicion (36)  |  Thought (995)  |  Transmit (12)  |  True (239)  |  Uncertainty (58)  |  Use (771)  |  Verify (24)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)

It is only when science asks why, instead of simply describing how, that it becomes more than technology. When it asks why, it discovers Relativity. When it only shows how, it invents the atom bomb, and then puts its hands over its eye and says, 'My God what have I done?
The Stalin in Soul (1973). Quoted in Gary Westfahl, Science Fiction Quotations (2005), 322.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Become (821)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Eye (440)  |  God (776)  |  More (2558)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Say (989)  |  Show (353)  |  Technology (281)

It is structure that we look for whenever we try to understand anything. All science is built upon this search; we investigate how the cell is built of reticular material, cytoplasm, chromosomes; how crystals aggregate; how atoms are fastened together; how electrons constitute a chemical bond between atoms. We like to understand, and to explain, observed facts in terms of structure. A chemist who understands why a diamond has certain properties, or why nylon or hemoglobin have other properties, because of the different ways their atoms are arranged, may ask questions that a geologist would not think of formulating, unless he had been similarly trained in this way of thinking about the world.
‘The Place of Chemistry In the Integration of the Sciences’, Main Currents in Modern Thought (1950), 7, 110.
Science quotes on:  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Aggregation (6)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Ask (420)  |  Atom (381)  |  Bond (46)  |  Building (158)  |  Cell (146)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Bond (7)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Chromosome (23)  |  Chromosomes (17)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Cytoplasm (6)  |  Diamond (21)  |  Different (595)  |  Electron (96)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fastening (2)  |  Formulation (37)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Haemoglobin (4)  |  Hemoglobin (5)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Look (584)  |  Material (366)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Other (2233)  |  Property (177)  |  Question (649)  |  Search (175)  |  Structure (365)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Together (392)  |  Train (118)  |  Training (92)  |  Try (296)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whenever (81)  |  World (1850)

It is therefore easy to see why the churches have always fought science and persecuted its devotees. On the other hand, I maintain that the cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research. Only those who realize the immense efforts and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer work in theoretical science cannot be achieved are able to grasp the strength of the emotion out of which alone such work, remote as it is from the immediate realities of life, can issue. What a deep conviction of the rationality of the universe and what a yearning to understand, were it but a feeble reflection of the mind revealed in this world, Kepler and Newton must have had to enable them to spend years of solitary labor in disentangling the principles of celestial mechanics! Those whose acquaintance with scientific research is derived chiefly from its practical results easily develop a completely false notion of the mentality of the men who, surrounded by a skeptical world, have shown the way to kindred spirits scattered wide through the world and through the centuries. Only one who has devoted his life to similar ends can have a vivid realization of what has inspired these men and given them the strength to remain true to their purpose in spite of countless failures. It is cosmic religious feeling that gives a man such strength. A contemporary has said, not unjustly, that in this materialistic age of ours the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Achieve (75)  |  Acquaintance (38)  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Celestial Mechanics (4)  |  Century (319)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Church (64)  |  Completely (137)  |  Contemporary (33)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Countless (39)  |  Deep (241)  |  Derive (70)  |  Develop (278)  |  Devote (45)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Devotee (7)  |  Devotion (37)  |  Disentangle (4)  |  Easily (36)  |  Easy (213)  |  Effort (243)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Enable (122)  |  End (603)  |  Failure (176)  |  False (105)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fight (49)  |  Give (208)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inspire (58)  |  Issue (46)  |  Kepler (4)  |  Kindred (12)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Man (2252)  |  Materialistic (2)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Mentality (5)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motive (62)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Nobl (4)  |  Notion (120)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ours (4)  |  People (1031)  |  Persecute (6)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Practical (225)  |  Principle (530)  |  Profoundly (13)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Reality (274)  |  Realization (44)  |  Realize (157)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Religious (134)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remote (86)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Say (989)  |  Scatter (7)  |  Scientific (955)  |  See (1094)  |  Serious (98)  |  Show (353)  |  Similar (36)  |  Skeptical (21)  |  Solitary (16)  |  Spend (97)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spite (55)  |  Strength (139)  |  Strong (182)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Surround (33)  |  Theoretical Science (4)  |  Through (846)  |  True (239)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unjustly (2)  |  Vivid (25)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wide (97)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worker (34)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)  |  Yearn (13)  |  Yearning (13)

It is we, we alone, who have dreamed up the causes, the one-thing-after-another, the one-thing-reciprocating-another, the relativity, the constraint, the numbers, the laws, the freedom, the ‘reason why,’ the purpose. ... We are creating myths.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Cause (561)  |  Constraint (13)  |  Create (245)  |  Dream (222)  |  Dreamed Up (2)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Law (913)  |  Myth (58)  |  Number (710)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reason (766)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Thing (1914)

It is with our entire past ... that we desire, will and act ... from this survival of the past it follows that consciousness cannot go through the same state twice. The circumstances may still be the same, but they will act no longer on the same person ... that is why our duration is irreversible.
Creative Evolution (1911), trans. Arthur Mitchell, 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Desire (212)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Follow (389)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Past (355)  |  Person (366)  |  State (505)  |  Still (614)  |  Survival (105)  |  Through (846)  |  Will (2350)

It is, I believe, justifiable to make the generalization that anything an organic chemist can synthesize can be made without him. All he does is increase the probability that given reactions will “go”. So it is quite reasonable to assume that given sufficient time and proper conditions, nucleotides, amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids will arise by reactions that, though less probable, are as inevitable as those by which the organic chemist fulfills his predictions. So why not self-duplicating virus-like systems capable of further evolution?
The Place of Genetics in Modern Biology (1959),18.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Amino Acid (12)  |  Arise (162)  |  Capable (174)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Condition (362)  |  DNA (81)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Increase (225)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Nucleic Acid (23)  |  Nucleotide (6)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Chemist (2)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proper (150)  |  Protein (56)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Self (268)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)  |  Virus (32)  |  Will (2350)

It might interest you that when we made the experiments that we did not read the literature well enough—and you know how that happens. On the other hand, one would think that other people would have told us about it. For instance, we had a colloquium at the time in Berlin at which all the important papers were discussed. Nobody discussed Bohr’s paper. Why not? The reason is that fifty years ago one was so convinced that nobody would, with the state of knowledge we had at that time, understand spectral line emission, so that if somebody published a paper about it, one assumed “probably it is not right.” So we did not know it.
Explaining how his experiment with Gustav Hertz produced results, without them knowing that it proved Niels Bohr’s theory of the atom and its energy levels. From an interview quoted by Gerald Holton in 'On the Recent Past of Physics', American Journal of Physics (1961), 29, 805. As cited in William H. Cropper, Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking (2001), 251.
Science quotes on:  |  Berlin (10)  |  Niels Bohr (55)  |  Colloquium (2)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Emission (20)  |  Enough (341)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Happen (282)  |  Importance (299)  |  Interest (416)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Literature (116)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paper (192)  |  People (1031)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Reason (766)  |  Right (473)  |  Spectral Line (5)  |  State (505)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Year (963)

It was obvious—to me at any rate—that the answer was to why an enzyme is able to speed up a chemical reaction by as much as 10 million times. It had to do this by lowering the energy of activation—the energy of forming the activated complex. It could do this by forming strong bonds with the activated complex, but only weak bonds with the reactants or products.
Quoted In Thomas Hager, Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling (1995), 284.
Science quotes on:  |  Activation (6)  |  Answer (389)  |  Bond (46)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemical Reaction (17)  |  Complex (202)  |  Do (1905)  |  Energy (373)  |  Enzyme (19)  |  Formation (100)  |  Forming (42)  |  Lowering (4)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Product (166)  |  Reactant (2)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Speed (66)  |  Strong (182)  |  Time (1911)  |  Weak (73)

Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Bob, why are you resisting me?” I said, “I’m not resisting You!” He said, “You gonna follow Me?” I said, “I’ve never thought about that before!” He said, “When you’re not following Me, you’re resisting Me.”
Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 156
Science quotes on:  |  Bob (2)  |  Follow (389)  |  Jesus (9)  |  Never (1089)  |  Resist (15)  |  Say (989)  |  Shoulder (33)  |  Tap (10)  |  Thought (995)

Just as in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, an individual comes into being, so to speak, grows, remains in being, declines and passes on, will it not be the same for entire species? If our faith did not teach us that animals left the Creator's hands just as they now appear and, if it were permitted to entertain the slightest doubt as to their beginning and their end, may not a philosopher, left to his own conjectures, suspect that, from time immemorial, animal life had its own constituent elements, scattered and intermingled with the general body of matter, and that it happened when these constituent elements came together because it was possible for them to do so; that the embryo formed from these elements went through innumerable arrangements and developments, successively acquiring movement, feeling, ideas, thought, reflection, consciousness, feelings, emotions, signs, gestures, sounds, articulate sounds, language, laws, arts and sciences; that millions of years passed between each of these developments, and there may be other developments or kinds of growth still to come of which we know nothing; that a stationary point either has been or will be reached; that the embryo either is, or will be, moving away from this point through a process of everlasting decay, during which its faculties will leave it in the same way as they arrived; that it will disappear for ever from nature-or rather, that it will continue to exist there, but in a form and with faculties very different from those it displays at this present point in time? Religion saves us from many deviations, and a good deal of work. Had religion not enlightened us on the origin of the world and the universal system of being, what a multitude of different hypotheses we would have been tempted to take as nature's secret! Since these hypotheses are all equally wrong, they would all have seemed almost equally plausible. The question of why anything exists is the most awkward that philosophy can raise- and Revelation alone provides the answer.
Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature and Other Philosophical Works (1753/4), ed. D. Adams (1999), Section LVIII, 75-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Life (21)  |  Answer (389)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Art (680)  |  Awkward (11)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Continue (179)  |  Creator (97)  |  Deal (192)  |  Decay (59)  |  Decline (28)  |  Development (441)  |  Deviation (21)  |  Different (595)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Display (59)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Element (322)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Emotion (106)  |  End (603)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Equally (129)  |  Exist (458)  |  Faith (209)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Good (906)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Idea (881)  |  Individual (420)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Kind (564)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Know (1538)  |  Language (308)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Origin (250)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Point (584)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Process (439)  |  Question (649)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Religion (369)  |  Remain (355)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Save (126)  |  Secret (216)  |  Sound (187)  |  Speak (240)  |  Species (435)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Still (614)  |  System (545)  |  Teach (299)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Universal (198)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Wrong (246)  |  Year (963)

Knowing how hard it is to collect a fact, you understand why most people want to have some fun analyzing it.
Quoted in Fortune (May 1960), as cited in Maxine Block, Anna Herthe Rothe and Marjorie Dent Candee, Current Biography Yearbook 1963 (1964), 161.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Collection (68)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fun (42)  |  Hard (246)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  People (1031)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Want (504)

Knowing what we now know about living systems—how they replicate and how they mutate—we are beginning to know how to control their evolutionary futures. To a considerable extent we now do that with the plants we cultivate and the animals we domesticate. This is, in fact, a standard application of genetics today. We could even go further, for there is no reason why we cannot in the same way direct our own evolutionary futures. I wish to emphasize, however—and emphatically—that whether we should do this and, if so, how, are not questions science alone can answer. They are for society as a whole to think about. Scientists can say what the consequences might be, but they are not justified in going further except as responsible members of society.
The Place of Genetics in Modern Biology (1959), 20.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Application (257)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Control (182)  |  Direct (228)  |  Do (1905)  |  Emphasize (25)  |  Emphatically (8)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Future (467)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Living (492)  |  Plant (320)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Society (350)  |  System (545)  |  Think (1122)  |  Today (321)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wish (216)

Let me arrest thy thoughts; wonder with me, why plowing, building, ruling and the rest, or most of those arts, whence our lives are blest, by cursed Cain’s race invented be, and blest Seth vexed us with Astronomy.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Arrest (9)  |  Art (680)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Curse (20)  |  Invent (57)  |  Let (64)  |  Live (650)  |  Most (1728)  |  Plow (7)  |  Race (278)  |  Rest (287)  |  Rule (307)  |  Thou (9)  |  Thought (995)  |  Vex (10)  |  Wonder (251)

Let Nature do your bottling and your pickling and preserving. For all Nature is doing her best each moment to make us well. She exists for no other end. Do not resist her. With the least inclination to be well, we should not be sick. Men have discovered—or think they have discovered—the salutariness of a few wild things only, and not of all nature. Why, “nature” is but another name for health, and the seasons are but different states of health. Some men think that they are not well in spring, or summer, or autumn, or winter; it is only because they are not well in them.
(23 Aug 1853). In Henry David Thoreau and Bradford Torrey (ed.), The Writings of Henry Thoreau: Journal: V: March 5-November 30, 1853 (1906), 395.
Science quotes on:  |  Autumn (11)  |  Best (467)  |  Bottle (17)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  End (603)  |  Exist (458)  |  Health (210)  |  Inclination (36)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Moment (260)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pickle (3)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Preserving (18)  |  Resist (15)  |  Salutary (5)  |  Season (47)  |  Sick (83)  |  Spring (140)  |  State (505)  |  Summer (56)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Wild (96)  |  Winter (46)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whereby (2)

Lies are crafted to match the hopes and desires and the fears of the intended listener… truth, on the other hand, is what it is, neither what you want it to be, nor what you are afraid it will be. So that is why lies are always more believable than the truth.
In 'Why We Believe Lies' (2011), on web site geoffreylandis.com.
Science quotes on:  |  Afraid (24)  |  Believable (3)  |  Desire (212)  |  Fear (212)  |  Hope (321)  |  Intended (3)  |  Lie (370)  |  Listener (7)  |  Match (30)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)

Like other departments of philosophy, medicine began with an age of wonder. The accidents of disease and the features of death aroused surprise and stimulated interest, and a beginning was made when man first asked in astonishment, Why should these things be?
In 'The Evolution of Internal Medicine', Modern Medicine: Its Theory and Practice, (1907), Vol. 1, xvi.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Age (509)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Death (406)  |  Department (93)  |  Disease (340)  |  First (1302)  |  Interest (416)  |  Man (2252)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Wonder (251)

Magic is not science, it is a collection of ways to do things — ways that work but often we don’t know why.
In Glory Road (1963, 1981), 156.
Science quotes on:  |  Collection (68)  |  Know (1538)  |  Magic (92)

Man has mounted science, and is now run away with. I firmly believe that before many centuries more, science will be the master of men. The engines he will have invented will be beyond his strength to control. Someday science may have the existence of mankind in its power, and the human race commit suicide, by blowing up the world. Not only shall we be able to cruise in space, but I’ll be hanged if I see any reason why some future generation shouldn’t walk off like a beetle with the world on its back, or give it another rotary motion so that every zone should receive in turn its due portion of heat and light.
Letter to his brother, Charles Francis Adams Jr., London, (11 Apr 1862). In J. C. Levenson, E. Samuels, C. Vandersee and V. Hopkins Winner (eds.), The Letters of Henry Adams: 1858-1868 (1982), Vol. 1, 290.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beetle (19)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Blowing (22)  |  Commit (43)  |  Control (182)  |  Due (143)  |  Engine (99)  |  Existence (481)  |  Future (467)  |  Generation (256)  |  Hang (46)  |  Heat (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Master (182)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Mount (43)  |  Portion (86)  |  Power (771)  |  Race (278)  |  Reason (766)  |  Receive (117)  |  Run (158)  |  See (1094)  |  Someday (15)  |  Space (523)  |  Strength (139)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Turn (454)  |  Walk (138)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. That is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast on nature.
Lecture, 'The Creative Mind' (26 Feb 1953) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Printed in Science and Human Values (1959), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Cast (69)  |  Fail (191)  |  Force (497)  |  Look (584)  |  Magic (92)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Philosophy Of Science (5)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Understanding (527)

Many inventions are not suitable for the people at large because of their carelessness. Before a thing can be marketed to the masses, it must be made practically fool-proof. Its operation must be made extremely simple. That is one reason, I think, why the phonograph has been so universally adopted. Even a child can operate it. … Another reason is that people are far more willing to pay for being amused than for anything else.
As quoted from an interview by B.C. Forbes in The American Magazine (Jan 1921), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Amusement (37)  |  Being (1276)  |  Carelessness (7)  |  Child (333)  |  Fool (121)  |  Foolproof (5)  |  Invention (400)  |  Large (398)  |  Market (23)  |  Marketing (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Operation (221)  |  Pay (45)  |  People (1031)  |  Phonograph (8)  |  Proof (304)  |  Reason (766)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Success (327)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Willing (44)

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, “Because it is there.” Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.
From Address at Rice Stadium (12 Sep 1962). On website of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. [This go-to-the-moon speech was largely written by presidential advisor and speechwriter Ted Sorensen.]
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  Ask (420)  |  Bless (25)  |  Blessing (26)  |  British (42)  |  Climb (39)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Die (94)  |  Embark (7)  |  Explorer (30)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Hazardous (3)  |  Hope (321)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |   George Mallory (3)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Everest (6)  |  New (1273)  |  Peace (116)  |  Planet (402)  |  Sail (37)  |  Say (989)  |  Set (400)  |  Space (523)  |  Want (504)  |  Year (963)

Men think epilepsy divine, mere because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.
As given in Carl SaganCosmos (1985), 145.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Divine (112)  |  Do (1905)  |  End (603)  |  Epilepsy (3)  |  Everything (489)  |  Hippocrates (49)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

Metaphorical language is a species of natural language which we construct out of arbitrary but concrete words. That is why it is so pleasing.
Aphorism 78 in Notebook D (1773-1775), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 56.
Science quotes on:  |  Arbitrary (27)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Construct (129)  |  Construction (114)  |  Language (308)  |  Linguistics (39)  |  Metaphor (37)  |  Natural (810)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Species (435)  |  Word (650)

Moreover, within the hollows of the earth,
When from one quarter the wind builds up, lunges,
Muscles the deep caves with its headstrong power,
The earth leans hard where the force of wind has pressed it;
Then above ground, the higher the house is built,
The nearer it rises to the sky, the worse
Will it lean that way and jut out perilously,
The beams wrenched loose and hanging ready to fall.
And to think, men can't believe that for this world
Some time of death and ruin lies in wait,
Yet they see so great a mass of earth collapse!
And the winds pause for breath—that's lucky, for else
No force could rein things galloping to destruction.
But since they pause for breath, to rally their force,
Come building up and then fall driven back,
More often the earth will threaten ruin than
Perform it. The earth will lean and then sway back,
Its wavering mass restored to the right poise.
That explains why all houses reel, top floor
Most then the middle, and ground floor hardly at all.
On the Nature of Things, trans. Anthony M. Esolen (1995), Book 6, lines 558-77, 216.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Beam (26)  |  Breath (61)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Cave (17)  |  Death (406)  |  Deep (241)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fall (243)  |  Force (497)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hard (246)  |  House (143)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Perform (123)  |  Power (771)  |  Right (473)  |  Rise (169)  |  Ruin (44)  |  See (1094)  |  Sky (174)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Threaten (33)  |  Time (1911)  |  Top (100)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  World (1850)

Most kids can't understand why a country that makes atomic bombs would ban fireworks.
Anonymous
In E.C. McKenzie, 14,000 Quips and Quotes for Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers (1990), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Ban (9)  |  Country (269)  |  Firework (2)  |  Most (1728)  |  Understand (648)

Most students treat knowledge as a liquid to be swallowed rather than as a solid to be chewed, and then wonder why it provides so little nourishment.
Seen around the web, but without citation. Webmaster has so far been unable to authenticate. Please contact Webmaster if you know the primary source.
Science quotes on:  |  Chew (2)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Little (717)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nourishment (26)  |  Provide (79)  |  Solid (119)  |  Student (317)  |  Swallow (32)  |  Treat (38)  |  Wonder (251)

Mother: He’s been depressed. All of a sudden, he can’t do anything.
Doctor: Why are you depressed, Alvy?
Mother: Tell Dr. Flicker. It’s something he read.
Doctor: Something he read, huh?
Alvy: The universe is expanding.
Doctor: The universe is expanding?
Alvy: Well, the universe is everything, and if it’s expanding, someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything!
Mother: What is that your business? He stopped doing his homework.
Alvy: What’s the point?
With co-author Marshall Brickman, Annie Hall (1973).
Science quotes on:  |  Break (109)  |  Business (156)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doctor (191)  |  Doing (277)  |  End (603)  |  Everything (489)  |  Mother (116)  |  Point (584)  |  Read (308)  |  Someday (15)  |  Something (718)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Tell (344)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)

Mr. Hobbes told me that the cause of his Lordship’s [Francis Bacon s] death was trying an experiment: viz., as he was taking the air in a coach with Dr. Witherborne, a Scotchman, physician to the King, towards Highgate, snow lay on the ground, and it came into my Lord’s thoughts, why flesh might not be preserved in snow as in salt. They were resolved they would try the experiment presently. They alighted out of the coach and went into a poor woman s house at the bottom of Highgate Hill and bought a hen and made the woman exenterate it, and then stuffed the body with snow, and my Lord did help to do it himself The snow so chilled him that he immediately fell so extremely ill that he could not return to his lodgings.
In Brief Lives (late 17th century), as excerpted in The Retrospective Review (1821), 292.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Body (557)  |  Cause (561)  |  Chill (10)  |  Death (406)  |  Do (1905)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Ground (222)  |  Himself (461)  |  House (143)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Lord (97)  |  Physician (284)  |  Poor (139)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Refrigeration (3)  |  Return (133)  |  Salt (48)  |  Snow (39)  |  Thought (995)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Woman (160)

Mr. Hobbes told me that the cause of his Lordship's [Francis Bacon's] death was trying an Experiment: viz. as he was taking the aire in a Coach with Dr. Witherborne (a Scotchman, Physitian to the King) towards High-gate, snow lay on the ground, and it came into my Lord's thoughts, why flesh might not be preserved in snow, as in Salt. They were resolved they would try the Experiment presently. They alighted out of the Coach and went into a poore woman's house at the bottom of Highgate hill, and bought a Hen, and made the woman exenterate it, and then stuffed the body with Snow, and my Lord did help to doe it himselfe. The Snow so chilled him that he immediately fell so extremely ill, that he could not return to his Lodging.
John Aubrey, Brief Lives (1680), edited by Oliver Lawson Dick (1949), 16.
Science quotes on:  |  Sir Francis Bacon (188)  |  Body (557)  |  Cause (561)  |  Death (406)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Gate (33)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  House (143)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Lord (97)  |  Pneumonia (8)  |  Refrigeration (3)  |  Return (133)  |  Salt (48)  |  Snow (39)  |  Thought (995)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Woman (160)

Mssr. Fermat—what have you done?
Your simple conjecture has everyone
Churning out proofs,
Which are nothing but goofs!
Could it be that your statement’s an erudite spoof?
A marginal hoax
That you’ve played on us folks?
But then you’re really not known for your practical jokes.
Or is it then true
That you knew what to do
When n was an integer greater than two?
Oh then why can’t we find
That same proof…are we blind?
You must be reproved, for I’m losing my mind.
In 'Fermat's Last Theorem', Mathematics Magazine (Apr 1986), 59, No. 2, 76.
Science quotes on:  |  Blind (98)  |  Churn (4)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Do (1905)  |  Erudite (2)  |  Fermat�s Last Theorem (3)  |  Pierre de Fermat (15)  |  Find (1014)  |  Folk (10)  |  Goof (2)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hoax (6)  |  Integer (12)  |  Joke (90)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Lose (165)  |  Marginal (3)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Parody (4)  |  Play (116)  |  Practical (225)  |  Proof (304)  |  Really (77)  |  Reprove (2)  |  Simple (426)  |  Statement (148)  |  True (239)  |  Two (936)

My [algebraic] methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously.
Letter to H. Hasse (1931). As quoted in Israel Kleiner, A History of Abstract Algebra (2007), 100. The author used the quote to remark on Noether’s widespread influence, either directly or indirectly, for the introduction of algebra (her specialty) or its terminology into a variety of mathematical fields in the twentieth century.
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Method (531)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Working (23)

My children have often asked me why I never received a Nobel Prize. I used to tell them it was because the Nobel committee couldn’t make up its mind which of my projects to recognize.
As quoted by Malcolm W. Browne, in '3 American Physicists Get Nobel for Landmark Work', New York Times (20 Oct 1988), B12. (Lederman was a co-winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Physics.)
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Children (201)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nobel Prize (42)  |  Project (77)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Tell (344)

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.
In the Washington Post, April 15, 1988.
Science quotes on:  |  Complete (209)  |  Exist (458)  |  Goal (155)  |  Simple (426)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)

My grandfather opened the first chapter of his story, A Smile of the Walrus, with an old nursery rhyme, “Did you ever see a walrus smile all these many years? Why yes I’ve seen a walrus smile, but it was hidden by his tears.” As we open this new chapter in the battle against climate change, I fear that if we do not take action, then the smiles of our children, like the walrus, will be hidden by the tears they shed as they pay the consequences of our inaction, our apathy and our greed.
In 'What do the Arctic, a Thermostat and COP15 Have in Common?', Huffington Post (18 Mar 2010).
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Against (332)  |  Apathy (4)  |  Battle (36)  |  Change (639)  |  Chapter (11)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Climate (102)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fear (212)  |  First (1302)  |  Grandfather (14)  |  Greed (17)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Inaction (4)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Open (277)  |  Pay (45)  |  Rhyme (6)  |  See (1094)  |  Shed (6)  |  Smile (34)  |  Story (122)  |  Tear (48)  |  Walrus (4)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

My greatest hope for a future without another Deepwater Horizon disaster lies in our schools, living rooms and community centers, not in boardrooms, political chambers and big industry. If this happens again, we won’t have the luxury of the unknown to shield us from answering “Why?”
In 'Gulf Dispatch: Time to Tap Power of Teens', CNN Blog (23 Jul 2010).
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Chamber (7)  |  Community (111)  |  Disaster (58)  |  Future (467)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Happen (282)  |  Hope (321)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Industry (159)  |  Lie (370)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Room (3)  |  Luxury (21)  |  Political (124)  |  School (227)  |  Shield (8)  |  Unknown (195)

My head lies at least a foot closer to my heart than is the case with other men: that is why I am so reasonable.
Aphorism 2 in Notebook C (1772-1773), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 31.
Science quotes on:  |  Closer (43)  |  Head (87)  |  Heart (243)  |  Lie (370)  |  Other (2233)  |  Reasonable (29)

My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain that alone on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive. A man with a mind more highly organised or better constituted than mine would not, I suppose, have thus suffered, and if I had to live my life over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept alive through use.
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), 51.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Alone (324)  |  Atrophy (8)  |  Become (821)  |  Better (493)  |  Biography (254)  |  Brain (281)  |  Collection (68)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Depend (238)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  General (521)  |  Kind (564)  |  Large (398)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Listen (81)  |  Live (650)  |  Machine (271)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mine (78)  |  More (2558)  |  Music (133)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Read (308)  |  Rule (307)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Taste (93)  |  Through (846)  |  Use (771)  |  Week (73)

Nature crying out and speaking to country people in these words: Clown, wherefore dost thou behold the heavens? Why dost thou seek after the stars? When thou art now werry with short sleep, the nights are troublesome to thee. So I scatter little stars in the grass, and I shew them in the evening when thy labour is ended, and thou art miraculously allured to look upon them when thous passest by: Dost thou not see how a light like fire is covered when she closeth her wings, and she carrieth both night and day with her.
In Thomas Moffett, 'Glow-Worms', The Theater of Insects.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Both (496)  |  Country (269)  |  End (603)  |  Fire (203)  |  Glow-Worm (3)  |  Grass (49)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Labor (200)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Night (133)  |  People (1031)  |  Scattering (4)  |  See (1094)  |  Seek (218)  |  Short (200)  |  Sleep (81)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Wing (79)  |  Word (650)

Nature in her unfathomable designs had mixed us of clay and flame, of brain and mind, that the two things hang indubitably together and determine each other’s being but how or why, no mortal may ever know.
Principles of Psychology (1918), 200.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Brain (281)  |  Design (203)  |  Determine (152)  |  Flame (44)  |  Hang (46)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Two (936)  |  Unfathomable (11)

Nearly every subject has a shadow, or imitation. It would, I suppose, be quite possible to teach a deaf and dumb child to play the piano. When it played a wrong note, it would see the frown of its teacher, and try again. But it would obviously have no idea of what it was doing, or why anyone should devote hours to such an extraordinary exercise. It would have learnt an imitation of music. and it would fear the piano exactly as most students fear what is supposed to be mathematics.
In Mathematician's Delight (1943), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Child (333)  |  Deaf (4)  |  Devote (45)  |  Doing (277)  |  Dumb (11)  |  Exactly (14)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Fear (212)  |  Frown (5)  |  Hour (192)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imitation (24)  |  Learn (672)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Music (133)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Note (39)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Piano (12)  |  Play (116)  |  Possible (560)  |  See (1094)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Student (317)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Try (296)  |  Wrong (246)

NEWTONIAN, adj. Pertaining to a philosophy of the universe, invented by Newton, who discovered that an apple will fall to the ground, but was unable to say why. His successors and disciples have advanced so far as to be able to say when.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911), Vol. 7, The Devil's Dictionary,  228.
Science quotes on:  |  Apple (46)  |  Discover (571)  |  Fall (243)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Ground (222)  |  Humour (116)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Say (989)  |  Successor (16)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)

No generalizing beyond the data, no theory. No theory, no insight. And if no insight, why do research.
'Developing Theory About the Development of Theory,' in Ken G. Smith and Michael A. Hitt, Great Minds in Management: the Theory of Process Development (2005), 361.
Science quotes on:  |  Beyond (316)  |  Data (162)  |  Do (1905)  |  Generalize (19)  |  Insight (107)  |  Research (753)  |  Theory (1015)

Nobody … took me seriously. They wondered why in the world I wanted to be a chemist when no women were doing that. The world was not waiting for me.
Quoted in interview by Mary Ellen Avery (1997).
Science quotes on:  |  Chemist (169)  |  Doing (277)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Waiting (42)  |  Want (504)  |  Women Scientists (18)  |  Wonder (251)  |  World (1850)

Now I feel as if I should succeed in doing something in mathematics, although I cannot see why it is so very important… The knowledge doesn’t make life any sweeter or happier, does it?
In Letter (29 May 1898), at age almost 18, to Mrs. Lawrence Hutton, excerpted in The Story of My Life: With her Letters (1887-1901) (1903, 1921), 242.
Science quotes on:  |  Doing (277)  |  Feel (371)  |  Happy (108)  |  Important (229)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  See (1094)  |  Something (718)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Sweet (40)

Now it came to me: … the independence of the gravitational acceleration from the nature of the falling substance, may be expressed as follows: In a gravitational field (of small spatial extension) things behave as they do in a space free of gravitation. … This happened in 1908. Why were another seven years required for the construction of the general theory of relativity? The main reason lies in the fact that it is not so easy to free oneself from the idea that coordinates must have an immediate metrical meaning.
In Paul Arthur Schilpp, 'Autobiographical Notes', Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949), 65-67.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceleration (12)  |  Construction (114)  |  Coordinate (5)  |  Do (1905)  |  Easy (213)  |  Express (192)  |  Extension (60)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fall (243)  |  Field (378)  |  Follow (389)  |  Free (239)  |  General (521)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Independence (37)  |  Lie (370)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Metrical (3)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Oneself (33)  |  Reason (766)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Required (108)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Substance (253)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Year (963)

Now it must be asked if we can comprehend why comets signify the death of magnates and coming wars, for writers of philosophy say so. The reason is not apparent, since vapor no more rises in a land where a pauper lives than where a rich man resides, whether he be king or someone else. Furthermore, it is evident that a comet has a natural cause not dependent on anything else; so it seems that it has no relation to someone’s death or to war. For if it be said that it does relate to war or someone’s death, either it does so as a cause or effect or sign.
De Cometis (On Comets) [before 1280], trans. Lynn Thorndike, from ed. Borgnet, IV, 499-508, quoted in Lynn Thorndike (ed.), Latin Treatises on Comets between 1238 and 1368 A.D. (1950), 75.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Ask (420)  |  Cause (561)  |  Comet (65)  |  Coming (114)  |  Death (406)  |  Effect (414)  |  Evident (92)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Neutrino (11)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reside (25)  |  Rise (169)  |  Say (989)  |  Signify (17)  |  Vapor (12)  |  War (233)  |  Writer (90)

Now, the causes being four, it is the business of the student of nature to know about them all, and if he refers his problems back to all of them, he will assign the “why” in the way proper to his science—the matter, the form, the mover, that for the sake of which.
Aristotle
Physics, 198a, 22-4. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.), The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. I, 338.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Being (1276)  |  Business (156)  |  Cause (561)  |  Form (976)  |  Know (1538)  |  Matter (821)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physics (564)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proper (150)  |  Research (753)  |  Sake (61)  |  Student (317)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

Nowadays there is a pill for everything—to keep your nose from running, to keep you regular, to keep your heart beating, to keep your hair from falling out, to improve your muscle tone ... Why thanks to advances in medical science, every day people are dying who never looked better.
Anonymous
In Ashton Applewhite, William R. Evans and Andrew Frothingham, And I Quote (2003), 174-175.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Better (493)  |  Death (406)  |  Everything (489)  |  Heart (243)  |  Look (584)  |  Medical Science (19)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Never (1089)  |  People (1031)  |  Regular (48)  |  Running (61)  |  Thank (48)  |  Thanks (26)  |  Tone (22)

Nuclear energy and foreign policy cannot coexist on the planet. The more deep the secret, the greater the determination of every nation to discover and exploit it. Nuclear energy insists on global government, on law, on order, and on the willingness of the community to take the responsibility for the acts of the individual. And to what end? Why, for liberty, first of blessings. Soldier, we await you, and if the
In 'The Talk of the Town', The New Yorker (18 Aug 1945), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Coexist (4)  |  Community (111)  |  Deep (241)  |  Determination (80)  |  Discover (571)  |  End (603)  |  Energy (373)  |  Exploit (19)  |  First (1302)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Foreign Policy (2)  |  Global (39)  |  Government (116)  |  Greater (288)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insist (22)  |  Law (913)  |  More (2558)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Energy (18)  |  Order (638)  |  Planet (402)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Secret (216)  |  Soldier (28)  |  Willingness (10)

Of all extinct life-forms, dinosaurs are the most popular. Why that should be is not clear.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 202.
Science quotes on:  |  Dinosaur (26)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Form (976)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life Form (6)  |  Life-Form (6)  |  Most (1728)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Popular (34)

Of course we have no means of staying back for any length of Time, any more than a savage or an animal has of staying six feet above the ground. But a civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect. He can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension, or even turn about and travel the other way?
In The Time Machine (1898), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  Accelerate (11)  |  Against (332)  |  Animal (651)  |  Back (395)  |  Balloon (16)  |  Better Off (7)  |  Civilized (20)  |  Course (413)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Drift (14)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hope (321)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Respect (212)  |  Savage (33)  |  Stay (26)  |  Stop (89)  |  Time (1911)  |  Travel (125)  |  Turn (454)  |  Ultimately (56)  |  Way (1214)

Of the nucleosides from deoxyribonucleic acids, all that was known with any certainty [in the 1940s] was that they were 2-deoxy-­D-ribosides of the bases adenine, guanine, thymine and cytosine and it was assumed that they were structurally analogous to the ribonucleosides. The chemistry of the nucleotides—the phosphates of the nucleosides—was in a correspondingly primitive state. It may well be asked why the chemistry of these groups of compounds was not further advanced, particularly since we recognize today that they occupy a central place in the history of the living cell. True, their full significance was for a long time unrecognized and emerged only slowly as biochemical research got into its stride but I think a more important reason is to be found in the physical properties of compounds of the nucleotide group. As water-soluble polar compounds with no proper melting points they were extremely difficult to handle by the classic techniques of organic chemistry, and were accordingly very discouraging substances to early workers. It is surely no accident that the major advances in the field have coincided with the appearance of new experimental techniques such as paper and ion-exchange chromatography, paper electrophoresis, and countercurrent distribution, peculiarly appropriate to the compounds of this group.
In 'Synthesis in the Study of Nucleotides', Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1957. In Nobel Lectures: Chemistry 1942-1962 (1964), 524.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Acid (83)  |  Adenine (6)  |  Advance (298)  |  Analogous (7)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Ask (420)  |  Base (120)  |  Biochemistry (50)  |  Cell (146)  |  Central (81)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Compound (117)  |  Cytosine (6)  |  Deoxyribonucleic Acid (3)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Early (196)  |  Electrophoresis (2)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Field (378)  |  Guanine (5)  |  Handle (29)  |  History (716)  |  Ion (21)  |  Known (453)  |  Living (492)  |  Long (778)  |  Major (88)  |  Melting Point (3)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Nucleotide (6)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Chemistry (41)  |  Paper (192)  |  Phosphate (6)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Polar (13)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Proper (150)  |  Reason (766)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Research (753)  |  Significance (114)  |  Soluble (5)  |  State (505)  |  Stride (15)  |  Structure (365)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surely (101)  |  Technique (84)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thymine (6)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Water (503)

Often the great scientists, by turning the problem around a bit, changed a defect to an asset. For example, many scientists when they found they couldn't do a problem finally began to study why not. They then turned it around the other way and said, “But of course, this is what it is” and got an important result.
'You and Your Research', Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar, 7 Mar 1986.
Science quotes on:  |  Asset (6)  |  Change (639)  |  Course (413)  |  Defect (31)  |  Do (1905)  |  Great (1610)  |  Importance (299)  |  Other (2233)  |  Problem (731)  |  Result (700)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Study (701)  |  Studying (70)  |  Turn (454)  |  Way (1214)

Oh, my dear Kepler, how I wish that we could have one hearty laugh together. Here, at Padua, is the principal professor of philosophy, whom I have repeatedly and urgently requested to look at the moon and planets through my glass, [telescope] which he pertinaciously refuses to do. Why are you not here? what shouts of laughter we should have at this glorious folly! and to hear the professor of philosophy at Pisa laboring before the grand duke with logical arguments, as if with magical incantations, to charm the new planets out of the sky.
From Letter to Johannes Kepler. As translated in John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, Life of Galileo Galilei: With Illustrations of the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy (1832), 92-93.
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Charm (54)  |  Do (1905)  |  Folly (44)  |  Glass (94)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Hear (144)  |  Hearing (50)  |  Hearty (3)  |  Incantation (6)  |  Johannes Kepler (95)  |  Labor (200)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Laughter (34)  |  Logic (311)  |  Look (584)  |  Magic (92)  |  Moon (252)  |  New (1273)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Planet (402)  |  Principal (69)  |  Professor (133)  |  Refusal (23)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Repeated (5)  |  Request (7)  |  Shout (25)  |  Sky (174)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Urgent (15)  |  Wish (216)

On the contrary, God was always invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Now when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws which you're taking away from God; you don't need him anymore. But you need him for the other mysteries. So therefore you leave him to create the universe because we haven't figured that out yet; you need him for understanding those things which you don't believe the laws will explain, such as consciousness, or why you only live to a certain length of time—life and death—stuff like that. God is always associated with those things that you do not understand. Therefore, I don't think that the laws can be considered to be like God because they have been figured out.
Quoted in P. C. W. Davies and Julian Brown (eds.), Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? (1988), 208-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Certain (557)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Create (245)  |  Death (406)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explain (334)  |  God (776)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Other (2233)  |  Something (718)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

One day the zoo-keeper noticed that the orangutan was reading two books—the Bible and Darwin’s Origin of Species. In surprise, he asked the ape,“Why are you reading both those books?”
“Well,” said the orangutan, “I just wanted to know if I was my brother’s keeper, or my keeper’s brother.”
Anonymous
In Jon Fripp, Michael Fripp and Deborah Fripp, Speaking of Science (2000), 27.
Science quotes on:  |  Ape (54)  |  Ask (420)  |  Bible (105)  |  Book (413)  |  Both (496)  |  Brother (47)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Joke (90)  |  Keeper (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Notice (81)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origin Of Species (42)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Species (435)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Two (936)  |  Want (504)  |  Zookeeper (2)

One of his followers said to him, “O Perfect One, why do you do this thing? For though we find joy in it, we know not the celestial reason nor the correspondency of it.” And Sabbah answered: “I will tell you first what I do; I will tell you the reasons afterward.”
In 'The Perfect One'. The Century Magazine (Dec 1918), 95, No. 2, 320. Collected in Ironical Tales (1927), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Afterward (5)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Do (1905)  |  Education (423)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Follower (11)  |  Joy (117)  |  Know (1538)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Reason (766)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)

One of the most impressive discoveries was the origin of the energy of the stars, that makes them continue to burn. One of the men who discovered this was out with his girl friend the night after he realized that nuclear reactions must be going on in the stars in order to make them shine.
She said “Look at how pretty the stars shine!”
He said, “Yes, and right now I am the only man in the world who knows why they shine.”
She merely laughed at him. She was not impressed with being out with the only man who, at that moment, knew why stars shine. Well, it is sad to be alone, but that is the way it is in this world.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Being (1276)  |  Burn (99)  |  Continue (179)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Energy (373)  |  Friend (180)  |  Girl (38)  |  Impress (66)  |  Impressed (39)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Know (1538)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Merely (315)  |  Moment (260)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Night (133)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Reaction (2)  |  Order (638)  |  Origin (250)  |  Pretty (21)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Realize (157)  |  Right (473)  |  Sadness (36)  |  Say (989)  |  Shine (49)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts.
In Albert Einstein, translated by G.B. Jeffery and W. Perrett, 'Geometry and Experience',Sidelights on Relativity (1922), 27.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Being (1276)  |  Certain (557)  |  Constant (148)  |  Danger (127)  |  Discover (571)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Esteem (18)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Indisputable (8)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Newly (4)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overthrow (5)  |  Overthrown (8)  |  Reason (766)  |  Special (188)

One thing was clear: I’d had a great life in research. It wasn’t broken, so why fix it? So I set up interviews with 10 universities, and Johns Hopkins came out on top.
Quoted in Johns Hopkins University News Release (9 Jan 2003) after he retired from Bell Labs in 2001 and joined the faculty in Fall 2002. On jh.edu web site.
Science quotes on:  |  Broken (56)  |  Great (1610)  |  Interview (5)  |  Johns Hopkins (7)  |  Johns Hopkins University (2)  |  Life (1870)  |  Research (753)  |  Set (400)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Top (100)

One wonders whether the rare ability to be completely attentive to, and to profit by, Nature’s slightest deviation from the conduct expected of her is not the secret of the best research minds and one that explains why some men turn to most remarkably good advantage seemingly trivial accidents. Behind such attention lies an unremitting sensitivity.
In The Furtherance of Medical Research (1941), 98.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Accident (92)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Attention (196)  |  Attentive (15)  |  Behind (139)  |  Best (467)  |  Completely (137)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Deviation (21)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expected (5)  |  Explain (334)  |  Good (906)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Profit (56)  |  Rare (94)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  Research (753)  |  Secret (216)  |  Seemingly (28)  |  Sensitivity (10)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Turn (454)  |  Wonder (251)

Our moral theorists seem never content with the normal. Why must it always be a contest between fornication, obesity and laziness, and celibacy, fasting and hard labor?
Science quotes on:  |  Contest (6)  |  Ethics (53)  |  Fasting (3)  |  Hard (246)  |  Labor (200)  |  Laziness (9)  |  Moral (203)  |  Must (1525)  |  Never (1089)  |  Normal (29)  |  Obesity (5)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Work (1402)

Our situation on this earth seems strange. Every one of us appears here involuntarily and uninvited for a short stay, without knowing the whys and the wherefore. In our daily lives we only feel that man is here for the sake of others, for those whom we love and for many other beings whose fate is connected with our own. I am often worried at the thought that my life is based to such a large extent on the work of my fellow human beings and I am aware of my great indebtedness to them.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Aware (36)  |  Base (120)  |  Being (1276)  |  Connect (126)  |  Daily (91)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fate (76)  |  Feel (371)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Indebtedness (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Large (398)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Often (109)  |  Other (2233)  |  Sake (61)  |  Seem (150)  |  Short (200)  |  Situation (117)  |  Stay (26)  |  Strange (160)  |  Thought (995)  |  Wherefore (2)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worry (34)

Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not landscape painting be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but the experiments?
'The History of Landscape Painting', quoted in Charles Tomlinson, Collected Poems (1985), 33.
Science quotes on:  |  Branch (155)  |  Consider (428)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Landscape (46)  |  Law (913)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Painting (46)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Picture (148)

Paris ... On this side of the ocean it is difficult to understand the susceptibility of American citizens on the subject and precisely why they should so stubbornly cling to the biblical version. It is said in Genesis the first man came from mud and mud is not anything very clean. In any case if the Darwinian hypothesis should irritate any one it should only be the monkey. The monkey is an innocent animal—a vegetarian by birth. He never placed God on a cross, knows nothing of the art of war, does not practice lynch law and never dreams of assassinating his fellow beings. The day when science definitely recognizes him as the father of the human race the monkey will have no occasion to be proud of his descendants. That is why it must be concluded that the American Association which is prosecuting the teacher of evolution can be no other than the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
[A cynical article in the French press on the Scopes Monkey Trial, whether it will decide “a monkey or Adam was the grandfather of Uncle Sam.”]
Newspaper
Article from a French daily newspaper on the day hearings at the Scopes Monkey Trial began, Paris Soir (13 Jul 1925), quoted in 'French Satirize the Case', New York Times (14 Jul 1925), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Animal (651)  |  Art (680)  |  Association (49)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bible (105)  |  Birth (154)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Clean (52)  |  Clinging (3)  |  Cruelty (24)  |  Cynical (3)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Descendant (18)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Dream (222)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Father (113)  |  Fellow (88)  |  First (1302)  |  France (29)  |   Genesis (26)  |  God (776)  |  Grandfather (14)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Know (1538)  |  Law (913)  |  Lynching (2)  |  Man (2252)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Mud (26)  |  Must (1525)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Practice (212)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Prevention (37)  |  Prosecution (2)  |  Race (278)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Scope (44)  |  Scopes Monkey Trial (9)  |  Side (236)  |  Society (350)  |  Subject (543)  |  Susceptibility (3)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Trial (59)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vegetarian (13)  |  War (233)  |  Will (2350)

Part of the appeal was that Medawar was not only a Nobel Laureate, but he seemed like a Nobel Laureate; he was everything one thought a Nobel Laureate ought to be. If you have ever wondered why scientists like Popper, try Medawar's exposition. Actually most Popperian scientists have probably never tried reading anything but Medawar's exposition.
'The Art of the Developable', New York Review of Books (Oct 1983). The first two sentences, slightly edited, were reprinted in A Devil's Chaplain (2004), 196.
Science quotes on:  |  Appeal (46)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exposition (16)  |  Sir Peter B. Medawar (57)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nobel Laureate (3)  |  Karl Raimund Popper (48)  |  Reading (136)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Thought (995)  |  Try (296)  |  Wonder (251)

People have noted with admiration how the progress of scientific enquiry is like the growth of a coral reef; each generation of little toilers building a sure foundation on which their successors may build yet further. The simile is apt in many ways, and in one way in particular that is worth considering. When we see how industrious and how prolific are the coral insects, our chief astonishment should be, not how vast are the structures they have built, but how few and scattered. Why is not every coast lined with coral? Why is the abyss if ocean not bridged with it. The answer is that coral only lives under certain limitations; it can only thrive at certain depths, in water of certain temperatures and salinities; outside these limits it languishes and dies. Science is like coral in this. Scientific investigators can only work in certain spots of the ocean of Being, where they are at home, and all outside is unknown to them...
Scientific Method: An Inquiry into the Character and Validy of Natural Law (1923), 195. Quoted in Wilson Gee, Social science research methods (1950), 182.
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Admiration (61)  |  Answer (389)  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Being (1276)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chief (99)  |  Coral Reef (15)  |  Depth (97)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Generation (256)  |  Growth (200)  |  Home (184)  |  Industrious (12)  |  Insect (89)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Outside (141)  |  People (1031)  |  Progress (492)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  See (1094)  |  Simile (8)  |  Structure (365)  |  Successor (16)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Thrive (22)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Vast (188)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worth (172)

People who look for the first time through a microscope say now I see this and then I see that—and even a skilled observer can be fooled. On these observations I have spent more time than many will believe, but I have done them with joy, and I have taken no notice of those who have said why take so much trouble and what good is it?—but I do not write for such people but only for the philosophical!
As quoted, without citation, by Dugald Caleb Jackson and Walter Paul Jones, in This Scientific Age: Essays in Modern Thought and Achievement (1930), 132.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  First (1302)  |  Fool (121)  |  Good (906)  |  Joy (117)  |  Look (584)  |  Microscope (85)  |  More (2558)  |  Notice (81)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observer (48)  |  People (1031)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Skill (116)  |  Skilled (6)  |  Spent (85)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Will (2350)  |  Write (250)

People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are. … In the fiery alphabet of every sunset is written “to be continued in our next.”
'On Certain Modern Writers and the institution of the Family' Heretics (1903). Collected in G. K. Chesterton and Dale Ahlquist (ed.), In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton (2011), 82.
Science quotes on:  |  Alphabet (14)  |  Book (413)  |  Continuation (20)  |  Fire (203)  |  Form (976)  |  Literature (116)  |  Merely (315)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Next (238)  |  Novel (35)  |  People (1031)  |  Popular (34)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Reason (766)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Writing (192)

Philosophers and psychiatrists should explain why it is that we mathematicians are in the habit of systematically erasing our footsteps. Scientists have always looked askance at this strange habit of mathematicians, which has changed little from Pythagoras to our day.
From the second Fubini Lecture, delivered at the Villa Gualino, Torino (2 Jun 1998), 'What is Invariant Theory, Really?' Collected in Henry H. Crapo and D. Senato (eds.), Algebraic Combinatorics and Computer Science: A Tribute to Gian-Carlo Rota (2001), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Askance (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Erase (7)  |  Explain (334)  |  Footstep (5)  |  Habit (174)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Psychiatrist (16)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Strange (160)  |  Systematically (7)

Physiology is the stepchild of medicine. That is why Cinderella often turns out the queen.
Science quotes on:  |  Medicine (392)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Turn (454)

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars—mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is “mere.” I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination—stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern—of which I am a part. … What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the “why?” It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?
In 'Astronomy', The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961), Vol. 1, 3-6, footnote.
Science quotes on:  |  Ammonia (15)  |  Artist (97)  |  Atom (381)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Desert (59)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eye (440)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Gas (89)  |  Harm (43)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Immense (89)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Mere (86)  |  Methane (9)  |  Million (124)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Night (133)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Old (499)  |  Part (235)  |  Past (355)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Poet (97)  |  Present (630)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Silent (31)  |  Speak (240)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Spinning (18)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vastness (15)  |  Year (963)

Preconceived ideas are like searchlights which illumine the path of experimenter and serve him as a guide to interrogate nature. They become a danger only if he transforms them into fixed ideas – this is why I should like to see these profound words inscribed on the threshold of all the temples of science: “The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.”
Speech (8 Jul 1876), to the French Academy of Medicine. As translated in René J. Dubos, Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science (1950, 1986), 376. Date of speech identified in Maurice B. Strauss, Familiar Medical Quotations (1968), 502.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Belief (615)  |  Danger (127)  |  Derangement (2)  |  Experimenter (40)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Guide (107)  |  Idea (881)  |  Illuminate (26)  |  Interrogate (4)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Path (159)  |  Preconceive (3)  |  Profound (105)  |  Searchlight (5)  |  See (1094)  |  Something (718)  |  Temple (45)  |  Threshold (11)  |  Transform (74)  |  Wish (216)  |  Word (650)

Preferring a search for objective reality over revelation is another way of satisfying religious hunger. It is an endeavor almost as old as civilization and intertwined with traditional religion, but it follows a very different course—a stoic’s creed, an acquired taste, a guidebook to adventure plotted across rough terrain. It aims to save the spirit, not by surrender but by liberation of the human mind. Its central tenet, as Einstein knew, is the unification of knowledge. When we have unified enough certain knowledge, we will understand who we are and why we are here. If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way.
In Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquired (77)  |  Adventure (69)  |  Aim (175)  |  Central (81)  |  Certain (557)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Course (413)  |  Creed (28)  |  Different (595)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Enough (341)  |  Fail (191)  |  Failure (176)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Hunger (23)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Liberation (12)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Objective (96)  |  Old (499)  |  Quest (39)  |  Reality (274)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Save (126)  |  Search (175)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Surrender (21)  |  Taste (93)  |  Terrain (6)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unification (11)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

Question: Why are Professors like the Mafia?
Answer: Because they usually only kill their own.
Anonymous
As given in William Reville, 'The Science of Writing a Good Joke', The Irish Times (5 Jun 2000).
Science quotes on:  |  Academia (4)  |  Answer (389)  |  Kill (100)  |  Professor (133)  |  Question (649)  |  Usually (176)

Questions that pertain to the foundations of mathematics, although treated by many in recent times, still lack a satisfactory solution. Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use.
Arithmetices Principia, (1889)
Science quotes on:  |  Ambiguity (17)  |  Examine (84)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Importance (299)  |  Lack (127)  |  Language (308)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Recent (78)  |  Solution (282)  |  Still (614)  |  Time (1911)  |  Use (771)  |  Word (650)

Quite distinct from the theoretical question of the manner in which mathematics will rescue itself from the perils to which it is exposed by its own prolific nature is the practical problem of finding means of rendering available for the student the results which have been already accumulated, and making it possible for the learner to obtain some idea of the present state of the various departments of mathematics. … The great mass of mathematical literature will be always contained in Journals and Transactions, but there is no reason why it should not be rendered far more useful and accessible than at present by means of treatises or higher text-books. The whole science suffers from want of avenues of approach, and many beautiful branches of mathematics are regarded as difficult and technical merely because they are not easily accessible. … I feel very strongly that any introduction to a new subject written by a competent person confers a real benefit on the whole science. The number of excellent text-books of an elementary kind that are published in this country makes it all the more to be regretted that we have so few that are intended for the advanced student. As an example of the higher kind of text-book, the want of which is so badly felt in many subjects, I may mention the second part of Prof. Chrystal’s Algebra published last year, which in a small compass gives a great mass of valuable and fundamental knowledge that has hitherto been beyond the reach of an ordinary student, though in reality lying so close at hand. I may add that in any treatise or higher text-book it is always desirable that references to the original memoirs should be given, and, if possible, short historic notices also. I am sure that no subject loses more than mathematics by any attempt to dissociate it from its history.
In Presidential Address British Association for the Advancement of Science, Section A (1890), Nature, 42, 466.
Science quotes on:  |  Accessible (27)  |  Accumulate (30)  |  Add (42)  |  Advance (298)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Already (226)  |  Approach (112)  |  At Hand (7)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Available (80)  |  Avenue (14)  |  Badly (32)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Book (413)  |  Branch (155)  |  George Chrystal (8)  |  Close (77)  |  Compass (37)  |  Competent (20)  |  Confer (11)  |  Contain (68)  |  Country (269)  |  Department (93)  |  Desirable (33)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Dissociate (2)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Easily (36)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Example (98)  |  Excellent (29)  |  Expose (28)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Far (158)  |  Feel (371)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Give (208)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Historic (7)  |  History (716)  |  Hitherto (6)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intend (18)  |  Introduction (37)  |  Journal (31)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Learner (10)  |  Lie (370)  |  Literature (116)  |  Lose (165)  |  Lying (55)  |  Making (300)  |  Manner (62)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Memoir (13)  |  Mention (84)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Notice (81)  |  Number (710)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Original (61)  |  Part (235)  |  Peril (9)  |  Person (366)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practical (225)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Prof (2)  |  Prolific (5)  |  Publish (42)  |  Question (649)  |  Reach (286)  |  Real (159)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reference (33)  |  Regard (312)  |  Regret (31)  |  Render (96)  |  Rescue (14)  |  Result (700)  |  Second (66)  |  Short (200)  |  Small (489)  |  State (505)  |  Strongly (9)  |  Student (317)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suffer (43)  |  Technical (53)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Transaction (13)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Useful (260)  |  Value (393)  |  Various (205)  |  Want (504)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Write (250)  |  Year (963)

Religious leaders and men of science have the same ideals; they want to understand and explain the universe of which they are part; they both earnestly desire to solve, if a solution be ever possible, that great riddle: Why are we here?
Concerning Man's Origin (1927), viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Both (496)  |  Desire (212)  |  Explain (334)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Leader (51)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Origin Of Man (9)  |  Possible (560)  |  Religious (134)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Want (504)

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Know (1538)  |  Lot (151)  |  Man (2252)  |  Result (700)  |  Several (33)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Work (1402)

Sarcastic Science, she would like to know,
In her complacent ministry of fear,
How we propose to get away from here
When she has made things so we have to go
Or be wiped out. Will she be asked to show
Us how by rocket we may hope to steer
To some star off there, say, a half light-year
Through temperature of absolute zero?
Why wait for Science to supply the how
When any amateur can tell it now?
The way to go away should be the same
As fifty million years ago we came—
If anyone remembers how that was
I have a theory, but it hardly does.
'Why Wait for Science?' In Edward Connery Latham (ed.), The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged (1979), 395.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Ask (420)  |  Fear (212)  |  Hope (321)  |  Know (1538)  |  Light (635)  |  Remember (189)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Say (989)  |  Show (353)  |  Space Flight (26)  |  Star (460)  |  Supply (100)  |  Tell (344)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)  |  Zero (38)

Science can explain why and how books are written; but it cannot account for the process being accompanied by consciousness.
Letter to E.C. Chapman (29 Jul 1891), Dan H. Laurence (ed.), Collected Letters (1965), Vol. 1, 303.
Science quotes on:  |  Accompany (22)  |  Account (195)  |  Being (1276)  |  Book (413)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Explain (334)  |  Process (439)  |  Write (250)

Science can tell you how to clone a tyrannosaurus rex. Humanities can tell you why this might be a bad idea.
Anonymous
On poster for humanities relevancy produced by the College of Humanities, University of Utah.
Science quotes on:  |  Bad (185)  |  Clone (8)  |  Humanities (21)  |  Idea (881)  |  Tell (344)  |  Tyrannosaurus Rex (2)

Science cannot answer the deepest questions. As soon as you ask why is there something instead of nothing, you have gone beyond science.
As quoted in John Noble Wilford, 'Sizing up the Cosmos: An Astronomers Quest', New York Times (12 Mar 1991), C10.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Deep (241)  |  Instead (23)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Question (649)  |  Something (718)  |  Soon (187)

Science cannot tell us a word about why music delights us, of why and how an old song can move us to tears.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Delight (111)  |  Move (223)  |  Music (133)  |  Old (499)  |  Song (41)  |  Tear (48)  |  Tell (344)  |  Word (650)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Voice (54)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Work (1402)

Science is dangerous. There is no question but that poison gas, genetic engineering, and nuclear weapons and power stations are terrifying. It may be that civilization is falling apart and the world we know is coming to an end. In that case, why no turn to religion and look forward to the Day of Judgment, ... [being] lifted into eternal bliss ... [and] watching the scoffers and disbelievers writhe forever in torment.
The 'Threat' of Creationism. In Ashley Montagu (ed.), Science and Creationism (1984), 192.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Coming (114)  |  Creationist (16)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  End (603)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Fear (212)  |  Forever (111)  |  Forward (104)  |  Gas (89)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Genetic Engineering (16)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Lift (57)  |  Look (584)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Power (16)  |  Nuclear Weapon (17)  |  Nuclear Weapons (2)  |  Poison (46)  |  Power (771)  |  Question (649)  |  Religion (369)  |  Station (30)  |  Torment (18)  |  Turn (454)  |  Weapon (98)  |  Weapons (57)  |  World (1850)

Science is occupied with “how” not “why”.
In On Love & Psychological Exercises: With Some Aphorisms & Other Essays (1998), 57.
Science quotes on:  |  Occupied (45)

Science is wonderfully equipped to answer the question “How?” but it gets terribly confused when you ask the question “Why?”
From Columbia Forum (1969), in Voices in the Labyrinth: Nature, Man and Science (1977), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Confused (13)  |  Equipped (17)  |  How (3)  |  Question (649)

Science offers us complete mastery over our environment and our own destiny, yet instead of rejoicing we feel deeply afraid. Why should this be?
From transcript of BBC radio Reith Lecture (12 Nov 1967), 'A Runaway World', on the bbc.co.uk website.
Science quotes on:  |  Afraid (24)  |  Complete (209)  |  Deeply (17)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Environment (239)  |  Feel (371)  |  Mastery (36)  |  Offer (142)  |  Rejoice (11)

Science tries to answer the question: ‘How?’ How do cells act in the body? How do you design an airplane that will fly faster than sound? How is a molecule of insulin constructed? Religion, by contrast, tries to answer the question: ‘Why?’ Why was man created? Why ought I to tell the truth? Why must there be sorrow or pain or death? Science attempts to analyze how things and people and animals behave; it has no concern whether this behavior is good or bad, is purposeful or not. But religion is precisely the quest for such answers: whether an act is right or wrong, good or bad, and why.
Science and Imagination, ch. 4, Basic Books (1967).
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Airplane (43)  |  Analyze (12)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Bad (185)  |  Behave (18)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Body (557)  |  Cell (146)  |  Concern (239)  |  Construct (129)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Create (245)  |  Death (406)  |  Design (203)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fast (49)  |  Faster (50)  |  Fly (153)  |  Good (906)  |  Insulin (9)  |  Man (2252)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Must (1525)  |  Pain (144)  |  People (1031)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Purposeful (2)  |  Quest (39)  |  Question (649)  |  Religion (369)  |  Right (473)  |  Sorrow (21)  |  Sound (187)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Try (296)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wrong (246)

Scientists and Drapers. Why should the botanist, geologist or other-ist give himself such airs over the draper’s assistant? Is it because he names his plants or specimens with Latin names and divides them into genera and species, whereas the draper does not formulate his classifications, or at any rate only uses his mother tongue when he does? Yet how like the sub-divisions of textile life are to those of the animal and vegetable kingdoms! A few great families—cotton, linen, hempen, woollen, silk, mohair, alpaca—into what an infinite variety of genera and species do not these great families subdivide themselves? And does it take less labour, with less intelligence, to master all these and to acquire familiarity with their various habits, habitats and prices than it does to master the details of any other great branch of science? I do not know. But when I think of Shoolbred’s on the one hand and, say, the ornithological collections of the British Museum upon the other, I feel as though it would take me less trouble to master the second than the first.
Samuel Butler, Henry Festing Jones (ed.), The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1917), 218.
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Animal (651)  |  Assistant (6)  |  Botanist (25)  |  Branch (155)  |  British (42)  |  British Museum (2)  |  Classification (102)  |  Collection (68)  |  Cotton (8)  |  Detail (150)  |  Divide (77)  |  Division (67)  |  Do (1905)  |  Familiarity (21)  |  Family (101)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  Genus (27)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Great (1610)  |  Habit (174)  |  Habitat (17)  |  Himself (461)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Know (1538)  |  Labor (200)  |  Latin (44)  |  Life (1870)  |  Linen (8)  |  Master (182)  |  Mother (116)  |  Mother Tongue (3)  |  Museum (40)  |  Name (359)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Ornithology (21)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plant (320)  |  Price (57)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Silk (14)  |  Species (435)  |  Specimen (32)  |  Textile (2)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tongue (44)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Use (771)  |  Variety (138)  |  Various (205)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Wool (4)

Scientists themselves readily admit that they do not fully understand the consequences of our many-faceted assault upon the interwoven fabric of atmosphere, water, land and life in all its biological diversity. But things could also turn out to be worse than the current scientific best guess. In military affairs, policy has long been based on the dictum that we should be prepared for the worst case. Why should it be so different when the security is that of the planet and our long-term future?
Speech, 'Global Security Lecture' at Cambridge University (28 Apr 1993).
Science quotes on:  |  Admit (49)  |  Assault (12)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Best (467)  |  Biodiversity (25)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Current (122)  |  Dictum (10)  |  Different (595)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fabric (27)  |  Future (467)  |  Guess (67)  |  Interwoven (10)  |  Land (131)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Military (45)  |  Planet (402)  |  Policy (27)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Security (51)  |  Term (357)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Water (503)  |  Worst (57)

Since light travels faster than sound, isn’t that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?
Anonymous
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Bright (81)  |  Faster (50)  |  Hear (144)  |  Joke (90)  |  Light (635)  |  People (1031)  |  Sound (187)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speed Of Light (18)  |  Travel (125)

Since my mother is the type that’s called schizophrenogenic in the literature—she's the one who makes crazy people, crazy children—I was awfully curious to find out why I didn’t go insane.
Quoted in Colin Wilson,New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow and the Post-Freudian Revolution (1972, 2001), 155-56.
Science quotes on:  |  Biography (254)  |  Call (781)  |  Children (201)  |  Crazy (27)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Curious (95)  |  Find (1014)  |  Insane (9)  |  Literature (116)  |  Mother (116)  |  People (1031)  |  Type (171)

So why fret and care that the actual version of the destined deed was done by an upper class English gentleman who had circumnavigated the globe as a vigorous youth, lost his dearest daughter and his waning faith at the same time, wrote the greatest treatise ever composed on the taxonomy of barnacles, and eventually grew a white beard, lived as a country squire just south of London, and never again traveled far enough even to cross the English Channel? We care for the same reason that we love okapis, delight in the fossil evidence of trilobites, and mourn the passage of the dodo. We care because the broad events that had to happen, happened to happen in a certain particular way. And something unspeakably holy –I don’t know how else to say this–underlies our discovery and confirmation of the actual details that made our world and also, in realms of contingency, assured the minutiae of its construction in the manner we know, and not in any one of a trillion other ways, nearly all of which would not have included the evolution of a scribe to record the beauty, the cruelty, the fascination, and the mystery.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Actual (118)  |  Assure (16)  |  Beard (8)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Broad (28)  |  Care (203)  |  Certain (557)  |  Channel (23)  |  Class (168)  |  Compose (20)  |  Confirmation (25)  |  Construction (114)  |  Contingency (11)  |  Country (269)  |  Cross (20)  |  Cruelty (24)  |  Daughter (30)  |  Deed (34)  |  Delight (111)  |  Destined (42)  |  Detail (150)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Dodo (7)  |  English (35)  |  Enough (341)  |  Event (222)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Faith (209)  |  Far (158)  |  Fascination (35)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Fret (3)  |  Gentleman (26)  |  Globe (51)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Grow (247)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Holy (35)  |  Include (93)  |  Know (1538)  |  Live (650)  |  London (15)  |  Lose (165)  |  Love (328)  |  Manner (62)  |  Minutiae (7)  |  Mourn (3)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  Passage (52)  |  Realm (87)  |  Reason (766)  |  Record (161)  |  Same (166)  |  Say (989)  |  Scribe (3)  |  Something (718)  |  South (39)  |  Taxonomy (19)  |  Time (1911)  |  Travel (125)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Trillion (4)  |  Trilobite (6)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Underly (3)  |  Unspeakably (3)  |  Upper (4)  |  Version (7)  |  Vigorous (21)  |  Wane (2)  |  Way (1214)  |  White (132)  |  World (1850)  |  Write (250)  |  Youth (109)

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)  |  View (496)

Some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. There's no reason why these problems shouldn't be easy, and yet they turn out to be extremely intricate. [Fermat's] Last Theorem is the most beautiful example of this.
From interview for PBS website on the NOVA program, 'The Proof'.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Easy (213)  |  Example (98)  |  Extremely (17)  |  Fermat�s Last Theorem (3)  |  Pierre de Fermat (15)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Last (425)  |  Look (584)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reason (766)  |  Simple (426)  |  Solve (145)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Try (296)  |  Turn (454)  |  Turns Out (4)  |  Year (963)

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do something, when all they need is one reason why they can.
In 'Things I’ve Been Thinking About', The American Magazine (July 1937), Vol. 124, No. 1, pages 50, 51, 102-11.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  Reason (766)  |  Something (718)  |  Thousand (340)

Some one once asked Rutherford how it was that he always managed to keep on the crest of the wave. “Well” said Rutherford “that isn’t difficult. I made the wave, why shouldn’t I be at the top of it.” I hasten to say that my own subject is a very minor ripple compared to Rutherford’s.
From Speech (10 Dec 1963) at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, Sweden. Collected inGöran Liljestrand (ed.), Les Prix Nobel en 1963, (1964).
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Crest (2)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Hasten (13)  |  Minor (12)  |  Ripple (12)  |  Sir Ernest Rutherford (55)  |  Say (989)  |  Subject (543)  |  Top (100)  |  Wave (112)

Some people see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Dream (222)  |  Never (1089)  |  People (1031)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)

Some primal termite knocked on wood.
And tasted it, and found it good.
And that is why your Cousin May
Fell through the parlor floor today.
Good Intentions (1942), 261. In Gary William Flake, The Computational Beauty of Nature (2000), 261.
Science quotes on:  |  Cousin (12)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Good (906)  |  Insect (89)  |  Termite (7)  |  Through (846)  |  Today (321)  |  Wood (97)

Some scientists find, or so it seems, that they get their best ideas when smoking; others by drinking coffee or whisky. Thus there is no reason why I should not admit that some may get their ideas by observing, or by repeating observations.
Realism and the Aim of Science (1983), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Admission (17)  |  Best (467)  |  Cigarette (26)  |  Coffee (21)  |  Drinking (21)  |  Find (1014)  |  Idea (881)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Reason (766)  |  Repetition (29)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Smoking (27)  |  Whisky (3)

Sometimes I am a little unkind to all my many friends in education … by saying that from the time it learns to talk every child makes a dreadful nuisance of itself by asking “Why?.” To stop this nuisance society has invented a marvellous system called education which, for the majority of people, brings to an end their desire to ask that question. The few failures of this system are known as scientists.
'The Making of a Scientist', Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, June 1983, 403.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Call (781)  |  Child (333)  |  Desire (212)  |  Dreadful (16)  |  Education (423)  |  End (603)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Failure (176)  |  Friend (180)  |  Known (453)  |  Learn (672)  |  Little (717)  |  Majority (68)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Nuisance (10)  |  People (1031)  |  Question (649)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Society (350)  |  System (545)  |  Time (1911)

Speaking of libraries: A big open-stack academic or public library is no small pleasure to work in. You’re, say, trying to do a piece on something in Nevada, and you go down to C Floor, deep in the earth, and out to what a miner would call a remote working face. You find 10995.497S just where the card catalog and the online computer thought it would be, but that is only the initial nick. The book you knew about has led you to others you did not know about. To the ceiling the shelves are loaded with books about Nevada. You pull them down, one at a time, and sit on the floor and look them over until you are sitting on a pile five feet high, at which point you are late home for dinner and you get up and walk away. It’s an incomparable boon to research, all that; but it is also a reason why there are almost no large open-stack libraries left in the world.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Academic (20)  |  Big (55)  |  Book (413)  |  Boon (7)  |  C (2)  |  Call (781)  |  Card (5)  |  Catalog (5)  |  Ceiling (5)  |  Computer (131)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dinner (15)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Face (214)  |  Find (1014)  |  Five (16)  |  Floor (21)  |  Foot (65)  |  Get Up (5)  |  High (370)  |  Home (184)  |  Incomparable (14)  |  Initial (17)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Late (119)  |  Lead (391)  |  Leave (138)  |  Library (53)  |  Load (12)  |  Look (584)  |  Miner (9)  |  Nick (2)  |  Online (4)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Piece (39)  |  Pile (12)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Point (584)  |  Public (100)  |  Pull (43)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remote (86)  |  Research (753)  |  Say (989)  |  Shelve (2)  |  Sit (51)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Small (489)  |  Something (718)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Try (296)  |  Trying (144)  |  Walk (138)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Speed, is that progress? Anyway, why progress? Why not enjoy what one has? Men have never exhausted present pleasures.
Islandia (1942, 1958), 76.
Science quotes on:  |  Never (1089)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Present (630)  |  Progress (492)  |  Speed (66)

Spong and I had also several fine discourses upon the globes this afternoon, particularly why the fixed stars do not rise and set at the same hour all the year long, which he could not demonstrate nor I neither.
Entry for 19 Aug 1666. In Samuel Pepys and Henry B. Wheatley (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1895, 1900), Vol. 5, 382. He spent the day with Mr Reeves and Mr Spong.
Science quotes on:  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Discourse (19)  |  Do (1905)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Hour (192)  |  Long (778)  |  Rise (169)  |  Set (400)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Year (963)

Stop the mindless wishing that things would be different. Rather than wasting time and emotional and spiritual energy in explaining why we don’t have what we want, we can start to pursue other ways to get it.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Different (595)  |  Emotional (17)  |  Energy (373)  |  Explain (334)  |  Mindless (4)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pursue (63)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Start (237)  |  Stop (89)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Want (504)  |  Waste (109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wish (216)

Strepsiades: But why do they look so fixedly on the ground?
Disciple of Socrates: They are seeking for what is below the ground. …
Strepsiades: And what is their rump looking at in the heavens?
Disciple: It is studying astronomy on its own account.
In The Clouds, Aristophanes Five Comedies (2003), 129.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ground (222)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Study (701)  |  Studying (70)

String theorists can explain plausible models of a unified universe, but unfortunately they cannot explain why we inhabit a particular one
In Book Review 'Pulling the Strings,' of Lawrence Krauss's Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Lure of Extra Dimensions, from Plato to String Theory and Beyond in Nature (22 Dec 2005), 438, 1082.
Science quotes on:  |  Explain (334)  |  Inhabit (18)  |  Model (106)  |  Particular (80)  |  Plausible (24)  |  String Theory (14)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Unfortunately (40)  |  Unified (10)  |  Universe (900)

Suppose physics soon succeeds, as Stephen Hawking and a few other physicists hope and believe, in reducing physics to a single equation or a small set of equations that will “explain” all of nature’s fundamental laws. We can then ask the unanswerable question, "Why this set of equations?”
In Introduction, The Night Is Large: Collected Essays 1938-1995 (1996), xvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Belief (615)  |  Equation (138)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Stephen W. Hawking (62)  |  Hope (321)  |  Law (913)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Question (649)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Set (400)  |  Single (365)  |  Small (489)  |  Soon (187)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Will (2350)

Suppose you were given a watch, a tube to sight with and a string, and then asked to determine the distance to the nearest star. Or you were asked the chemical composition, pressure or temperature of the Sun. A hundred or more years ago, these questions seemed impossible. Now astronomers are answering them all the time, and they believe their answers. Why? Because there are many parallel ways and tests, and they all give the same answers.
As quoted in John Noble Wilford, 'Sizing up the Cosmos: An Astronomers Quest', New York Times (12 Mar 1991), C10.
Science quotes on:  |  All The Time (4)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Belief (615)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Composition (86)  |  Determine (152)  |  Distance (171)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Impossible (263)  |  More (2558)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Question (649)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sight (135)  |  Star (460)  |  String (22)  |  Sun (407)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Test (221)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tube (6)  |  Watch (118)  |  Way (1214)  |  Year (963)

Surely something is wanting in our conception of the universe. We know positive and negative electricity, north and south magnetism, and why not some extra terrestrial matter related to terrestrial matter, as the source is to the sink. … Worlds may have formed of this stuff, with element and compounds possessing identical properties with our own, indistinguishable from them until they are brought into each other’s vicinity. … Astronomy, the oldest and most juvenile of the sciences, may still have some surprises in store. May anti-matter be commended to its care! … Do dreams ever come true?
[Purely whimsical prediction long before the 1932 discovery of the positron, the antiparticle of the electron.]
'Potential Matter—A Holiday Dream', Letter to the Editor, Nature (18 Aug 1898), 58, No. 1503, 367. Quoted in Edward Robert Harrison, Cosmology: the Science of the Universe (2000), 433.
Science quotes on:  |  Anti-Matter (4)  |  Antiparticle (4)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Care (203)  |  Commend (7)  |  Commendation (3)  |  Compound (117)  |  Conception (160)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Electron (96)  |  Element (322)  |  Form (976)  |  Identical (55)  |  Juvenile (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Long (778)  |  Magnetism (43)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Negative (66)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Oldest (9)  |  Other (2233)  |  Positive (98)  |  Positron (4)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Purely (111)  |  Sink (38)  |  Something (718)  |  Source (101)  |  South (39)  |  Still (614)  |  Store (49)  |  Surely (101)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Terrestrial (62)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

The Arts & Sciences are the Destruction of Tyrannies or Bad Governments. Why should a good government endeavour to depress what is its chief and only support.
Marginal note (c. 1808) written in his copy of The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1798), on table of contents. As given in William Blake, Edwin John Ellis (ed.) and William Butler Yeats (ed.), The Works of William Blake (1893), Vol. 2, 319.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Bad (185)  |  Chief (99)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Good (906)  |  Government (116)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Support (151)  |  Tyranny (15)

The beauty of his better self lives on
In minds he touched with fire, in many an eye
He trained to Truth’s exact severity;
He was a teacher: why be grieved for him
Whose living word still stimulates the air?
[On Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz.] 'Ode on the Death of Agassiz' (1888). In The Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell (1978),381.
Science quotes on:  |  Louis Agassiz (43)  |  Air (366)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Better (493)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fire (203)  |  In Memoriam (2)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Self (268)  |  Still (614)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Touch (146)  |  Train (118)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Word (650)

The Big Bang theory says nothing about what banged, why it banged, or what happened before it banged.
Alan Guth
As quoted in Neil Swidey, 'Alan Guth: What Made the Big Bang Bang', Boston Globe (2 May 2014).
Science quotes on:  |  Bang (29)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Say (989)  |  Theory (1015)

The biologist can push it back to the original protist, and the chemist can push it back to the crystal, but none of them touch the real question of why or how the thing began at all. The astronomer goes back untold million of years and ends in gas and emptiness, and then the mathematician sweeps the whole cosmos into unreality and leaves one with mind as the only thing of which we have any immediate apprehension. Cogito ergo sum, ergo omnia esse videntur. All this bother, and we are no further than Descartes. Have you noticed that the astronomers and mathematicians are much the most cheerful people of the lot? I suppose that perpetually contemplating things on so vast a scale makes them feel either that it doesn’t matter a hoot anyway, or that anything so large and elaborate must have some sense in it somewhere.
As co-author with Robert Eustace, The Documents in the Case (1930), 72.
Science quotes on:  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Back (395)  |  Begin (275)  |  Biologist (70)  |  Cheerful (10)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Cogito Ergo Sum (4)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Crystal (71)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Elaborate (31)  |  Emptiness (13)  |  End (603)  |  Feel (371)  |  Gas (89)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Large (398)  |  Leave (138)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Matter (821)  |  Million (124)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  People (1031)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Perpetually (20)  |  Protist (3)  |  Push (66)  |  Question (649)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sum (103)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Sweep (22)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Touch (146)  |  Unreality (3)  |  Vast (188)  |  Whole (756)  |  Year (963)

The birds can fly,
An’ why can’t I?
In poem, 'Darius Green and his Flying-Machine', Vagabonds: And Other Poems (1869), 115.
Science quotes on:  |  Aeronautics (15)  |  Bird (163)  |  Fly (153)

The body knows what it needs. That’s why some things taste good.
Aphorism as given by the fictional character Dezhnev Senior, in Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain (1987), 78.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Good (906)  |  Know (1538)  |  Taste (93)  |  Thing (1914)

The brain can be developed just the same as the muscles can be developed, if one will only take the pains to train the mind to think. Why do so many men never amount to anything? Because they don't think!
As quoted from an interview by B.C. Forbes in The American Magazine (Jan 1921), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Brain (281)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Never (1089)  |  Pain (144)  |  Think (1122)  |  Train (118)  |  Training (92)  |  Will (2350)

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)  |  View (496)

The cause of rain is now, I consider, no longer an object of doubt. If two masses of air of unequal temperatures, by the ordinary currents of the winds, are intermixed, when saturated with vapour, a precipitation ensues. If the masses are under saturation, then less precipitation takes place, or none at all, according to the degree. Also, the warmer the air, the greater is the quantity of vapour precipitated in like circumstances. ... Hence the reason why rains are heavier in summer than in winter, and in warm countries than in cold.
Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester (1819), 3, 507. Quoted in George Drysdale Dempsey and Daniel Kinnear Clark, On the Drainage of Lands, Towns, & Buildings (1887), 246.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Air (366)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Cold (115)  |  Consider (428)  |  Current (122)  |  Degree (277)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Greater (288)  |  Intermix (3)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Object (438)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Precipitation (7)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Rain (70)  |  Reason (766)  |  Saturation (9)  |  Summer (56)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Two (936)  |  Unequal (12)  |  Vapour (16)  |  Warm (74)  |  Warmth (21)  |  Wind (141)  |  Winter (46)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Water (503)  |  Wave (112)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wind (141)  |  Young (253)

The Chinese are clearly inculcating the idea that science is exciting and important, and that’s why they, as a whole—they're graduating four times as many engineers as we are, and that's just happened over the last 20 years.
NPR Radio interview, Morning Edition, (29 Apr 2005). In Lisa Rogak (ed.) The Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in his Words (2012), 32.
Science quotes on:  |  China (27)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Graduation (6)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Inculcate (7)  |  Last (425)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whole (756)  |  Year (963)

The commissioners of the treasury moved the king, for the relief of his estate, to disafforest some forests of his, explaining themselves of such forests as lay out of the way, not near any of the king’s houses, nor in the course of his progress; whereof he should never have use nor pleasure. “Why,” saith the king, “do you think that Solomon had use and pleasure of all his three hundred concubines?”
In 'A Collection of Apophthegms, New and Old' (1625). As given in Essays, Moral, Economical, and Political: A New Edition, With the Latin Quotations Translated (1813), No. 9, 262. King James I was named in the preceding Apophthegm No. 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Commissioner (2)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Course (413)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Do (1905)  |  Estate (5)  |  Forest (161)  |  House (143)  |  Hundred (240)  |  King (39)  |  Never (1089)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Progress (492)  |  Relief (30)  |  Saving (20)  |  King Solomon (2)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Think (1122)  |  Treasury (3)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)

The design of a book is the pattern of reality controlled and shaped by the mind of the writer. This is completely understood about poetry or fiction, but it is too seldom realized about books of fact. And yet the impulse which drives a man to poetry will send a man into the tide pools and force him to report what he finds there. Why is an expedition to Tibet undertaken, or a sea bottom dredged? Why do men, sitting at the microscope, examine the calcareous plates of a sea cucumber and give the new species a name, and write about it possessively? It would be good to know the impulse truly, not to be confused by the “services to science” platitudes or the other little mazes into which we entice our minds so that they will not know what we are doing.
In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts, Introduction to Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), opening paragraph. John Steinbeck had an interest in marine science before he met Ricketts. This book is an account of their trip in the Gulf of California, once called the Sea of Cortez, and recording the marine life to be found there.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Completely (137)  |  Cucumber (4)  |  Design (203)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Examine (84)  |  Expedition (9)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fiction (23)  |  Find (1014)  |  Force (497)  |  Good (906)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Know (1538)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marine Biology (24)  |  Maze (11)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Name (359)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pattern (116)  |  Platitude (2)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Pool (16)  |  Reality (274)  |  Report (42)  |  Sea (326)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Service (110)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Species (435)  |  Tibet (4)  |  Tide (37)  |  Truly (118)  |  Understood (155)  |  Will (2350)  |  Write (250)  |  Writer (90)

The divergent series are the invention of the devil, and it is a shame to base on them any demonstration whatsoever. By using them, one may draw any conclusion he pleases and that is why these series have produced so many fallacies and so many paradoxes.
From letter (Jan 1828) to his former teacher Berndt Holmböe. In Morris Kline, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty (1982), 170.
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Devil (34)  |  Divergent (6)  |  Draw (140)  |  General (521)  |  Invention (400)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Please (68)  |  Produced (187)  |  Series (153)  |  Special (188)  |  Whatsoever (41)

The fact that human life can be prolonged with fewer physical problems requires that we give increasing attention to improving the quality of life. As the poet Edwin Markham stated: “We are all fools until we know that in the common plan, nothing is worth the building if it does not build the man; why build these temples glorious, if man unbuilded goes?”
In 'Millenial Musings', Chemical & Engineering News (6 Dec 1999), 77, No. 49, 48.
Science quotes on:  |  Attention (196)  |  Build (211)  |  Building (158)  |  Common (447)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fewer (11)  |  Fool (121)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Physical (518)  |  Plan (122)  |  Poet (97)  |  Problem (731)  |  Prolong (29)  |  Quality (139)  |  Require (229)  |  Temple (45)  |  Worth (172)

The fact that something is far-fetched is no reason why it should not be true; it cannot be as far-fetched as the fact that something exists.
In The Decline and Fall of Science (1976), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Exist (458)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Reason (766)  |  Something (718)  |  True (239)

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, “What is the use of climbing Mount Everest ?” and my answer must at once be, “It is no use.” There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It’s no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Adventure (69)  |  Altitude (5)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Aviation (8)  |  Back (395)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Bit (21)  |  Body (557)  |  Bring (95)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Climb (39)  |  Coal (64)  |  Crop (26)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Eat (108)  |  End (603)  |  Enjoy (48)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Food (213)  |  Foot (65)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gain (146)  |  Gem (17)  |  Gold (101)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Body (34)  |  Iron (99)  |  Joy (117)  |  Learn (672)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Medical (31)  |  Meet (36)  |  Money (178)  |  Mount (43)  |  Mount Everest (6)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Observation (593)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  Plant (320)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Question (649)  |  Raise (38)  |  Respond (14)  |  See (1094)  |  Sheer (9)  |  Silver (49)  |  Single (365)  |  Slight (32)  |  Something (718)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Try (296)  |  Turn (454)  |  Understand (648)  |  Upward (44)  |  Use (771)  |  Whatsoever (41)  |  Will (2350)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Weather (49)  |  Wild (96)  |  Zoo (9)

The fundamental biological variant is DNA. That is why Mendel's definition of the gene as the unvarying bearer of hereditary traits, its chemical identification by Avery (confirmed by Hershey), and the elucidation by Watson and Crick of the structural basis of its replicative invariance, are without any doubt the most important discoveries ever made in biology. To this must be added the theory of natural selection, whose certainty and full significance were established only by those later theories.
In Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1971), 104.
Science quotes on:  |  Oswald Avery (6)  |  Basis (180)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Confirmation (25)  |  Francis Crick (62)  |  Definition (238)  |  Discovery (837)  |  DNA (81)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Elucidation (7)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Gene (105)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Identification (20)  |  Importance (299)  |  Invariance (4)  |  Gregor Mendel (22)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Replication (10)  |  Selection (130)  |  Significance (114)  |  Structural (29)  |  Structure (365)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Trait (23)  |  Variant (9)  |  James Watson (33)

The girls are all giggling, then one girl suddenly remembers
the wild goat. Up there, on the hilltop, in the woods
and rocky ravines, the peasants saw him butting his head
against the trees, looking for the nannies. He’s gone wild,
and the reason why is this: if you don’t make an animal work,
if you keep him only for stud, he likes to hurt, he kills.

From Poem, 'The Goat God', Hard Labor (1936, 1976), 10.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Animal (651)  |  Butt (2)  |  Girl (38)  |  Goat (9)  |  Head (87)  |  Hurt (14)  |  Keep (104)  |  Kill (100)  |  Looking (191)  |  Peasant (9)  |  Ravine (5)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remember (189)  |  Rocky (3)  |  Saw (160)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Tree (269)  |  Wild (96)  |  Wood (97)  |  Work (1402)

The greatest mystery is why there is something instead of nothing, and the greatest something is this thing we call life.
In Through a Window by Alan Lightman and Roberta Brawer (1990).
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Something (718)  |  Thing (1914)

The greatest unsolved theorem in mathematics is why some people are better at it than others.
In Howard W. Eves Return to Mathematical Circles, (1988), 158.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Unsolved (15)

The hardest thing to understand is why we can understand anything at all.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Hard (246)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understand (648)

The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities—perhaps the only one—in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there. In most other fields of human endeavour there is change, but rarely progress ... And in most fields we do not even know how to evaluate change.
From Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963), 216. Reproduced in Karl Popper, Truth, Rationality and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1979), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Change (639)  |  Clarity (49)  |  Correction (42)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Error (339)  |  Field (378)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Irresponsibility (5)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Making (300)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obstinacy (3)  |  Other (2233)  |  Progress (492)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Systematically (7)  |  Time (1911)

The history of the word sankhyā shows the intimate connection which has existed for more than 3000 years in the Indian mind between ‘adequate knowledge’ and ‘number.’ As we interpret it, the fundamental aim of statistics is to give determinate and adequate knowledge of reality with the help of numbers and numerical analysis. The ancient Indian word Sankhyā embodies the same idea, and this is why we have chosen this name for the Indian Journal of Statistics.
Editorial, Vol. 1, Part 1, in the new statistics journal of the Indian Statistical Institute, Sankhayā (1933). Also reprinted in Sankhyā: The Indian Journal of Statistics (Feb 2003), 65, No. 1, xii.
Science quotes on:  |  Adequate (50)  |  Aim (175)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Connection (171)  |  Determinate (7)  |  Embody (18)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Help (116)  |  History (716)  |  Idea (881)  |  India (23)  |  Indian (32)  |  Interpret (25)  |  Journal (31)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Name (359)  |  Number (710)  |  Numerical (39)  |  Reality (274)  |  Show (353)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)

The human brain became large by natural selection (who knows why, but presumably for good cause). Yet surely most ‘things’ now done by our brains, and essential both to our cultures and to our very survival, are epiphenomena of the computing power of this machine, not genetically grounded Darwinian entities created specifically by natural selection for their current function.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Brain (281)  |  Cause (561)  |  Compute (19)  |  Create (245)  |  Culture (157)  |  Current (122)  |  Darwinian (10)  |  Entity (37)  |  Essential (210)  |  Function (235)  |  Genetically (2)  |  Good (906)  |  Ground (222)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Brain (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Large (398)  |  Machine (271)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Power (771)  |  Presumably (3)  |  Selection (130)  |  Surely (101)  |  Survival (105)  |  Thing (1914)

The human mechanism is marvelous. But why not—it is the result of three-and-a-half billion years of tinkering.
Epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Billion (104)  |  Human (1512)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Result (700)  |  Tinker (6)  |  Tinkering (6)  |  Year (963)

The human race has to be bad at psychology; if it were not, it would understand why it is bad at everything else.
In The Decline and Fall of Science (1976), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Bad (185)  |  Everything (489)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Race (278)  |  Understand (648)

The hypothetical character of continual creation has been pointed out, but why is it more of a hypothesis to say that creation is taking place now than that it took place in the past? On the contrary, the hypothesis of continual creation is more fertile in that it answers more questions and yields more results, and results that are, at least in principle, observable. To push the entire question of creation into the past is to restrict science to a discussion of what happened after creation while forbidding it to examine creation itself. This is a counsel of despair to be taken only if everything else fails.
From Cosmology (), 152.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Character (259)  |  Continual (44)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Counsel (11)  |  Creation (350)  |  Despair (40)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Everything (489)  |  Examine (84)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fertile (30)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  More (2558)  |  Observable (21)  |  Past (355)  |  Point (584)  |  Present (630)  |  Principle (530)  |  Push (66)  |  Question (649)  |  Restrict (13)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Yield (86)

The idea of an atom has been so constantly associated with incredible assumptions of infinite strength, absolute rigidity, mystical actions at a distance, and individuality, that chemists and many other reasonable naturalists of modern times, losing all patience with it, have dismissed it to the realms of metaphysics, and made it smaller than ‘anything we can conceive.’ But if atoms are inconceivably small, why are not all chemical actions infinitely swift? Chemistry is powerless to deal with this question, and many others of paramount importance, if barred by the hardness of its fundamental assumptions, from contemplating the atom as a real portion of matter occupying a finite space, and forming not an immeasurably small constituent of any palpable body.
Sir William Thomson and Peter Guthrie Tait, A Treatise on Natural Philosophy (1883), Vol. I, Part 2, 495.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Action (342)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Atom (381)  |  Body (557)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Deal (192)  |  Distance (171)  |  Finite (60)  |  Forming (42)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Idea (881)  |  Importance (299)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Individuality (25)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Matter (821)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  Modern (402)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Other (2233)  |  Palpable (8)  |  Paramount (11)  |  Patience (58)  |  Portion (86)  |  Question (649)  |  Realm (87)  |  Rigidity (5)  |  Small (489)  |  Space (523)  |  Strength (139)  |  Time (1911)

The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know why or how.
Quoted in Forbes (15 Sep 1974). In Larry Chang, Wisdom for the Soul (2006), 179.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Know (1538)  |  Leap (57)  |  Little (717)  |  Problem (731)  |  Solution (282)  |  Will (2350)

The job of theorists, especially in biology, is to suggest new experiments. A good theory makes not only predictions, but surprising predictions that then turn out to be true. (If its predictions appear obvious to experimentalists, why would they need a theory?)
In What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery (1988), 142.
Science quotes on:  |  Appear (122)  |  Biology (232)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimentalist (20)  |  Experimenter (40)  |  Good (906)  |  Job (86)  |  Need (320)  |  New (1273)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Theory (1015)  |  True (239)  |  Turn (454)

The kinetic concept of motion in classical theory will have to undergo profound modifications. (That is why I also avoided the term “orbit” in my paper throughout.) … We must not bind the atoms in the chains of our prejudices—to which, in my opinion, also belongs the assumption that electron orbits exist in the sense of ordinary mechanics—but we must, on the contrary, adapt our concepts to experience.
Letter to Niels Bohr (12 Dec 1924), in K. von Meyenn (ed.), Wolfgang Pauli - Wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz (1979), Vol. 1, 188. Quoted and cited in Daniel Greenberger, Klaus Hentschel and Friedel Weinert, Compendium of Quantum Physics: Concepts, Experiments, History and Philosophy (2009), 615.
Science quotes on:  |  Adapt (70)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Atom (381)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Belong (168)  |  Chain (51)  |  Classical (49)  |  Classical Theory (2)  |  Concept (242)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Electron (96)  |  Exist (458)  |  Experience (494)  |  Kinetic (12)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Model (106)  |  Modification (57)  |  Motion (320)  |  Must (1525)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Paper (192)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Profound (105)  |  Sense (785)  |  Term (357)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Will (2350)

The McCarthy period came along … and many of the other scientists who had been working on these same lines gave up. Probably saying “Why should I sacrifice myself? I am a scientist, I am supposed to be working on scientific things, so I don’t need to put myself at risk by talking about these possibilities.” And I have said that perhaps I’m just stubborn… I have said “I don’t like anybody to tell me what to do or to think, except Mrs. Pauling.”
From interview (11 Nov 1990) with Wayne Reynolds, website of the American Academy of Achievement.
Science quotes on:  |  Anybody (42)  |  Do (1905)  |  Liking (4)  |  McCarthy_Joseph (2)  |  Myself (211)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Risk (68)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Stubborn (14)  |  Stubbornness (4)  |  Talking (76)  |  Tell (344)  |  Telling (24)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Wife (41)  |  Working (23)

The nervous system is the most complex and delicate instrument on our planet, by means of which relations, connections are established between the numerous parts of the organism, as well as between the organism, as a highly complex system, and the innumerable, external influences. If the closing and opening of electric current is now regarded as an ordinary technical device, why should there be any objection to the idea that the same principle acts in this wonderful instrument? On this basis the constant connection between the external agent and the response of the organism, which it evokes, can be rightly called an unconditioned reflex, and the temporary connection—a conditioned reflex.
The Conditioned Reflex (1935), 249.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Agent (73)  |  Basis (180)  |  Call (781)  |  Called (9)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Condition (362)  |  Conditioning (3)  |  Connection (171)  |  Constancy (12)  |  Constant (148)  |  Current (122)  |  Delicacy (8)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Device (71)  |  Electric (76)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Evoke (13)  |  External (62)  |  Idea (881)  |  Influence (231)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Nervous System (35)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Objection (34)  |  Opening (15)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Organism (231)  |  Part (235)  |  Planet (402)  |  Principle (530)  |  Reflex (14)  |  Regard (312)  |  Relation (166)  |  Response (56)  |  System (545)  |  Technology (281)  |  Temporary (24)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Wonderful (155)

The only objections that have occurred to me are, 1st that you have loaded yourself with an unnecessary difficulty in adopting Natura non facit saltum so unreservedly. … And 2nd, it is not clear to me why, if continual physical conditions are of so little moment as you suppose, variation should occur at all. However, I must read the book two or three times more before I presume to begin picking holes.
Comments after reading Darwin's book, Origin of Species.]
Letter to Charles Darwin (23 Nov 1859). 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), 214.
Science quotes on:  |  Adopt (22)  |  Begin (275)  |  Book (413)  |  Condition (362)  |  Continual (44)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Little (717)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natura Non Facit Saltum (3)  |  Objection (34)  |  Occur (151)  |  Origin (250)  |  Physical (518)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Species (435)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Unnecessary (23)  |  Unreserved (2)  |  Variation (93)

The physicist, in his study of natural phenomena, has two methods of making progress: (1) the method of experiment and observation, and (2) the method of mathematical reasoning. The former is just the collection of selected data; the latter enables one to infer results about experiments that have not been performed. There is no logical reason why the second method should be possible at all, but one has found in practice that it does work and meets with reasonable success.
From Lecture delivered on presentation of the James Scott prize, (6 Feb 1939), 'The Relation Between Mathematics And Physics', printed in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1938-1939), 59, Part 2, 122.
Science quotes on:  |  Collection (68)  |  Data (162)  |  Enable (122)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Former (138)  |  Infer (12)  |  Logical (57)  |  Making (300)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Meet (36)  |  Method (531)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Observation (593)  |  Perform (123)  |  Performed (3)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Possible (560)  |  Practice (212)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasonable (29)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Result (700)  |  Select (45)  |  Study (701)  |  Success (327)  |  Theoretical Physics (26)  |  Two (936)  |  Work (1402)

The picture of scientific method drafted by modern philosophy is very different from traditional conceptions. Gone is the ideal of a universe whose course follows strict rules, a predetermined cosmos that unwinds itself like an unwinding clock. Gone is the ideal of the scientist who knows the absolute truth. The happenings of nature are like rolling dice rather than like revolving stars; they are controlled by probability laws, not by causality, and the scientist resembles a gambler more than a prophet. He can tell you only his best posits—he never knows beforehand whether they will come true. He is a better gambler, though, than the man at the green table, because his statistical methods are superior. And his goal is staked higher—the goal of foretelling the rolling dice of the cosmos. If he is asked why he follows his methods, with what title he makes his predictions, he cannot answer that he has an irrefutable knowledge of the future; he can only lay his best bets. But he can prove that they are best bets, that making them is the best he can do—and if a man does his best, what else can you ask of him?
The Rise of Scientific Philosophy (1951, 1973), 248-9. Collected in James Louis Jarrett and Sterling M. McMurrin (eds.), Contemporary Philosophy: A Book of Readings (1954), 376.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Absoluteness (4)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Best (467)  |  Bet (13)  |  Better (493)  |  Causality (11)  |  Clock (51)  |  Conception (160)  |  Cosmos (64)  |  Course (413)  |  Dice (21)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Draft (6)  |  Follow (389)  |  Foretelling (4)  |  Future (467)  |  Gambler (7)  |  Goal (155)  |  Green (65)  |  Happening (59)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Irrefutable (5)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Picture (148)  |  Posit (2)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prophet (22)  |  Prove (261)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Roll (41)  |  Rule (307)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Stake (20)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Superior (88)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Table (105)  |  Tell (344)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)

The poet alone knows astronomy, chemistry, vegetation, and animation, for he does not stop at these facts, but employs them as signs. He knows why the plain, or meadow of space, was strown with these flowers we call suns, and moons, and stars; why the deep is adorned with animals, with men, and gods; for, in every word he speaks he rides on them as the horses of thought.
Essay, 'The Poet', in Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alfred Riggs Ferguson (ed.) and Jean Ferguson Carr (ed.), The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume III, Essays: Second Series (1984), 104.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animation (6)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Call (781)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Deep (241)  |  Employ (115)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Flower (112)  |  God (776)  |  Horse (78)  |  Know (1538)  |  Meadow (21)  |  Moon (252)  |  Ride (23)  |  Space (523)  |  Speak (240)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Thought (995)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vegetation (24)  |  Word (650)

The Post Office Committee of the House has referred to a sub-committee all the bills authorizing the building or buying of telegraph lines for the purpose of establishing a postal telegraph—that is, of sending mails by electricity … All is done by contract … with the carriage of mails by steam power [railroads] … It does not appear why there should be any difference of principle because of the substitution of electricity for steam.
[Foreshadowing email.]
In 'Mails by Electricity', New York Times (26 Apr 1884), 4. A previous proposal for U.S. Government ownership of a test postal telegraph received an adverse Report of the House Post Office Committee, reported in 'Postal Telegraph', New York Times (25 Feb 1869).
Science quotes on:  |  Authorization (3)  |  Bill (14)  |  Building (158)  |  Difference (355)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Email (3)  |  Establishment (47)  |  House (143)  |  Mail (2)  |  Office (71)  |  Post (8)  |  Post Office (2)  |  Power (771)  |  Principle (530)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Railroad (36)  |  Steam (81)  |  Steam Power (10)  |  Substitution (16)  |  Telegraph (45)

The power that produced Man when the monkey was not up to the mark, can produce a higher creature than Man if Man does not come up to the mark. What it means is that if Man is to be saved, Man must save himself. There seems no compelling reason why he should be saved. He is by no means an ideal creature. At his present best many of his ways are so unpleasant that they are unmentionable in polite society, and so painful that he is compelled to pretend that pain is often a good. Nature holds no brief for the human experiment: it must stand or fall by its results. If Man will not serve, Nature will try another experiment.
Back to Methuselah: a Metabiological Pentateuch (1921), xvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Another (7)  |  Best (467)  |  Brief (37)  |  Compelling (11)  |  Creature (242)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fall (243)  |  Good (906)  |  Higher (37)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mark (47)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Pain (144)  |  Pleasant (22)  |  Polite (9)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Pretend (18)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Save (126)  |  Serve (64)  |  Society (350)  |  Stand (284)  |  Try (296)  |  Unpleasant (15)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

The prominent reason why a mathematician can be judged by none but mathematicians, is that he uses a peculiar language. The language of mathesis is special and untranslatable. In its simplest forms it can be translated, as, for instance, we say a right angle to mean a square corner. But you go a little higher in the science of mathematics, and it is impossible to dispense with a peculiar language. It would defy all the power of Mercury himself to explain to a person ignorant of the science what is meant by the single phrase “functional exponent.” How much more impossible, if we may say so, would it be to explain a whole treatise like Hamilton’s Quaternions, in such a wise as to make it possible to judge of its value! But to one who has learned this language, it is the most precise and clear of all modes of expression. It discloses the thought exactly as conceived by the writer, with more or less beauty of form, but never with obscurity. It may be prolix, as it often is among French writers; may delight in mere verbal metamorphoses, as in the Cambridge University of England; or adopt the briefest and clearest forms, as under the pens of the geometers of our Cambridge; but it always reveals to us precisely the writer’s thought.
In North American Review (Jul 1857), 85, 224-225.
Science quotes on:  |  Adopt (22)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Brief (37)  |  Cambridge (17)  |  Cambridge University (2)  |  Clear (111)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Corner (59)  |  Defy (11)  |  Delight (111)  |  Disclose (19)  |  Dispense (10)  |  England (43)  |  Exact (75)  |  Explain (334)  |  Exponent (6)  |  Expression (181)  |  Form (976)  |  French (21)  |  Function (235)  |  Geometer (24)  |  Hamilton_William (2)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Judge (114)  |  Language (308)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Little (717)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics As A Language (20)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mercury (54)  |  Metamorphose (2)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  Obscure (66)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Pen (21)  |  Person (366)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Precise (71)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Prolix (2)  |  Prominent (6)  |  Quaternion (9)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Right (473)  |  Right Angle (4)  |  Say (989)  |  Simple (426)  |  Single (365)  |  Special (188)  |  Square (73)  |  Thought (995)  |  Translate (21)  |  Treatise (46)  |  University (130)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Verbal (10)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wise (143)  |  Writer (90)

The questions we ask are "What?" and "How?" What are the facts and how are they related? If sometimes, in a moment of absent-mindedness or idle diversion, we ask the question "Why?" the answer escapes us.
In The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers (1932, 2003), 16
Science quotes on:  |  Absent-Minded (4)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Diversion (10)  |  Escape (85)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Idle (34)  |  Moment (260)  |  Question (649)  |  Related (5)

The reason why new concepts in any branch of science are hard to grasp is always the same; contemporary scientists try to picture the new concept in terms of ideas which existed before.
In 'Innovation in Physics', Scientific American, 1958, 199, 76. Collected in From Eros to Gaia (1993).
Science quotes on:  |  Branch (155)  |  Concept (242)  |  Exist (458)  |  Hard (246)  |  Idea (881)  |  Innovation (49)  |  New (1273)  |  Picture (148)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Try (296)

The result of all these experiments has given place to a new division of the parts of the human body, which I shall follow in this short essay, by distinguishing those which are susceptible of Irritability and Sensibility, from those which are not. But the theory, why some parts of the human body are endowed with these properties, while others are not, I shall not at all meddle with. For I am persuaded that the source of both lies concealed beyond the reach of the knife and microscope, beyond which I do not chuse to hazard many conjectures, as I have no desire of teaching what I am ignorant of myself. For the vanity of attempting to guide others in paths where we find ourselves in the dark, shews, in my humble opinion, the last degree of arrogance and ignorance.
'A Treatise on the Sensible and Irritable Parts of Animals' (Read 1752). Trans. 1755 and reprinted in Bulletin of the Institute of the History of Medicine, 1936, 4(2), 657-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Arrogance (22)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Body (557)  |  Both (496)  |  Concealed (25)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Dark (145)  |  Degree (277)  |  Desire (212)  |  Division (67)  |  Do (1905)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Essay (27)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Guide (107)  |  Hazard (21)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humble (54)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Irritability (4)  |  Knife (24)  |  Last (425)  |  Lie (370)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nerve (82)  |  New (1273)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Path (159)  |  Reach (286)  |  Result (700)  |  Short (200)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Theory (1015)

The ruthless destruction of their forests by the Chinese is one of the reasons why famine and plague today hold this nation in their sinister grasp. Denudation, wherever practiced, leaves naked soil; floods and erosion follow, and when the soil is gone men must also go—and the process does not take long. The great plains of Eastern China were centuries ago transformed from forest into agricultural land. The mountain plateau of Central China have also within a few hundred years been utterly devastated of tree growth, and no attempt made at either natural or artificial reforestation. As a result, the water rushes off the naked slopes in veritable floods, gullying away the mountain sides, causing rivers to run muddy with yellow soil, and carrying enormous masses of fertile earth to the sea. Water courses have also changed; rivers become uncontrollable, and the water level of the country is lowered perceptibly. In consequence, the unfortunate people see their crops wither and die for lack of water when it is most needed.
Statement (11 May 1921) by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) concerning the famine in China in seven out of every ten years. Reported in 'Blames Deforestation: Department of Agriculture Ascribes Chinese Famine to it', New York Times (12 May 1921), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Become (821)  |  Central (81)  |  Century (319)  |  Changed (2)  |  China (27)  |  Chinese (22)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Country (269)  |  Course (413)  |  Crop (26)  |  Deforestation (50)  |  Denudation (2)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Die (94)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Erosion (20)  |  Famine (18)  |  Fertile (30)  |  Flood (52)  |  Follow (389)  |  Forest (161)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Great (1610)  |  Growth (200)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Lack (127)  |  Land (131)  |  Level (69)  |  Long (778)  |  Lowered (2)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Muddy (3)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naked (10)  |  Nation (208)  |  Natural (810)  |  Need (320)  |  People (1031)  |  Perceptibly (2)  |  Plague (42)  |  Plain (34)  |  Plateau (8)  |  Process (439)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reforestation (6)  |  Result (700)  |  River (140)  |  Run (158)  |  Ruthless (12)  |  Sea (326)  |  See (1094)  |  Side (236)  |  Sinister (8)  |  Slope (10)  |  Soil (98)  |  Today (321)  |  Transform (74)  |  Tree (269)  |  Uncontrollable (5)  |  Unfortunate (19)  |  Utterly (15)  |  Water (503)  |  Wherever (51)  |  Wither (9)  |  Year (963)  |  Yellow (31)

The scientist is not much given to talking of the riddle of the universe. “Riddle” is not a scientific term. The conception of a riddle is “something which can he solved.” And hence the scientist does not use that popular phrase. We don’t know the why of anything. On that matter we are no further advanced than was the cavedweller. The scientist is contented if he can contribute something toward the knowledge of what is and how it is.
As quoted in 'Electricity Will Keep The World From Freezing Up', New York Times (12 Nov 1911), SM4.
Science quotes on:  |  Advanced (12)  |  Conception (160)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Matter (821)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Popular (34)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Solution (282)  |  Something (718)  |  Talking (76)  |  Term (357)  |  Universe (900)  |  Use (771)

The story is told of Lord Kelvin, a famous Scotch physicist of the last century, that after he had given a lecture on atoms and molecules, one of his students came to him with the question, “Professor, what is your idea of the structure of the atom.”
“What,” said Kelvin, “The structure of the atom? Why, don’t you know, the very word ‘atom’ means the thing that can’t be cut. How then can it have a structure?”
“That,” remarked the facetious young man, “shows the disadvantage of knowing Greek.”
As described in 'Assault on Atoms' (Read 23 Apr 1931 at Symposium—The Changing World) Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1931), 70, No. 3, 219.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Century (319)  |  Cut (116)  |  Disadvantage (10)  |  Facetious (2)  |  Greek (109)  |  Idea (881)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Last (425)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Lord (97)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Professor (133)  |  Question (649)  |  Scottish (4)  |  Show (353)  |  Story (122)  |  Structure (365)  |  Student (317)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Word (650)  |  Young (253)

The strength and weakness of physicists is that we believe in what we can measure. And if we can't measure it, then we say it probably doesn't exist. And that closes us off to an enormous amount of phenomena that we may not be able to measure because they only happened once. For example, the Big Bang. ... That's one reason why they scoffed at higher dimensions for so many years. Now we realize that there's no alternative...
Quoted in Nina L. Diamond, Voices of Truth (2000), 333-334.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Bang (29)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Exist (458)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Hyperspace (3)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Realize (157)  |  Reason (766)  |  Say (989)  |  Scoff (8)  |  Strength (139)  |  Weakness (50)  |  Year (963)

The supersonic transport (SST) summarizes, in one project, our society’s demented priorities. It is a virtual catalog of the reasons why the United States is ailing in the midst of its affluence—nationalistic vanity, pandering to corporate profit, the worship of technology, and the deteriorating human environment.
In Garrett De Bell, ed., The Environmental Handbook (1970), 177.
Science quotes on:  |  Affluence (3)  |  Catalog (5)  |  Corporate (4)  |  Deteriorate (3)  |  Environment (239)  |  Human (1512)  |  Midst (8)  |  Nationalistic (2)  |  Pander (3)  |  Priority (11)  |  Profit (56)  |  Project (77)  |  Reason (766)  |  Society (350)  |  State (505)  |  Summarize (10)  |  Supersonic (4)  |  Technology (281)  |  Transport (31)  |  United States (31)  |  Vanity (20)  |  Virtual (5)  |  Worship (32)

The text-book is rare that stimulates its reader to ask, Why is this so? Or, How does this connect with what has been read elsewhere?
Preface to A. W. Stewart, Recent Advances in Organic Chemistry (1908), xiv.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Book (413)  |  Connect (126)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Rare (94)  |  Read (308)

The theory of quantum mechanics also explained all kinds of details, such as why an oxygen atom combines with two hydrogen atoms to make water, and so on. Quantum mechanics thus supplied the theory behind chemistry. So, fundamental theoretical chemistry is really physics.
In 'Introduction', QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Behind (139)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Combine (58)  |  Detail (150)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Kind (564)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Theoretical Chemistry (4)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Two (936)  |  Water (503)

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can’t solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.
[Answer to question: What is the value in knowing “Why are we here?”]
'Stephen Hawking: "There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story"', interview in newspaper The Guardian (15 May 2011).
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Answer (389)  |  Assignment (12)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Directly (25)  |  Effective (68)  |  Equation (138)  |  Govern (66)  |  Governing (20)  |  Higher (37)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Likely (36)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Selection (98)  |  Need (320)  |  Question (649)  |  Selection (130)  |  Society (350)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  Survival (105)  |  Survive (87)  |  Tell (344)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)

Then I have more than an impression—it amounts to a certainty—that algebra is made repellent by the unwillingness or inability of teachers to explain why we suddenly start using a and b, what exponents mean apart from their handling, and how the paradoxical behavior of + and — came into being. There is no sense of history behind the teaching, so the feeling is given that the whole system dropped down readymade from the skies, to be used only by born jugglers. This is what paralyzes—with few exceptions—the infant, the adolescent, or the adult who is not a juggler himself.
In Teacher in America (1945), 82.
Science quotes on:  |  Adolescent (4)  |  Adult (24)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Amount (153)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Behind (139)  |  Being (1276)  |  Born (37)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Down (455)  |  Dropped (17)  |  Exception (74)  |  Explain (334)  |  Exponent (6)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Handle (29)  |  Himself (461)  |  History (716)  |  Impression (118)  |  Inability (11)  |  Infant (26)  |  Juggler (3)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Paralyze (3)  |  Ready (43)  |  Repellent (4)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sky (174)  |  Start (237)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  System (545)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Unwillingness (5)  |  Use (771)  |  Whole (756)

Then if the first argument remains secure (for nobody will produce a neater one, than the length of the periodic time is a measure of the size of the spheres), the order of the orbits follows this sequence, beginning from the highest: The first and highest of all is the sphere of the fixed stars, which contains itself and all things, and is therefore motionless. It is the location of the universe, to which the motion and position of all the remaining stars is referred. For though some consider that it also changes in some respect, we shall assign another cause for its appearing to do so in our deduction of the Earth’s motion. There follows Saturn, the first of the wandering stars, which completes its circuit in thirty years. After it comes Jupiter which moves in a twelve-year long revolution. Next is Mars, which goes round biennially. An annual revolution holds the fourth place, in which as we have said is contained the Earth along with the lunar sphere which is like an epicycle. In fifth place Venus returns every nine months. Lastly, Mercury holds the sixth place, making a circuit in the space of eighty days. In the middle of all is the seat of the Sun. For who in this most beautiful of temples would put this lamp in any other or better place than the one from which it can illuminate everything at the same time? Aptly indeed is he named by some the lantern of the universe, by others the mind, by others the ruler. Trismegistus called him the visible God, Sophocles' Electra, the watcher over all things. Thus indeed the Sun as if seated on a royal throne governs his household of Stars as they circle around him. Earth also is by no means cheated of the Moon’s attendance, but as Aristotle says in his book On Animals the Moon has the closest affinity with the Earth. Meanwhile the Earth conceives from the Sun, and is made pregnant with annual offspring. We find, then, in this arrangement the marvellous symmetry of the universe, and a sure linking together in harmony of the motion and size of the spheres, such as could be perceived in no other way. For here one may understand, by attentive observation, why Jupiter appears to have a larger progression and retrogression than Saturn, and smaller than Mars, and again why Venus has larger ones than Mercury; why such a doubling back appears more frequently in Saturn than in Jupiter, and still more rarely in Mars and Venus than in Mercury; and furthermore why Saturn, Jupiter and Mars are nearer to the Earth when in opposition than in the region of their occultation by the Sun and re-appearance. Indeed Mars in particular at the time when it is visible throughout the night seems to equal Jupiter in size, though marked out by its reddish colour; yet it is scarcely distinguishable among stars of the second magnitude, though recognized by those who track it with careful attention. All these phenomena proceed from the same course, which lies in the motion of the Earth. But the fact that none of these phenomena appears in the fixed stars shows their immense elevation, which makes even the circle of their annual motion, or apparent motion, vanish from our eyes.
'Book One. Chapter X. The Order of the Heavenly Spheres', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 49-51.
Science quotes on:  |  Affinity (27)  |  Animal (651)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Argument (145)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Attention (196)  |  Attentive (15)  |  Back (395)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Better (493)  |  Book (413)  |  Call (781)  |  Cause (561)  |  Change (639)  |  Cheat (13)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circuit (29)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Consider (428)  |  Course (413)  |  Deduction (90)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Elevation (13)  |  Everything (489)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  God (776)  |  Govern (66)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Immense (89)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Lamp (37)  |  Lantern (8)  |  Lie (370)  |  Linking (8)  |  Location (15)  |  Long (778)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Making (300)  |  Marked (55)  |  Mars (47)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Measure (241)  |  Mercury (54)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Month (91)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Next (238)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Observation (593)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Progression (23)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Respect (212)  |  Retrogression (6)  |  Return (133)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Royal (56)  |  Ruler (21)  |  Saturn (15)  |  Say (989)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Show (353)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Space (523)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Temple (45)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Track (42)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Venus (21)  |  Visible (87)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

Then you should say what you mean, the March Hare went on.
I do, Alice hastily replied; “at least I mean what I say, that’s the same thing, you know.”
Not the same thing a bit! said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that “I see what I eat” is the same thing as “I eat what I see!”
From Alice in Wonderland. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland And, Through the Looking Glass (1898), 57.
Science quotes on:  |  Do (1905)  |  Eat (108)  |  Hare (3)  |  Hastily (7)  |  Know (1538)  |  March (48)  |  Mean (810)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)

Theoretical physicists accept the need for mathematical beauty as an act of faith... For example, the main reason why the theory of relativity is so universally accepted is its mathematical beauty.
'Methods in Theoretical Physics', From A Life of Physics: Evening Lectures at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. A Special Supplement of the IAEA Bulletin (1968), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Act (278)  |  Act Of Faith (4)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Faith (209)  |  Mathematical Beauty (19)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Reason (766)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Theoretical Physicist (21)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)

Theorists write all the popular books on science: Heinz Pagels, Frank Wilczek, Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman, et al. And why not? They have all that spare time.
In Leon Lederman and Dick Teresi, The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question (1993), 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Richard P. Feynman (125)  |  Stephen W. Hawking (62)  |  Heinz R. Pagels (10)  |  Popular (34)  |  Spare (9)  |  Spare Time (3)  |  Theoretical Physicist (21)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Time (1911)  |  Frank Wilczek (2)  |  Write (250)  |  Writing (192)

There are three reasons why, quite apart from scientific considerations, mankind needs to travel in space. The first reason is garbage disposal; we need to transfer industrial processes into space so that the earth may remain a green and pleasant place for our grandchildren to live in. The second reason is to escape material impoverishment; the resources of this planet are finite, and we shall not forgo forever the abundance of solar energy and minerals and living space that are spread out all around us. The third reason is our spiritual need for an open frontier. The ultimate purpose of space travel is to bring to humanity, not only scientific discoveries and an occasional spectacular show on television, but a real expansion of our spirit.
In Disturbing the Universe (1979).
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Energy (373)  |  Escape (85)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Finite (60)  |  First (1302)  |  Forever (111)  |  Forgo (4)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Garbage (10)  |  Green (65)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Material (366)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Occasional (23)  |  Open (277)  |  Planet (402)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remain (355)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Show (353)  |  Solar Energy (21)  |  Space (523)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Spectacular (22)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Spread (86)  |  Television (33)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Travel (125)  |  Ultimate (152)

There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.
From interview with Mary R. Mullett, 'How to Keep Young Mentally', The American Magazine (Dec 1921), 92, 68.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Atrophy (8)  |  Continue (179)  |  Mental (179)  |  Observe (179)  |  Person (366)  |  Remember (189)  |  Seek (218)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Unceasing (3)

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
In The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), facing p. 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Anyone (38)  |  Bizarre (6)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Discover (571)  |  Exactly (14)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Inexplicable (8)  |  Instantly (20)  |  More (2558)  |  Replace (32)  |  Something (718)  |  State (505)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wide (97)  |  Year (963)

There is inherent in nature a hidden harmony that reflects itself in our minds under the image of simple mathematical laws. That then is the reason why events in nature are predictable by a combination of observation and mathematical analysis. Again and again in the history of physics this conviction, or should I say this dream, of harmony in nature has found fulfillments beyond our expectations.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Combination (150)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Dream (222)  |  Event (222)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fulfillment (20)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Hide (70)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Physics (3)  |  Image (97)  |  Inherent (43)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematical Analysis (23)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Predictable (10)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Say (989)  |  Simple (426)

There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?
In 'From the Notebooks of Lazarus Long', Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long (1973), 257.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Conclusive (11)  |  Death (406)  |  Enough (341)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fret (3)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Soon (187)  |  Sort (50)  |  Will (2350)

There is no kind of material, no body, and no thing that can be produced or conceived of, which is not made up of elementary particles; and nature does not admit of a truthful exploration in accordance with the doctrines of the physicists without an accurate demonstration of the primary causes of things, showing how and why they are as they are.
Vitruvius
In De Architectura, Book 2, Chap 1, Sec. 9. As translated in Morris Hicky Morgan (trans.), Vitruvius: The Ten Books on Architecture (1914), 41.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Atom (381)  |  Body (557)  |  Cause (561)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Kind (564)  |  Material (366)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Particle (200)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Primary (82)  |  Produced (187)  |  Research (753)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)

There is no question but that man’s heart outperforms all other hearts in existence. (The tortoise’s heart may last longer but it lives nowhere near as intensely.) Why man should be so long-lived is not known, but man, being what he is, is far more interested in asking why he does not live still longer.
In The Human Body: Its Structure and Operation (1963), 321. Also in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 216.
Science quotes on:  |  Asking (74)  |  Being (1276)  |  Existence (481)  |  Heart (243)  |  Human (1512)  |  Intensity (34)  |  Interest (416)  |  Known (453)  |  Last (425)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Long-Lived (2)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Question (649)  |  Still (614)  |  Tortoise (10)

There is no reason why the history and philosophy of science should not be taught in such a way as to bring home to all pupils the grandeur of science and the scope of its discoveries.
New Perspectives in Physics (1962), 195.
Science quotes on:  |  Discovery (837)  |  Grandeur (35)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Home (184)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Philosophy Of Science (5)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scope (44)  |  Way (1214)

There is only one reason why men become addicted to drugs — they are weak men. Only strong men are cured, and they cure themselves.
Martin H. Fischer, Howard Fabing (ed.) and Ray Marr (ed.), Fischerisms (1944).
Science quotes on:  |  Addict (4)  |  Become (821)  |  Cure (124)  |  Drug (61)  |  Reason (766)  |  Self (268)  |  Strong (182)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Weak (73)

There is only one reason why men become addicted to drugs, they are weak me. Only strong men are cured, and they cure themselves.
Martin H. Fischer, Howard Fabing (ed.) and Ray Marr (ed.), Fischerisms (1944).
Science quotes on:  |  Addict (4)  |  Become (821)  |  Cure (124)  |  Drug (61)  |  Reason (766)  |  Strong (182)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Weak (73)

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.
A Gift for God (1975).
Science quotes on:  |  Affording (2)  |  Anger (21)  |  Feel (371)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Must (1525)  |  People (1031)  |  Reason (766)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throwing (17)  |  Use (771)  |  Usefulness (92)  |  Waste (109)  |  Work (1402)

There’s Nature and she’s going to come out the way She is. So therefore when we go to investigate we shouldn’t predecide what it is we’re looking for only to find out more about it. Now you ask: “Why do you try to find out more about it?” If you began your investigation to get an answer to some deep philosophical question, you may be wrong. It may be that you can’t get an answer to that particular question just by finding out more about the character of Nature. But that’s not my interest in science; my interest in science is to simply find out about the world and the more I find out the better it is, I like to find out...
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Begin (275)  |  Better (493)  |  Character (259)  |  Deep (241)  |  Do (1905)  |  Find (1014)  |  Find Out (25)  |  Finding Out (6)  |  Interest (416)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Looking (191)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Particular (80)  |  Philosophical (24)  |  Question (649)  |  Simply (53)  |  Try (296)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)  |  Wrong (246)

Thinking is merely the comparing of ideas, discerning relations of likeness and of difference between ideas, and drawing inferences. It is seizing general truths on the basis of clearly apprehended particulars. It is but generalizing and particularizing. Who will deny that a child can deal profitably with sequences of ideas like: How many marbles are 2 marbles and 3 marbles? 2 pencils and 3 pencils? 2 balls and 3 balls? 2 children and 3 children? 2 inches and 3 inches? 2 feet and 3 feet? 2 and 3? Who has not seen the countenance of some little learner light up at the end of such a series of questions with the exclamation, “Why it’s always that way. Isn’t it?” This is the glow of pleasure that the generalizing step always affords him who takes the step himself. This is the genuine life-giving joy which comes from feeling that one can successfully take this step. The reality of such a discovery is as great, and the lasting effect upon the mind of him that makes it is as sure as was that by which the great Newton hit upon the generalization of the law of gravitation. It is through these thrills of discovery that love to learn and intellectual pleasure are begotten and fostered. Good arithmetic teaching abounds in such opportunities.
In Arithmetic in Public Education (1909), 13. As quoted and cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 68.
Science quotes on:  |  Abound (17)  |  Afford (19)  |  Apprehend (5)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Ball (64)  |  Basis (180)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Compare (76)  |  Countenance (9)  |  Deal (192)  |  Deny (71)  |  Difference (355)  |  Discern (35)  |  Discerning (16)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Drawing (56)  |  Effect (414)  |  End (603)  |  Exclamation (3)  |  Feel (371)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Foster (12)  |  General (521)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Generalize (19)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Glow (15)  |  Good (906)  |  Gravitation (72)  |  Great (1610)  |  Himself (461)  |  Hit (20)  |  Idea (881)  |  Inference (45)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Joy (117)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Gravitation (23)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learner (10)  |  Life (1870)  |  Life-Giving (2)  |  Light (635)  |  Likeness (18)  |  Little (717)  |  Love (328)  |  Marble (21)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Particular (80)  |  Pencil (20)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Question (649)  |  Reality (274)  |  Relation (166)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Series (153)  |  Step (234)  |  Successful (134)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thrill (26)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

Thinking is the hardest work there is. Which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Engage (41)  |  Hard (246)  |  Probable (24)  |  Reason (766)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Work (1402)

This is the reason why all attempts to obtain a deeper knowledge of the foundations of physics seem doomed to me unless the basic concepts are in accordance with general relativity from the beginning. This situation makes it difficult to use our empirical knowledge, however comprehensive, in looking for the fundamental concepts and relations of physics, and it forces us to apply free speculation to a much greater extent than is presently assumed by most physicists.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Accordance (10)  |  Apply (170)  |  Assume (43)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Basic (144)  |  Begin (275)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Comprehensive (29)  |  Concept (242)  |  Deep (241)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Doom (34)  |  Empirical (58)  |  Extent (142)  |  Force (497)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Free (239)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  General (521)  |  General Relativity (10)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Looking (191)  |  Most (1728)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Reason (766)  |  Relation (166)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Seem (150)  |  Situation (117)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Use (771)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Way (1214)  |  Year (963)

This notion that “science” is something that belongs in a separate compartment of its own, apart from everyday life, is one that I should like to challenge. We live in a scientific age; yet we assume that knowledge of science is the prerogative of only a small number of human beings, isolated and priest-like in their laboratories. This is not true. It cannot be true. The materials of science are the materials of life itself. Science is part of the reality of living; it is the what, the how, and the why of everything in our experience. It is impossible to understand man without understanding his environment and the forces that have molded him physically and mentally.
Address upon receiving National Book Award at reception, Hotel Commodore, New York (27 Jan 1952). As cited in Linda Lear, Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature (1997), 218-219.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belong (168)  |  Belonging (36)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Environment (239)  |  Everyday (32)  |  Everyday Life (15)  |  Everything (489)  |  Experience (494)  |  Force (497)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Isolation (32)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mold (37)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Physical (518)  |  Prerogative (3)  |  Priest (29)  |  Reality (274)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Separate (151)  |  Small (489)  |  Something (718)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)

This property of human languages—their resistance to algorithmic processing— is perhaps the ultimate reason why only mathematics can furnish an adequate language for physics. It is not that we lack words for expressing all this E = mc² and ∫eiS(Φ)DΦ … stuff … , the point is that we still would not be able to do anything with these great discoveries if we had only words for them. … Miraculously, it turns out that even very high level abstractions can somehow reflect reality: knowledge of the world discovered by physicists can be expressed only in the language of mathematics.
In 'Mathematical Knowledge: Internal, Social, And Cultural Aspects', Mathematics As Metaphor: Selected Essays (2007), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Adequate (50)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Express (192)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lack (127)  |  Language (308)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Miraculous (11)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Processing (2)  |  Property (177)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Resistance (41)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Still (614)  |  Turn (454)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

To consider the matter aright, reason is nothing but a wonderful and unintelligible instinct in our souls, which carries us along a certain train of ideas, and endows them with particular qualities, according to their particular situations and relations. This instinct, 'tis true, arises from past observation and experience; but can anyone give the ultimate reason, why past experience and observation produces such an effect, any more than why nature alone should produce it?
A Treatise on Human Nature (1739-40), ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge (1888), book 1, part 3, section 16, 179.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Alone (324)  |  Arise (162)  |  Certain (557)  |  Consider (428)  |  Effect (414)  |  Experience (494)  |  Experienced (2)  |  Idea (881)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Observation (593)  |  Past (355)  |  Reason (766)  |  Situation (117)  |  Soul (235)  |  Train (118)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Unintelligible (17)  |  Wonderful (155)

To go to sea! Why, it is to have the experience of Noah,—to realize the deluge. Every vessel is an ark.
In Cape Cod (1866), 175.
Science quotes on:  |  Ark (6)  |  Deluge (14)  |  Experience (494)  |  Realize (157)  |  Sea (326)  |  Vessel (63)

To most people, I fancy, the stars are beautiful; but if you asked why, they would be at a loss to reply, until they remembered what they had heard about astronomy, and the great size and distance and possible habitation of those orbs. ... [We] persuade ourselves that the power of the starry heavens lies in the suggestion of astronomical facts.
In The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory (1896), 100-101.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Distance (171)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Great (1610)  |  Habitation (7)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Lie (370)  |  Loss (117)  |  Most (1728)  |  Orb (20)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  People (1031)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Remember (189)  |  Reply (58)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Suggestion (49)

To my friends: my work is done. Why wait. GE
(1932) Suicide note. Because of intense pain caused by a disorder affecting his spine, he ended his life with a single gunshot to the heart.
Science quotes on:  |  Friend (180)  |  Last Words (6)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Wait (66)  |  Work (1402)

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)  |  View (496)  |  Want (504)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

To wage war with Marchand or anyone else again will benefit nobody and bring little profit to science. You consume yourself in this way, you ruin your liver and eventually your nerves with Morrison pills. Imagine the year 1900 when we have disintegrated into carbonic acid, ammonia and water and our bone substance is perhaps once more a constituent of the bones of the dog who defiles our graves. Who will then worry his head as to whether we have lived in peace or anger, who then will know about your scientific disputes and of your sacrifice of health and peace of mind for science? Nobody. But your good ideas and the discoveries you have made, cleansed of all that is extraneous to the subject, will still be known and appreciated for many years to come. But why am I trying to advise the lion to eat sugar.
Letter from Wohler to Liebig (9 Mar 1843). In A. W. Hofmann (ed.), Aus Justus Liebigs und Friedrich Wohlers Briefwechsel (1888), Vol. 1, 224. Trans. Ralph Oesper, The Human Side of Scientists (1975), 205.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Ammonia (15)  |  Anger (21)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Bone (101)  |  Carbon Dioxide (25)  |  Constituent (47)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Dog (70)  |  Eat (108)  |  Eventually (64)  |  Extraneous (6)  |  Good (906)  |  Grave (52)  |  Health (210)  |  Idea (881)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Lion (23)  |  Little (717)  |  Liver (22)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Peace (116)  |  Peace Of Mind (4)  |  Profit (56)  |  Ruin (44)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Still (614)  |  Subject (543)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sugar (26)  |  Trying (144)  |  War (233)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

Tolstoi explains somewhere in his writings why, in his opinion, “Science for Science's sake” is an absurd conception. We cannot know all the facts since they are infinite in number. We must make a selection ... guided by utility ... Have we not some better occupation than counting the number of lady-birds in existence on this planet?
In Science and Method (1914, 2003), 15
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Better (493)  |  Bird (163)  |  Conception (160)  |  Count (107)  |  Counting (26)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Know (1538)  |  Must (1525)  |  Number (710)  |  Occupation (51)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Planet (402)  |  Sake (61)  |  Selection (130)  |  Count Leo Tolstoy (18)  |  Utility (52)  |  Writing (192)

Train yourselves. Don’t wait to be fed knowledge out of a book. Get out and seek it. Make explorations. Do your own research work. Train your hands and your mind. Become curious. Invent your own problems and solve them. You can see things going on all about you. Inquire into them. Seek out answers to your own questions. There are many phenomena going on in nature the explanation of which cannot be found in books. Find out why these phenomena take place. Information a boy gets by himself is enormously more valuable than that which is taught to him in school.
In 'Dr. Irving Langmuir', Boys' Life (Jul 1941), 12.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Answer (389)  |  Become (821)  |  Book (413)  |  Boy (100)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Curious (95)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finding (34)  |  Hand (149)  |  Himself (461)  |  Information (173)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learning (291)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Research (753)  |  School (227)  |  See (1094)  |  Seek (218)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)  |  Student (317)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Train (118)  |  Value (393)  |  Work (1402)

Two kinds of symbol must surely be distinguished. The algebraic symbol comes naked into the world of mathematics and is clothed with value by its masters. A poetic symbol—like the Rose, for Love, in Guillaume de Lorris—comes trailing clouds of glory from the real world, clouds whose shape and colour largely determine and explain its poetic use. In an equation, x and y will do as well as a and b; but the Romance of the Rose could not, without loss, be re-written as the Romance of the Onion, and if a man did not see why, we could only send him back to the real world to study roses, onions, and love, all of them still untouched by poetry, still raw.
C.S. Lewis and E.M. Tillyard, The Personal Heresy: A Controversy (1936), 97.
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Back (395)  |  Clothes (11)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Color (155)  |  Determine (152)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Do (1905)  |  Equation (138)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Glory (66)  |  Kind (564)  |  Loss (117)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Must (1525)  |  Naked (10)  |  Onion (9)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Raw (28)  |  Rewriting (2)  |  Romance (18)  |  Rose (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Shape (77)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Surely (101)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Two (936)  |  Untouched (5)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

We [may] answer the question: “Why is snow white?” by saying, “For the same reason that soap-suds or whipped eggs are white”—in other words, instead of giving the reason for a fact, we give another example of the same fact. This offering a similar instance, instead of a reason, has often been criticised as one of the forms of logical depravity in men. But manifestly it is not a perverse act of thought, but only an incomplete one. Furnishing parallel cases is the necessary first step towards abstracting the reason imbedded in them all.
In The Principles of Psychology (1918), Vol. 2, 363-364.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Act (278)  |  Answer (389)  |  Case (102)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Depravity (3)  |  Egg (71)  |  Example (98)  |  Fact (1257)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Incomplete (31)  |  Logic (311)  |  Manifestly (11)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Perverse (5)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Similarity (32)  |  Snow (39)  |  Soap (11)  |  Step (234)  |  Thought (995)  |  White (132)  |  Word (650)

We are too ready to accept others and ourselves as we are and to assume that we are incapable of change. We forget the idea of growth, or we do not take it seriously. There is no good reason why we should not develop and change until the last day we live. Psychoanalysis is one of the most powerful means of helping us to realize this aim.
In 'Dedication', American Journal of Psychoanalysis (1942), 35, 99-100. As quoted and cited in Milton M. Berger, Women Beyond Freud: New Concepts Of Feminine Psychology (2013).
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Aim (175)  |  Change (639)  |  Develop (278)  |  Do (1905)  |  Forget (125)  |  Good (906)  |  Growth (200)  |  Help (116)  |  Idea (881)  |  Incapable (41)  |  Last (425)  |  Live (650)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Psychoanalysis (37)  |  Realize (157)  |  Reason (766)

We claim to be more moral than other nations, and to conquer and govern and tax and plunder weaker peoples for their good! While robbing them we actually claim to be benefactors! And then we wonder, or profess to wonder, why other Governments hate us! Are they not fully justified in hating us? Is it surprising that they seek every means to annoy us, that they struggle to get navies to compete with us, and look forward to a time when some two or three of them may combine together and thoroughly humble and cripple us? And who can deny that any just Being, looking at all the nations of the earth with impartiality and thorough knowledge, would decide that we deserve to be humbled, and that it might do us good?
In 'Practical Politics', The Clarion (30 Sep 1904), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Benefactor (6)  |  Claim (154)  |  Combine (58)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Deny (71)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Forward (104)  |  Good (906)  |  Govern (66)  |  Government (116)  |  Hate (68)  |  Humble (54)  |  Impartiality (7)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Nation (208)  |  Navy (10)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Plunder (6)  |  Profess (21)  |  Seek (218)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Tax (27)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Two (936)  |  Wonder (251)

We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens ... The diversity of the phenomena of Nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.
From Mysterium Cosmographicum. Quote as translated in Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1980, 1985), 32.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Bird (163)  |  Creation (350)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fathom (15)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Lacking (2)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nourishment (26)  |  Order (638)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Precision (72)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Richness (15)  |  Secret (216)  |  Singing (19)  |  Song (41)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)

We do not ask what hope of gain makes a little bird warble, since we know that it takes delight in singing because it is for that very singing that the bird was made, so there is no need to ask why the human mind undertakes such toil in seeking out these secrets of the heavens. ... And just as other animals, and the human body, are sustained by food and drink, so the very spirit of Man, which is something distinct from Man, is nourished, is increased, and in a sense grows up on this diet of knowledge, and is more like the dead than the living if it is touched by no desire for these things.
Mysterium Cosmographicum. Translated by A. M. Duncan in The Secret of the Universe (1981), 55.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Bird (163)  |  Body (557)  |  Dead (65)  |  Delight (111)  |  Desire (212)  |  Diet (56)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drink (56)  |  Food (213)  |  Gain (146)  |  Grow (247)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Body (34)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Increase (225)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Living (492)  |  Made (14)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Need (320)  |  Nourishment (26)  |  Other (2233)  |  Secret (216)  |  Seeking (31)  |  Sense (785)  |  Singing (19)  |  Something (718)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Sustain (52)  |  Sustenance (5)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Toil (29)  |  Touch (146)  |  Undertake (35)  |  Undertaking (17)

We do not belong to this material world that science constructs for us. We are not in it; we are outside. We are only spectators. The reason why we believe that we are in it, that we belong to the picture, is that our bodies are in the picture. Our bodies belong to it. Not only my own body, but those of my friends, also of my dog and cat and horse, and of all the other people and animals. And this is my only means of communicating with them.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Belief (615)  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |  Cat (52)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Construct (129)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dog (70)  |  Friend (180)  |  Horse (78)  |  Material (366)  |  Material World (8)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  People (1031)  |  Picture (148)  |  Reason (766)  |  Spectator (11)  |  World (1850)

We do not know the mode of action of almost all remedies. Why therefore fear to confess our ignorance? In truth, it seems that the words “I do not know” stick in every physicians throat.
In Bulletin de l’Académie impériale de médecine (1860), 25, 733.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Confess (42)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fear (212)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Know (1538)  |  Physician (284)  |  Remedy (63)  |  Stick (27)  |  Throat (10)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Word (650)

We do not know why we are born into the world, but we can try to find out what sort of a world it is—at least in its physical aspects.
As quoted in Gale E. Christianson, Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae (1996), 183. Cited as from Edwin P. Hubble Manuscript Collection, Henry Huntington Library. San Manno, California, in writings of Grace Burke Hubble on E.P H. Characteristics, 2: 82(9). Box 7, 23.
Science quotes on:  |  Aspect (129)  |  Born (37)  |  Do (1905)  |  Find (1014)  |  Find Out (25)  |  Know (1538)  |  Physical (518)  |  Try (296)  |  World (1850)

We have been forced to admit for the first time in history not only the possibility of the fact of the growth and decay of the elements of matter. With radium and with uranium we do not see anything but the decay. And yet, somewhere, somehow, it is almost certain that these elements must be continuously forming. They are probably being put together now in the laboratory of the stars. ... Can we ever learn to control the process. Why not? Only research can tell.
'The Significance of Radium,' an address delivered (in connection with the presentation of a gram of radium to Madame Curie) at the National Museum, Washington, D.C. (25 May 1921). In Science (1921), 54, No. 1383, 1921. In Rodney P. Carlisle, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries (2004), 375.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Certain (557)  |  Control (182)  |  Decay (59)  |  Do (1905)  |  Element (322)  |  Fact (1257)  |  First (1302)  |  Forming (42)  |  Fusion (16)  |  Growth (200)  |  History (716)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Learn (672)  |  Matter (821)  |  Must (1525)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Process (439)  |  Radium (29)  |  Research (753)  |  See (1094)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Tell (344)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Uranium (21)

We have little more personal stake in cosmic destiny than do sunflowers or butterflies. The transfiguration of the universe lies some 50 to 100 billion years in the future; snap your fingers twice and you will have consumed a greater fraction of your life than all human history is to such a span. ... We owe our lives to universal processes ... and as invited guests we might do better to learn about them than to complain about them. If the prospect of a dying universe causes us anguish, it does so only because we can forecast it, and we have as yet not the slightest idea why such forecasts are possible for us. ... Why should nature, whether hostile or benign, be in any way intelligible to us? All the mysteries of science are but palace guards to that mystery.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Anguish (2)  |  Benign (2)  |  Better (493)  |  Billion (104)  |  Butterfly (26)  |  Cause (561)  |  Complain (10)  |  Consume (13)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Destiny (54)  |  Die (94)  |  Do (1905)  |  Finger (48)  |  Forecast (15)  |  Fraction (16)  |  Future (467)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Guard (19)  |  Guest (5)  |  History (716)  |  Hostile (8)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Invite (10)  |  Learn (672)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  More (2558)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Owe (71)  |  Palace (8)  |  Personal (75)  |  Possible (560)  |  Process (439)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Slight (32)  |  Snap (7)  |  Span (5)  |  Stake (20)  |  Sunflower (2)  |  Twice (20)  |  Universal (198)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

We have simply arrived too late in the history of the universe to see this primordial simplicity easily ... But although the symmetries are hidden from us, we can sense that they are latent in nature, governing everything about us. That's the most exciting idea I know: that nature is much simpler than it looks. Nothing makes me more hopeful that our generation of human beings may actually hold the key to the universe in our hands—that perhaps in our lifetimes we may be able to tell why all of what we see in this immense universe of galaxies and particles is logically inevitable.
Quoted in Nigel Calder, The Key to the Universe: A Report on the New Physics (1978), 185.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Everything (489)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Galaxies (29)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Generation (256)  |  Governing (20)  |  Hidden (43)  |  History (716)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hopeful (6)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Idea (881)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inevitability (10)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Key (56)  |  Know (1538)  |  Late (119)  |  Latent (13)  |  Lifetime (40)  |  Logic (311)  |  Look (584)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Particle (200)  |  See (1094)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Tell (344)  |  Universe (900)

We have three approaches at our disposal: the observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation serves to assemble the data, reflection to synthesise them and experimentation to test the results of the synthesis. The observation of nature must be assiduous, just as reflection must be profound, and experimentation accurate. These three approaches are rarely found together, which explains why creative geniuses are so rare.
Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature and Other Philosophical Works (1753/4), ed. D. Adams (1999), section XV, 42.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Assemble (14)  |  Creative (144)  |  Data (162)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Explain (334)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observation (593)  |  Profound (105)  |  Rare (94)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Result (700)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Test (221)  |  Together (392)

We live in a democracy and I do not understand why highly respected scientists from top international branches are not able express themselves!
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Branch (155)  |  Democracy (36)  |  Do (1905)  |  Express (192)  |  Highly (16)  |  International (40)  |  Live (650)  |  Respect (212)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Top (100)  |  Understand (648)

We need to learn the lessons of the real cost of production. We need to ask ourselves not just why organic prices are so high, but why conventional prices are so low.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Ask (420)  |  Conventional (31)  |  Cost (94)  |  High (370)  |  Learn (672)  |  Lesson (58)  |  Low (86)  |  Organic (161)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Price (57)  |  Production (190)  |  Real (159)

We were not the victims of ancestor worship. We had the benefits of a fresh start.
[Explaining why his company became a leader in the digital HDTV industry.]
Quoted in Edmund L. Andrews, 'And Now for Something Substantially Different: Digital TV', New York Times (12 Jul 1992), 127.
Science quotes on:  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Company (63)  |  Digital (10)  |  Fresh (69)  |  Industry (159)  |  Innovation (49)  |  Leader (51)  |  Start (237)  |  Victim (37)  |  Worship (32)

What good your beautiful proof on [the transcendence of] π? Why investigate such problems, given that irrational numbers do not even exist?
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exist (458)  |  Good (906)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Irrational Number (4)  |  Number (710)  |  Pi (14)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proof (304)  |  Transcendence (2)

What happened to those Ice Age beasts? What caused the mammoth and mastodon and wooly rhinoceros to pay the ultimate Darwinian penalty, while bison and musk ox survived? Why didn't the fauna of Africa suffer the kinds of losses evident in other regions of the world? And if something like climatic change caused the extinction of North America's Pleistocene horse, how have feral horses managed to reestablish themselves on the western range?
(1986)
Science quotes on:  |  Africa (38)  |  Age (509)  |  America (143)  |  Beast (58)  |  Change (639)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Evident (92)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Fauna (13)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Horse (78)  |  Ice (58)  |  Ice Age (10)  |  Kind (564)  |  Loss (117)  |  Mammoth (9)  |  Mastodon (4)  |  Musk (2)  |  North America (5)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ox (5)  |  Penalty (7)  |  Pleistocene (4)  |  Range (104)  |  Rhinoceros (2)  |  Something (718)  |  Suffer (43)  |  Survive (87)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Western (45)  |  World (1850)

What I remember most clearly was that when I put down a suggestion that seemed to me cogent and reasonable, Einstein did not in the least contest this, but he only said, 'Oh, how ugly.' As soon as an equation seemed to him to be ugly, he really rather lost interest in it and could not understand why somebody else was willing to spend much time on it. He was quite convinced that beauty was a guiding principle in the search for important results in theoretical physics.
quoted in Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics (1987)
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Cogent (6)  |  Down (455)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Equation (138)  |  Interest (416)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Principle (530)  |  Remember (189)  |  Result (700)  |  Search (175)  |  Soon (187)  |  Spend (97)  |  Suggestion (49)  |  Theoretical Physics (26)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understand (648)  |  Willing (44)

What is it to see, in an Eagle glide
Which fills a human heart with so much pride?
Is it that it soars effortless above the Earth
That steals us from our own limits & dearth?
Trapped in our seas of befuddling sludge
We try and try but cannot budge.
And then to see a mortal; with such ease take wing
Up in a breeze that makes our failing spirits sing?
Do we, vicarious birds, search in it our childishness -
When we too were young & yearned in heart to fly?
Taking flights of fancy through adolescent nights
Listening little, heeding less, knowing not why?
From its highest perch in the forest of snow
Majestic - the Eagle soars alone.
Riding thermals, lording clouds
Till dropping silent from the sky as a stone
But we, so quick and ready to fold
Give up our wings at the whiff of age
Losing years, cursing time, wasting spirit
Living out entire lives in futile rage!
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Adolescent (4)  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Bird (163)  |  Breeze (8)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Curse (20)  |  Dearth (2)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drop (77)  |  Dropping (8)  |  Eagle (20)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Ease (40)  |  Effortless (3)  |  Entire (50)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Fill (67)  |  Flight (101)  |  Fly (153)  |  Fold (9)  |  Forest (161)  |  Futile (13)  |  Give Up (10)  |  Glide (4)  |  Heart (243)  |  Heed (12)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Less (105)  |  Limit (294)  |  Listen (81)  |  Listening (26)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Lord (97)  |  Lose (165)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Mortal (55)  |  Night (133)  |  Perch (7)  |  Pride (84)  |  Quick (13)  |  Rage (10)  |  Ready (43)  |  Ride (23)  |  Sea (326)  |  Search (175)  |  See (1094)  |  Silent (31)  |  Sing (29)  |  Sky (174)  |  Sludge (3)  |  Snow (39)  |  Soar (23)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Steal (14)  |  Stone (168)  |  Thermal (15)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trap (7)  |  Try (296)  |  Vicarious (2)  |  Waste (109)  |  Whiff (2)  |  Wing (79)  |  Year (963)  |  Yearn (13)  |  Young (253)

What! Did Sir W[alter] R[aleigh] believe that a male and female ounce (and, if so, why not two tigers and lions, etc?) would have produced, in a course of generations, a cat, or a cat a lion? This is Darwinizing with a vengeance.
'Notes on Stillingfleet by S. T. Coleridge', The Athenaeum, no. 2474, 27 March 1875, 423.
Science quotes on:  |  Alter (64)  |  Cat (52)  |  Course (413)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Female (50)  |  Generation (256)  |  Lion (23)  |  Produced (187)  |   Walter Alexander Raleigh (2)  |  Two (936)

When a scientist says something, his colleagues must ask themselves only whether it is true. When a politician says something, his colleagues must first of all ask, 'Why does he say it?'
The Voice of Dolphins (1961), 25-26. In Don K. Price, The Scientific Estate (1965), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Colleague (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Must (1525)  |  Politician (40)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Politics (16)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Something (718)  |  Themselves (433)

When an element A has an affinity for another substance B, I see no mechanical reason why it should not take as many atoms of B as are presented to it, and can possibly come into contact with it (which may probably be 12 in general), except so far as the repulsion of the atoms of B among themselves are more than a match for the attraction of an atom of A. Now this repulsion begins with 2 atoms of B to 1 atom of A, in which case the 2 atoms of B are diametrically opposed; it increases with 3 atoms of B to 1 of A, in which case the atoms are only 120° asunder; with 4 atoms of B it is still greater as the distance is then only 90; and so on in proportion to the number of atoms. It is evident from these positions, that, as far as powers of attraction and repulsion are concerned (and we know of no other in chemistry), binary compounds must first be formed in the ordinary course of things, then ternary and so on, till the repulsion of the atoms of B (or A, whichever happens to be on the surface of the other), refuse to admit any more.
Observations on Dr. Bostock's Review of the Atomic Principles of Chemistry', Nicholson's Journal, 1811, 29, 147.
Science quotes on:  |  Affinity (27)  |  Atom (381)  |  Atomic Theory (16)  |  Attraction (61)  |  Begin (275)  |  Binary (12)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Compound (117)  |  Concern (239)  |  Contact (66)  |  Course (413)  |  Diametrically (6)  |  Distance (171)  |  Element (322)  |  Evident (92)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Greater (288)  |  Happen (282)  |  Increase (225)  |  Know (1538)  |  Match (30)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Number (710)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Power (771)  |  Present (630)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Reason (766)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Repulsion (7)  |  See (1094)  |  Still (614)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surface (223)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)

When first I applied my mind to Mathematics I read straight away most of what is usually given by the mathematical writers, and I paid special attention to Arithmetic and Geometry because they were said to be the simplest and so to speak the way to all the rest. But in neither case did I then meet with authors who fully satisfied me. I did indeed learn in their works many propositions about numbers which I found on calculation to be true. As to figures, they in a sense exhibited to my eyes a great number of truths and drew conclusions from certain consequences. But they did not seem to make it sufficiently plain to the mind itself why these things are so, and how they discovered them. Consequently I was not surprised that many people, even of talent and scholarship, should, after glancing at these sciences, have either given them up as being empty and childish or, taking them to be very difficult and intricate, been deterred at the very outset from learning them. … But when I afterwards bethought myself how it could be that the earliest pioneers of Philosophy in bygone ages refused to admit to the study of wisdom any one who was not versed in Mathematics … I was confirmed in my suspicion that they had knowledge of a species of Mathematics very different from that which passes current in our time.
In Elizabeth S. Haldane (trans.) and G.R.T. Ross (trans.), 'Rules for the Direction of the Mind', The Philosophical Works of Descartes (1911, 1973), Vol. 1, Rule 4, 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Applied (176)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Attention (196)  |  Author (175)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bygone (4)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Certain (557)  |  Childish (20)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Current (122)  |  Deter (4)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Discover (571)  |  Empty (82)  |  Eye (440)  |  Figure (162)  |  First (1302)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Great (1610)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Myself (211)  |  Number (710)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Pioneer (37)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Read (308)  |  Rest (287)  |  Scholarship (22)  |  Sense (785)  |  Speak (240)  |  Special (188)  |  Species (435)  |  Straight (75)  |  Study (701)  |  Suspicion (36)  |  Talent (99)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Usually (176)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Work (1402)  |  Writer (90)

When I read an Italian letter [Saggio by Voltaire] on changes which had occurred on the surface of the earth, published in Paris this year (1746), I believed that these facts were reported by La Loubère. Indeed, they correspond perfectly with the author’s ideas. Petrified fish are according to him merely rare fish thrown away by Roman cooks because they were spoiled; and with respect to shells, he said that they were from the sea of the Levant and brought back by pilgrims from Syria at the time of the crusades. These shells are found today petrified in France, in Italy and in other Christian states. Why did he not add that monkeys transported shells on top of high mountains and to every place where humans cannot live? It would not have harmed his story but made his explanation even more plausible.
In 'Preuves de la Théorie de la Terre', Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particuliere, Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi (1749), Vol. I, 281. Trans. Albert V. and Marguerite Carozzi.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Author (175)  |  Back (395)  |  Change (639)  |  Christian (44)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fossil (143)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Italian (13)  |  Letter (117)  |  Live (650)  |  Merely (315)  |  Monkey (57)  |  More (2558)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plausible (24)  |  Rare (94)  |  Read (308)  |  Respect (212)  |  Roman (39)  |  Sea (326)  |  Shell (69)  |  State (505)  |  Story (122)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Top (100)  |  Transport (31)  |  Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire (42)  |  Year (963)

When we look back beyond one hundred years over the long trails of history, we see immediately why the age we live in differs from all other ages in human annals. … It remained stationary in India and in China for thousands of years. But now it is moving very fast. … A priest from Thebes would probably have felt more at home at the council of Trent, two thousand years after Thebes had vanished, than Sir Isaac Newton at a modern undergraduate physical society, or George Stephenson in the Institute of Electrical Engineers. The changes have have been so sudden and so gigantic, that no period in history can be compared with the last century. The past no longer enables us even dimly to measure the future.
From 'Fifty Years Hence', Strand Magazine (Dec 1931). Reprinted in Popular Mechanics (Mar 1932), 57, No. 3, 393.
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  20th Century (40)  |  Age (509)  |  Annal (3)  |  Back (395)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Century (319)  |  Change (639)  |  China (27)  |  Compared (8)  |  Council (9)  |  Differ (88)  |  Dimly (6)  |  Electrical (57)  |  Electrical Engineer (5)  |  Electrical Engineering (12)  |  Enable (122)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Fast (49)  |  Future (467)  |  Gigantic (40)  |  History (716)  |  Home (184)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Immediately (115)  |  India (23)  |  Institute (8)  |  Last (425)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Measure (241)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  Moving (11)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Period (200)  |  Physical (518)  |  Priest (29)  |  Probably (50)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remained (2)  |  See (1094)  |  Society (350)  |  Stationary (11)  |  George Stephenson (10)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Trail (11)  |  Two (936)  |  Undergraduate (17)  |  Vanished (3)  |  Year (963)

When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. This is what did [Claude Elwood] Shannon in. After information theory, what do you do for an encore? The great scientists often make this error. They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow. They try to get the big thing right off. And that isn’t the way things go. So that is another reason why you find that when you get early recognition it seems to sterilize you.
'You and Your Research', Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar, 7 Mar 1986.
Science quotes on:  |  Career (86)  |  Continue (179)  |  Do (1905)  |  Early (196)  |  Error (339)  |  Fail (191)  |  Fame (51)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Grow (247)  |  Hard (246)  |  Information (173)  |  Little (717)  |  Oak (16)  |  Plant (320)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reason (766)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Right (473)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Small (489)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tree (269)  |  Try (296)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

While speaking, M. Bertrand is always in motion; now he seems in combat with some outside enemy, now he outlines with a gesture of the hand the figures he studies. Plainly he sees and he is eager to paint, this is why he calls gesture to his aid. With M. Hermite, it is just the opposite; his eyes seem to shun contact with the world; it is not without, it is within he seeks the vision of truth.
From La Valeur de la Science (1904), 14, as translated by George Bruce Halsted (trans.), in The Value of Science (1907), 16. From the French, “Tout en parlant, M. Bertrand est toujours en action; tantôt il semble aux prises avec quelque ennemi extérieur, tantôt il dessine d'un geste de la main les figures qu’il étudie. Évidemment, il voit et il cherche à peindre, c’est pour cela qu’il appelle le geste à son secours. Pour M. Hermite, c’est tout le contraire; ses yeux semblent fuir le contact du monde; ce n’est pas au dehors, c’est au dedans qu’il cherche la vision de la vérité.”
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Joseph Bertrand (6)  |  Call (781)  |  Combat (16)  |  Contact (66)  |  Eager (17)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Eye (440)  |  Figure (162)  |  Gesture (4)  |  Hand (149)  |  Charles Hermite (10)  |  Inside (30)  |  Motion (320)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Outline (13)  |  Outside (141)  |  Paint (22)  |  See (1094)  |  Seek (218)  |  Shun (4)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Study (701)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Vision (127)  |  World (1850)

Who does not know Maxwell’s dynamic theory of gases? At first there is the majestic development of the variations of velocities, then enter from one side the equations of condition and from the other the equations of central motions, higher and higher surges the chaos of formulas, suddenly four words burst forth: “Put n = 5.” The evil demon V disappears like the sudden ceasing of the basso parts in music, which hitherto wildly permeated the piece; what before seemed beyond control is now ordered as by magic. There is no time to state why this or that substitution was made, he who cannot feel the reason may as well lay the book aside; Maxwell is no program-musician who explains the notes of his composition. Forthwith the formulas yield obediently result after result, until the temperature-equilibrium of a heavy gas is reached as a surprising final climax and the curtain drops.
In Ceremonial Speech (15 Nov 1887) celebrating the 301st anniversary of the Karl-Franzens-University Graz. Published as Gustav Robert Kirchhoff: Festrede zur Feier des 301. Gründungstages der Karl-Franzens-Universität zu Graz (1888), 29-30, as translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 187. From the original German, “Wer kennt nicht seine dynamische Gastheorie? – Zuerst entwickeln sich majestätisch die Variationen der Geschwindigkeiten, dann setzen von der einen Seite die Zustands-Gleichungen, von der anderen die Gleichungen der Centralbewegung ein, immer höher wogt das Chaos der Formeln; plötzlich ertönen die vier Worte: „Put n=5.“Der böse Dämon V verschwindet, wie in der Musik eine wilde, bisher alles unterwühlende Figur der Bässe plötzlich verstummt; wie mit einem Zauberschlage ordnet sich, was früher unbezwingbar schien. Da ist keine Zeit zu sagen, warum diese oder jene Substitution gemacht wird; wer das nicht fühlt, lege das Buch weg; Maxwell ist kein Programmmusiker, der über die Noten deren Erklärung setzen muss. Gefügig speien nun die Formeln Resultat auf Resultat aus, bis überraschend als Schlusseffect noch das Wärme-Gleichgewicht eines schweren Gases gewonnen wird und der Vorhang sinkt.” A condensed alternate translation also appears on the Ludwig Boltzmann Quotes page of this website.
Science quotes on:  |  Bass (2)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Book (413)  |  Burst (41)  |  Cease (81)  |  Central (81)  |  Chaos (99)  |  Composition (86)  |  Condition (362)  |  Control (182)  |  Curtain (4)  |  Demon (8)  |  Development (441)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Drop (77)  |  Dynamic (16)  |  Enter (145)  |  Equation (138)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Evil (122)  |  Explain (334)  |  Feel (371)  |  Final (121)  |  First (1302)  |  Formula (102)  |  Gas (89)  |  Heavy (24)  |  Higher (37)  |  Know (1538)  |  Magic (92)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Mathematics As A Fine Art (23)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Motion (320)  |  Music (133)  |  Musician (23)  |  Note (39)  |  Obedient (9)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Permeate (3)  |  Program (57)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Side (236)  |  State (505)  |  Substitution (16)  |  Sudden (70)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Surge (2)  |  Surprise (91)  |  Temperature (82)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Variation (93)  |  Velocity (51)  |  Wild (96)  |  Word (650)  |  Yield (86)

Why administrators are respected and school-teachers are not: An administrator is paid a lot for doing very little, while a teacher is paid very little for doing a lot.
In 'Money Et Cetera', A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1989), 101.
Science quotes on:  |  Administrator (11)  |  Doing (277)  |  Little (717)  |  Lot (151)  |  Pay (45)  |  Respect (212)  |  School (227)  |  Teacher (154)

Why are atoms so small? ... Many examples have been devised to bring this fact home to an audience, none of them more impressive than the one used by Lord Kelvin: Suppose that you could mark the molecules in a glass of water, then pour the contents of the glass into the ocean and stir the latter thoroughly so as to distribute the marked molecules uniformly throughout the seven seas; if you then took a glass of water anywhere out of the ocean, you would find in it about a hundred of your marked molecules.
What is life?: the Physical Aspect of the Living Cell (1944). Collected in What is Life? with Mind And Matter & Autobiographical Sketches (1967, 1992), 6-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Audience (28)  |  Distribute (16)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Example (98)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  Glass (94)  |  Home (184)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Baron William Thomson Kelvin (74)  |  Lord (97)  |  Mark (47)  |  Marked (55)  |  Molecule (185)  |  More (2558)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Sea (326)  |  Size (62)  |  Small (489)  |  Stir (23)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Water (503)

Why are the bones of great fishes, and oysters and corals and various other shells and sea-snails, found on the high tops of mountains that border the sea, in the same way in which they are found in the depths of the sea?
'Physical Geography', in The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, trans. E. MacCurdy (1938), Vol. 1, 361.
Science quotes on:  |  Bone (101)  |  Coral (10)  |  Depth (97)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Great (1610)  |  High (370)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oyster (12)  |  Sea (326)  |  Sea-Snail (2)  |  Shell (69)  |  Snail (11)  |  Top (100)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)

Why are you so sure parallel lines exist?
Believe nothing, merely because you have been told it, or because it is traditional, or because you have imagined it.
In George Edward Martin, The Foundations of Geometry and the Non-Euclidean Plane (1982), 47.
Science quotes on:  |  Belief (615)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Line (100)  |  Merely (315)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Tradition (76)

Why Become Extinct? Authors with varying competence have suggested that dinosaurs disappeared because the climate deteriorated (became suddenly or slowly too hot or cold or dry or wet), or that the diet did (with too much food or not enough of such substances as fern oil; from poisons in water or plants or ingested minerals; by bankruptcy of calcium or other necessary elements). Other writers have put the blame on disease, parasites, wars, anatomical or metabolic disorders (slipped vertebral discs, malfunction or imbalance of hormone and endocrine systems, dwindling brain and consequent stupidity, heat sterilization, effects of being warm-blooded in the Mesozoic world), racial old age, evolutionary drift into senescent overspecialization, changes in the pressure or composition of the atmosphere, poison gases, volcanic dust, excessive oxygen from plants, meteorites, comets, gene pool drainage by little mammalian egg-eaters, overkill capacity by predators, fluctuation of gravitational constants, development of psychotic suicidal factors, entropy, cosmic radiation, shift of Earth’s rotational poles, floods, continental drift, extraction of the moon from the Pacific Basin, draining of swamp and lake environments, sunspots, God’s will, mountain building, raids by little green hunters in flying saucers, lack of standing room in Noah’s Ark, and palaeoweltschmerz.
'Riddles of the Terrible Lizards', American Scientist (1964) 52, 231.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Author (175)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Blame (31)  |  Blood (144)  |  Brain (281)  |  Building (158)  |  Calcium (8)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Change (639)  |  Climate (102)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Cold (115)  |  Comet (65)  |  Competence (13)  |  Composition (86)  |  Consequent (19)  |  Constant (148)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Development (441)  |  Diet (56)  |  Dinosaur (26)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disease (340)  |  Disorder (45)  |  Dry (65)  |  Dust (68)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Effect (414)  |  Egg (71)  |  Element (322)  |  Endocrine (2)  |  Enough (341)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Environment (239)  |  Excessive (24)  |  Extinct (25)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Extraction (10)  |  Fern (10)  |  Flood (52)  |  Fluctuation (15)  |  Flying (74)  |  Flying Saucer (3)  |  Food (213)  |  Gene (105)  |  God (776)  |  Green (65)  |  Heat (180)  |  Hormone (11)  |  Hot (63)  |  Hunter (28)  |  Lack (127)  |  Lake (36)  |  Little (717)  |  Malfunction (4)  |  Meteorite (9)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Moon (252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Noah�s Ark (2)  |  Oil (67)  |  Old (499)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Other (2233)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Parasite (33)  |  Plant (320)  |  Poison (46)  |  Pole (49)  |  Predator (6)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Radiation (48)  |  Shift (45)  |  Sterilization (2)  |  Stupidity (40)  |  Substance (253)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Suicide (23)  |  Sunspot (5)  |  Swamp (9)  |  System (545)  |  UFO (4)  |  Volcano (46)  |  War (233)  |  Warm (74)  |  Warm-Blooded (3)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Writer (90)

Why can the chemist not take the requisite numbers of atoms and simply put them together? The answer is that the chemist never has atoms at his disposal, and if he had, the direct combination of the appropriate numbers of atoms would lead only to a Brobdingnagian potpourri of different kinds of molecules, having a vast array of different structures. What the chemist has at hand always consists of substances, themselves made up of molecules, containing defined numbers of atoms in ordered arrangements. Consequently, in order to synthesize anyone substance, his task is that of combining, modifying, transforming, and tailoring known substances, until the total effect of his manipulations is the conversion of one or more forms of matter into another.
In 'Art and Science in the Synthesis of Organic Compounds: Retrospect and Prospect', in Maeve O'Connor (ed.), Pointers and Pathways in Research (1963), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Atom (381)  |  Brobdingnag (2)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Combination (150)  |  Consist (223)  |  Conversion (17)  |  Different (595)  |  Direct (228)  |  Effect (414)  |  Form (976)  |  Kind (564)  |  Known (453)  |  Lead (391)  |  Manipulation (19)  |  Matter (821)  |  Modification (57)  |  Molecule (185)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Number (710)  |  Order (638)  |  Structure (365)  |  Substance (253)  |  Synthesis (58)  |  Task (152)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Together (392)  |  Total (95)  |  Vast (188)

Why can't I see the picture right away?
Remark made at age 3 years old after having just been photographed by her father, Edwin Land. Subsequently, he took a solitary walk while vacationing in Sante Fe (1943) and in that time originated the basic idea for the Polaroid instant camera. As quoted in 'Colossus of the Camera', New York Times (5 Aug 1982).
Science quotes on:  |  Camera (7)  |  Instant (46)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Picture (148)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)

Why did I decide to undertake my doctorate research in the exotic field of boron hydrides? As it happened, my girl friend, Sarah Baylen, soon to become my wife, presented me with a graduation gift, Alfred Stock's book, The Hydrides of Boron and Silicon. I read this book and became interested in the subject. How did it happen that she selected this particular book? This was the time of the Depression. None of us had much money. It appears she selected as her gift the most economical chemistry book ($2.06) available in the University of Chicago bookstore. Such are the developments that can shape a career.
'From Little Acorns Through to Tall Oaks From Boranes Through Organoboranes', Nobel Lecture (8 Dec) 1979. In Nobel Lectures: Chemistry, 1971-1980 (1993), 341.
Science quotes on:  |  Available (80)  |  Become (821)  |  Book (413)  |  Boron (4)  |  Career (86)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Depression (26)  |  Development (441)  |  Field (378)  |  Friend (180)  |  Gift (105)  |  Girl (38)  |  Graduation (6)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Interest (416)  |  Money (178)  |  Most (1728)  |  Present (630)  |  Read (308)  |  Research (753)  |  Select (45)  |  Silicon (4)  |  Soon (187)  |  Alfred Stock (3)  |  Subject (543)  |  Time (1911)  |  Undertake (35)  |  University (130)  |  Wife (41)

Why do I call [Isaac Newton] a magician? Because he looked on the whole universe and all that is in it as a riddle, as a secret which could be read by applying pure thought to certain evidence, certain mystic clues which God had laid about the world to allow a sort of philosopher's treasure hunt.
In 'Newton, the Man' (1946). In Geoffrey Keynes (ed.), Essays in Biography, 2nd edition (1951), 313.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Clue (20)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evidence (267)  |  God (776)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Hunt (32)  |  Look (584)  |  Magician (15)  |  Mystic (23)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Pure (299)  |  Read (308)  |  Riddle (28)  |  Secret (216)  |  Thought (995)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Treasure Hunt (2)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

Why do scientists call it research when looking for something new?
Anonymous
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Do (1905)  |  Joke (90)  |  Looking (191)  |  New (1273)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Something (718)

Why do the laws that govern [the universe] seem constant in time? One can imagine a Universe in which laws are not truly law-full. Talk of miracle does just this, invoking God to make things work. Physics aims to find the laws instead, and hopes that they will be uniquely constrained, as when Einstein wondered whether God had any choice when He made the Universe.
Gregory Benford, in John Brockman, What We Believe But Cannot Prove. In Clifford A. Pickover, Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them (2008), 182-183.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Choice (114)  |  Constant (148)  |  Constraint (13)  |  Do (1905)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Find (1014)  |  God (776)  |  Govern (66)  |  Hope (321)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Invoke (7)  |  Law (913)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truly (118)  |  Unique (72)  |  Universe (900)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Work (1402)

Why do they [Americans] quarrel, why do they hate Negroes, Indians, even Germans, why do they not have science and poetry commensurate with themselves, why are there so many frauds and so much nonsense? I cannot soon give a solution to these questions ... It was clear that in the United States there was a development not of the best, but of the middle and worst sides of European civilization; the notorious general voting, the tendency to politics... all the same as in Europe. A new dawn is not to be seen on this side of the ocean.
The Oil Industry in the North American State of Pennsylvania and in the Caucasus (1877). Translated by H. M. Leicester, from the original in Russian, in 'Mendeleev's Visit to America', Journal of Chemical Education (1957), 34, 333.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Best (467)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Commensurate (2)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Development (441)  |  Do (1905)  |  Europe (50)  |  Fraud (15)  |  General (521)  |  German (37)  |  Germany (16)  |  Hate (68)  |  India (23)  |  Indian (32)  |  Middle (19)  |  Negro (8)  |  New (1273)  |  Nonsense (48)  |  Notorious (8)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Politics (122)  |  Question (649)  |  Science And Poetry (17)  |  Side (236)  |  Solution (282)  |  Soon (187)  |  State (505)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Themselves (433)  |  United States (31)  |  Vote (16)  |  Worst (57)

Why do they prefer to tell stories about the possible medicinal benefits of the Houston toad rather than to offer moral reasons for supporting the Endangered Species Act? That law is plainly ideological; it is hardly to be excused on economic grounds.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Do (1905)  |  Economic (84)  |  Endangered Species (6)  |  Excuse (27)  |  Fit (139)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hardly (19)  |  Houston (5)  |  Ideological (2)  |  Law (913)  |  Medicinal (3)  |  Moral (203)  |  Offer (142)  |  Plainly (5)  |  Possible (560)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Reason (766)  |  Species (435)  |  Story (122)  |  Tell (344)  |  Toad (10)

Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves.
From interview with Anthony Liversidge, in 'Walter Gilbert', Omni (Nov 1992), 15, No. 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Basic Research (15)  |  Do (1905)  |  Learn (672)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Research (753)

Why do we study insects? Because, together with man, hummingbirds and the bristlecone pine, they are among the great achievements of organic evolution.
In The Insect Societies (1971), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Do (1905)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hummingbird (4)  |  Insect (89)  |  Man (2252)  |  Organic (161)  |  Pine (12)  |  Study (701)  |  Together (392)

Why do you so earnestly seek the truth in distant places?
Look for delusion and truth in the bottom of your own hearts.
Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 247
Science quotes on:  |  Bottom (36)  |  Delusion (26)  |  Distant (33)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earnestly (4)  |  Heart (243)  |  Look (584)  |  Place (192)  |  Seek (218)  |  Truth (1109)

Why does a man want to be a scientist? There are many goals: fame, position, a thirst for understanding. The first two can be attained without intellectual integrity; the third cannot. … The thirst for knowledge, what Thomas Huxley called the ‘Divine dipsomania’, can only be satisfied by complete intellectual integrity. It seems to me the only one of the three goals that continues to reward the pursuer. He presses on, “knowing that Nature never did betray the heart that loved her”. Here is another kind of love, that has so many faces. Love is neither passion, nor pride, nor pity, nor blind adoration, but it can be any or all of these if they are transfigured by deep and unbiased understanding.
In Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections (1996), 123.
Science quotes on:  |  Adoration (4)  |  Attain (126)  |  Betray (8)  |  Blind (98)  |  Call (781)  |  Complete (209)  |  Continue (179)  |  Deep (241)  |  Dipsomania (2)  |  Divine (112)  |  Face (214)  |  Fame (51)  |  First (1302)  |  Goal (155)  |  Heart (243)  |  Thomas Henry Huxley (132)  |  Integrity (21)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Passion (121)  |  Pity (16)  |  Position (83)  |  Press On (2)  |  Pride (84)  |  Reward (72)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Third (17)  |  Thirst (11)  |  Transfigure (2)  |  Two (936)  |  Unbiased (7)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Want (504)

Why does a suppurating lung give so little warning and a sore on the finger so much?
Aphorism 3 in Notebook J (1789-1793), as translated by R. J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 128.
Science quotes on:  |  Finger (48)  |  Little (717)  |  Lung (37)  |  Sore (4)  |  Warning (18)

Why does man behave like perfect idiot? This is the problem I wish to deal with.
The Crazy Ape (1970), 11.
Science quotes on:  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Deal (192)  |  Dealing (11)  |  Idiot (22)  |  Man (2252)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Problem (731)  |  Wish (216)

Why does man regret, even though he may endeavour to banish any such regret, that he has followed the one natural impulse, rather than the other; and why does he further feel that he ought to regret his conduct? Man in this respect differs profoundly from the lower animals.
Descent of Man
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Banish (11)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Differ (88)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Feel (371)  |  Follow (389)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Man (2252)  |  Natural (810)  |  Other (2233)  |  Regret (31)  |  Respect (212)

Why does not science, instead of troubling itself about sunspots, which nobody ever saw, or, if they did, ought not to speak about. — Why does not science busy itself with drainage and sanitary engineering? Why does it not clean the streets and free the rivers from pollution? Why, in England there is scarcely a river at some point is not polluted; and the flowers are all withering on the banks.
Interview, 'A Talk with Wilde: The Apostle of the Aesthetes Enunciates His Views', Philadelphia Press (17 Jan 1882), 2. Collected in E.H. Mikhail (ed.), Oscar Wilde: Interviews and Recollections (1979), Vol. 1, 45.
Science quotes on:  |  Clean (52)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Free (239)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Pollution (53)  |  River (140)  |  Saw (160)  |  Speak (240)  |  Sunspot (5)

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?
Br. M. 278 b. From the original Italian: “Perchè vede piv certa la cosa l’ochio ne’ sogni che colla imaginatione, stando desto?” English and Italian in Jean Paul Richter (trans.), 'Philosophical Maxims: Of Mechanics', The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), Vol. 1, Part 2, 287, Note 1144.
Science quotes on:  |  Awake (19)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Dream (222)  |  Eye (440)  |  Imagination (349)  |  More (2558)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)

Why does the universe, as Hawking has recently phrased it, go to all the bother of existing? Why is there something rather than nothing? Things would be so much simpler if nothing, absolutely nothing, existed, not even a God.
In Introduction, The Night Is Large: Collected Essays 1938-1995 (1996), xvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolutely (41)  |  Bother (8)  |  Exist (458)  |  God (776)  |  Stephen W. Hawking (62)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Simpler (8)  |  Something (718)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universe (900)

Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? … The simple answer runs: “Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it.”
Address to students of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (16 Feb 1931). In New York Times (17 Feb 1931), p. 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Science (36)  |  Easier (53)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Run (158)  |  Save (126)  |  Sensible (28)  |  Simple (426)  |  Use (771)  |  Work (1402)

Why don't they have a light bulb that only shines on things worth looking at?
In Napalm and Silly Putty (2002), 103.
Science quotes on:  |  Bulb (10)  |  Light (635)  |  Light Bulb (6)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Shine (49)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Worth (172)

Why grass is green, or why our blood is red
Are mysteries which none have reach’d unto.
Science quotes on:  |  Blood (144)  |  Grass (49)  |  Green (65)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Optics (24)  |  Reach (286)  |  Red (38)  |  Research (753)

Why had we come to the moon?
The thing presented itself to me as a perplexing problem. What is this spirit in man that urges him for ever to depart from happiness and security, to toil, to place himself in danger, to risk an even a reasonable certainty of death? It dawned upon me that there in the moon as a thing I ought always to have known, that man is not made to go about safe and comfortable and well fed and amused. ... against his interest, against his happiness, he is constantly being driven to do unreasonable things. Some force not himself impels him, and he must go.
The First Men in the Moon (1901)
Science quotes on:  |  Adventure (69)  |  Against (332)  |  Being (1276)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Danger (127)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Death (406)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Force (497)  |  Happiness (126)  |  Himself (461)  |  Interest (416)  |  Known (453)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Risk (68)  |  Safe (61)  |  Security (51)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Toil (29)

Why has not anyone seen that fossils alone gave birth to a theory about the formation of the earth, that without them, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the globe.
Discours sur les révolutions du globe, (Discourse on the Revolutions of the Surface of the Globe), originally the introduction to Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles des quadrupèdes (1812). Translated by Ian Johnston from the 1825 edition. Online at Vancouver island University website.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Birth (154)  |  Dream (222)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Epoch (46)  |  Formation (100)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Successive (73)  |  Theory (1015)

Why has not Man a microscopic eye?
For this plain reason, Man is not a Fly.
An Essay on Man' (1733-4), Epistle I. In John Butt (ed.), The Poems of Alexander Pope (1965), 511.
Science quotes on:  |  Eye (440)  |  Fly (153)  |  Man (2252)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Plain (34)  |  Reason (766)

Why is geometry often described as “cold” and “dry?” One reason lies in its inability to describe the shape of a cloud, a mountain, a coastline, or a tree. Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line… Nature exhibits not simply a higher degree but an altogether different level of complexity.
From The Fractal Geometry of Nature (1977, 1983), Introduction, xiii.
Science quotes on:  |  Bark (19)  |  Circle (117)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Coast (13)  |  Cold (115)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Cone (8)  |  Degree (277)  |  Describe (132)  |  Different (595)  |  Dry (65)  |  Fractal (11)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Inability (11)  |  Lie (370)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Line (100)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Reason (766)  |  Shape (77)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Straight (75)  |  Straight Line (34)  |  Travel (125)  |  Tree (269)

Why is it so easy to acquire the solutions of past problems and so difficult to solve current ones
(Attributed ??) This quote is often seen, but without a citation, even on the official Marshall McLuhan website. If you known a primary print source, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Current (122)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Easy (213)  |  Past (355)  |  Problem (731)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Solve (145)

Why is it so very important to know that the lines drawn from the extremities of the base of an isosceles triangle to the middle points of the opposite sides are equal!
In Letter (29 May 1898), at age almost 18, to Mrs. Lawrence Hutton, excerpted in The Story of My Life: With her Letters (1887-1901) (1903, 1921), 242.
Science quotes on:  |  Base (120)  |  Draw (140)  |  Equal (88)  |  Extremity (7)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Important (229)  |  Isosceles Triangle (3)  |  Know (1538)  |  Line (100)  |  Middle (19)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Point (584)  |  Side (236)  |  Triangle (20)

Why is it that showers and even storms seem to come by chance, so that many people think it quite natural to pray for rain or fine weather, though they would consider it ridiculous to ask for an eclipse by prayer.
Science and Method (1908), trans. Francis Maitland (1914), 68.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Chance (244)  |  Consider (428)  |  Eclipse (25)  |  Natural (810)  |  People (1031)  |  Prayer (30)  |  Rain (70)  |  Ridicule (23)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Shower (7)  |  Storm (56)  |  Storms (18)  |  Think (1122)  |  Weather (49)

Why is it that the self-aggrandizements of Cicero, the lecheries and whining of Ovid and the blatherings of that debauched old goose Seneca made it onto the Net before the works that give us solid technical information about what Rome was really good at, viz. the construction of her great buildings and works of engineering?
From headnotes written by Bill Thayer to his online transcription of Vitruvius: On Architecture.
Science quotes on:  |  Aggrandizement (2)  |  Architecture (50)  |  Book (413)  |  Building (158)  |  Buildings (5)  |  Marcus Tullius Cicero (34)  |  Construction (114)  |  Debauched (2)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Good (906)  |  Goose (13)  |  Great (1610)  |  Information (173)  |  Internet (24)  |  Old (499)  |  Publius Ovid (15)  |  Roman (39)  |  Rome (19)  |  Self (268)  |  Lucius Annaeus Seneca (21)  |  Solid (119)  |  Technical (53)  |  Vitruvius (28)  |  Work (1402)

Why is that nobody understands me, and everybody likes me?
In an interview in The New York Times, March 12, 1944.
Science quotes on:  |  Everybody (72)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Understand (648)

Why is the world five—or ten or twenty—billion years old?
Because it took that long to find that out.
Anonymous
Reflecting on the time before the man existed, and have consciousness of the the world to answer the question. Unattributed joke given by George Wald in lecture, 'Life and Mind in the Universe', versions of which he delivered throughout the 1980s. On the website of his son, Elijah Wald, who states it was the last of his father's major lectures.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Billion (104)  |  Find (1014)  |  Joke (90)  |  Long (778)  |  Old (499)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

Why it is that animals, instead of developing in a simple and straightforward way, undergo in the course of their growth a series of complicated changes, during which they often acquire organs which have no function, and which, after remaining visible for a short time, disappear without leaving a trace ... To the Darwinian, the explanation of such facts is obvious. The stage when the tadpole breathes by gills is a repetition of the stage when the ancestors of the frog had not advanced in the scale of development beyond a fish.
In The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour (1885), Vol. 1, 702.
Science quotes on:  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Advance (298)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Animal (651)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Change (639)  |  Complicated (117)  |  Complication (30)  |  Course (413)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Development (441)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Disappearance (28)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fish (130)  |  Frog (44)  |  Function (235)  |  Gill (3)  |  Growth (200)  |  Leaving (10)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Organ (118)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remaining (45)  |  Repetition (29)  |  Scale (122)  |  Series (153)  |  Short (200)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Stage (152)  |  Straightforward (10)  |  Tadpole (3)  |  Time (1911)  |  Trace (109)  |  Undergo (18)  |  Visibility (6)  |  Visible (87)  |  Way (1214)

Why may not the present generation, who have already good turnpikes, make the experiment of using steam carriages upon them? They will assuredly effect the movement of heavy burthens; with a slow motion of two and a half miles an hour, and as their progress need not be interrupted, they may travel fifty or sixty miles in the 24 hours.
From 'On the Origin of Steam Boats and Steam Wagons', Thomas Cooper (ed.), The Emporium of Arts and Sciences (Feb 1814), 2, No. 2, 215.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Carriage (11)  |  Effect (414)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Generation (256)  |  Good (906)  |  Hour (192)  |  Motion (320)  |  Movement (162)  |  Present (630)  |  Progress (492)  |  Slow (108)  |  Speed (66)  |  Steam (81)  |  Steam Power (10)  |  Transport (31)  |  Travel (125)  |  Turnpike (2)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)

Why may we not add Geology to the list of poetical sciences? Why shall not that science, which is the second science in eras and magnitudes, and the first, in affording scope for the imagination, be brought into favor with the Muses and afford themes for the Poet?
In 'The Poetry of Geology', The Indicator, 1849, 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Era (51)  |  Favor (69)  |  First (1302)  |  Geology (240)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Muse (10)  |  Scope (44)  |  Theme (17)

Why may we not say, that all Automata (Engines that move themselves by springs and wheeles as doth a watch) have an artificiall life? For what is the Heart, but a Spring; and the Nerves, but so many Strings; and the Joynts, but so many Wheeles, giving motion to the whole Body, such as was intended by the Artificer? Art goes yet further, imitating the rationall and most excellent worke of Nature, Man. For by Art is created the great LEVIATHAN called a COMMON-WEALTH, or STATE, (in latine CIVITAS) which is but an Artificiall Man; though of greater stature and strength than the Naturall, for whose protection and defence it was intended; and in which, the Soveraignty is an Artificiall Soul, as giving life and motion to the whole body.
Leviathan (1651), ed. C. B. Macpherson (1968), Part I, Introduction, 81.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Artificer (5)  |  Body (557)  |  Call (781)  |  Common (447)  |  Defence (16)  |  Engine (99)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heart (243)  |  Joint (31)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nerve (82)  |  Protection (41)  |  Say (989)  |  Soul (235)  |  Spring (140)  |  State (505)  |  Strength (139)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Watch (118)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Whole (756)

Why must our bodies be so large compared with the atom?
What is Life? In Marc J. Madou, Fundamentals of Microfabrication: the Science of Miniaturization (2nd ed., 2002), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Body (557)  |  Compare (76)  |  Large (398)  |  Must (1525)  |  Size (62)

Why should [persons of artistic sensibility] stop to think when they are not very good at thinking?
In Art (1913), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Artistic (24)  |  Good (906)  |  Person (366)  |  Sensibility (5)  |  Stop (89)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)

Why should a lobster be any more ridiculous than a dog? ... or a cat, or a gazelle, or a lion, or any other animal one chooses to take for a walk? I have a liking for lobsters. They are peaceful, serious creatures. ... Goethe had an aversion to dogs, and he wasn't mad. They know the secrets of the sea, they don't bark.
[By walking a lobster at the end of a blue silk ribbon in the gardens of the Palais-Royal, he mocked middle-class pretensions, but caused concern for his sanity.]
Quoted by his friend, Théophile Gautier, in Portraits et souvenirs littéraires (1875). In Théophile Gautier, My Fantoms, translated by Richard Holmes (1976), 150.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Aversion (9)  |  Bark (19)  |  Cat (52)  |  Choice (114)  |  Choose (116)  |  Class (168)  |  Concern (239)  |  Creature (242)  |  Dog (70)  |  End (603)  |  Garden (64)  |  Gazelle (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Liking (4)  |  Lion (23)  |  Lobster (5)  |  Mad (54)  |  Madness (33)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peace (116)  |  Ridicule (23)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Royal (56)  |  Sanity (9)  |  Sea (326)  |  Secret (216)  |  Serious (98)  |  Seriousness (10)  |  Silk (14)  |  Walk (138)

Why should an hypothesis, suggested by a scientist, be accepted as true until its truth is established? Science should be the last to make such a demand because science to be truly science is classified knowledge; it is the explanation of facts. Tested by this definition, Darwinism is not science at all; it is guesses strung together.
In chapter, 'The Origin of Man', In His Image (1922), 94.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Accepting (22)  |  Classification (102)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Definition (238)  |  Demand (131)  |  Establishing (7)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Guess (67)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Last (425)  |  Scientist (881)  |  String (22)  |  Suggestion (49)  |  Test (221)  |  Together (392)  |  Truly (118)  |  Truth (1109)

Why should moral distinction be made between death by the spirochete and death by the streptococcus?
Science quotes on:  |  Death (406)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Moral (203)  |  Spirochete (2)  |  Streptococcus (3)

Why should one say that the machine does not live? It breathes, for its breath forms the atmosphere of some towns.
In Coningsby: Or The New Generation (1844), Vol. 2, Book 4, Ch.1, 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Air Pollution (13)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Breath (61)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Form (976)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Machine (271)  |  Say (989)  |  Town (30)

Why should the leaders of chemical businesses be held responsible for polluting the marine environment with a few grams of effluent, which is sublethal to marine species, while celebrity chefs are turning out endangered fish at several dozen tables a night without enduring a syllable of criticism?
In The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World and what We Eat (2004), 189.
Science quotes on:  |  Celebrity (8)  |  Chef (3)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Criticism (85)  |  Effluent (2)  |  Endangered (2)  |  Endangered Species (6)  |  Environment (239)  |  Fish (130)  |  Industry (159)  |  Leader (51)  |  Marine (9)  |  Overfishing (27)  |  Pollution (53)  |  Species (435)  |  Syllable (3)  |  Table (105)

Why should we limit by dogma or otherwise man’s liberty to select his food and drink? … the great practical rule of life in regard of human diet will not be found in enforcing limitation of the sources of food which Nature has abundantly provided.
In Eating and Living: Diet in Relation to Age and Activity (1885), 16-17.
Science quotes on:  |  Diet (56)  |  Dogma (49)  |  Drink (56)  |  Food (213)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Practical (225)  |  Regard (312)  |  Rule (307)  |  Select (45)  |  Will (2350)

Why should we look to the past in order to prepare for the future? Because there is nowhere else to look.
In Connections (1978, 1979), 287.
Science quotes on:  |  Future (467)  |  Look (584)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Order (638)  |  Past (355)  |  Preparation (60)

Why shouldn’t a PC work like a refrigerator or a toaster?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Pc (2)  |  Refrigerator (8)  |  Toaster (2)  |  Work (1402)

Why speculate when you can calculate?
Anonymous
Aphorism mentioned in Australian Federal Court, 1991 Federal Court Reports (1992), Vol. 31, 378.
Science quotes on:  |  Calculate (58)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Speculation (137)

Why the dinosaurs died out is not known, but it is supposed to be because they had minute brains and devoted themselves to the growth of weapons of offense in the shape of numerous horns. However that may be, it was not through their line that life developed.
In 'Men versus. Insects' (1933), collected in In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays (1935), 199.
Science quotes on:  |  Brain (281)  |  Develop (278)  |  Developed (11)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Dinosaur (26)  |  Extinction (80)  |  Growth (200)  |  Horn (18)  |  Known (453)  |  Life (1870)  |  Line (100)  |  Minute (129)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Offense (4)  |  Paleontology (32)  |  Shape (77)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Through (846)  |  Weapon (98)  |  Weapons (57)

Why then be concerned about the conservation of wildlife when for all practical purposes we would be much better off if humans and their domestic animals and pets were the only living creatures on the face of the earth? There is no obvious and demolishing answer to this rather doubtful logic although in practice the destruction of all wild animals would certainly bring devastating changes to our existence on this planet as we know it today… The trouble is that everything in nature is completely interdependent. Tinker with one part of it and the repercussions ripple out in all directions… Wildlife—and that includes everything from microbes to blue whales and from a fungus to a redwood tree—has been so much part of life on the earth that we are inclined to take its continued existence for granted… Yet the wildlife of the world is disappearing, not because of a malicious and deliberate policy of slaughter and extermination, but simply because of a general and widespread ignorance and neglect.
World Wildlife Fund Dinner, York, (1969). As quoted and cited in 'The Mirror of a Duke', The Dorset Eye on dorseteye.com website
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Better Off (7)  |  Blue Whale (3)  |  Bring (95)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Change (639)  |  Completely (137)  |  Concern (239)  |  Conservation (187)  |  Continue (179)  |  Creature (242)  |  Deliberate (19)  |  Demolish (8)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Devastating (6)  |  Direction (185)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Domestic (27)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Everything (489)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Face (214)  |  Face Of The Earth (5)  |  Fungus (8)  |  General (521)  |  Grant (76)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Include (93)  |  Interdependent (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Logic (311)  |  Malicious (8)  |  Microbe (30)  |  Microbes (14)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Part (235)  |  Pet (10)  |  Planet (402)  |  Policy (27)  |  Practical (225)  |  Practice (212)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Redwood (8)  |  Repercussion (5)  |  Ripple (12)  |  Simply (53)  |  Slaughter (8)  |  Tinker (6)  |  Today (321)  |  Tree (269)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Whale (45)  |  Widespread (23)  |  Wild (96)  |  Wild Animal (9)  |  Wildlife (16)  |  World (1850)

Why then does science work? The answer is that nobody knows. It is a complete mystery—perhaps the complete mystery&mdashwhy the human mind should be able to understand anything at all about the wider universe. ... Perhaps it is because our brains evolved through the working of natural law that they somehow resonate with natural law. ... But the mystery, really, is not that we are at one with the universe, but that we are so to some degree at odds with it, different from it, and yet can understand something about it. Why is this so?
Coming of Age in the Milky Way (1988), 385. In Vinoth Ramachandra, Subverting Global Myths: Theology and the Public Issues Shaping our World (2008), 185.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Brain (281)  |  Complete (209)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Know (1538)  |  Law (913)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Nobody (103)  |  Odds (6)  |  Really (77)  |  Resonate (2)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Something (718)  |  Through (846)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wide (97)  |  Work (1402)

Why there is one Body in or System qualified to give Light and Heat to all ye rest, I know no reason, but because ye author of the Systeme thought it convenient.
Letter to Bentley (10 Dec 1692). In The Works of Richard Bentley (1838), Vol. 3, 204.
Science quotes on:  |  Author (175)  |  Body (557)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Heat (180)  |  Know (1538)  |  Light (635)  |  Qualified (12)  |  Reason (766)  |  Rest (287)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  Thought (995)

Why waste words? Geometry existed before the Creation, is co-eternal with the mind of God, is God himself (what exists in God that is not God himself?); geometry provided God with a model for the Creation and was implanted into man, together with God’s own likeness—and not merely conveyed to his mind through the eyes.
From Harmonice Mundi, Lib. IV, Cap. I, Gesammelte Werke, Vol. VI, as quoted and cited in an epigraph, Jagdish Mehra, Einstein, Hilbert, and The Theory of Gravitation: Historical Origins (1974), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Creation (350)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Exist (458)  |  Eye (440)  |  Geometry (271)  |  God (776)  |  Himself (461)  |  Likeness (18)  |  Man (2252)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Model (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Waste (109)  |  Word (650)

Why, in God's name, in our days, is there such a great difference between a physician and a surgeon? The physicians have abandoned operative procedures and the laity, either, as some say, because they disdain to operate with their hands, or rather, as I think, because they do not know how to perform operation. Indeed, this abuse is so inveterate that the common people look upon it as impossible for the same person to understand both surgery and medicine.
Chirurgia Magna (1296, printed 1479). In Henry Ebenezer Handerson, Gilbertus Anglicus (1918), 77.
Science quotes on:  |  Abandon (73)  |  Abuse (25)  |  Both (496)  |  Common (447)  |  Difference (355)  |  Disdain (10)  |  Do (1905)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Indeed (323)  |  Know (1538)  |  Look (584)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Name (359)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operative (10)  |  People (1031)  |  Perform (123)  |  Person (366)  |  Physician (284)  |  Procedure (48)  |  Say (989)  |  Surgeon (64)  |  Surgery (54)  |  Think (1122)  |  Understand (648)

Why, it is asked, since the scientist, by means of classification and experiment, can predict the “action of the physical world, shall not the historian do as much for the moral world”! The analogy is false at many points; but the confusion arises chiefly from the assumption that the scientist can predict the action of the physical world. Certain conditions precisely given, the scientist can predict the result; he cannot say when or where in the future those conditions will obtain.
In 'A New Philosophy of History', The Dial (2 Sep 1915), 148. This is Becker’s review of a book by L. Cecil Jane, The Interpretation of History. Becker refutes Jane’s idea that the value of history lies in whether it consists in furnishing “some clue as to what the future will bring.”
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Arise (162)  |  Ask (420)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Classification (102)  |  Condition (362)  |  Confusion (61)  |  Do (1905)  |  Experiment (736)  |  False (105)  |  Future (467)  |  Historian (59)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Point (584)  |  Precise (71)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Predict (86)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Why, only last term we sent a man who had never been in a laboratory in his life as a senior Science Master to one of our leading public schools. He came [to our agency] wanting to do private coaching in music. He’s doing very well, I believe.
In Decline and Fall (1928), 1962 edn., 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Agency (14)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Last (425)  |  Leading (17)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Master (182)  |  Music (133)  |  Never (1089)  |  Private (29)  |  Public School (4)  |  School (227)  |  Senior (7)  |  Term (357)  |  Wanting (2)

Why, sir, there is every probability that you will soon be able to tax it!
Said to William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he asked about the practical worth of electricity.
Quoted in R. A. Gregory, Discovery, Or The Spirit and Service of Science (1916), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Chancellor (8)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Exchequer (2)  |  Practical (225)  |  Probability (135)  |  Soon (187)  |  Tax (27)  |  Will (2350)  |  Worth (172)

Why, then, are we surprised that comets, such a rare spectacle in the universe, are not known, when their return is at vast intervals?. … The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject … And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them …. Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced. Our universe is a sorry little affair unless it has in it something for every age to investigate … Nature does not reveal her mysteries once and for all. Someday there will be a man who will show in what regions comets have their orbit, why they travel so remote from other celestial bodies, how large they are and what sort they are.
Natural Questions, Book 7. As translated by Thomas H. Corcoran in Seneca in Ten Volumes: Naturales Quaestiones II (1972), 279 and 293.
Science quotes on:  |  Affair (29)  |  Age (509)  |  Amaze (5)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Comet (65)  |  Descendant (18)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Efface (6)  |  Enough (341)  |  Entirely (36)  |  Hidden (43)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Large (398)  |  Lie (370)  |  Lifetime (40)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Other (2233)  |  Period (200)  |  Plain (34)  |  Rare (94)  |  Remote (86)  |  Research (753)  |  Reserve (26)  |  Return (133)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Show (353)  |  Single (365)  |  Sky (174)  |  Someday (15)  |  Something (718)  |  Sorry (31)  |  Spectacle (35)  |  Still (614)  |  Subject (543)  |  Successive (73)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Travel (125)  |  Unfold (15)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Will (2350)

Why, these men would destroy the Bible on evidence that would not convict a habitual criminal of a misdemeanor. They found a tooth in a sand pit in Nebraska with no other bones about it, and from that one tooth decided that it was the remains of the missing link. They have queer ideas about age too. They find a fossil and when they are asked how old it is they say they can't tell without knowing what rock it was in, and when they are asked how old the rock is they say they can't tell unless they know how old the fossil is.
In Henry Fairfield Osborn, 'Osborn States the Case For Evolution', New York Times (12 Jul 1925), XX1. In fact, the tooth was misidentified as anthropoid by Osborn, who over-zealously proposed Nebraska Man in 1922. This tooth was shortly thereafter found to be that of a peccary (a Pliocene pig) when further bones were found. A retraction was made in 1927, correcting the scientific blunder.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Ask (420)  |  Bible (105)  |  Bone (101)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Criminal (18)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Idea (881)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Misdemeanor (2)  |  Missing (21)  |  Missing Link (4)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pit (20)  |  Queer (9)  |  Remain (355)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sand (63)  |  Say (989)  |  Tell (344)  |  Tooth (32)

Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me I know of nothing else but miracles…
“Miracles”. Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 21
Science quotes on:  |  Know (1538)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Nothing (1000)

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which numbers holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
In 'Prologue: What I Have Lived For', The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (1969). 3-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Achieved (2)  |  Flux (21)  |  Heart (243)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Number (710)  |  Passion (121)  |  Power (771)  |  Seek (218)  |  Shine (49)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Understand (648)  |  Wish (216)

With respect to those who may ask why Nature does not produce new beings? We may enquire of them in turn, upon what foundation they suppose this fact? What it is that authorizes them to believe this sterility in Nature? Know they if, in the various combinations which she is every instant forming, Nature be not occupied in producing new beings, without the cognizance of these observers? Who has informed them that this Nature is not actually assembling, in her immense elaboratory, the elements suitable to bring to light, generations entirely new, that will have nothing in common with those of the species at present existing? What absurdity then, or what want of just inference would there be, to imagine that the man, the horse, the fish, the bird will be no more? Are these animals so indispensably requisite to Nature, that without them she cannot continue her eternal course? Does not all change around us? Do we not ourselves change? ... Nature contains no one constant form.
The System of Nature (1770), trans. Samuel Wilkinson (1820), Vol. 1, 94-95.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurdity (34)  |  Animal (651)  |  Ask (420)  |  Authorize (5)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bird (163)  |  Change (639)  |  Combination (150)  |  Common (447)  |  Constant (148)  |  Continue (179)  |  Course (413)  |  Do (1905)  |  Element (322)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fish (130)  |  Form (976)  |  Forming (42)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Generation (256)  |  Horse (78)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inference (45)  |  Inform (50)  |  Instant (46)  |  Know (1538)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Occupied (45)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Present (630)  |  Respect (212)  |  Species (435)  |  Sterility (10)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Turn (454)  |  Various (205)  |  Want (504)  |  Will (2350)

You know the formula m over naught equals infinity, m being any positive number? [m/0 = ∞]. Well, why not reduce the equation to a simpler form by multiplying both sides by naught? In which case you have m equals infinity times naught [m = ∞ × 0]. That is to say, a positive number is the product of zero and infinity. Doesn't that demonstrate the creation of the Universe by an infinite power out of nothing? Doesn't it?
In Point Counter Point (1928), 162.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Both (496)  |  Creation (350)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Equal (88)  |  Equation (138)  |  Form (976)  |  Formula (102)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Know (1538)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Naught (10)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Positive (98)  |  Power (771)  |  Product (166)  |  Reduce (100)  |  Say (989)  |  Side (236)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Zero (38)

You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe “Daylight Saving Time.”
From newspaper column '25 Things I Have Learned in 50 Years' (Oct 1998), collected in Dave Barry Turns Fifty (2010), 181.
Science quotes on:  |  Anybody (42)  |  Compelling (11)  |  Daylight (23)  |  Daylight Saving Time (10)  |  Find (1014)  |  Never (1089)  |  Observe (179)  |  Reason (766)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

You, in this country [the USA], are subjected to the British insularity in weights and measures; you use the foot, inch and yard. I am obliged to use that system, but must apologize to you for doing so, because it is so inconvenient, and I hope Americans will do everything in their power to introduce the French metrical system. ... I look upon our English system as a wickedly, brain-destroying system of bondage under which we suffer. The reason why we continue to use it, is the imaginary difficulty of making a change, and nothing else; but I do not think in America that any such difficulty should stand in the way of adopting so splendidly useful a reform.
Journal of the Franklin Institute, Nov 1884, 118, 321-341
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Bondage (6)  |  Brain (281)  |  British (42)  |  Change (639)  |  Continue (179)  |  Country (269)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doing (277)  |  Everything (489)  |  Hope (321)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Look (584)  |  Making (300)  |  Measure (241)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Metric System (6)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Power (771)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reform (22)  |  Stand (284)  |  Subject (543)  |  System (545)  |  Think (1122)  |  Use (771)  |  Useful (260)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weight (140)  |  Will (2350)


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.