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: “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”
more quiz questions >>
Home > Category Index for Science Quotations > Category Index I > Category: Indeed

Indeed Quotes (323 quotes)

… There can be no doubt about faith and not reason being the ultima ratio. Even Euclid, who has laid himself as little open to the charge of credulity as any writer who ever lived, cannot get beyond this. He has no demonstrable first premise. He requires postulates and axioms which transcend demonstration, and without which he can do nothing. His superstructure indeed is demonstration, but his ground his faith. Nor again can he get further than telling a man he is a fool if he persists in differing from him. He says “which is absurd,” and declines to discuss the matter further. Faith and authority, therefore, prove to be as necessary for him as for anyone else.
In The Way of All Flesh (1917), 319-320.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Authority (99)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Being (1276)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Charge (63)  |  Credulity (16)  |  Decline (28)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Discuss (26)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Faith (209)  |  First (1302)  |  Fool (121)  |  Ground (222)  |  Himself (461)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Open (277)  |  Postulate (42)  |  Premise (40)  |  Prove (261)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Reason (766)  |  Require (229)  |  Say (989)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Writer (90)

…indeed what reason may not go to Schoole to the wisdome of Bees, Aunts, and Spiders? what wise hand teacheth them to doe what reason cannot teach us? Ruder heads stand amazed at those prodigious pieces of nature, Whales, Elephants, Dromidaries and Camels; these I confesse, are the Colossus and Majestick pieces of her hand; but in these narrow Engines there is more curious Mathematicks, and the civilitie of these little Citizens more neatly sets forth the wisedome of their Maker.
In Religio Medici and Other Writings (1909), 17.
Science quotes on:  |  Amaze (5)  |  Ant (34)  |  Bee (44)  |  Camel (12)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Civility (2)  |  Curious (95)  |  Elephant (35)  |  Engine (99)  |  Little (717)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Maker (34)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Prodigious (20)  |  Reason (766)  |  School (227)  |  Set (400)  |  Spider (14)  |  Stand (284)  |  Teach (299)  |  Whale (45)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)

“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)  |  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 (491)

[Florence Nightingale] was a great administrator, and to reach excellence here is impossible without being an ardent student of statistics. Florence Nightingale has been rightly termed the “Passionate Statistician.” Her statistics were more than a study, they were indeed her religion. For her, Quetelet was the hero as scientist, and the presentation copy of his Physique Sociale is annotated by her on every page. Florence Nightingale believed—and in all the actions of her life acted upon that belief—that the administrator could only be successful if he were guided by statistical knowledge. The legislator—to say nothing of the politician—too often failed for want of this knowledge. Nay, she went further: she held that the universe—including human communities—was evolving in accordance with a divine plan; that it was man's business to endeavour to understand this plan and guide his actions in sympathy with it. But to understand God's thoughts, she held we must study statistics, for these are the measure of his purpose. Thus the study of statistics was for her a religious duty.
In Karl Pearson, The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton (1924), Vol. 2, 414-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Administrator (11)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Business (156)  |  Copy (34)  |  Divine (112)  |  Duty (71)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Fail (191)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guide (107)  |  Hero (45)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Man (2252)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Florence Nightingale (34)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Passionate (22)  |  Plan (122)  |  Politician (40)  |  Presentation (24)  |  Purpose (336)  |   Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quételet (2)  |  Reach (286)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Statistician (27)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Student (317)  |  Study (701)  |  Successful (134)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Term (357)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understand (648)  |  Universe (900)  |  Want (504)

[In 1909,] Paris was the center of the aviation world. Aeronautics was neither an industry nor even a science; both were yet to come. It was an “art” and I might say a “passion”. Indeed, at that time it was a miracle. It meant the realization of legends and dreams that had existed for thousands of years and had been pronounced again and again as impossible by scientific authorities. Therefore, even the brief and unsteady flights of that period were deeply impressive. Many times I observed expressions of joy and tears in the eyes of witnesses who for the first time watched a flying machine carrying a man in the air.
In address (16 Nov 1964) presented to the Wings Club, New York City, Recollections and Thoughts of a Pioneer (1964), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Aeronautics (15)  |  Air (366)  |  Art (680)  |  Aviation (8)  |  Both (496)  |  Brief (37)  |  Carry (130)  |  Center (35)  |  Dream (222)  |  Exist (458)  |  Expression (181)  |  Eye (440)  |  First (1302)  |  Flight (101)  |  Flying (74)  |  Flying Machine (13)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Industry (159)  |  Joy (117)  |  Legend (18)  |  Machine (271)  |  Man (2252)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Paris (11)  |  Passion (121)  |  Period (200)  |  Realization (44)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Tear (48)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Time (1911)  |  Watch (118)  |  Witness (57)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

[In research on bacteria metabolism] we have indeed much the same position as an observer trying to gain an idea of the life of a household by careful scrutiny of the persons and material arriving or leaving the house; we keep accurate records of the foods and commodities left at the door and patiently examine the contents of the dust-bin and endeavour to deduce from such data the events occurring within the closed doors.
Bacterial Metabolism (1930), Preface. In 'Obituary Notice: Marjory Stephenson, 1885–1948', Biochemistry Journal (1950), 46:4, 380.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Closed (38)  |  Data (162)  |  Door (94)  |  Dust (68)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Event (222)  |  Examine (84)  |  Food (213)  |  Gain (146)  |  House (143)  |  Idea (881)  |  Life (1870)  |  Material (366)  |  Metabolism (15)  |  Person (366)  |  Record (161)  |  Research (753)  |  Scrutiny (15)  |  Trying (144)

[In] the realm of science, … what we have achieved will be obsolete in ten, twenty or fifty years. That is the fate, indeed, that is the very meaning of scientific work. … Every scientific “fulfillment” raises new “questions” and cries out to be surpassed and rendered obsolete. Everyone who wishes to serve science has to resign himself to this.
Max Weber
From a Speech (1918) presented at Munich University, published in 1919, and collected in 'Wissenschaft als Beruf', Gessammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (1922), 524-525. As translated by Rodney Livingstone in David Owen (ed.), The Vocation Lectures: Science as a Vocation: Politics as a Vocation (2004), 11. A different translation of a longer excerpt for this quote, beginning “In science, each of us knows …”, is also on the Max Weber Quotes web page on this site.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Fate (76)  |  Fulfillment (20)  |  Himself (461)  |  Meaning (244)  |  New (1273)  |  Obsolete (15)  |  Question (649)  |  Raise (38)  |  Realm (87)  |  Render (96)  |  Resign (4)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Serve (64)  |  Surpass (33)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)

[L]et us not overlook the further great fact, that not only does science underlie sculpture, painting, music, poetry, but that science is itself poetic. The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a delusion. … On the contrary science opens up realms of poetry where to the unscientific all is a blank. Those engaged in scientific researches constantly show us that they realize not less vividly, but more vividly, than others, the poetry of their subjects. Whoever will dip into Hugh Miller’s works on geology, or read Mr. Lewes's “Seaside Studies,” will perceive that science excites poetry rather than extinguishes it. And whoever will contemplate the life of Goethe will see that the poet and the man of science can co-exist in equal activity. Is it not, indeed, an absurd and almost a sacrilegious belief that the more a man studies Nature the less he reveres it? Think you that a drop of water, which to the vulgar eye is but a drop of water, loses anything in the eye of the physicist who knows that its elements are held together by a force which, if suddenly liberated, would produce a flash of lightning? Think you that what is carelessly looked upon by the uninitiated as a mere snow-flake, does not suggest higher associations to one who has seen through a microscope the wondrously varied and elegant forms of snow-crystals? Think you that the rounded rock marked with parallel scratches calls up as much poetry in an ignorant mind as in the mind of a geologist, who knows that over this rock a glacier slid a million years ago? The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded. Whoever has not in youth collected plants and insects, knows not half the halo of interest which lanes and hedge-rows can assume. Whoever has not sought for fossils, has little idea of the poetical associations that surround the places where imbedded treasures were found. Whoever at the seaside has not had a microscope and aquarium, has yet to learn what the highest pleasures of the seaside are. Sad, indeed, is it to see how men occupy themselves with trivialities, and are indifferent to the grandest phenomena—care not to understand the architecture of the Heavens, but are deeply interested in some contemptible controversy about the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots!—are learnedly critical over a Greek ode, and pass by without a glance that grand epic written by the finger of God upon the strata of the Earth!
In Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1889), 82-83.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Absurdity (34)  |  Activity (218)  |  Aquarium (2)  |  Architecture (50)  |  Association (49)  |  Belief (615)  |  Blank (14)  |  Call (781)  |  Care (203)  |  Collection (68)  |  Contemplation (75)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Critical (73)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Current (122)  |  Delusion (26)  |  Drop (77)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Elegant (37)  |  Element (322)  |  Enter (145)  |  Epic (12)  |  Excitation (9)  |  Exist (458)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Flash (49)  |  Force (497)  |  Form (976)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Glacier (17)  |  Glance (36)  |  God (776)  |  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (150)  |  Grandest (10)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greek (109)  |  Halo (7)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hedgerow (2)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Insect (89)  |  Interest (416)  |  Know (1538)  |  Learn (672)  |  George Henry Lewes (22)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Lose (165)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marked (55)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Hugh Miller (18)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Music (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Ode (3)  |  Open (277)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Painting (46)  |  Parallel (46)  |  Pass (241)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Plant (320)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Read (308)  |  Realize (157)  |  Realm (87)  |  Research (753)  |  Rock (176)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Science And Poetry (17)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Seaside (2)  |  See (1094)  |  Show (353)  |  Snow (39)  |  Snowflake (15)  |  Strata (37)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Together (392)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Underlie (19)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unscientific (13)  |  Vividly (11)  |  Vulgar (33)  |  Water (503)  |  Whoever (42)  |  Work (1402)  |  Year (963)  |  Youth (109)

[O]ur long-term security is threatened by a problem at least as dangerous as chemical, nuclear or biological weapons, or indeed international terrorism: human-induced climate change. … The impacts of global warming are such that I have no hesitation in describing it as a “weapon of mass destruction.” Like terrorism, this weapon knows no boundaries. It can strike anywhere, in any form…
London Guardian (28 Jul 2003)
Science quotes on:  |  Biological (137)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Change (639)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Climate (102)  |  Climate Change (76)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Form (976)  |  Global (39)  |  Global Warming (29)  |  Hesitation (19)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impact (45)  |  International (40)  |  Know (1538)  |  Long (778)  |  Mass (160)  |  Nuclear (110)  |  Nuclear Weapon (17)  |  Problem (731)  |  Security (51)  |  Strike (72)  |  Term (357)  |  Terrorism (3)  |  Threat (36)  |  Threaten (33)  |  Warming (24)  |  Weapon (98)  |  Weapons (57)

[On the 11th day of November 1572], in the evening, after sunset, when, according to my habit, I was contemplating the stars in a clear sky, I noticed that a new and unusual star, surpassing all others in brilliancy, was shining almost directly over my head; and since I had, almost from boyhood, known all the stars of the heavens perfectly (there is no great difficulty in gaining that knowledge), it was quite evident to me that there had never before been any star in that place in the sky, even the smallest, to say nothing of a star so conspicuously bright as this. I was so astonished at this sight that I was not ashamed to doubt the trustworthiness of my own eyes. But when I observed that others, too, on having the place pointed out to them, could see that there was a star there, I had no further doubts. A miracle indeed, either the greatest of all that have occurred in the whole range of nature since the beginning of the world, or one certainly that is to be classed with those attested by the Holy Oracles.
De Stello. Nova (On the New Star) (1573). Quoted in H. Shapley and A. E. Howarth (eds.), Source Book in Astronomy (1929), 13.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Astonish (39)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Bright (81)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Class (168)  |  Contemplate (29)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Evident (92)  |  Eye (440)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Habit (174)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Holy (35)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Nova (7)  |  Observed (149)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Range (104)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Shining (35)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sky (174)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sunset (27)  |  Surpassing (12)  |  Unusual (37)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

[Regarding mathematics,] there are now few studies more generally recognized, for good reasons or bad, as profitable and praiseworthy. This may be true; indeed it is probable, since the sensational triumphs of Einstein, that stellar astronomy and atomic physics are the only sciences which stand higher in popular estimation.
In A Mathematician's Apology (1940, reprint with Foreward by C.P. Snow 1992), 63-64.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Atomic Physics (7)  |  Bad (185)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Good (906)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Profitable (29)  |  Reason (766)  |  Stand (284)  |  Triumph (76)

[Science doesn’t deal with facts; indeed] fact is an emotion-loaded word for which there is little place in scientific debate.
Talk on BBC Radio 3, shortened and printed in 'Science As An Education', Nature (27 Jan 1977), 265, 286. Bondi, (then Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence), argues for a view of science as an education of the mind, rather than as professional training, saying “My thesis is that science should be taught like the classics”.
Science quotes on:  |  Deal (192)  |  Debate (40)  |  Emotion (106)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Little (717)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Word (650)

[The Book of Genesis is] [p]rofoundly interesting and indeed pathetic to me are those attempts of the opening mind of man to appease its hunger for a Cause. But the Book of Genesis has no voice in scientific questions. It is a poem, not a scientific treatise. In the former aspect it is for ever beautiful; in the latter it has been, and it will continue to be, purely obstructive and hurtful.'
In 'Professor Virchow and Evolution', Fragments of Science (1879), Vol. 2, 377. Tyndall is quoting himself from “four years ago”&mdashthus c.1875.
Science quotes on:  |  Appease (6)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Bible (105)  |  Book (413)  |  Cause (561)  |  Continue (179)  |  Early (196)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Former (138)  |   Genesis (26)  |  Hunger (23)  |  Hurtful (8)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Obstruction (4)  |  Origin Of The Universe (20)  |  Pathetic (4)  |  Poem (104)  |  Profound (105)  |  Purely (111)  |  Question (649)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Will (2350)

[When recording electrical impulses from a frog nerve-muscle preparation seemed to show a tiresomely oscillating electrical artefact—but only when the muscle was hanging unsupported.] The explanation suddenly dawned on me ... a muscle hanging under its own weight ought, if you come to think of it, to be sending sensory impulses up the nerves coming from the muscle spindles ... That particular day’s work, I think, had all the elements that one could wish for. The new apparatus seemed to be misbehaving very badly indeed, and I suddenly found it was behaving so well that it was opening up an entire new range of data ... it didn’t involve any particular hard work, or any particular intelligence on my part. It was just one of those things which sometimes happens in a laboratory if you stick apparatus together and see what results you get.
From 'Memorable experiences in research', Diabetes (1954), 3, 17-18. As cited in Alan McComa, Galvani's Spark: The Story of the Nerve Impulse (2011), 102-103.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Artefact (2)  |  Badly (32)  |  Behave (18)  |  Coming (114)  |  Data (162)  |  Dawn (31)  |  Electrical (57)  |  Element (322)  |  Entire (50)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Found (11)  |  Frog (44)  |  Hang (46)  |  Happen (282)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hard Work (25)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Insight (107)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Involve (93)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Nerve (82)  |  New (1273)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Preparation (60)  |  Range (104)  |  Recording (13)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  See (1094)  |  Send (23)  |  Sensory (16)  |  Serendipity (17)  |  Show (353)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Together (392)  |  Unsupported (3)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wish (216)  |  Work (1402)

04.23 To lose by caution is rare indeed.
Confucius
As translated by David Hinton in Analects (2014), Chap 4, 38.
Science quotes on:  |  Caution (24)  |  Lose (165)  |  Rare (94)

A few days afterwards, I went to him [the same actuary referred to in another quote] and very gravely told him that I had discovered the law of human mortality in the Carlisle Table, of which he thought very highly. I told him that the law was involved in this circumstance. Take the table of the expectation of life, choose any age, take its expectation and make the nearest integer a new age, do the same with that, and so on; begin at what age you like, you are sure to end at the place where the age past is equal, or most nearly equal, to the expectation to come. “You don’t mean that this always happens?”—“Try it.” He did try, again and again; and found it as I said. “This is, indeed, a curious thing; this is a discovery!” I might have sent him about trumpeting the law of life: but I contented myself with informing him that the same thing would happen with any table whatsoever in which the first column goes up and the second goes down.
In Budget of Paradoxes (1872), 172.
Science quotes on:  |  Actuary (2)  |  Age (509)  |  Begin (275)  |  Choose (116)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Column (15)  |  Content (75)  |  Curious (95)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Equal (88)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Gravely (2)  |  Happen (282)  |  Highly (16)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inform (50)  |  Informing (5)  |  Integer (12)  |  Involve (93)  |  Involved (90)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mortality (16)  |  Most (1728)  |  Myself (211)  |  Nearly (137)  |  New (1273)  |  New Age (6)  |  Past (355)  |  Place (192)  |  Quote (46)  |  Send (23)  |  Table (105)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Trumpet (3)  |  Try (296)  |  Up (5)  |  Whatsoever (41)

A government, at bottom, is nothing more than a gang of men, and as a practical matter most of them are inferior men ... Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent. Indeed, it would not be far wrong to describe the best as the common enemy of all decent citizens.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Actually (27)  |  Arbitrary (27)  |  Bad (185)  |  Best (467)  |  Bottom (36)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Civilized (20)  |  Common (447)  |  Cruel (25)  |  Decent (12)  |  Describe (132)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Failure (176)  |  Far (158)  |  Gang (4)  |  Good (906)  |  Government (116)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Inferior (37)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Practical (225)  |  Really (77)  |  Tolerable (2)  |  Unintelligent (2)  |  Worst (57)  |  Wrong (246)

A hundred years ago, the electric telegraph made possible—indeed, inevitable—the United States of America. The communications satellite will make equally inevitable a United Nations of Earth; let us hope that the transition period will not be equally bloody.
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Edwin E. Aldrin et al., First on the Moon (1970), 389.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Communication (101)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Electric (76)  |  Equally (129)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Nation (208)  |  Period (200)  |  Possible (560)  |  Satellite (30)  |  State (505)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Transition (28)  |  United Nations (3)  |  United States (31)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

A man who is convinced of the truth of his religion is indeed never tolerant. At the least, he is to feel pity for the adherent of another religion but usually it does not stop there. The faithful adherent of a religion will try first of all to convince those that believe in another religion and usually he goes on to hatred if he is not successful. However, hatred then leads to persecution when the might of the majority is behind it.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Adherent (6)  |  Behind (139)  |  Belief (615)  |  Convince (43)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Faithful (13)  |  Feel (371)  |  First (1302)  |  Hatred (21)  |  Lead (391)  |  Least (75)  |  Majority (68)  |  Man (2252)  |  Never (1089)  |  Persecution (14)  |  Pity (16)  |  Religion (369)  |  Stop (89)  |  Successful (134)  |  Tolerant (4)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Try (296)  |  Usually (176)  |  Will (2350)

A people that were to honor falsehood, defamation, fraud, and murder would be unable, indeed, to subsist for very long.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Defamation (2)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Fraud (15)  |  Honor (57)  |  Long (778)  |  Murder (16)  |  People (1031)  |  Subsist (5)  |  Unable (25)

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)  |  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)  |  Why (491)

A schism has taken place among the chemists. A particular set of them in France have undertaken to remodel all the terms of the science, and to give every substance a new name, the composition, and especially the termination of which, shall define the relation in which it stands to other substances of the same family, But the science seems too much in its infancy as yet, for this reformation; because in fact, the reformation of this year must be reformed again the next year, and so on, changing the names of substances as often as new experiments develop properties in them undiscovered before. The new nomenclature has, accordingly, been already proved to need numerous and important reformations. ... It is espoused by the minority here, and by the very few, indeed, of the foreign chemists. It is particularly rejected in England.
Letter to Dr. Willard (Paris, 1788). In Thomas Jefferson and John P. Foley (ed.), The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia (1900), 135. From H.A. Washington, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1853-54). Vol 3, 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Composition (86)  |  Compound (117)  |  Develop (278)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Family (101)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (41)  |  Minority (24)  |  Must (1525)  |  Name (359)  |  New (1273)  |  Next (238)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Other (2233)  |  Reform (22)  |  Reformation (6)  |  Reformed (4)  |  Reject (67)  |  Rejected (26)  |  Set (400)  |  Stand (284)  |  Substance (253)  |  Term (357)  |  Termination (4)  |  Terms (184)  |  Undiscovered (15)  |  Year (963)

After the birth of printing books became widespread. Hence everyone throughout Europe devoted himself to the study of literature... Every year, especially since 1563, the number of writings published in every field is greater than all those produced in the past thousand years. Through them there has today been created a new theology and a new jurisprudence; the Paracelsians have created medicine anew and the Copernicans have created astronomy anew. I really believe that at last the world is alive, indeed seething, and that the stimuli of these remarkable conjunctions did not act in vain.
De Stella Nova, On the New Star (1606), Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke (1937- ), Vol. 1, 330-2. Quoted in N. Jardine, The Birth of History and Philosophy of Science: Kepler's A Defence of Tycho Against Ursus With Essays on its Provenance and Significance (1984), 277-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Alive (97)  |  Anew (19)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Birth (154)  |  Book (413)  |  Conjunction (12)  |  Nicolaus Copernicus (54)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Field (378)  |  Greater (288)  |  Himself (461)  |  Last (425)  |  Literature (116)  |  Medicine (392)  |  New (1273)  |  Number (710)  |  Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (19)  |  Past (355)  |  Printing (25)  |  Produced (187)  |  Publication (102)  |  Study (701)  |  Theology (54)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Today (321)  |  Vain (86)  |  Widespread (23)  |  World (1850)  |  Writing (192)  |  Year (963)

All science has God as its author and giver. Much is heard of the conflict between science and religion, and of the contrast between sacred and secular. There may be aspects of truth to which religion is the gate, as indeed there are aspects of truth to which particular sciences are the gate. But if there be a Creator, and if truth be one of his attributes, then everything that is true can claim his authorship, and every search for truth can claim his authority.
In Margaret Duggan (ed.), Through the Year with Michael Ramsey: Devotional Readings for Every Day (1975).
Science quotes on:  |  Aspect (129)  |  Attribute (65)  |  Author (175)  |  Authority (99)  |  Claim (154)  |  Conflict (77)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Creator (97)  |  Everything (489)  |  Gate (33)  |  God (776)  |  Particular (80)  |  Religion (369)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Search (175)  |  Secular (11)  |  True (239)  |  Truth (1109)

Although the way ahead [for immunology] is full of pitfalls and difficulties, this is indeed an exhilarating prospect. There is no danger of a shortage of forthcoming excitement in the subject. Yet, as always, the highlights of tomorrow are the unpredictabilities of today.
From Nobel Lecture (8 Dec 1984), collected in Tore Frängsmyr and Jan Lindsten (eds.), Nobel Lectures in Physiology Or Medicine: 1981-1990 (1993), 267.
Science quotes on:  |  Danger (127)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Excitement (61)  |  Exhilaration (7)  |  Highlight (2)  |  Immunology (14)  |  Pitfall (2)  |  Prospect (31)  |  Shortage (6)  |  Subject (543)  |  Today (321)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Unpredictability (7)  |  Way (1214)

Among the authorities it is generally agreed that the Earth is at rest in the middle of the universe, and they regard it as inconceivable and even ridiculous to hold the opposite opinion. However, if we consider it more closely the question will be seen to be still unsettled, and so decidedly not to be despised. For every apparent change in respect of position is due to motion of the object observed, or of the observer, or indeed to an unequal change of both.
'Book One. Chapter V. Whether Circular Motion is Proper to the Earth, and of its Place', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 40.
Science quotes on:  |  Apparent (85)  |  Both (496)  |  Change (639)  |  Consider (428)  |  Due (143)  |  Earth (1076)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Object (438)  |  Observed (149)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Opposite (110)  |  Question (649)  |  Regard (312)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rest (287)  |  Ridiculous (24)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Still (614)  |  Unequal (12)  |  Universe (900)  |  Unsettled (3)  |  Will (2350)

An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician find themselves in an anecdote, indeed an anecdote quite similar to many that you have no doubt already heard.
After some observations and rough calculations the engineer realizes the situation and starts laughing.
A few minutes later the physicist understands too and chuckles to himself happily, as he now has enough experimental evidence to publish a paper.
This leaves the mathematician somewhat perplexed, as he had observed right away that he was the subject of an anecdote, and deduced quite rapidly the presence of humor from similar anecdotes, but considers this anecdote to be too trivial a corollary to be significant, let alone funny.
Anonymous
In 'Zero Gravity: The Lighter Side of Science' APS News (Jun 2003), 12 No. 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Already (226)  |  Anecdote (21)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Consider (428)  |  Corollary (5)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Enough (341)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Find (1014)  |  Funny (11)  |  Himself (461)  |  Humor (10)  |  Joke (90)  |  Laugh (50)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Minute (129)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Paper (192)  |  Perplex (6)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Presence (63)  |  Publish (42)  |  Rapidly (67)  |  Realize (157)  |  Right (473)  |  Significant (78)  |  Situation (117)  |  Start (237)  |  Subject (543)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Understand (648)

An infinity of these tiny animals defoliate our plants, our trees, our fruits... they attack our houses, our fabrics, our furniture, our clothing, our furs ... He who in studying all the different species of insects that are injurious to us, would seek means of preventing them from harming us, would seek to cause them to perish, proposes for his goal important tasks indeed.
In J. B. Gough, 'Rene-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur', in Charles Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1975), Vol. 11, 332.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Attack (86)  |  Cause (561)  |  Clothing (11)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Fabric (27)  |  Fruit (108)  |  Fur (7)  |  Furniture (8)  |  Goal (155)  |  Harm (43)  |  House (143)  |  Importance (299)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Injurious (14)  |  Injury (36)  |  Insect (89)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Perish (56)  |  Plant (320)  |  Prevention (37)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Seek (218)  |  Seeking (31)  |  Species (435)  |  Study (701)  |  Studying (70)  |  Task (152)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Tree (269)

Anatomists have ever been engaged in contention. And indeed, if a man has not such a degree of enthusiasm, and love of the art, as will make him impatient of unreasonable opposition and of encroachments upon his discoveries and his reputation, he will hardly become considerable in Anatomy or in any branch of natural knowledge.
Medical Commentaries (1764), Introduction, iii. In Charles Coulston Gillespie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1972), Vol. 6, 569.
Science quotes on:  |  Anatomist (24)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Art (680)  |  Become (821)  |  Branch (155)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Contention (14)  |  Degree (277)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Enthusiasm (59)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Natural (810)  |  Opposition (49)  |  Reputation (33)  |  Will (2350)

And indeed I am not humming,
Thus to sing of Cl-ke and C-ming,
Who all the universe surpasses
in cutting up and making gases;
With anatomy and chemics,
Metaphysics and polemics,
Analyzing and chirugery,
And scientific surgery …
H-slow's lectures on the cabbage
Useful are as roots of Babbage;
Fluxions and beet-root botany,
Some would call pure monotony.
Punch in Cambridge (28 Jan 1834). In Mark Weatherall, Gentlemen, Scientists, and Medicine at Cambridge 1800-1940 (2000), Vol. 3,77. The professors named were William Clark (anatomy), James Cumming (chemistry) and Johns Stephens Henslow (botany).
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Charles Babbage (54)  |  Botany (63)  |  Cabbage (5)  |  Call (781)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Cutting (6)  |  Fluxion (7)  |  Gas (89)  |  John Stevens Henslow (2)  |  Humming (5)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Making (300)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  Monotony (3)  |  Poem (104)  |  Polemic (3)  |  Pure (299)  |  Root (121)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Slow (108)  |  Surgery (54)  |  Surpassing (12)  |  Universe (900)  |  Useful (260)  |  Usefulness (92)

And the Social Science … a dreary, desolate, and indeed quite abject and distressing one; what we might call, by way of eminence, the dismal science.
'Occasional Discourse', Fraser's Magazine (Dec 1849). Reprinted as a separate pamphlet (1853), reproduced in The Collected Works of Thomas Carlyle (1864), Vol. 13, 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Dismal Science (3)  |  Eminence (25)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Way (1214)

Anthropology has been compared to a great region, marked out indeed as within the sphere of influence of science, but unsettled and for the most part unsubdued. Like all such hinterland sciences, it is a happy hunting-ground for adventurers.
Mankind in the Making (1903), 52.
Science quotes on:  |  Adventurer (3)  |  Anthropology (61)  |  Great (1610)  |  Ground (222)  |  Happy (108)  |  Hunting (23)  |  Influence (231)  |  Marked (55)  |  Most (1728)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Unsettled (3)

Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life; ...
'So careful of the type', but no.
From scarped cliff and quarried stone
She cries, 'A thousand types are gone:
I care for nothing, all shall go' ...
Man, her last work, who seemed so fair,
Such splendid purpose in his eyes,
Who rolled the psalm to wintry skies,
Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer,
Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation's final law—
Tho’ Nature red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shrieked against his creed...
In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850), Cantos 56-57. Collected in Alfred Tennyson and William James Rolfe (ed.) The Poetic and Dramatic works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1898), 176.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Care (203)  |  Claw (8)  |  Cliff (22)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creed (28)  |  Cry (30)  |  Dream (222)  |  Evil (122)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fairness (2)  |  Final (121)  |  Fruitless (9)  |  God (776)  |  Last (425)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Prayer (30)  |  Psalm (3)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Quarry (14)  |  Ravine (5)  |  Red (38)  |  Roll (41)  |  Rolling (4)  |  Scarp (2)  |  Shriek (4)  |  Single (365)  |  Sky (174)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Stone (168)  |  Strife (9)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Tooth (32)  |  Trust (72)  |  Type (171)  |  Winter (46)  |  Work (1402)

As physicists have arranged an extensive series of effects under the general term of Heat, so they have named another series Light, and a third they have called Electricity. We find ... that all these principles are capable of being produced through the medium of living bodies, for nearly all animals have the power of evolving heat; many insects, moreover, can voluntarily emit light; and the property of producing electricity is well evinced in the terrible shock of the electric eel, as well as in that of some other creatures. We are indeed in the habit of talking of the Electric fluid, or the Galvanic fluid, but this in reality is nothing but a licence of expression suitable to our finite and material notions.
In the Third Edition of Elements of Electro-Metallurgy: or The Art of Working in Metals by the Galvanic Fluid (1851), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Capable (174)  |  Creature (242)  |  Effect (414)  |  Electric (76)  |  Electricity (168)  |  Emit (15)  |  Expression (181)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finding (34)  |  Finite (60)  |  Fluid (54)  |  General (521)  |  Habit (174)  |  Heat (180)  |  Insect (89)  |  Light (635)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Body (3)  |  Material (366)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notion (120)  |  Other (2233)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Power (771)  |  Principle (530)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Property (177)  |  Reality (274)  |  Series (153)  |  Shock (38)  |  Talking (76)  |  Term (357)  |  Terrible (41)  |  Through (846)

At the entrance to the observatory Stjerneborg located underground, Tycho Brahe built a Ionic portal. On top of this were three sculptured lions. On both sides were inscriptions and on the backside was a longer inscription in gold letters on a porfyr stone: Consecrated to the all-good, great God and Posterity. Tycho Brahe, Son of Otto, who realized that Astronomy, the oldest and most distinguished of all sciences, had indeed been studied for a long time and to a great extent, but still had not obtained sufficient firmness or had been purified of errors, in order to reform it and raise it to perfection, invented and with incredible labour, industry, and expenditure constructed various exact instruments suitable for all kinds of observations of the celestial bodies, and placed them partly in the neighbouring castle of Uraniborg, which was built for the same purpose, partly in these subterranean rooms for a more constant and useful application, and recommending, hallowing, and consecrating this very rare and costly treasure to you, you glorious Posterity, who will live for ever and ever, he, who has both begun and finished everything on this island, after erecting this monument, beseeches and adjures you that in honour of the eternal God, creator of the wonderful clockwork of the heavens, and for the propagation of the divine science and for the celebrity of the fatherland, you will constantly preserve it and not let it decay with old age or any other injury or be removed to any other place or in any way be molested, if for no other reason, at any rate out of reverence to the creator’s eye, which watches over the universe. Greetings to you who read this and act accordingly. Farewell!
(Translated from the original in Latin)
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Age (509)  |  Application (257)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Both (496)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Constant (148)  |  Construct (129)  |  Creator (97)  |  Decay (59)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Divine (112)  |  Entrance (16)  |  Error (339)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Everything (489)  |  Expenditure (16)  |  Extent (142)  |  Eye (440)  |  Finish (62)  |  Glorious (49)  |  God (776)  |  Gold (101)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greeting (10)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Honour (58)  |  Incredible (43)  |  Industry (159)  |  Injury (36)  |  Inscription (12)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Island (49)  |  Kind (564)  |  Labor (200)  |  Letter (117)  |  Lion (23)  |  Live (650)  |  Long (778)  |  Monument (45)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observatory (18)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Old (499)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Portal (9)  |  Posterity (29)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Propagation (15)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Rare (94)  |  Read (308)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reform (22)  |  Research (753)  |  Side (236)  |  Still (614)  |  Stone (168)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Time (1911)  |  Top (100)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Underground (12)  |  Universe (900)  |  Useful (260)  |  Various (205)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonderful (155)

Biology occupies a position among the sciences both marginal and central. Marginal because, the living world, constituting only a tiny and very “special” part of the universe, it does not seem likely that the study of living beings will ever uncover general laws applicable outside the biosphere. But if the ultimate aim of the whole of science is indeed, as I believe, to clarify man's relationship to the universe, then biology must be accorded a central position, since of all the disciplines it is the one that endeavours to go most directly to the heart of the problems that must be resolved before that of “human nature” can even be framed in other than metaphysical terms.
In Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1971), xi.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Being (1276)  |  Biology (232)  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Both (496)  |  Central (81)  |  Clarify (3)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  General (521)  |  Heart (243)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Marginal (3)  |  Metaphysical (38)  |  Metaphysics (53)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Outside (141)  |  Problem (731)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Special (188)  |  Study (701)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Uncover (20)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Botany here is but an object of amusement, a great one indeed and in which all our family mingles more or less. mr Randolph is our leader, and a good one. my mind has been so long ingrossed by other objects, that those I loved most have escaped from it, and none more than botany.
Letter (22 Oct 1810) from Jefferson at Monticello to Benjamin Smith Barton.
Science quotes on:  |  Amusement (37)  |  Botany (63)  |  Family (101)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Leader (51)  |  Long (778)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mingle (9)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Most (1728)  |  Object (438)  |  Other (2233)

Both died, ignored by most; they neither sought nor found public favour, for high roads never lead there. Laurent and Gerhardt never left such roads, were never tempted to peruse those easy successes which, for strongly marked characters, offer neither allure nor gain. Their passion was for the search for truth; and, preferring their independence to their advancement, their convictions to their interests, they placed their love for science above that of their worldly goods; indeed above that for life itself, for death was the reward for their pains. Rare example of abnegation, sublime poverty that deserves the name nobility, glorious death that France must not forget!
'Éloge de Laurent et Gerhardt', Moniteur Scientifique (1862), 4, 473-83, trans. Alan J. Rocke.
Science quotes on:  |  Advancement (63)  |  Allure (4)  |  Both (496)  |  Character (259)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Death (406)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Easy (213)  |  Fame (51)  |  Forget (125)  |  Gain (146)  |  Charles Gerhardt (3)  |  Glorious (49)  |  Good (906)  |  High (370)  |  Independence (37)  |  Interest (416)  |  Auguste Laurent (5)  |  Lead (391)  |  Life (1870)  |  Love (328)  |  Marked (55)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Name (359)  |  Never (1089)  |  Nobility (5)  |  Offer (142)  |  Pain (144)  |  Passion (121)  |  Poverty (40)  |  Rare (94)  |  Reward (72)  |  Search (175)  |  Sublime (50)  |  Success (327)  |  Truth (1109)

But if anyone, well seen in the knowledge, not onely of Sacred and exotick History, but of Astronomical Calculation, and the old Hebrew Kalendar, shall apply himself to these studies, I judge it indeed difficult, but not impossible for such a one to attain, not onely the number of years, but even, of dayes from the Creation of the World.
In 'Epistle to the Reader', The Annals of the World (1658). As excerpted in Wallen Yep, Man Before Adam: A Correction to Doctrinal Theology, "The Missing Link Found" (2002), 18.
Science quotes on:  |  Apply (170)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Attain (126)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Calendar (9)  |  Creation (350)  |  Day (43)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Exotic (8)  |  Hebrew (10)  |  Himself (461)  |  History (716)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Judge (114)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Number (710)  |  Old (499)  |  Sacred (48)  |  Study (701)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

But if the two countries or governments are at war, the men of science are not. That would, indeed be a civil war of the worst description: we should rather, through the instrumentality of the men of science soften the asperities of national hostility.
Davy's remarks to Thomas Poole on accepting Napoleon's prize for the best experiment on Galvanism.
Quoted in Gavin de Beer, The Sciences were Never at War (1960), 204.
Science quotes on:  |  Accepting (22)  |  Best (467)  |  Civil (26)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Galvanism (9)  |  Government (116)  |  Hostility (16)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Napoleon (16)  |  Through (846)  |  Two (936)  |  War (233)  |  Worst (57)

But indeed, the English generally have been very stationary in latter times, and the French, on the contrary, so active and successful, particularly in preparing elementary books, in the mathematical and natural sciences, that those who wish for instruction, without caring from what nation they get it, resort universally to the latter language.
Letter (29 Jan 1824) to Patrick K. Rodgers. Collected in Andrew A. Lipscomb (ed.), The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1904), Vol. 16, 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Book (413)  |  Caring (6)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Elementary (98)  |  English (35)  |  French (21)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Language (308)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Nation (208)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Preparing (21)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Successful (134)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wish (216)

But notwithstanding these Arguments are so convictive and demonstrative, its marvellous to see how some Popish Authors (Jesuites especially) strain their wits to defend their Pagan Master Aristotle his Principles. Bullialdus speaks of a Florentine Physitian, that all the Friends he had could ever perswade him once to view the Heavens through a Telescope, and he gave that reason for his refusal, because he was afraid that then his Eyes would make him stagger concerning the truth of Aristotle’s Principles, which he was resolved he would not call into question. It were well, if these Men had as great veneration for the Scripture as they have, for Aristotles (if indeed they be his) absurd Books de cælo Sed de his satis.
(Indicating a belief that the Roman Catholic church impeded the development of modern science.)
Kometographia, Or a Discourse Concerning Comets (Boston 1684). Quoted in Michael Garibaldi Hall, The Last American Puritan: The Life of Increase Mather, 1639-1723 (1988), 167.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Argument (145)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Author (175)  |  Belief (615)  |  Book (413)  |  Call (781)  |  Catholic (18)  |  Church (64)  |  Demonstrative (14)  |  Development (441)  |  Eye (440)  |  Friend (180)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Master (182)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Principle (530)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Refusal (23)  |  Religion (369)  |  Roman (39)  |  See (1094)  |  Speak (240)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  View (496)  |  Wit (61)

But science and technology are only one of the avenues toward reality; others are equally needed to comprehend the full significance of our existence. Indeed, these other avenues are necessary for the prevention of thoughtless and inhuman abuses of the results of science.
In The Privilege of Being a Physicist (1989).
Science quotes on:  |  Abuse (25)  |  Avenue (14)  |  Equally (129)  |  Existence (481)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Other (2233)  |  Prevention (37)  |  Reality (274)  |  Result (700)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  Significance (114)  |  Technology (281)

But that which will excite the greatest astonishment by far, and which indeed especially moved me to call the attention of all astronomers and philosophers, is this: namely, that I have observed four planets, neither known nor observed by any one of the astronomers before my time, which have their orbits round a certain bright star [Jupiter], one of those previously known, like Venus or Mercury round the sun, and are sometimes in front of it, sometimes behind it, though they never depart from it beyond certain limits. All of which facts were discovered and observed a few days ago by the help of a telescope devised by me, through God’s grace first enlightening my mind.
In pamphlet, The Sidereal Messenger (1610), reprinted in The Sidereal Messenger of Galileo Galilei: And a Part of the Preface to the Preface to Kepler's Dioptrics Containing the Original Account of Galileo's Astronomical Discoveries (1880), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Attention (196)  |  Behind (139)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bright (81)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Discover (571)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightening (3)  |  Especially (31)  |  Excite (17)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Four (6)  |  Front (16)  |  God (776)  |  Grace (31)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Jupiter (28)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Limit (294)  |  Mercury (54)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Never (1089)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Orbit (85)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Planet (402)  |  Previously (12)  |  Star (460)  |  Sun (407)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Venus (21)  |  Will (2350)

But, as we consider the totality of similarly broad and fundamental aspects of life, we cannot defend division by two as a natural principle of objective order. Indeed, the ‘stuff’ of the universe often strikes our senses as complex and shaded continua, admittedly with faster and slower moments, and bigger and smaller steps, along the way. Nature does not dictate dualities, trinities, quarterings, or any ‘objective’ basis for human taxonomies; most of our chosen schemes, and our designated numbers of categories, record human choices from a cornucopia of possibilities offered by natural variation from place to place, and permitted by the flexibility of our mental capacities. How many seasons (if we wish to divide by seasons at all) does a year contain? How many stages shall we recognize in a human life?
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Admittedly (2)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Basis (180)  |  Big (55)  |  Broad (28)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Category (19)  |  Choice (114)  |  Choose (116)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Complex (202)  |  Consider (428)  |  Contain (68)  |  Continua (3)  |  Defend (32)  |  Designation (13)  |  Dictate (11)  |  Divide (77)  |  Division (67)  |  Fast (49)  |  Faster (50)  |  Flexibility (6)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Life (32)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mental (179)  |  Moment (260)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Objective (96)  |  Offer (142)  |  Often (109)  |  Order (638)  |  Permit (61)  |  Place (192)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Principle (530)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Record (161)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Season (47)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shade (35)  |  Similarly (4)  |  Slow (108)  |  Small (489)  |  Stage (152)  |  Step (234)  |  Strike (72)  |  Stuff (24)  |  Taxonomy (19)  |  Totality (17)  |  Two (936)  |  Universe (900)  |  Variation (93)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wish (216)  |  Year (963)

But, indeed, the science of logic and the whole framework of philosophical thought men have kept since the days of Plato and Aristotle, has no more essential permanence as a final expression of the human mind, than the Scottish Longer Catechism.
A Modern Utopia (1904, 2006), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Catechism (2)  |  Essential (210)  |  Expression (181)  |  Final (121)  |  Framework (33)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Plato (80)  |  Scottish (4)  |  Thought (995)  |  Whole (756)

By God’s mercy British and American science outpaced all German efforts. … This revelation of the secrets of nature, long mercifully withheld from man, should arouse the most solemn reflections in the mind and conscience of every human being capable of comprehension. We must indeed pray that these awful agencies will be made to conduce to peace among the nations, and that instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe, may become a perennial fountain of world prosperity.
[Concerning use of the atomic bomb.]
Statement drafted by Churchill following the use of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Due to the change in government, the statement was released by Clement Attlee (6 Aug 1945). In Sir Winston Churchill, Victory: War Speeches by the Right Hon. Winston Churchill (1946), 289.
Science quotes on:  |  Agency (14)  |  Arousal (2)  |  Atomic Bomb (115)  |  Awful (9)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  British (42)  |  Capability (44)  |  Capable (174)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Conduce (2)  |  Conscience (52)  |  Effort (243)  |  Fountain (18)  |  German (37)  |  Globe (51)  |  God (776)  |  Havoc (7)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Long (778)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mercy (12)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nation (208)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Peace (116)  |  Perennial (9)  |  Prayer (30)  |  Prosperity (31)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Secret (216)  |  Solemn (20)  |  Use (771)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

By teaching us how to cultivate each ferment in its purity—in other words, by teaching us how to rear the individual organism apart from all others,—Pasteur has enabled us to avoid all these errors. And where this isolation of a particular organism has been duly effected it grows and multiplies indefinitely, but no change of it into another organism is ever observed. In Pasteur’s researches the Bacterium remained a Bacterium, the Vibrio a Vibrio, the Penicillium a Penicillium, and the Torula a Torula. Sow any of these in a state of purity in an appropriate liquid; you get it, and it alone, in the subsequent crop. In like manner, sow smallpox in the human body, your crop is smallpox. Sow there scarlatina, and your crop is scarlatina. Sow typhoid virus, your crop is typhoid—cholera, your crop is cholera. The disease bears as constant a relation to its contagium as the microscopic organisms just enumerated do to their germs, or indeed as a thistle does to its seed.
In 'Fermentation, and its Bearings on Surgery and Medicine', Essays on the Floating­Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection (1881), 264.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Avoid (123)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Bear (162)  |  Body (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Cholera (7)  |  Constant (148)  |  Crop (26)  |  Cultivation (36)  |  Disease (340)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enabled (3)  |  Enumerated (3)  |  Error (339)  |  Ferment (6)  |  Germ (54)  |  Grow (247)  |  Growth (200)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Body (34)  |  Individual (420)  |  Isolation (32)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Microscopic (27)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observed (149)  |  Organism (231)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  Louis Pasteur (85)  |  Penicillium (3)  |  Purity (15)  |  Remain (355)  |  Research (753)  |  Scarlet Fever (2)  |  Seed (97)  |  Smallpox (14)  |  State (505)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Thistle (5)  |  Typhoid (7)  |  Virus (32)  |  Word (650)

Chemistry has the same quickening and suggestive influence upon the algebraist as a visit to the Royal Academy, or the old masters may be supposed to have on a Browning or a Tennyson. Indeed it seems to me that an exact homology exists between painting and poetry on the one hand and modern chemistry and modern algebra on the other. In poetry and algebra we have the pure idea elaborated and expressed through the vehicle of language, in painting and chemistry the idea enveloped in matter, depending in part on manual processes and the resources of art for its due manifestation.
Attributed.
Science quotes on:  |  Academy (37)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Art (680)  |  Robert Browning (7)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Due (143)  |  Elaborated (7)  |  Elaboration (11)  |  Envelope (6)  |  Exist (458)  |  Express (192)  |  Expression (181)  |  Idea (881)  |  Influence (231)  |  Language (308)  |  Manifestation (61)  |  Manual (7)  |  Master (182)  |  Matter (821)  |  Modern (402)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Painting (46)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Process (439)  |  Pure (299)  |  Quickening (4)  |  Royal (56)  |  Royal Academy (3)  |  Suggestive (4)  |  Lord Alfred Tennyson (26)  |  Through (846)  |  Vehicle (11)  |  Visit (27)

Chemistry is yet, indeed, a mere embryon. Its principles are contested; experiments seem contradictory; their subjects are so minute as to escape our senses; and their result too fallacious to satisfy the mind. It is probably an age too soon to propose the establishment of a system.
Letter to Rev. James Madison (Paris, 19 Jul 1788). In Thomas Jefferson and John P. Foley (ed.), The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia (1900), 135. From H.A. Washington, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1853-54). Vol 2, 431.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Controversy (30)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Escape (85)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fallacious (13)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Minute (129)  |  Principle (530)  |  Result (700)  |  Sense (785)  |  Soon (187)  |  Subject (543)  |  System (545)

Disinterestedness is as great a puzzle and paradox as ever. Indeed, strictly speaking, it is a species of irrationality, or insanity, as regards the individual’s self; a contradiction of the most essential nature of a sentient being, which is to move to pleasure and from pain.
In On the Study of Character: Including an Estimate of Phrenology (1861), 202.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Disinterest (8)  |  Essential (210)  |  Great (1610)  |  Individual (420)  |  Insanity (8)  |  Irrational (16)  |  Most (1728)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Pain (144)  |  Paradox (54)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Regard (312)  |  Self (268)  |  Sentient (8)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Species (435)

Does human spaceflight simply have a life of its own, without a realistic objective that is remotely commensurate with its costs? Or, indeed, is human spaceflight now obsolete?
In 'Is Human Spaceflight Obsolete?', Issues in Science and Technology (Summer 2004).
Science quotes on:  |  Commensurate (2)  |  Cost (94)  |  Human (1512)  |  Life (1870)  |  Objective (96)  |  Obsolete (15)  |  Realistic (6)  |  Remotely (2)  |  Simply (53)  |  Space Travel (23)

Does there truly exist an insuperable contradiction between religion and science? Can religion be superseded by science? The answers to these questions have, for centuries, given rise to considerable dispute and, indeed, bitter fighting. Yet, in my own mind there can be no doubt that in both cases a dispassionate consideration can only lead to a negative answer. What complicates the solution, however, is the fact that while most people readily agree on what is meant by ‘science,’ they are likely to differ on the meaning of ‘religion.’
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Agree (31)  |  Answer (389)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Both (496)  |  Case (102)  |  Century (319)  |  Complicate (4)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Differ (88)  |  Dispassionate (9)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fight (49)  |  Give (208)  |  Insuperable (3)  |  Lead (391)  |  Likely (36)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Negative (66)  |  People (1031)  |  Question (649)  |  Readily (10)  |  Religion (369)  |  Rise (169)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Solution (282)  |  Supersede (8)  |  Truly (118)

Education is the most sacred concern, indeed the only hope, of a nation.
In paper 'On Social Unrest', The Daily Mail (1912). Collected and cited in A Sheaf (1916), 198.
Science quotes on:  |  Concern (239)  |  Education (423)  |  Hope (321)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nation (208)  |  Sacred (48)

Entropy theory is indeed a first attempt to deal with global form; but it has not been dealing with structure. All it says is that a large sum of elements may have properties not found in a smaller sample of them.
In Entropy and Art: An Essay on Disorder and Order (1974), 21.
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Deal (192)  |  Element (322)  |  Entropy (46)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Global (39)  |  Large (398)  |  Property (177)  |  Sample (19)  |  Say (989)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Smaller (4)  |  Structure (365)  |  Sum (103)  |  Theory (1015)

Error has indeed long darkened the horizon of medical science; and albeit there have been lightnings like coruscations of genius from time to time, still they have passed away, and left the atmosphere as dark as before.
Memoirs of John Abernethy (1854), 293.
Science quotes on:  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Dark (145)  |  Error (339)  |  Genius (301)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Long (778)  |  Medical Science (19)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Pass (241)  |  Still (614)  |  Time (1911)

Eskimos living in a world of ice have no word at all for that substance—and this has been cited as evidence of their primitive mentality. But ice as such is of no interest to an Eskimo; what is of interest, indeed of vital importance, are the different kinds of ice with which he must deal virtually every day of his life.
As co-author with Floyd W. Matson, in The Human Connection (1979), 174. More often seen without explanatory context, as “The Eskimos live among ice all their lives but have no single word for ice,” for example, in Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America, The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar (1989), 111.
Science quotes on:  |  Deal (192)  |  Different (595)  |  Eskimo (2)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Ice (58)  |  Importance (299)  |  Interest (416)  |  Kind (564)  |  Language (308)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Mentality (5)  |  Must (1525)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Substance (253)  |  Vital (89)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

Euclid and Archimedes are allowed to be knowing, and to have demonstrated what they say: and yet whosoever shall read over their writings without perceiving the connection of their proofs, and seeing what they show, though he may understand all their words, yet he is not the more knowing. He may believe, indeed, but does not know what they say, and so is not advanced one jot in mathematical knowledge by all his reading of those approved mathematicians.
In Conduct of the Understanding, sect. 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Allow (51)  |  Approve (6)  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Belief (615)  |  Connection (171)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Jot (3)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  Perceive (46)  |  Proof (304)  |  Read (308)  |  Reading (136)  |  Say (989)  |  See (1094)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Show (353)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Understand (648)  |  Word (650)  |  Writing (192)

Even mistaken hypotheses and theories are of use in leading to discoveries. This remark is true in all the sciences. The alchemists founded chemistry by pursuing chimerical problems and theories which are false. In physical science, which is more advanced than biology, we might still cite men of science who make great discoveries by relying on false theories. It seems, indeed, a necessary weakness of our mind to be able to reach truth only across a multitude of errors and obstacles.
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865, translation 1927, 1957), 170.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Alchemist (23)  |  Biology (232)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Chimera (10)  |  Cite (8)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Error (339)  |  False (105)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Lead (391)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mistake (180)  |  More (2558)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pursuing (27)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reliance (11)  |  Still (614)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Weakness (50)

Every individual is continually exerting himself to find out the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his own advantage, indeed, and not that of society, which he has in view. But the study of his own advantage naturally, or rather necessarily, leads him to prefer that employment which is most advantageous to the society.
In 'Of Restraints upon Importation', An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), Vol. 2, Book 4, 32
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Advantageous (10)  |  Command (60)  |  Employment (34)  |  Exert (40)  |  Find (1014)  |  Himself (461)  |  Individual (420)  |  Lead (391)  |  Money (178)  |  Most (1728)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Society (350)  |  Sociology (46)  |  Study (701)  |  View (496)  |  Whatever (234)

Evolution in the biosphere is therefore a necessarily irreversible process defining a direction in time; a direction which is the same as that enjoined by the law of increasing entropy, that is to say, the second law of thermodynamics. This is far more than a mere comparison: the second law is founded upon considerations identical to those which establish the irreversibility of evolution. Indeed, it is legitimate to view the irreversibility of evolution as an expression of the second law in the biosphere.
In Jacques Monod and Austryn Wainhouse (trans.), Chance and Necessity: An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology (1971), 123.
Science quotes on:  |  Biosphere (14)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Direction (185)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expression (181)  |  Identical (55)  |  Irreversibility (4)  |  Irreversible (12)  |  Law (913)  |  Legitimate (26)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Process (439)  |  Say (989)  |  Second Law Of Thermodynamics (14)  |  Thermodynamics (40)  |  Time (1911)  |  View (496)

Experiments on ornamental plants undertaken in previous years had proven that, as a rule, hybrids do not represent the form exactly intermediate between the parental strains. Although the intermediate form of some of the more striking traits, such as those relating to shape and size of leaves, pubescence of individual parts, and so forth, is indeed nearly always seen, in other cases one of the two parental traits is so preponderant that it is difficult or quite impossible, to detect the other in the hybrid. The same is true for Pisum hybrids. Each of the seven hybrid traits either resembles so closely one of the two parental traits that the other escapes detection, or is so similar to it that no certain distinction can be made. This is of great importance to the definition and classification of the forms in which the offspring of hybrids appear. In the following discussion those traits that pass into hybrid association entirely or almost entirely unchanged, thus themselves representing the traits of the hybrid, are termed dominating and those that become latent in the association, recessive. The word 'recessive' was chosen because the traits so designated recede or disappear entirely in the hybrids, but reappear unchanged in their progeny, as will be demonstrated later.
'Experiments on Plant Hybrids' (1865). In Curt Stern and Eva R. Sherwood (eds.), The Origin of Genetics: A Mendel Source Book (1966), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Association (49)  |  Become (821)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Classification (102)  |  Definition (238)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Detect (45)  |  Detection (19)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Disappear (84)  |  Discussion (78)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Escape (85)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Form (976)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hybrid (14)  |  Importance (299)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Individual (420)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Latent (13)  |  Leaf (73)  |  More (2558)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Other (2233)  |  Parent (80)  |  Pass (241)  |  Plant (320)  |  Progeny (16)  |  Recede (11)  |  Recessive (6)  |  Represent (157)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Rule (307)  |  Shape (77)  |  Size (62)  |  Strain (13)  |  Striking (48)  |  Term (357)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Trait (23)  |  Two (936)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)  |  Year (963)

Few will deny that even in the first scientific instruction in mathematics the most rigorous method is to be given preference over all others. Especially will every teacher prefer a consistent proof to one which is based on fallacies or proceeds in a vicious circle, indeed it will be morally impossible for the teacher to present a proof of the latter kind consciously and thus in a sense deceive his pupils. Notwithstanding these objectionable so-called proofs, so far as the foundation and the development of the system is concerned, predominate in our textbooks to the present time. Perhaps it will be answered, that rigorous proof is found too difficult for the pupil’s power of comprehension. Should this be anywhere the case,—which would only indicate some defect in the plan or treatment of the whole,—the only remedy would be to merely state the theorem in a historic way, and forego a proof with the frank confession that no proof has been found which could be comprehended by the pupil; a remedy which is ever doubtful and should only be applied in the case of extreme necessity. But this remedy is to be preferred to a proof which is no proof, and is therefore either wholly unintelligible to the pupil, or deceives him with an appearance of knowledge which opens the door to all superficiality and lack of scientific method.
In 'Stücke aus dem Lehrbuche der Arithmetik', Werke, Bd. 2 (1904), 296.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Anywhere (16)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Applied (176)  |  Apply (170)  |  Base (120)  |  Call (781)  |  Case (102)  |  Circle (117)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Concern (239)  |  Confession (9)  |  Consciously (6)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Deceive (26)  |  Defect (31)  |  Deny (71)  |  Development (441)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Door (94)  |  Doubtful (30)  |  Especially (31)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Fallacy (31)  |  Far (158)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Forego (4)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Frank (4)  |  Give (208)  |  Historic (7)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Instruction (101)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lack (127)  |  Latter (21)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  Morally (2)  |  Most (1728)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Plan (122)  |  Power (771)  |  Predominate (7)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Preference (28)  |  Present (630)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Proof (304)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Remedy (63)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Sense (785)  |  So-Called (71)  |  State (505)  |  Superficiality (4)  |  System (545)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Unintelligible (17)  |  Vicious Circle (4)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Will (2350)

Fiction is, indeed, an indispensable supplement to logic, or even a part of it; whether we are working inductively or deductively, both ways hang closely together with fiction: and axioms, though they seek to be primary verities, are more akin to fiction. If we had realized the nature of axioms, the doctrine of Einstein, which sweeps away axioms so familiar to us that they seem obvious truths, and substitutes others which seem absurd because they are unfamiliar, might not have been so bewildering.
In The Dance of Life (1923), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Akin (5)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Bewildering (5)  |  Both (496)  |  Deductive (13)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Familiar (47)  |  Fiction (23)  |  Hang (46)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Inductive (20)  |  Logic (311)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Other (2233)  |  Primary (82)  |  Realize (157)  |  Seek (218)  |  Substitute (47)  |  Supplement (7)  |  Sweep (22)  |  Together (392)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unfamiliar (17)  |  Verity (5)  |  Way (1214)

For a scientist must indeed be freely imaginative and yet skeptical, creative and yet a critic. There is a sense in which he must be free, but another in which his thought must be very preceisely regimented; there is poetry in science, but also a lot of bookkeeping.
The Strange Case of the Spotted Mice and Other Classic Essays on Science (1996), 63.
Science quotes on:  |  Creative (144)  |  Critic (21)  |  Free (239)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Lot (151)  |  Must (1525)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Skeptic (8)  |  Skeptical (21)  |  Thought (995)

For any one who is pervaded with the sense of causal law in all that happens, who accepts in real earnest the assumption of causality, the idea of a Being who interferes with the sequence of events in the world is absolutely impossible! Neither the religion of fear nor the social-moral religion can have, any hold on him. A God who rewards and punishes is for him unthinkable, because man acts in accordance with an inner and outer necessity, and would, in the eyes of God, be as little responsible as an inanimate object is for the movements which it makes. Science, in consequence, has been accused of undermining morals—but wrongly. The ethical behavior of man is better based on sympathy, education and social relationships, and requires no support from religion. Man’s plight would, indeed, be sad if he had to be kept in order through fear of punishment and hope of rewards after death.
From 'Religion and Science', The New York Times Magazine, (9 Nov 1930), 1. Article in full, reprinted in Edward H. Cotton (ed.), Has Science Discovered God? A Symposium of Modern Scientific Opinion (1931), 101. The wording differs significantly from the version collected in 'Religion And Science', Ideas And Opinions (1954), 39, giving its source as: “Written expressly for the New York Times Magazine. Appeared there November 9, 1930 (pp. 1-4). The German text was published in the Berliner Tageblatt, November 11, 1930.” This variant form of the quote from the book begins, “The man who is thoroughly convinced of the universal operation of the law of causation….” and is also on the Albert Einstein Quotes page on this website. As for why the difference, Webmaster speculates the book form editor perhaps used a revised translation from Einstein’s German article.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Accused (3)  |  Act (278)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Being (1276)  |  Better (493)  |  Causality (11)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Death (406)  |  Education (423)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Event (222)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fear (212)  |  God (776)  |  Happen (282)  |  Hope (321)  |  Idea (881)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Inanimate (18)  |  Inner (72)  |  Interfere (17)  |  Law (913)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moral (203)  |  Movement (162)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Outer (13)  |  Plight (5)  |  Punish (8)  |  Punishment (14)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Religion (369)  |  Require (229)  |  Responsible (19)  |  Reward (72)  |  Sadness (36)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sequence (68)  |  Social (261)  |  Support (151)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Through (846)  |  Undermine (6)  |  Unthinkable (8)  |  World (1850)  |  Wrong (246)

For FRICTION is inevitable because the Universe is FULL of God's works.
For the PERPETUAL MOTION is in all works of Almighty GOD.
For it is not so in the engines of man, which are made of dead materials, neither indeed can be.
For the Moment of bodies, as it is used, is a false term—bless God ye Speakers on the Fifth of November.
For Time and Weight are by their several estimates.
For I bless GOD in the discovery of the LONGITUDE direct by the means of GLADWICK.
For the motion of the PENDULUM is the longest in that it parries resistance.
For the WEDDING GARMENTS of all men are prepared in the SUN against the day of acceptation.
For the wedding Garments of all women are prepared in the MOON against the day of their purification.
For CHASTITY is the key of knowledge as in Esdras, Sir Isaac Newton & now, God be praised, in me.
For Newton nevertheless is more of error than of the truth, but I am of the WORD of GOD.
From 'Jubilate Agno' (c.1758-1763), in N. Callan (ed.), The Collected Poems of Christopher Smart (1949), Vol. 1, 276.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Against (332)  |  Almighty (23)  |  Bless (25)  |  Chastity (5)  |  Dead (65)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Engine (99)  |  Error (339)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Friction (14)  |  Garment (13)  |  God (776)  |  Inevitability (10)  |  Inevitable (53)  |  Key (56)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Longitude (8)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Moment (260)  |  Moon (252)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Pendulum (17)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Perpetual Motion (14)  |  Praise (28)  |  Purification (10)  |  Resistance (41)  |  Sun (407)  |  Term (357)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Wedding (7)  |  Weight (140)  |  Woman (160)  |  Word (650)  |  Work (1402)

For nearly twelve years I travelled and lived mostly among uncivilised or completely savage races, and I became convinced that they all possessed good qualities, some of them in a very remarkable degree, and that in all the great characteristics of humanity they are wonderfully like ourselves. Some, indeed, among the brown Polynesians especially, are declared by numerous independent and unprejudiced observers, to be physically, mentally, and intellectually our equals, if not our superiors; and it has always seemed to me one of the disgraces of our civilisation that these fine people have not in a single case been protected from contamination by the vices and follies of our more degraded classes, and allowed to develope their own social and political organislll under the advice of some of our best and wisest men and the protection of our world-wide power. That would have been indeed a worthy trophy of our civilisation. What we have actually done, and left undone, resulting in the degradation and lingering extermination of so fine a people, is one of the most pathetic of its tragedies.
In 'The Native Problem in South Africa and Elsewhere', Independent Review (1906), 11, 182.
Science quotes on:  |  Advice (57)  |  Best (467)  |  Brown (23)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Completely (137)  |  Contamination (4)  |  Declared (24)  |  Degradation (18)  |  Degree (277)  |  Development (441)  |  Disgrace (12)  |  Extermination (14)  |  Folly (44)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Intellect (251)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Observer (48)  |  Organism (231)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  People (1031)  |  Political (124)  |  Polynesian (2)  |  Possess (157)  |  Power (771)  |  Protect (65)  |  Protection (41)  |  Race (278)  |  Savage (33)  |  Single (365)  |  Social (261)  |  Superior (88)  |  Tragedy (31)  |  Trophy (3)  |  Uncivilised (2)  |  Vice (42)  |  Wide (97)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

For the time of making Observations none can ever be amiss; there being no season, nor indeed hardly any place where in some Natural Thing or other does not present it self worthy of Remark: yea there are some things that require Observation all the Year round, as Springs, Rivers, &c. Nor is there any Season amiss for the gathering Natural Things. Bodies of one kind or other presenting themselves at all times, and in Winter as well as Summer.
In Brief Instructions for Making Observations in all Parts of the World (1696), 10-11.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Gathering (23)  |  Kind (564)  |  Making (300)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Present (630)  |  Require (229)  |  River (140)  |  Season (47)  |  Self (268)  |  Spring (140)  |  Summer (56)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Time (1911)  |  Winter (46)  |  Year (963)

Geology got into the hands of the theoreticians who were conditioned by the social and political history of their day more than by observations in the field. … We have allowed ourselves to be brainwashed into avoiding any interpretation of the past that involves extreme and what might be termed “catastrophic” processes. However, it seems to me that the stratigraphical record is full of examples of processes that are far from “normal” in the usual sense of the word. In particular we must conclude that sedimentation in the past has often been very rapid indeed and very spasmodic. This may be called the “Phenomenon of the Catastrophic Nature of the Stratigraphic Record.”
In The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record (3rd ed., 1993), 70.
Science quotes on:  |  Avoidance (11)  |  Call (781)  |  Catastrophe (35)  |  Catastrophic (10)  |  Conclude (66)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Condition (362)  |  Conditioning (3)  |  Example (98)  |  Extreme (78)  |  Field (378)  |  Geology (240)  |  Hand (149)  |  History (716)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Involve (93)  |  Involving (2)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Normal (29)  |  Observation (593)  |  Often (109)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Past (355)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Political (124)  |  Politics (122)  |  Process (439)  |  Rapid (37)  |  Record (161)  |  Sedimentation (3)  |  Sense (785)  |  Social (261)  |  Spasmodic (2)  |  Stratigraphy (7)  |  Term (357)  |  Theorist (44)  |  Word (650)

Gifford Pinchot is the man to whom the nation owes most for what has been accomplished as regards the preservation of the natural resources of our country. He led, and indeed during its most vital period embodied, the fight for the preservation through use of our forests … He was the foremost leader in the great struggle to coordinate all our social and governmental forces in the effort to secure the adoption of a rational and far-seeing policy for securing the conservation of all our national resources. … I believe it is but just to say that among the many, many public officials who under my administration rendered literally invaluable service to the people of the United States, he, on the whole, stood first.
'The Natural Resources of the Nation' Autobiography (1913), ch. 11. Quoted in Douglas M. Johnston, The International Law of Fisheries (1987), 44
Science quotes on:  |  Conservation (187)  |  Country (269)  |  Effort (243)  |  Far-Seeing (3)  |  First (1302)  |  Force (497)  |  Forest (161)  |  Great (1610)  |  Invaluable (11)  |  Leader (51)  |  Literally (30)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nation (208)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Resource (23)  |  Owe (71)  |  People (1031)  |  Period (200)  |  Gifford Pinchot (14)  |  Rational (95)  |  Regard (312)  |  Render (96)  |  Say (989)  |  Seeing (143)  |  Service (110)  |  Social (261)  |  State (505)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Through (846)  |  Use (771)  |  Vital (89)  |  Whole (756)

Goethe said that he who cannot draw on 3,000 years of learning is living hand to mouth. It could just as well be said that individuals who do tap deeply into this rich cultural legacy are wealthy indeed. Yet the paradox is that much of this wisdom is buried in a sea of lesser books or like lost treasure beneath an ocean of online ignorance and trivia. That doesn’t mean that with a little bit of diligence you can’t tap into it. Yet many people, perhaps most, never take advantage of all this human experience. They aren’t obtaining knowledge beyond what they need to know for work or to get by. As a result, their view of our amazing world is diminished and their lives greatly circumscribed.
In An Embarrassment of Riches: Tapping Into the World's Greatest Legacy of Wealth (2013), 65.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Amazing (35)  |  Arent (6)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bit (21)  |  Book (413)  |  Bury (19)  |  Circumscribe (3)  |  Cultural (26)  |  Deeply (17)  |  Diligence (22)  |  Diminish (17)  |  Do (1905)  |  Draw (140)  |  Experience (494)  |  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (150)  |  Greatly (12)  |  Hand (149)  |  Human (1512)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Individual (420)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Legacy (14)  |  Lesser (6)  |  Little (717)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Lose (165)  |  Mean (810)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mouth (54)  |  Need (320)  |  Never (1089)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Online (4)  |  Paradox (54)  |  People (1031)  |  Result (700)  |  Rich (66)  |  Say (989)  |  Sea (326)  |  Tap (10)  |  Treasure (59)  |  Trivia (2)  |  View (496)  |  Wealthy (5)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

GOOSE, n. A bird that supplies quills for writing. These, by some occult process of nature, are penetrated and suffused with various degrees of the bird's intellectual energies and emotional character, so that when inked and drawn mechanically across paper by a person called an "author," there results a very fair and accurate transcript of the fowl's thought and feeling. The difference in geese, as discovered by this ingenious method, is considerable: many are found to have only trivial and insignificant powers, but some are seen to be very great geese indeed.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911), Vol. 7, The Devil's Dictionary,  119-120.
Science quotes on:  |  Accurate (88)  |  Author (175)  |  Bird (163)  |  Call (781)  |  Character (259)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Degree (277)  |  Difference (355)  |  Discover (571)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Goose (13)  |  Great (1610)  |  Humour (116)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Insignificant (33)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Method (531)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Occult (9)  |  Paper (192)  |  Person (366)  |  Power (771)  |  Process (439)  |  Result (700)  |  Thought (995)  |  Trivial (59)  |  Various (205)  |  Writing (192)

Groups do not have experiences except insofar as all their members do. And there are no experiences... that all the members of a scientific community must share in the course of a [scientific] revolution. Revolutions should be described not in terms of group experience but in terms of the varied experiences of individual group members. Indeed, that variety itself turns out to play an essential role in the evolution of scientific knowledge.
Thomas S. Kuhn's Foreword to Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S Kuhn's Philosophy of Science (1993), xiii.
Science quotes on:  |  Community (111)  |  Course (413)  |  Do (1905)  |  Essential (210)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Experience (494)  |  Group (83)  |  Individual (420)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Must (1525)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Role (86)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Revolution (13)  |  Share (82)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Turn (454)  |  Variety (138)

Gynaecologists are very smooth indeed. Because they have to listen to woeful and sordid symptoms they develop an expression of refinement and sympathy.
A Sense of Asher (1972), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Develop (278)  |  Expression (181)  |  Listen (81)  |  Refinement (19)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Symptom (38)

Hast thou ever raised thy mind to the consideration of existence, in and by itself, as the mere act of existing?
Hast thou ever said to thyself thoughtfully it is! heedless, in that moment, whether it were a man before thee, or a flower, or a grain of sand;—without reference, in short, to this or that particular mode or form of existence? If thou hast, indeed, attained to this, thou wilt have felt the presence of a mystery, which must have fixed thy spirit in awe and wonder.
In 'Essay IX', The Friend: A Series of Essays (1818), Vol. 3, 250.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Attain (126)  |  Awe (43)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Flower (112)  |  Form (976)  |  Grain (50)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Mode (43)  |  Moment (260)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Particular (80)  |  Presence (63)  |  Reference (33)  |  Sand (63)  |  Short (200)  |  Small (489)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Variant (9)  |  Wonder (251)

Here I shall present, without using Analysis [mathematics], the principles and general results of the Théorie, applying them to the most important questions of life, which are indeed, for the most part, only problems in probability. One may even say, strictly speaking, that almost all our knowledge is only probable; and in the small number of things that we are able to know with certainty, in the mathematical sciences themselves, the principal means of arriving at the truth—induction and analogy—are based on probabilities, so that the whole system of human knowledge is tied up with the theory set out in this essay.
Philosophical Essay on Probabilities (1814), 5th edition (1825), trans. Andrew I. Dale (1995), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Essay (27)  |  General (521)  |  Human (1512)  |  Importance (299)  |  Induction (81)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Present (630)  |  Principal (69)  |  Principle (530)  |  Probability (135)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Set (400)  |  Small (489)  |  Speaking (118)  |  System (545)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Whole (756)

His [Marvin Minsky’s] basic interest seemed to be in the workings of the human mind and in making machine models of the mind. Indeed, about that time he and a friend made one of the first electronic machines that could actually teach itself to do something interesting. It monitored electronic “rats” that learned to run mazes. It was being financed by the Navy. On one notable occasion, I remember descending to the basement of Memorial Hall, while Minsky worked on it. It had an illuminated display panel that enabled one to follow the progress of the “rats.” Near the machine was a hamster in a cage. When the machine blinked, the hamster would run around its cage happily. Minsky, with his characteristic elfin grin, remarked that on a previous day the Navy contract officer had been down to see the machine. Noting the man’s interest in the hamster, Minsky had told him laconically, “The next one we build will look like a bird.”
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Bird (163)  |  Build (211)  |  Cage (12)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Display (59)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Electronics (21)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Friend (180)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Interest (416)  |  Interesting (153)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Look (584)  |  Machine (271)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  Maze (11)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Marvin Minsky (10)  |  Model (106)  |  Monitor (10)  |  Navy (10)  |  Next (238)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Officer (12)  |  Progress (492)  |  Rat (37)  |  Remember (189)  |  Run (158)  |  See (1094)  |  Something (718)  |  Teach (299)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

Historically, Statistics is no more than State Arithmetic, a system of computation by which differences between individuals are eliminated by the taking of an average. It has been used—indeed, still is used—to enable rulers to know just how far they may safely go in picking the pockets of their subjects.
In Facts from Figures (1951), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Average (89)  |  Computation (28)  |  Difference (355)  |  Eliminate (25)  |  Enable (122)  |  History (716)  |  Individual (420)  |  Know (1538)  |  More (2558)  |  Picking (2)  |  Pocket (11)  |  Ruler (21)  |  State (505)  |  Statistics (170)  |  Still (614)  |  Subject (543)  |  System (545)

Hitherto the principle of causality was universally accepted as an indispensable postulate of scientific research, but now we are told by some physicists that it must be thrown overboard. The fact that such an extraordinary opinion should be expressed in responsible scientific quarters is widely taken to be significant of the all-round unreliability of human knowledge. This indeed is a very serious situation.
In Max Planck and James Vincent Murphy (trans.), Where is Science Going?, (1932), 66.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Causality (11)  |  Express (192)  |  Expression (181)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Human (1512)  |  Indispensability (2)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Must (1525)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Overboard (3)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Postulate (42)  |  Principle (530)  |  Research (753)  |  Responsibility (71)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Serious (98)  |  Seriousness (10)  |  Significance (114)  |  Significant (78)  |  Situation (117)  |  Telling (24)  |  Throw (45)

How, indeed, can there be a response within to the impression from without when there is nothing within that is in relation of congenial vibration with that which is without? Inattention in such case is insusceptibility; and if this be complete, then to demand attention is very much like demanding of the eye that it should attend to sound-waves, and of the ear that it should attend to light-waves.
As quoted in William W. Speer, Primary Arithmetic: First Year, for the Use of Teachers (1902), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Attend (67)  |  Attention (196)  |  Case (102)  |  Complete (209)  |  Congenial (3)  |  Demand (131)  |  Ear (69)  |  Education (423)  |  Eye (440)  |  Impression (118)  |  Inattention (5)  |  Light (635)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Relation (166)  |  Response (56)  |  Sound (187)  |  Susceptible (8)  |  Vibration (26)  |  Wave (112)

Hyper-selectionism has been with us for a long time in various guises; for it represents the late nineteenth century’s scientific version of the myth of natural harmony–all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds (all structures well designed for a definite purpose in this case). It is, indeed, the vision of foolish Dr. Pangloss, so vividly satirized by Voltaire in Candide–the world is not necessarily good, but it is the best we could possibly have.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Case (102)  |  Century (319)  |  Definite (114)  |  Design (203)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Good (906)  |  Guise (6)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Late (119)  |  Long (778)  |  Myth (58)  |  Natural (810)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Nineteenth (5)  |  Possible (560)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Represent (157)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Structure (365)  |  Time (1911)  |  Various (205)  |  Version (7)  |  Vision (127)  |  Vividly (11)  |  Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire (42)  |  World (1850)

Hypothesis is the most important mental technique of the investigator, and its main function is to suggest new experiments or new observations. Indeed, most experiments and many observations are carried out with the deliberate object of testing an hypothesis. Another function is to help one see the significance of an object or event that otherwise would mean nothing. For instance, a mind prepared by the hypothesis of evolution would make many more significant observations on a field excursion than one not so prepared. Hypotheses should be used as tools to uncover new facts rather than as ends in themselves.
The Art of Scientific Investigation (1953), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Deliberate (19)  |  End (603)  |  Event (222)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Excursion (12)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Field (378)  |  Function (235)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Mean (810)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  See (1094)  |  Significance (114)  |  Significant (78)  |  Technique (84)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Tool (129)  |  Uncover (20)

I am sorry that the distinguished leader of the Republican Party in the House states that he is not versed in botany and publicly admits that he does not know anything of these terms or what it is all about; but, Mr. Chairman, it is indeed a sad day for the people of this country when we must close the doors of the laboratories doing research work for the people of the United States.
Speaking (28 Dec 1932) as a member of the 72nd Congress, early in the Great Depression, in opposition to an attempt to eliminate a small amount from the agricultural appropriation bill. As quoted in 'Mayor-Elect La Guardia on Research', Science (1933), New Series, 78, No. 2031, 511.
Science quotes on:  |  Botany (63)  |  Close (77)  |  Congress (20)  |  Country (269)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Doing (277)  |  Door (94)  |  House (143)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Leader (51)  |  Must (1525)  |  People (1031)  |  Research (753)  |  Sorry (31)  |  State (505)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  United States (31)  |  Work (1402)

I call this Spirit, unknown hitherto, by the new name of Gas, which can neither be constrained by Vessels, nor reduced into a visible body, unless the feed being first extinguished. But Bodies do contain this Spirit, and do sometimes wholly depart into such a Spirit, not indeed, because it is actually in those very bodies (for truly it could not be detained, yea the whole composed body should I lie away at once) but it is a Spirit grown together, coagulated after the manner of a body, and is stirred up by an attained ferment, as in Wine, the juyce of unripe Grapes, bread, hydromel or water and Honey.
Oriatrike: Or, Physick Refined, trans. John Chandler (1662), 106.
Science quotes on:  |  Attain (126)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Bread (42)  |  Call (781)  |  Do (1905)  |  First (1302)  |  Gas (89)  |  Honey (15)  |  Lie (370)  |  Name (359)  |  New (1273)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Together (392)  |  Truly (118)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Vessel (63)  |  Visible (87)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Wine (39)

I consider it important, indeed urgently necessary, for intellectual workers to get together, both to protect their own economic status and, also, generally speaking, to secure their influence in the political field.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Both (496)  |  Consider (428)  |  Economic (84)  |  Field (378)  |  Generally (15)  |  Important (229)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Political (124)  |  Protect (65)  |  Secure (23)  |  Speak (240)  |  Speaking (118)  |  Status (35)  |  Together (392)  |  Worker (34)

I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
In 'The Science Of Deduction', A Study In Scarlet (1887, 1904), 15-16.
Science quotes on:  |  Addition (70)  |  Assortment (5)  |  Attic (3)  |  Best (467)  |  Brain (281)  |  Choose (116)  |  Consider (428)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Depend (238)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Doing (277)  |  Elastic (2)  |  Empty (82)  |  Extent (142)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Fool (121)  |  Forget (125)  |  Furniture (8)  |  Importance (299)  |  Jumble (10)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Little (717)  |  Lot (151)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Something (718)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Tool (129)  |  Useful (260)  |  Useless (38)  |  Wall (71)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)

I do not want to label myself a crystallographer as against a physicist and think indeed that though my research is concerned with crystals it is the physical side of it which attracts me.
In Letter (3 Jun 1929) to Ernest Rutherford, in Royal Society Archives, as quoted in David Phillips, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (Nov 1979), 25, 104.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Attract (25)  |  Biography (254)  |  Concern (239)  |  Crystal (71)  |  Crystallographer (4)  |  Do (1905)  |  Label (11)  |  Myself (211)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Research (753)  |  Side (236)  |  Think (1122)  |  Want (504)

I feel very strongly indeed that a Cambridge education for our scientists should include some contact with the humanistic side. The gift of expression is important to them as scientists; the best research is wasted when it is extremely difficult to discover what it is all about ... It is even more important when scientists are called upon to play their part in the world of affairs, as is happening to an increasing extent.
From essay in Thomas Rice Henn, The Apple and the Spectroscope: Being Lectures on Poetry Designed (in the Main) for Science Students (1951), 142.
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Call (781)  |  Cambridge (17)  |  Contact (66)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Discover (571)  |  Education (423)  |  Expression (181)  |  Extent (142)  |  Feel (371)  |  Gift (105)  |  Happening (59)  |  Humanities (21)  |  Importance (299)  |  Include (93)  |  More (2558)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Side (236)  |  Waste (109)  |  World (1850)

I have had a fairly long life, above all a very happy one, and I think that I shall be remembered with some regrets and perhaps leave some reputation behind me. What more could I ask? The events in which I am involved will probably save me from the troubles of old age. I shall die in full possession of my faculties, and that is another advantage that I should count among those that I have enjoyed. If I have any distressing thoughts, it is of not having done more for my family; to be unable to give either to them or to you any token of my affection and my gratitude is to be poor indeed.
Letter to Augez de Villiers, undated. Quoted in D. McKie, Antoine Lavoisier: Scientist, Economist, Social Reformer (1952), 303.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Affection (44)  |  Age (509)  |  Ask (420)  |  Behind (139)  |  Count (107)  |  Death (406)  |  Event (222)  |  Family (101)  |  Gratitude (14)  |  Happy (108)  |  Involved (90)  |  Letter (117)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  More (2558)  |  Old (499)  |  Old Age (35)  |  Poor (139)  |  Possession (68)  |  Regret (31)  |  Remember (189)  |  Reputation (33)  |  Save (126)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Token (10)  |  Trouble (117)  |  Will (2350)

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)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Latin (44)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Something (718)  |  Spend (97)  |  Table (105)  |  Taste (93)  |  Use (771)  |  Waste (109)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

I have no doubt that certain learned men, now that the novelty of the hypotheses in this work has been widely reported—for it establishes that the Earth moves, and indeed that the Sun is motionless in the middle of the universe—are extremely shocked, and think that the scholarly disciplines, rightly established once and for all, should not be upset. But if they are willing to judge the matter thoroughly, they will find that the author of this work has committed nothing which deserves censure. For it is proper for an astronomer to establish a record of the motions of the heavens with diligent and skilful observations, and then to think out and construct laws for them, or rather hypotheses, whatever their nature may be, since the true laws cannot be reached by the use of reason; and from those assumptions the motions can be correctly calculated, both for the future and for the past. Our author has shown himself outstandingly skilful in both these respects. Nor is it necessary that these hypotheses should be true, nor indeed even probable, but it is sufficient if they merely produce calculations which agree with the observations. … For it is clear enough that this subject is completely and simply ignorant of the laws which produce apparently irregular motions. And if it does work out any laws—as certainly it does work out very many—it does not do so in any way with the aim of persuading anyone that they are valid, but only to provide a correct basis for calculation. Since different hypotheses are sometimes available to explain one and the same motion (for instance eccentricity or an epicycle for the motion of the Sun) an astronomer will prefer to seize on the one which is easiest to grasp; a philosopher will perhaps look more for probability; but neither will grasp or convey anything certain, unless it has been divinely revealed to him. Let us therefore allow these new hypotheses also to become known beside the older, which are no more probable, especially since they are remarkable and easy; and let them bring with them the vast treasury of highly learned observations. And let no one expect from astronomy, as far as hypotheses are concerned, anything certain, since it cannot produce any such thing, in case if he seizes on things constructed for another other purpose as true, he departs from this discipline more foolish than he came to it.
Although this preface would have been assumed by contemporary readers to be written by Copernicus, it was unsigned. It is now believed to have been written and added at press time by Andreas Osiander (who was then overseeing the printing of the book). It suggests the earth’s motion as described was merely a mathematical device, and not to be taken as absolute reality. Text as given in 'To the Reader on the Hypotheses in this Work', Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), translated by ‎Alistair Matheson Duncan (1976), 22-3. By adding this preface, Osiander wished to stave off criticism by theologians. See also the Andreas Osiander Quotes page of this website.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Author (175)  |  Available (80)  |  Basis (180)  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Censure (5)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Completely (137)  |  Concern (239)  |  Construct (129)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Different (595)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Do (1905)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Easy (213)  |  Enough (341)  |  Expect (203)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Future (467)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Himself (461)  |  Ignorant (91)  |  Judge (114)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Look (584)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Novelty (31)  |  Observation (593)  |  Other (2233)  |  Past (355)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proper (150)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Record (161)  |  Respect (212)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Shock (38)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Subject (543)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Sun (407)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Universe (900)  |  Upset (18)  |  Use (771)  |  Vast (188)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)  |  Willing (44)  |  Work (1402)

I have presented the periodic table as a kind of travel guide to an imaginary country, of which the elements are the various regions. This kingdom has a geography: the elements lie in particular juxtaposition to one another, and they are used to produce goods, much as a prairie produces wheat and a lake produces fish. It also has a history. Indeed, it has three kinds of history: the elements were discovered much as the lands of the world were discovered; the kingdom was mapped, just as the world was mapped, and the relative positions of the elements came to take on a great significance; and the elements have their own cosmic history, which can be traced back to the stars.
In The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey Into the Land of the Chemical Elements (1995), Preface, viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Country (269)  |  Discover (571)  |  Element (322)  |  Fish (130)  |  Geography (39)  |  Good (906)  |  Goods (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guide (107)  |  History (716)  |  Imaginary (16)  |  Juxtaposition (3)  |  Kind (564)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Lake (36)  |  Land (131)  |  Lie (370)  |  Map (50)  |  Periodic Table (19)  |  Position (83)  |  Prairie (4)  |  Present (630)  |  Produce (117)  |  Region (40)  |  Relative (42)  |  Significance (114)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Table (105)  |  Trace (109)  |  Travel (125)  |  Various (205)  |  Wheat (10)  |  World (1850)

I have repeatedly had cause to refer to certain resemblances between the phenomena of irritability in the vegetable kingdom and those of the animal body, thus touching a province of investigation which has hitherto been far too little cultivated. In the last instance, indeed, I might say animal and vegetable life must of necessity agree in all essential points, including the phenomena of irritability also, since it is established that the animal organism is constructed entirely and simply from the properties of these substances that all vital movements both of plants and animals are to be explained.
Lectures on the Physiology of Plants (1887), 600.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Animal (651)  |  Body (557)  |  Both (496)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Construct (129)  |  Construction (114)  |  Cultivation (36)  |  Essential (210)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Irritability (4)  |  Kingdom (80)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Movement (162)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Organism (231)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Plant (320)  |  Point (584)  |  Province (37)  |  Repetition (29)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Say (989)  |  Substance (253)  |  Touch (146)  |  Touching (16)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Vital (89)

I imagined in the beginning, that a few experiments would determine the problem; but experience soon convinced me, that a very great number indeed were necessary before such an art could be brought to any tolerable degree of perfection.
Upon pursuing the ''
Preface to An Essay on Combustion with a View to a New Art of Dyeing and Painting (1794), iii. In Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie and Joy Dorothy Harvey, The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science (2000), 478.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Degree (277)  |  Determine (152)  |  Experience (494)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Great (1610)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Number (710)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pursuing (27)  |  Soon (187)

I know, indeed, and can conceive of no pursuit so antagonistic to the cultivation of the oratorical faculty … as the study of Mathematics. An eloquent mathematician must, from the nature of things, ever remain as rare a phenomenon as a talking fish, and it is certain that the more anyone gives himself up to the study of oratorical effect the less will he find himself in a fit state to mathematicize.
In Address (22 Feb 1877) for Commemoration Day at Johns Hopkins University. Published as a pamphlet, and reprinted in The Collected Mathematical Papers of James Joseph Sylvester: (1870-1883) (1909), Vol. 3, 72. https://books.google.com/books?id=wgVbAAAAQAAJ James Joseph Sylvester - 1877
Science quotes on:  |  Antagonistic (3)  |  Certain (557)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Cultivation (36)  |  Effect (414)  |  Eloquent (2)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fish (130)  |  Fit (139)  |  Himself (461)  |  Know (1538)  |  Less (105)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Things (30)  |  Oration (2)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Rare (94)  |  Remain (355)  |  State (505)  |  Study (701)  |  Talk (108)  |  Talking (76)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Will (2350)

I like to look at mathematics almost more as an art than as a science; for the activity of the mathematician, constantly creating as he is, guided though not controlled by the external world of the senses, bears a resemblance, not fanciful I believe but real, to the activity of an artist, of a painter let us say. Rigorous deductive reasoning on the part of the mathematician may be likened here to technical skill in drawing on the part of the painter. Just as no one can become a good painter without a certain amount of skill, so no one can become a mathematician without the power to reason accurately up to a certain point. Yet these qualities, fundamental though they are, do not make a painter or mathematician worthy of the name, nor indeed are they the most important factors in the case. Other qualities of a far more subtle sort, chief among which in both cases is imagination, go to the making of a good artist or good mathematician.
From 'Fundamental Conceptions and Methods in Mathematics', Bulletin American Mathematical Society (1904), 9, 133. As cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 182.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Amount (153)  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Bear (162)  |  Become (821)  |  Both (496)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chief (99)  |  Control (182)  |  Create (245)  |  Deductive (13)  |  Do (1905)  |  Drawing (56)  |  External (62)  |  Factor (47)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Good (906)  |  Guide (107)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Important (229)  |  Look (584)  |  Making (300)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics As A Fine Art (23)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Other (2233)  |  Painter (30)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Rigorous (50)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Skill (116)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Technical (53)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

I often get letters … from people who say … I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature. … I reply … “Well, it’s funny that the people, when they say that this is evidence of the Almighty, always quote beautiful things … orchids and hummingbirds and butterflies and roses.” But I always have to think too of a little boy sitting on the banks of a river in west Africa who has a worm boring through his eyeball, turning him blind before he’s five years old. And I … say, “Well, presumably the God you speak about created the worm as well,” and now, I find that baffling to credit a merciful God with that action. And therefore it seems to me safer to show things that I know to be truth, truthful and factual, and allow people to make up their own minds about the moralities of this thing, or indeed the theology of this thing.
From BBC TV, Life on Air (2002).
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Africa (38)  |  Almighty (23)  |  Bank (31)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Blind (98)  |  Boring (7)  |  Boy (100)  |  Butterfly (26)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Find (1014)  |  God (776)  |  Humming Bird (2)  |  Hummingbird (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Letter (117)  |  Little (717)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Old (499)  |  Orchid (4)  |  People (1031)  |  Power (771)  |  Quote (46)  |  Reply (58)  |  River (140)  |  Rose (36)  |  Say (989)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Show (353)  |  Sitting (44)  |  Speak (240)  |  Theology (54)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Worm (47)  |  Year (963)

I think that physics is the most important—indeed the only—means we have of finding out the origins and fundamentals of our universe, and this is what interests me most about it. I believe that as science advances religion necessarily recedes, and this is a process I wish to encourage, because I consider that, on the whole, the influence of religion is malign.
Quoted in Contemporary Authors Online Gale (2007)
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Consider (428)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Encourage (43)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Influence (231)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Most (1728)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Origin (250)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Process (439)  |  Recede (11)  |  Religion (369)  |  Think (1122)  |  Universe (900)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wish (216)

I took a good clear piece of Cork and with a Pen-knife sharpen'd as keen as a Razor, I cut a piece of it off, and thereby left the surface of it exceeding smooth, then examining it very diligently with a Microscope, me thought I could perceive it to appear a little porous; but I could not so plainly distinguish them, as to be sure that they were pores, much less what Figure they were of: But judging from the lightness and yielding quality of the Cork, that certainly the texture could not be so curious, but that possibly, if I could use some further diligence, I might find it to be discernable with a Microscope, I with the same sharp Penknife, cut off from the former smooth surface an exceeding thin piece of it with a deep plano-convex Glass, I could exceedingly plainly perceive it to be all perforated and porous, much like a Honey-comb, but that the pores of it were not regular; yet it was not unlike a Honey-comb in these particulars.
First, in that it had a very little solid substance, in comparison of the empty cavity that was contain'd between, ... for the Interstitia or walls (as I may so call them) or partitions of those pores were neer as thin in proportion to their pores as those thin films of Wax in a Honey-comb (which enclose and constitute the sexangular cells) are to theirs.
Next, in that these pores, or cells, were not very deep, but constituted of a great many little Boxes, separated out of one continued long pore, by certain Diaphragms...
I no sooner discerned these (which were indeed the first microscopical pores I ever saw, and perhaps, that were ever seen, for I had not met with any Writer or Person, that had made any mention of them before this) but me thought I had with the discovery of them, presently hinted to me the true and intelligible reason of all the Phænomena of Cork.
Micrographia, or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries thereupon (1665), 112-6.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Cavity (9)  |  Cell (146)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Convex (6)  |  Cork (2)  |  Curious (95)  |  Cut (116)  |  Deep (241)  |  Diligence (22)  |  Discern (35)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Empty (82)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Former (138)  |  Glass (94)  |  Good (906)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hint (21)  |  Honey (15)  |  Intelligible (35)  |  Knife (24)  |  Little (717)  |  Long (778)  |  Mention (84)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Next (238)  |  Pen (21)  |  Person (366)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Quality (139)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regular (48)  |  Saw (160)  |  Sharpen (22)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Solid (119)  |  Substance (253)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thought (995)  |  Use (771)  |  Wall (71)  |  Wax (13)  |  Writer (90)

I wanted certainty in the kind of way in which people want religious faith. I thought that certainty is more likely to be found in mathematics than elsewhere. But I discovered that many mathematical demonstrations, which my teachers expected me to accept, were full of fallacies, and that, if certainty were indeed discoverable in mathematics, it would be in a new field of mathematics, with more solid foundations than those that had hitherto been thought secure. But as the work proceeded, I was continually reminded of the fable about the elephant and the tortoise. Having constructed an elephant upon which the mathematical world could rest, I found the elephant tottering, and proceeded to construct a tortoise to keep the elephant from falling. But the tortoise was no more secure than the elephant, and after some twenty years of very arduous toil, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing more that I could do in the way of making mathematical knowledge indubitable.
In 'Reflections on my Eightieth Birthday', Portraits from Memory (1956), 54.
Science quotes on:  |  Accept (198)  |  Arduous (3)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Construct (129)  |  Continual (44)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Discover (571)  |  Do (1905)  |  Elephant (35)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fable (12)  |  Faith (209)  |  Fall (243)  |  Fallacy (31)  |  Field (378)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Indubitable (3)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Making (300)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  People (1031)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Religious (134)  |  Reminded (2)  |  Rest (287)  |  Solid (119)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Thought (995)  |  Toil (29)  |  Tortoise (10)  |  Want (504)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)  |  Year (963)

I well know what a spendidly great difference there is [between] a man and a bestia when I look at them from a point of view of morality. Man is the animal which the Creator has seen fit to honor with such a magnificent mind and has condescended to adopt as his favorite and for which he has prepared a nobler life; indeed, sent out for its salvation his only son; but all this belongs to another forum; it behooves me like a cobbler to stick to my last, in my own workshop, and as a naturalist to consider man and his body, for I know scarcely one feature by which man can be distinguished from apes, if it be not that all the apes have a gap between their fangs and their other teeth, which will be shown by the results of further investigation.
T. Fredbärj (ed.), Menniskans Cousiner (Valda Avhandlingar av Carl von Linné nr, 21) (1955), 4. Trans. Gunnar Broberg, 'Linnaeus's Classification of Man', in Tore Frängsmyr (ed.), Linnaeus: The Man and his Work (1983), 167.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Ape (54)  |  Beast (58)  |  Behoove (6)  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |  Consider (428)  |  Creator (97)  |  Difference (355)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Favorite (37)  |  Fit (139)  |  Gap (36)  |  Great (1610)  |  Honor (57)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  Naturalist (79)  |  Other (2233)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Result (700)  |  Salvation (13)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Teeth (43)  |  View (496)  |  Will (2350)  |  Workshop (14)

I wish the lecturers to treat their subject as a strictly natural science, the greatest of all possible sciences, indeed, in one sense, the only science, that of Infinite Being, without reference to or reliance upon any supposed special exception or so-called miraculous revelation. I wish it considered just as astronomy or chemistry is.
Statement in deed of foundation of the Gifford Lectures on natural theology (1885).
Quoted in Michael A. Arbib and Mary B. Hesse, The Construction of Reality (1986), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Consider (428)  |  Deed (34)  |  Exception (74)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Lecture (111)  |  Lecturer (13)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Possible (560)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sense (785)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Special (188)  |  Statement (148)  |  Subject (543)  |  Theology (54)  |  Wish (216)

Ideologues of all persuasions think they know how the economy will respond to the Administration’s strange mixture of Lafferism and monetarism. Indeed, their self-confidence is so vast, and their ability to rationalize so crafty, that one cannot imagine a scenario for the next few years, that they would regard as falsifying their dogma. The failure of any prediction can always be blamed on quirky political decisions or unforeseen historical events.
In 'Mathematical Games: The Laffer Curve', Scientific American (Dec 1981), 245, No. 6, 30. Collected in The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995 (1997), 135.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Administration (15)  |  Blame (31)  |  Confidence (75)  |  Crafty (3)  |  Decision (98)  |  Dogma (49)  |  Economy (59)  |  Event (222)  |  Failure (176)  |  Falsify (3)  |  Historical (70)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Know (1538)  |  Mixture (44)  |  Next (238)  |  Persuasion (9)  |  Political (124)  |  Politics (122)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Quirky (3)  |  Regard (312)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Confidence (11)  |  Strange (160)  |  Think (1122)  |  Unforeseen (11)  |  Vast (188)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

If arithmetical skill is the measure of intelligence, then computers have been more intelligent than all human beings all along. If the ability to play chess is the measure, then there are computers now in existence that are more intelligent than any but a very few human beings. However, if insight, intuition, creativity, the ability to view a problem as a whole and guess the answer by the “feel” of the situation, is a measure of intelligence, computers are very unintelligent indeed. Nor can we see right now how this deficiency in computers can be easily remedied, since human beings cannot program a computer to be intuitive or creative for the very good reason that we do not know what we ourselves do when we exercise these qualities.
In Machines That Think (1983).
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Answer (389)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chess (27)  |  Computer (131)  |  Creative (144)  |  Creativity (84)  |  Deficiency (15)  |  Do (1905)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Existence (481)  |  Feel (371)  |  Good (906)  |  Guess (67)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Insight (107)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Intuition (82)  |  Know (1538)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reason (766)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Situation (117)  |  Skill (116)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)

If everything in chemistry is explained in a satisfactory manner without the help of phlogiston, it is by that reason alone infinitely probable that the principle does not exist; that it is a hypothetical body, a gratuitous supposition; indeed, it is in the principles of good logic, not to multiply bodies without necessity.
'Reflexions sur le phlogistique', Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, 1783, 505-38. Reprinted in Oeuvres de Lavoisier (1864), Vol. 2, 623, trans. M. P. Crosland.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Body (557)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Everything (489)  |  Exist (458)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Good (906)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Logic (311)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Phlogiston (9)  |  Principle (530)  |  Probability (135)  |  Reason (766)  |  Supposition (50)

If one of these people, in whom the chance-worship of our remoter ancestors thus strangely survives, should be within reach of the sea when a heavy gale is blowing, let him betake himself to the shore and watch the scene. Let him note the infinite variety of form and size of the tossing waves out at sea; or against the curves of their foam-crested breakers, as they dash against the rocks; let him listen to the roar and scream of the shingle as it is cast up and torn down the beach; or look at the flakes of foam as they drive hither and thither before the wind: or note the play of colours, which answers a gleam of sunshine as it falls upon their myriad bubbles. Surely here, if anywhere, he will say that chance is supreme, and bend the knee as one who has entered the very penetralia of his divinity. But the man of science knows that here, as everywhere, perfect order is manifested; that there is not a curve of the waves, not a note in the howling chorus, not a rainbow-glint on a bubble, which is other than a necessary consequence of the ascertained laws of nature; and that with a sufficient knowledge of the conditions, competent physico-mathematical skill could account for, and indeed predict, every one of these 'chance' events.
In 'On the Reception of the Origin of Species'. In Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Including an Autobiographical Chapter (1888), Vol. 2, 200-1.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Against (332)  |  Ancestor (63)  |  Answer (389)  |  Ascertain (41)  |  Beach (23)  |  Blowing (22)  |  Bubble (23)  |  Cast (69)  |  Chance (244)  |  Chorus (6)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Curve (49)  |  Divinity (23)  |  Down (455)  |  Enter (145)  |  Event (222)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Fall (243)  |  Form (976)  |  Himself (461)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Listen (81)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Predict (86)  |  Rainbow (17)  |  Reach (286)  |  Rock (176)  |  Say (989)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sea (326)  |  Skill (116)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Surely (101)  |  Survive (87)  |  Torn (17)  |  Variety (138)  |  Watch (118)  |  Wave (112)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wind (141)  |  Worship (32)

If our intention had been merely to bring back a handful of soil and rocks from the lunar gravel pit and then forget the whole thing, we would certainly be history's biggest fools. But that is not our intention now—it never will be. What we are seeking in tomorrow's [Apollo 11] trip is indeed that key to our future on earth. We are expanding the mind of man. We are extending this God-given brain and these God-given hands to their outermost limits and in so doing all mankind will benefit. All mankind will reap the harvest…. What we will have attained when Neil Armstrong steps down upon the moon is a completely new step in the evolution of man.
Banquet speech on the eve of the Apollo 11 launch, Royal Oaks Country Club, Titusville (15 Jul 1969). In "Of a Fire on the Moon", Life (29 Aug 1969), 67, No. 9, 34.
Science quotes on:  |  Apollo 11 (7)  |  Neil Armstrong (17)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Back (395)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Brain (281)  |  Bringing (10)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Completely (137)  |  Doing (277)  |  Down (455)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Fool (121)  |  Forget (125)  |  Forgetting (13)  |  Future (467)  |  God (776)  |  Handful (14)  |  Harvest (28)  |  History (716)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Intention (46)  |  Key (56)  |  Limit (294)  |  Lunar (9)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moon (252)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Pit (20)  |  Reap (19)  |  Reaping (4)  |  Rock (176)  |  Seeking (31)  |  Soil (98)  |  Step (234)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Tomorrow (63)  |  Trip (11)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Fear (212)  |  Good (906)  |  Hope (321)  |  Lot (151)  |  People (1031)  |  Punishment (14)  |  Reward (72)  |  Sorry (31)

If the historical development of science has indeed sometimes pricked our vanity, it has not plunged us into an abyss of immorality ... it has liberated us from misconceptions, and thereby aided us in our moral progress.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Abyss (30)  |  Aid (101)  |  Development (441)  |  Historical (70)  |  Immorality (7)  |  Liberate (10)  |  Misconception (6)  |  Moral (203)  |  Plunge (11)  |  Progress (492)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Thereby (5)  |  Vanity (20)

If we survey the mathematical works of Sylvester, we recognize indeed a considerable abundance, but in contradistinction to Cayley—not a versatility toward separate fields, but, with few exceptions—a confinement to arithmetic-algebraic branches. …
The concept of Function of a continuous variable, the fundamental concept of modern mathematics, plays no role, is indeed scarcely mentioned in the entire work of Sylvester—Sylvester was combinatorist [combinatoriker].
In Mathematische Annalen (1898), Bd.50, 134-135. As quoted and cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 173.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Branch (155)  |  Arthur Cayley (17)  |  Concept (242)  |  Confinement (4)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Entire (50)  |  Exception (74)  |  Field (378)  |  Function (235)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mention (84)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Play (116)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Role (86)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Separate (151)  |  Survey (36)  |  James Joseph Sylvester (58)  |  Variable (37)  |  Versatility (5)  |  Work (1402)

In a great number of programmes I’m not a scientist—I’m simply a commentator. So I should claim no virtue for the fact that [people] seem to trust me, if that is indeed the case. It’s simply that I very seldom talk about something they can’t see. If I say a lion is attacking a wildebeest, they can see it is; if I were to say something about a proton, it might be different.
As quoted in Bill Parry, 'Sir David Attenborough in Conversation', The Biologist (Jun 2010), 57, No. 2, 93.
Science quotes on:  |  Claim (154)  |  Different (595)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Great (1610)  |  Lion (23)  |  Number (710)  |  People (1031)  |  Proton (23)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientist (881)  |  See (1094)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Something (718)  |  Trust (72)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Wildebeest (2)

In early times, when the knowledge of nature was small, little attempt was made to divide science into parts, and men of science did not specialize. Aristotle was a master of all science known in his day, and wrote indifferently treatises on physics or animals. As increasing knowledge made it impossible for any one man to grasp all scientific subjects, lines of division were drawn for convenience of study and of teaching. Besides the broad distinction into physical and biological science, minute subdivisions arose, and, at a certain stage of development, much attention was, given to methods of classification, and much emphasis laid on the results, which were thought to have a significance beyond that of the mere convenience of mankind.
But we have reached the stage when the different streams of knowledge, followed by the different sciences, are coalescing, and the artificial barriers raised by calling those sciences by different names are breaking down. Geology uses the methods and data of physics, chemistry and biology; no one can say whether the science of radioactivity is to be classed as chemistry or physics, or whether sociology is properly grouped with biology or economics. Indeed, it is often just where this coalescence of two subjects occurs, when some connecting channel between them is opened suddenly, that the most striking advances in knowledge take place. The accumulated experience of one department of science, and the special methods which have been developed to deal with its problems, become suddenly available in the domain of another department, and many questions insoluble before may find answers in the new light cast upon them. Such considerations show us that science is in reality one, though we may agree to look on it now from one side and now from another as we approach it from the standpoint of physics, physiology or psychology.
In article 'Science', Encyclopedia Britannica (1911), 402.
Science quotes on:  |  Accumulated (2)  |  Advance (298)  |  Animal (651)  |  Answer (389)  |  Approach (112)  |  Aristotle (179)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Attention (196)  |  Available (80)  |  Barrier (34)  |  Become (821)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Biological (137)  |  Biology (232)  |  Cast (69)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Class (168)  |  Classification (102)  |  Coalesce (5)  |  Coalescence (2)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Data (162)  |  Deal (192)  |  Department (93)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Difference (355)  |  Different (595)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Divide (77)  |  Division (67)  |  Domain (72)  |  Down (455)  |  Early (196)  |  Economic (84)  |  Economics (44)  |  Experience (494)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Geology (240)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Indifferent (17)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Known (453)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Master (182)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Method (531)  |  Minute (129)  |  Most (1728)  |  Name (359)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Occur (151)  |  Open (277)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Physiology (101)  |  Problem (731)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Question (649)  |  Radioactivity (33)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reality (274)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Show (353)  |  Side (236)  |  Significance (114)  |  Small (489)  |  Sociology (46)  |  Special (188)  |  Specialize (4)  |  Stage (152)  |  Standpoint (28)  |  Stream (83)  |  Striking (48)  |  Study (701)  |  Subject (543)  |  Suddenly (91)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)

In general I would be cautious against … plays of fancy and would not make way for their reception into scientific astronomy, which must have quite a different character. Laplace’s cosmogenic hypotheses belong in that class. Indeed, I do not deny that I sometimes amuse myself in a similar manner, only I would never publish the stuff. My thoughts about the inhabitants of celestial bodies, for example, belong in that category. For my part, I am (contrary to the usual opinion) convinced … that the larger the cosmic body, the smaller are the inhabitants and other products. For example, on the sun trees, which in the same ratio would be larger than ours, as the sun exceeds the earth in magnitude, would not be able to exist, for on account of the much greater weight on the surface of the sun, all branches would break themselves off, in so far as the materials are not of a sort entirely heterogeneous with those on earth.
Letter to Heinrich Schumacher (7 Nov 1847). Quoted in G. Waldo Dunnington, Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science (2004), 411.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Against (332)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Belong (168)  |  Body (557)  |  Break (109)  |  Category (19)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Character (259)  |  Class (168)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Cosmic (74)  |  Cosmology (26)  |  Deny (71)  |  Different (595)  |  Do (1905)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fancy (50)  |  General (521)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greater (288)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Pierre-Simon Laplace (63)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Material (366)  |  Must (1525)  |  Myself (211)  |  Never (1089)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Product (166)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Reception (16)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tree (269)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weight (140)

In man, then, let us take the amount that is extruded by the individual beats, and that cannot return into the heart because of the barrier set in its way by the valves, as half an ounce, or three drachms, or at least one drachm. In half an hour the heart makes over a thousand beats; indeed, in some individuals, and on occasion, two, three, or four thousand. If you multiply the drachms per beat by the number of beats you will see that in half an hour either a thousand times three drachms or times two drachms, or five hundred ounces, or other such proportionate quantity of blood has been passed through the heart into the arteries, that is, in all cases blood in greater amount than can be found in the whole of the body. Similarly in the sheep or the dog. Let us take it that one scruple passes in a single contraction of the heart; then in half an hour a thousand scruples, or three and a half pounds of blood, do so. In a body of this size, as I have found in the sheep, there is often not more than four pounds of blood.
In the above sort of way, by calculating the amount of blood transmitted [at each heart beat] and by making a count of the beats, let us convince ourselves that the whole amount of the blood mass goes through the heart from the veins to the arteries and similarly makes the pulmonary transit.
Even if this may take more than half an hour or an hour or a day for its accomplishment, it does nevertheless show that the beat of the heart is continuously driving through that organ more blood than the ingested food can supply, or all the veins together at any time contain.
De Motu Cordis (1628), The Circulation of the Blood and Other Writings, trans. Kenneth J. Franklin (1957), Chapter 9, 62-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Amount (153)  |  Barrier (34)  |  Beat (42)  |  Blood (144)  |  Body (557)  |  Circulation (27)  |  Contraction (18)  |  Convince (43)  |  Count (107)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dog (70)  |  Driving (28)  |  Food (213)  |  Greater (288)  |  Heart (243)  |  Hour (192)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Individual (420)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mass (160)  |  More (2558)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Number (710)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Organ (118)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Pass (241)  |  Pulmonary (3)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Return (133)  |  See (1094)  |  Set (400)  |  Show (353)  |  Single (365)  |  Supply (100)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Two (936)  |  Vein (27)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)

In order to drive the individuals towards reproduction, sexuality had therefore to be associated with some other devices. Among these was pleasure. … Thus pleasure appears as a mere expedient to push individuals to indulge in sex and therefore to reproduce. A rather successful expedient indeed as judged by the state of the world population.
In 'Evolution and Tinkering,' Science, June 10, 1977.
Science quotes on:  |  Device (71)  |  Individual (420)  |  Indulge (15)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Population (115)  |  Push (66)  |  Reproduction (74)  |  Sex (68)  |  State (505)  |  Successful (134)  |  World (1850)

In symbols one observes an advantage in discovery which is greatest when they express the exact nature of a thing briefly and, as it were, picture it; then indeed the labor of thought is wonderfully diminished.
In letter to Tschirnhaus. As quoted in George F. Simmons Calculus Gems (1992), 156, citing Dirk Jan Struik, 281-282.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Brief (37)  |  Diminish (17)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Exact (75)  |  Express (192)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Labor (200)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observe (179)  |  Picture (148)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thought (995)  |  Wonderfully (2)

In the case of a Christian clergyman, the tragic-comical is found in this: that the Christian religion demands love from the faithful, even love for the enemy. This demand, because it is indeed superhuman, he is unable to fulfill. Thus intolerance and hatred ring through the oily words of the clergyman. The love, which on the Christian side is the basis for the conciliatory attempt towards Judaism is the same as the love of a child for a cake. That means that it contains the hope that the object of the love will be eaten up.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Attempt (266)  |  Basis (180)  |  Cake (6)  |  Case (102)  |  Child (333)  |  Christian (44)  |  Clergyman (5)  |  Contain (68)  |  Demand (131)  |  Eat (108)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Faithful (13)  |  Find (1014)  |  Fulfill (19)  |  Hatred (21)  |  Hope (321)  |  Intolerance (8)  |  Judaism (2)  |  Love (328)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Object (438)  |  Religion (369)  |  Ring (18)  |  Same (166)  |  Side (236)  |  Superhuman (6)  |  Through (846)  |  Tragic (19)  |  Unable (25)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

In the infancy of physical science, it was hoped that some discovery might be made that would enable us to emancipate ourselves from the bondage of gravity, and, at least, pay a visit to our neighbour the moon. The poor attempts of the aeronaut have shewn the hopelessness of the enterprise. The success of his achievement depends on the buoyant power of the atmosphere, but the atmosphere extends only a few miles above the earth, and its action cannot reach beyond its own limits. The only machine, independent of the atmosphere, we can conceive of, would be one on the principle of the rocket. The rocket rises in the air, not from the resistance offered by the atmosphere to its fiery stream, but from the internal reaction. The velocity would, indeed, be greater in a vacuum than in the atmosphere, and could we dispense with the comfort of breathing air, we might, with such a machine, transcend the boundaries of our globe, and visit other orbs.
God's Glory in the Heavens (1862, 3rd Ed. 1867) 3-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Action (342)  |  Air (366)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Bondage (6)  |  Breathing (23)  |  Buoyancy (7)  |  Buoyant (6)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Depend (238)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Emancipate (2)  |  Enable (122)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Exploration (161)  |  Extend (129)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Greater (288)  |  Hopelessness (6)  |  Internal (69)  |  Limit (294)  |  Machine (271)  |  Moon (252)  |  Offer (142)  |  Orb (20)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Poor (139)  |  Power (771)  |  Principle (530)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Resistance (41)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rocket (52)  |  Space Travel (23)  |  Stream (83)  |  Success (327)  |  Transcend (27)  |  Vacuum (41)  |  Velocity (51)

In the Mortality Bills, pneumonia is an easy second, to tuberculosis; indeed in many cities the death-rate is now higher and it has become, to use the phrase of Bunyan 'the captain of the men of death.'
'Medicine in the Nineteenth Century' (1904). In Aequanimitas with Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practitioners of Medicine (1904), 260.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Bill (14)  |  John Bunyan (5)  |  Captain (16)  |  City (87)  |  Death (406)  |  Ease (40)  |  Easy (213)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mortality (16)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Pneumonia (8)  |  Rate (31)  |  Second (66)  |  Tuberculosis (9)  |  Use (771)

In the sphere of natural science let us remember that we have always to deal with an insoluble problem. Let us prove keen and honest in attending to anything which is in any way brought to our notice, most of all when it does not fit in with our previous ideas. For it is only thereby that we perceive the problem, which does indeed lie in nature, but still more in man.
In The Maxims and Reflections of Goethe (1906), 183.
Science quotes on:  |  Attend (67)  |  Deal (192)  |  Fit (139)  |  Honest (53)  |  Idea (881)  |  Insoluble (15)  |  Keen (10)  |  Lie (370)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Notice (81)  |  Perceive (46)  |  Previous (17)  |  Problem (731)  |  Prove (261)  |  Remember (189)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Still (614)  |  Way (1214)

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)  |  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)  |  Why (491)

In the world of science different levels of esteem are accorded to different kinds of specialist. Mathematicians have always been eminently respectable, and so are those who deal with hard lifeless theories about what constitutes the physical world: the astronomers, the physicists, the theoretical chemists. But the more closely the scientist interests himself in matters which are of direct human relevance, the lower his social status. The real scum of the scientific world are the engineers and the sociologists and the psychologists. Indeed, if a psychologist wants to rate as a scientist he must study rats, not human beings. In zoology the same rules apply. It is much more respectable to dissect muscle tissues in a laboratory than to observe the behaviour of a living animal in its natural habitat.
From transcript of BBC radio Reith Lecture (12 Nov 1967), 'A Runaway World', on the bbc.co.uk website.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Apply (170)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Being (1276)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Close (77)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Deal (192)  |  Different (595)  |  Direct (228)  |  Dissection (35)  |  Engineer (136)  |  Esteem (18)  |  Habitat (17)  |  Hard (246)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Interest (416)  |  Kind (564)  |  Laboratory (214)  |  Level (69)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Low (86)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Muscle (47)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Observe (179)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Psychologist (26)  |  Rat (37)  |  Rate (31)  |  Real (159)  |  Relevance (18)  |  Respectable (8)  |  Rule (307)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Social (261)  |  Sociologist (5)  |  Specialist (33)  |  Status (35)  |  Study (701)  |  Theoretical (27)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Want (504)  |  World (1850)  |  Zoology (38)

In the year 1692, James Bernoulli, discussing the logarithmic spiral [or equiangular spiral, ρ = αθ] … shows that it reproduces itself in its evolute, its involute, and its caustics of both reflection and refraction, and then adds: “But since this marvellous spiral, by such a singular and wonderful peculiarity, pleases me so much that I can scarce be satisfied with thinking about it, I have thought that it might not be inelegantly used for a symbolic representation of various matters. For since it always produces a spiral similar to itself, indeed precisely the same spiral, however it may be involved or evolved, or reflected or refracted, it may be taken as an emblem of a progeny always in all things like the parent, simillima filia matri. Or, if it is not forbidden to compare a theorem of eternal truth to the mysteries of our faith, it may be taken as an emblem of the eternal generation of the Son, who as an image of the Father, emanating from him, as light from light, remains ὁμοούσιος with him, howsoever overshadowed. Or, if you prefer, since our spira mirabilis remains, amid all changes, most persistently itself, and exactly the same as ever, it may be used as a symbol, either of fortitude and constancy in adversity, or, of the human body, which after all its changes, even after death, will be restored to its exact and perfect self, so that, indeed, if the fashion of Archimedes were allowed in these days, I should gladly have my tombstone bear this spiral, with the motto, ‘Though changed, I arise again exactly the same, Eadem numero mutata resurgo.’”
In 'The Uses of Mathesis', Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 32, 516-516. [The Latin phrase “simillima filia matri” roughly translates as “the daughter resembles the mother”. “Spira mirabilis” is Latin for “marvellous spiral”. The Greek word (?µ???s???) translates as “consubstantial”, meaning of the same substance or essence (used especially of the three persons of the Trinity in Christian theology). —Webmaster]
Science quotes on:  |  Add (42)  |  Adversity (6)  |  Allow (51)  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Arise (162)  |  Bear (162)  |  Jacob Bernoulli (6)  |  Body (557)  |  Both (496)  |  Caustic (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Compare (76)  |  Constancy (12)  |  Death (406)  |  Discuss (26)  |  Emanate (3)  |  Emblem (4)  |  Eternal (113)  |  Evolute (2)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exact (75)  |  Exactly (14)  |  Faith (209)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Father (113)  |  Forbid (14)  |  Forbidden (18)  |  Fortitude (2)  |  Generation (256)  |  Gladly (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Body (34)  |  Image (97)  |  Involve (93)  |  Involved (90)  |  James (3)  |  Light (635)  |  Logarithmic (5)  |  Marvellous (25)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motto (29)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Overshadow (2)  |  Parent (80)  |  Peculiarity (26)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Persistent (18)  |  Please (68)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Prefer (27)  |  Produce (117)  |  Progeny (16)  |  Reflect (39)  |  Reflection (93)  |  Refraction (13)  |  Remain (355)  |  Representation (55)  |  Reproduce (12)  |  Restore (12)  |  Same (166)  |  Satisfied (23)  |  Scarce (11)  |  Self (268)  |  Show (353)  |  Similar (36)  |  Singular (24)  |  Son (25)  |  Spiral (19)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Symbolic (16)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Tombstone (2)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Various (205)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Year (963)

In the year 2000, the solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy. A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people: harnessing the power of the Sun to enrich our lives as we move away from our crippling dependence on foreign oil.
[The next President, Republican Ronald Reagan, removed the solar panels and gutted renewable energy research budgets. The road was not taken, nationally, in the eight years of his presidency. Several of the panels are, indeed, now in museums. Most were bought as government surplus and put to good use on a college roof.]
Speech, at dedication of solar panels on the White House roof, 'Solar Energy Remarks Announcing Administration Proposals' (20 Jun 1979).
Science quotes on:  |  2000 (15)  |  Adventure (69)  |  American (56)  |  Behind (139)  |  Being (1276)  |  Cheap (13)  |  College (71)  |  Crippling (2)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Dedicated (19)  |  Dedication (12)  |  Dependence (46)  |  Efficient (34)  |  Energy (373)  |  Enrich (27)  |  Example (98)  |  Exciting (50)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Generation (256)  |  Good (906)  |  Government (116)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Harnessing (5)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Most (1728)  |  Move (223)  |  Museum (40)  |  Next (238)  |  Oil (67)  |  People (1031)  |  Power (771)  |  President (36)  |  Renewable Energy (15)  |  Research (753)  |  Small (489)  |  Solar Power (10)  |  Still (614)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supply (100)  |  Today (321)  |  Undertake (35)  |  Use (771)  |  Water (503)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

In this model, the sun is a very tiny speck of dust indeed—a speck less than a three-thousandth of an inch in diameter ... Think of the sun as something less than a speck of dust in a vast city, of the earth as less than a millionth part of such a speck of dust, and we have perhaps as vivid a picture as the mind can really grasp of the relation of our home in space to the rest of the universe.
In The Universe Around Us (1953), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  City (87)  |  Diameter (28)  |  Dust (68)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Grasping (2)  |  Home (184)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Model (106)  |  Picture (148)  |  Relation (166)  |  Rest (287)  |  Something (718)  |  Space (523)  |  Speck (25)  |  Sun (407)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tiny (74)  |  Universe (900)  |  Vast (188)  |  Vivid (25)

Indeed the modern developments of mathematics constitute not only one of the most impressive, but one of the most characteristic, phenomena of our age. It is a phenomenon, however, of which the boasted intelligence of a “universalized” daily press seems strangely unaware; and there is no other great human interest, whether of science or of art, regarding which the mind of the educated public is permitted to hold so many fallacious opinions and inferior estimates.
In Lectures on Science, Philosophy and Arts (1908), 8.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Art (680)  |  Boast (22)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Daily (91)  |  Development (441)  |  Educate (14)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Fallacious (13)  |  Fallacy (31)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hold (96)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impressive (27)  |  Inferior (37)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Most (1728)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Permit (61)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Press (21)  |  Public (100)  |  Regard (312)  |  Unaware (6)

Indeed, if one understands by algebra the application of arithmetic operations to composite magnitudes of all kinds, whether they be rational or irrational number or space magnitudes, then the learned Brahmins of Hindostan are the true inventors of algebra.
In Geschichte der Mathematik im Altertum und im Mittelalter (1874), 195. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 284. From the original German, “Ja, wenn man unter Algebra die Anwendung arithmetischer Operationen auf zusammengesetzte Grössen aller Art, mögen sie rationale oder irrationale Zahl- oder Raumgrössen sein, versteht, so sind die gelehrten Brahmanen Hindustans die wahren Erfinder der Algebra.”
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Application (257)  |  Arithmetic (144)  |  Composite (4)  |  Inventor (79)  |  Irrational Number (4)  |  Kind (564)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Magnitude (88)  |  Number (710)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Rational (95)  |  Space (523)  |  True (239)  |  Understand (648)

Indeed, not all attacks—especially the bitter and ridiculing kind leveled at Darwin—are offered in good faith, but for practical purposes it is good policy to assume that they are.
From Dream to Discovery: On Being a Scientist (1964), 157
Science quotes on:  |  Assumption (96)  |  Attack (86)  |  Bitter (30)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Faith (209)  |  Good (906)  |  Kind (564)  |  Offer (142)  |  Policy (27)  |  Practical (225)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Ridicule (23)

Indeed, nothing more beautifully simplifying has ever happened in the history of science than the whole series of discoveries culminating about 1914 which finally brought practically universal acceptance to the theory that the material world contains but two fundamental entities, namely, positive and negative electrons, exactly alike in charge, but differing widely in mass, the positive electron—now usually called a proton—being 1850 times heavier than the negative, now usually called simply the electron.
Time, Matter and Values (1932), 46. Cited in Karl Raimund Popper and William Warren Bartley (ed.), Quantum Theory and theSchism in Physics (1992), 37.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceptance (56)  |  Alike (60)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Charge (63)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electron (96)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Mass (160)  |  Material (366)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Negative (66)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Positive (98)  |  Proton (23)  |  Series (153)  |  Simplification (20)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Two (936)  |  Universal (198)  |  Usually (176)  |  Whole (756)  |  World (1850)

Indeed, the aim of teaching [mathematics] should be rather to strengthen his [the pupil’s] faculties, and to supply a method of reasoning applicable to other subjects, than to furnish him with an instrument for solving practical problems.
In John Perry (ed.), Discussion on the Teaching of Mathematics (1901), 84. The discussion took place on 14 Sep 1901 at the British Association at Glasgow, during a joint meeting of the mathematics and physics sections with the education section. The proceedings began with an address by John Perry. Magnus spoke in the Discussion that followed.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Applicable (31)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Furnish (97)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  Other (2233)  |  Practical (225)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Solve (145)  |  Strengthen (25)  |  Subject (543)  |  Supply (100)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)

Indeed, the ideal for a well-functioning democratic state is like the ideal for a gentleman’s well-cut suit—it is not noticed. For the common people of Britain, Gestapo and concentration camps have approximately the same degree of reality as the monster of Loch Ness. Atrocity propaganda is helpless against this healthy lack of imagination.
In 'A Challenge to “Knights in Rusty Armor”', The New York Times (14 Feb 1943), Sunday Magazine, 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Atrocity (6)  |  Britain (26)  |  Camp (12)  |  Common (447)  |  Common People (2)  |  Concentration (29)  |  Cut (116)  |  Degree (277)  |  Democracy (36)  |  Democratic (12)  |  Gentleman (26)  |  Healthy (70)  |  Helpless (14)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Lack (127)  |  Loch Ness Monster (2)  |  Monster (33)  |  People (1031)  |  Propaganda (13)  |  Reality (274)  |  State (505)  |  Suit (12)

Indeed, the most important part of engineering work—and also of other scientific work—is the determination of the method of attacking the problem, whatever it may be, whether an experimental investigation, or a theoretical calculation. … It is by the choice of a suitable method of attack, that intricate problems are reduced to simple phenomena, and then easily solved.
In Engineering Mathematics: A Series of Lectures Delivered at Union College (1911, 1917), Vol. 2, 275.
Science quotes on:  |  Attack (86)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Choice (114)  |  Determination (80)  |  Ease (40)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Intricacy (8)  |  Intricate (29)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Method (531)  |  Most (1728)  |  Other (2233)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Problem (731)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Simple (426)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Suitability (11)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Work (1402)

Indeed, this epistemological theory of the relation between theory and experiment differs sharply from the epistemological theory of naive falsificationism.
In Radio Lecture (30 Jun 1973) broadcast by the Open University, collected in Imre Lakatos, John Worrall (ed.) and Gregory Currie (ed.), 'Introduction: Science and Pseudoscience', The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes (1978, 1980), Vol. 1, 35.
Science quotes on:  |  Differ (88)  |  Epistemological (2)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Falsification (11)  |  Naive (13)  |  Relation (166)  |  Sharply (4)  |  Theory (1015)

Indeed, we need not look back half a century to times which many now living remember well, and see the wonderful advances in the sciences and arts which have been made within that period. Some of these have rendered the elements themselves subservient to the purposes of man, have harnessed them to the yoke of his labors and effected the great blessings of moderating his own, of accomplishing what was beyond his feeble force, and extending the comforts of life to a much enlarged circle, to those who had before known its necessaries only.
From paper 'Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Fix the Site of the University of Virginia' (Dec 1818), reprinted in Annual Report of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia for the Fiscal Year Ending May 31, 1879 (1879), 10. Collected in Commonwealth of Virginia, Annual Reports of Officers, Boards, and Institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia, for the Year Ending September 30, 1879 (1879).
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Advance (298)  |  Art (680)  |  Back (395)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Blessing (26)  |  Blessings (17)  |  Century (319)  |  Circle (117)  |  Comfort (64)  |  Effect (414)  |  Element (322)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Feeble (28)  |  Force (497)  |  Great (1610)  |  Harness (25)  |  Known (453)  |  Labor (200)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Period (200)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Remember (189)  |  Render (96)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  See (1094)  |  Subservient (5)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Wonderful (155)  |  Yoke (3)

Indeed, while Nature is wonderfully inventive of new structures, her conservatism in holding on to old ones is still more remarkable. In the ascending line of development she tries an experiment once exceedingly thorough, and then the question is solved for all time. For she always takes time enough to try the experiment exhaustively. It took ages to find how to build a spinal column or brain, but when the experiment was finished she had reason to be, and was, satisfied.
In The Whence and Whither of Man; a Brief History of his Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; being the Morse Lectures of 1895. (1896), 173. The Morse lectureship was founded by Prof. Samuel F.B. Morse in 1865 at Union Theological Seminary, the lectures to deal with “the relation of the Bible to any of the sciences.”
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Brain (281)  |  Build (211)  |  Conservatism (3)  |  Development (441)  |  Enough (341)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Exhaustive (4)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finish (62)  |  Hold (96)  |  Inventive (10)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Old (499)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Solution (282)  |  Spinal Column (2)  |  Still (614)  |  Structure (365)  |  Thorough (40)  |  Time (1911)  |  Try (296)  |  Wonder (251)

Industrial Society is not merely one containing 'industry,' large-scale productive units capable of supplying man's material needs in a way which can eliminate poverty: it is also a society in which knowledge plays a part wholly different from that which it played in earlier social forms, and which indeed possesses a quite different type of knowledge. Modern science is inconceivable outside an industrial society: but modern industrial society is equally inconceivable without modern science. Roughly, science is the mode of cognition of industrial society, and industry is the ecology of science.
Thought and Change (1965), 179.
Science quotes on:  |  Capable (174)  |  Cognition (7)  |  Different (595)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Equally (129)  |  Form (976)  |  Industry (159)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Large (398)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  Merely (315)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Outside (141)  |  Poverty (40)  |  Productive (37)  |  Scale (122)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Type (171)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wholly (88)

Investigation may be likened to the long months of pregnancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it.
In Winberg Chai, The Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China (1972), 46.
Science quotes on:  |  Birth (154)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Long (778)  |  Month (91)  |  Pregnancy (9)  |  Problem (731)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solve (145)

Is what you are doing fun? Of course, physics is also fun—indeed it is an enjoyable way of life. One reason physics is fun is that each element of progress transforms an area of ignorance into knowledge, but it also creates, as a by-product, an amount of new and additional ignorance in excess of that which was reduced to understanding. Thus, the volume of delicious ignorance we produce is ever-expanding, like our exponentially exploding universe.
In 'Physics and the APS in 1979', Physics Today (Apr 1980), 33, No. 4, 50.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  By-Product (8)  |  Course (413)  |  Create (245)  |  Doing (277)  |  Element (322)  |  Enjoyment (37)  |  Excess (23)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Explosion (51)  |  Fun (42)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Life (1870)  |  New (1273)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Product (166)  |  Progress (492)  |  Reason (766)  |  Transform (74)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Way Of Life (15)

It behooves us always to remember that in physics it has taken great men to discover simple things. They are very great names indeed which we couple with the explanation of the path of a stone, the droop of a chain, the tints of a bubble, the shadows of a cup.
In On Growth and Form (1917).
Science quotes on:  |  Behoove (6)  |  Bubble (23)  |  Discover (571)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Great (1610)  |  Name (359)  |  Path (159)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Remember (189)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Simple (426)  |  Stone (168)  |  Thing (1914)

It has been asserted … that the power of observation is not developed by mathematical studies; while the truth is, that; from the most elementary mathematical notion that arises in the mind of a child to the farthest verge to which mathematical investigation has been pushed and applied, this power is in constant exercise. By observation, as here used, can only be meant the fixing of the attention upon objects (physical or mental) so as to note distinctive peculiarities—to recognize resemblances, differences, and other relations. Now the first mental act of the child recognizing the distinction between one and more than one, between one and two, two and three, etc., is exactly this. So, again, the first geometrical notions are as pure an exercise of this power as can be given. To know a straight line, to distinguish it from a curve; to recognize a triangle and distinguish the several forms—what are these, and all perception of form, but a series of observations? Nor is it alone in securing these fundamental conceptions of number and form that observation plays so important a part. The very genius of the common geometry as a method of reasoning—a system of investigation—is, that it is but a series of observations. The figure being before the eye in actual representation, or before the mind in conception, is so closely scrutinized, that all its distinctive features are perceived; auxiliary lines are drawn (the imagination leading in this), and a new series of inspections is made; and thus, by means of direct, simple observations, the investigation proceeds. So characteristic of common geometry is this method of investigation, that Comte, perhaps the ablest of all writers upon the philosophy of mathematics, is disposed to class geometry, as to its method, with the natural sciences, being based upon observation. Moreover, when we consider applied mathematics, we need only to notice that the exercise of this faculty is so essential, that the basis of all such reasoning, the very material with which we build, have received the name observations. Thus we might proceed to consider the whole range of the human faculties, and find for the most of them ample scope for exercise in mathematical studies. Certainly, the memory will not be found to be neglected. The very first steps in number—counting, the multiplication table, etc., make heavy demands on this power; while the higher branches require the memorizing of formulas which are simply appalling to the uninitiated. So the imagination, the creative faculty of the mind, has constant exercise in all original mathematical investigations, from the solution of the simplest problems to the discovery of the most recondite principle; for it is not by sure, consecutive steps, as many suppose, that we advance from the known to the unknown. The imagination, not the logical faculty, leads in this advance. In fact, practical observation is often in advance of logical exposition. Thus, in the discovery of truth, the imagination habitually presents hypotheses, and observation supplies facts, which it may require ages for the tardy reason to connect logically with the known. Of this truth, mathematics, as well as all other sciences, affords abundant illustrations. So remarkably true is this, that today it is seriously questioned by the majority of thinkers, whether the sublimest branch of mathematics,—the infinitesimal calculus—has anything more than an empirical foundation, mathematicians themselves not being agreed as to its logical basis. That the imagination, and not the logical faculty, leads in all original investigation, no one who has ever succeeded in producing an original demonstration of one of the simpler propositions of geometry, can have any doubt. Nor are induction, analogy, the scrutinization of premises or the search for them, or the balancing of probabilities, spheres of mental operations foreign to mathematics. No one, indeed, can claim preeminence for mathematical studies in all these departments of intellectual culture, but it may, perhaps, be claimed that scarcely any department of science affords discipline to so great a number of faculties, and that none presents so complete a gradation in the exercise of these faculties, from the first principles of the science to the farthest extent of its applications, as mathematics.
In 'Mathematics', in Henry Kiddle and Alexander J. Schem, The Cyclopedia of Education, (1877.) As quoted and cited in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 27-29.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundant (23)  |  Act (278)  |  Actual (118)  |  Advance (298)  |  Age (509)  |  Alone (324)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Appalling (10)  |  Application (257)  |  Applied (176)  |  Applied Mathematics (15)  |  Arise (162)  |  Assert (69)  |  Attention (196)  |  Auxiliary (11)  |  Basis (180)  |  Being (1276)  |  Branch (155)  |  Build (211)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Child (333)  |  Claim (154)  |  Class (168)  |  Common (447)  |  Complete (209)  |  Auguste Comte (24)  |  Conception (160)  |  Connect (126)  |  Consider (428)  |  Constant (148)  |  Count (107)  |  Counting (26)  |  Creative (144)  |  Culture (157)  |  Curve (49)  |  Demand (131)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Department (93)  |  Develop (278)  |  Difference (355)  |  Direct (228)  |  Discipline (85)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Distinctive (25)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Empirical (58)  |  Essential (210)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Extent (142)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Foreign (45)  |  Form (976)  |  Formula (102)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Genius (301)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Gradation (17)  |  Great (1610)  |  Human (1512)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Induction (81)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Infinitesimal Calculus (2)  |  Inspection (7)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Lead (391)  |  Logic (311)  |  Majority (68)  |  Material (366)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Memorize (4)  |  Memory (144)  |  Mental (179)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiplication (46)  |  Multiplication Table (16)  |  Name (359)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Neglect (63)  |  Neglected (23)  |  New (1273)  |  Notice (81)  |  Notion (120)  |  Number (710)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perception (97)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Power (771)  |  Practical (225)  |  Preeminence (3)  |  Premise (40)  |  Present (630)  |  Principle (530)  |  Problem (731)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Pure (299)  |  Push (66)  |  Question (649)  |  Range (104)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Recondite (8)  |  Representation (55)  |  Require (229)  |  Resemblance (39)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Scope (44)  |  Scrutinize (7)  |  Search (175)  |  Series (153)  |  Simple (426)  |  Solution (282)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Step (234)  |  Straight (75)  |  Straight Line (34)  |  Succeed (114)  |  Suppose (158)  |  System (545)  |  Table (105)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thinker (41)  |  Today (321)  |  Triangle (20)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Two (936)  |  Unknown (195)  |  Verge (10)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Writer (90)

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)  |  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)  |  Why (491)

It is a serious question whether America, following England’s lead, has not gone into problem-solving too extensively. Certain it is that we are producing no text-books in which the theory is presented in the delightful style which characterizes many of the French works … , or those of the recent Italian school, or, indeed, those of the continental writers in general.
In The Teaching of Elementary Mathematics (1902), 219.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Book (413)  |  Certain (557)  |  Characterize (22)  |  Continental (2)  |  Delightful (18)  |  England (43)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Follow (389)  |  French (21)  |  General (521)  |  Italian (13)  |  Lead (391)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Problem-Solving (3)  |  Produce (117)  |  Question (649)  |  Recent (78)  |  School (227)  |  Serious (98)  |  Style (24)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Textbook (39)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Work (1402)  |  Writer (90)

It is above all the duty of the methodical text-book to adapt itself to the pupil’s power of comprehension, only challenging his higher efforts with the increasing development of his imagination, his logical power and the ability of abstraction. This indeed constitutes a test of the art of teaching, it is here where pedagogic tact becomes manifest. In reference to the axioms, caution is necessary. It should be pointed out comparatively early, in how far the mathematical body differs from the material body. Furthermore, since mathematical bodies are really portions of space, this space is to be conceived as mathematical space and to be clearly distinguished from real or physical space. Gradually the student will become conscious that the portion of the real space which lies beyond the visible stellar universe is not cognizable through the senses, that we know nothing of its properties and consequently have no basis for judgments concerning it. Mathematical space, on the other hand, may be subjected to conditions, for instance, we may condition its properties at infinity, and these conditions constitute the axioms, say the Euclidean axioms. But every student will require years before the conviction of the truth of this last statement will force itself upon him.
In Methodisches Lehrbuch der Elementar-Mathemalik (1904), Teil I, Vorwort, 4-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Adapt (70)  |  Art (680)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Basis (180)  |  Become (821)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Body (557)  |  Book (413)  |  Caution (24)  |  Challenge (91)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Comparatively (8)  |  Comprehension (69)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Concern (239)  |  Condition (362)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Consequently (5)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Development (441)  |  Differ (88)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Distinguished (84)  |  Duty (71)  |  Early (196)  |  Effort (243)  |  Euclidean (3)  |  Far (158)  |  Force (497)  |  Furthermore (2)  |  Gradually (102)  |  High (370)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Increase (225)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Instance (33)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Lie (370)  |  Logical (57)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Material (366)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Methodical (8)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  On The Other Hand (40)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pedagogy (2)  |  Physical (518)  |  Point (584)  |  Portion (86)  |  Power (771)  |  Property (177)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Real (159)  |  Really (77)  |  Reference (33)  |  Require (229)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Space (523)  |  Statement (148)  |  Stellar (4)  |  Student (317)  |  Subject (543)  |  Tact (8)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Teaching of Mathematics (39)  |  Test (221)  |  Text-Book (5)  |  Through (846)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

It is evident that certain genes which either initially or ultimately have beneficial effects may at the same time produce characters of a non-adaptive type, which will therefore be established with them. Such characters may sometimes serve most easily to distinguish different races or species; indeed, they may be the only ones ordinarily available, when the advantages with which they are associated are of a physiological nature. Further, it may happen that the chain of reactions which a gene sets going is of advantage, while the end-product to which this gives rise, say a character in a juvenile or the adult stage, is of no adaptive significance.
Mendelism and Evolution (1931), 78-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Advantage (144)  |  Available (80)  |  Certain (557)  |  Character (259)  |  Different (595)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Effect (414)  |  End (603)  |  Evident (92)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Gene (105)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Happen (282)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Physiological (64)  |  Product (166)  |  Race (278)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Rise (169)  |  Say (989)  |  Set (400)  |  Significance (114)  |  Species (435)  |  Stage (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Type (171)  |  Ultimately (56)  |  Will (2350)

It is indeed an Opinion strangely prevailing amongst Men, that Houses, Mountains, Rivers, and in a word all sensible Objects have an Existence Natural or Real, distinct from their being perceived by the Understanding. But with how great an Assurance and Acquiescence soever this Principle may be entertained in the World; yet whoever shall find in his Heart to call it in Question, may, if I mistake not, perceive it to involve a manifest Contradiction. For what are the forementioned Objects but the things we perceive by Sense, and what do we perceive besides our own Ideas or Sensations; and is it not plainly repugnant that anyone of these or any Combination of them should exist unperceived?
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge [first published 1710], (1734),38.
Science quotes on:  |  Assurance (17)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Combination (150)  |  Contradiction (69)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Do (1905)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Exist (458)  |  Existence (481)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Heart (243)  |  House (143)  |  Idea (881)  |  Involve (93)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Natural (810)  |  Object (438)  |  Observation (593)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Principle (530)  |  Question (649)  |  Repugnant (8)  |  River (140)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Sense (785)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Whoever (42)  |  Word (650)  |  World (1850)

It is known that the mathematics prescribed for the high school [Gymnasien] is essentially Euclidean, while it is modern mathematics, the theory of functions and the infinitesimal calculus, which has secured for us an insight into the mechanism and laws of nature. Euclidean mathematics is indeed, a prerequisite for the theory of functions, but just as one, though he has learned the inflections of Latin nouns and verbs, will not thereby be enabled to read a Latin author much less to appreciate the beauties of a Horace, so Euclidean mathematics, that is the mathematics of the high school, is unable to unlock nature and her laws.
In Die Mathematik die Fackelträgerin einer neuen Zeit (1889), 37-38. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 112.
Science quotes on:  |  Appreciate (67)  |  Author (175)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Enable (122)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Function (235)  |  High (370)  |  High School (15)  |  Horace (12)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Inflection (4)  |  Insight (107)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Latin (44)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Less (105)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Mathematics (50)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Noun (6)  |  Prerequisite (9)  |  Prescribe (11)  |  Read (308)  |  School (227)  |  Secure (23)  |  Secured (18)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Unable (25)  |  Unlock (12)  |  Verb (4)  |  Will (2350)

It is not, indeed, strange that the Greeks and Romans should not have carried ... any ... experimental science, so far as it has been carried in our time; for the experimental sciences are generally in a state of progression. They were better understood in the seventeenth century than in the sixteenth, and in the eighteenth century than in the seventeenth. But this constant improvement, this natural growth of knowledge, will not altogether account for the immense superiority of the modern writers. The difference is a difference not in degree, but of kind. It is not merely that new principles have been discovered, but that new faculties seem to be exerted. It is not that at one time the human intellect should have made but small progress, and at another time have advanced far; but that at one time it should have been stationary, and at another time constantly proceeding. In taste and imagination, in the graces of style, in the arts of persuasion, in the magnificence of public works, the ancients were at least our equals. They reasoned as justly as ourselves on subjects which required pure demonstration.
History (May 1828). In Samuel Austin Allibone, Prose Quotations from Socrates to Macaulay (1880), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  16th Century (3)  |  17th Century (20)  |  18th Century (21)  |  Account (195)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Art (680)  |  Better (493)  |  Century (319)  |  Constant (148)  |  Degree (277)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Difference (355)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Exert (40)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Faculty (76)  |  Grace (31)  |  Greek (109)  |  Growth (200)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Intellect (32)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Immense (89)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Kind (564)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Magnificence (14)  |  Merely (315)  |  Modern (402)  |  Natural (810)  |  New (1273)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Persuasion (9)  |  Principle (530)  |  Proceeding (38)  |  Progress (492)  |  Progression (23)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reason (766)  |  Required (108)  |  Roman (39)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Small (489)  |  State (505)  |  Stationary (11)  |  Strange (160)  |  Subject (543)  |  Superiority (19)  |  Taste (93)  |  Time (1911)  |  Understood (155)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Writer (90)

It is obvious that man dwells in a splendid universe, a magnificent expanse of earth and sky and heaven, which manifestly is built on a majestic plan, maintains some mighty design, though man himself cannot grasp it. Yet for him it is not a pleasant or satisfying world. In his few moments of respite from labor or from his enemies, he dreams that this very universe might indeed be perfect, its laws operating just as now they seem to do, and yet he and it somehow be in full accord. The very ease with which he can frame this image to himself makes the reality all the more mocking. ... It is only too clear that man is not at home in this universe, and yet he is not good enough to deserve a better.
In The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (1939, 1954), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Accord (36)  |  Better (493)  |  Clear (111)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Design (203)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Dwelling (12)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Ease (40)  |  Enemy (86)  |  Enough (341)  |  Expanse (6)  |  Frame (26)  |  Good (906)  |  Grasp (65)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Himself (461)  |  Home (184)  |  Image (97)  |  Labor (200)  |  Law (913)  |  Magnificent (46)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Majestic (17)  |  Man (2252)  |  Manifestly (11)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mocking (4)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Operating (4)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Plan (122)  |  Pleasant (22)  |  Reality (274)  |  Satisfying (5)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sky (174)  |  Somehow (48)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Universe (900)  |  World (1850)

It is often the scientist’s experience that he senses the nearness of truth when … connections are envisioned. A connection is a step toward simplification, unification. Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.
In Toward the Habit of Truth (1990).
Science quotes on:  |  Beauty (313)  |  Connection (171)  |  Criterion (28)  |  Envision (3)  |  Experience (494)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Simplification (20)  |  Step (234)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unification (11)

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

It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, of a rich country inhabited by starving people… Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every turn we have to seek its aid … the future belongs to science and those who make friends with science.
From address to the Indian Science Congress (26 Dec 1937). As cited in M.J. Vinod and Meena Deshpande, Contemporary Political Theory (2013), 507. An earlier, longer version of the quote is in Atma Ram, 'The Making of Optical Glass in India: Its Lessons for Industrial Development', Proceedings of the National Institute of Sciences of India (1961), 27, 564-5.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Alone (324)  |  Belong (168)  |  Country (269)  |  Custom (44)  |  Friend (180)  |  Future (467)  |  Hunger (23)  |  Ignore (52)  |  Illiteracy (8)  |  Insanitation (2)  |  People (1031)  |  Poverty (40)  |  Problem (731)  |  Resource (74)  |  Running (61)  |  Sanitation (6)  |  Seek (218)  |  Solve (145)  |  Superstition (70)  |  Today (321)  |  Tradition (76)  |  Turn (454)  |  Vast (188)  |  Waste (109)  |  Wealth (100)

It is, however, a most astonishing but incontestable fact, that the history of the evolution of man as yet constitutes no part of general education. Indeed, our so-called “educated classes” are to this day in total ignorance of the most important circumstances and the most remarkable phenomena which Anthropogeny has brought to light.
From Oliver Joseph Thatcher, The Library Of Original Sources (1907), 345.
Science quotes on:  |  Astonishing (29)  |  Astonishment (30)  |  Call (781)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Education (423)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Fact (1257)  |  General (521)  |  History (716)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Importance (299)  |  Light (635)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Remarkable (50)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Total (95)

It may seem rash indeed to draw conclusions valid for the whole universe from what we can see from the small corner to which we are confined. Who knows that the whole visible universe is not like a drop of water at the surface of the earth? Inhabitants of that drop of water, as small relative to it as we are relative to the Milky Way, could not possibly imagine that beside the drop of water there might be a piece of iron or a living tissue, in which the properties of matter are entirely different.
Space and Time (1926), 227.
Science quotes on:  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Corner (59)  |  Different (595)  |  Draw (140)  |  Drop (77)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Iron (99)  |  Know (1538)  |  Living (492)  |  Matter (821)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Properties Of Matter (7)  |  Rash (15)  |  See (1094)  |  Small (489)  |  Surface (223)  |  Surface Of The Earth (36)  |  Tissue (51)  |  Universe (900)  |  Visible (87)  |  Water (503)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)

It must … be admitted that very simple relations … exist between the volumes of gaseous substances and the numbers of simple or compound molecules which form them. The first hypothesis to present itself in this connection, and apparently even the only admissible one, is the supposition that the number of integral molecules in any gases is always the same for equal volumes, or always proportional to the volumes. Indeed, if we were to suppose that the number of molecules contained in a given volume were different for different gases, it would scarcely be possible to conceive that the law regulating the distance of molecules could give in all cases relations so simple as those which the facts just detailed compel us to acknowledge between the volume and the number of molecules.
In 'Essay on a Manner of Determining the Relative Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies, and the Proportions in which they enter into these Compounds', Journal de Physique, 1811, 73, 58-76. In Foundations of the Molecular Theory; Alembic Club Reprints, Number 4 (1923), 28-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Acknowledge (33)  |  Admissible (6)  |  Compel (31)  |  Compound (117)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Connection (171)  |  Detail (150)  |  Different (595)  |  Distance (171)  |  Exist (458)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Gas (89)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Integral (26)  |  Law (913)  |  Molecule (185)  |  Must (1525)  |  Number (710)  |  Possible (560)  |  Present (630)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Simple (426)  |  Substance (253)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Supposition (50)

It often happens that men, even of the best understandings and greatest circumspection, are guilty of that fault in reasoning which the writers on logick call the insufficient, or imperfect enumeration of parts, or cases: insomuch that I will venture to assert, that this is the chief, and almost the only, source of the vast number of erroneous opinions, and those too very often in matters of great importance, which we are apt to form on all the subjects we reflect upon, whether they relate to the knowledge of nature, or the merits and motives of human actions. It must therefore be acknowledged, that the art which affords a cure to this weakness, or defect, of our understandings, and teaches us to enumerate all the possible ways in which a given number of things may be mixed and combined together, that we may be certain that we have not omitted anyone arrangement of them that can lead to the object of our inquiry, deserves to be considered as most eminently useful and worthy of our highest esteem and attention. And this is the business of the art, or doctrine of combinations ... It proceeds indeed upon mathematical principles in calculating the number of the combinations of the things proposed: but by the conclusions that are obtained by it, the sagacity of the natural philosopher, the exactness of the historian, the skill and judgement of the physician, and the prudence and foresight of the politician, may be assisted; because the business of all these important professions is but to form reasonable conjectures concerning the several objects which engage their attention, and all wise conjectures are the results of a just and careful examination of the several different effects that may possibly arise from the causes that are capable of producing them.
Ars conjectandi (1713). In F. Maseres, The Doctrine of Permutations and Combinations (1795), 36.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Arise (162)  |  Arrangement (93)  |  Art (680)  |  Assert (69)  |  Attention (196)  |  Best (467)  |  Business (156)  |  Call (781)  |  Capable (174)  |  Cause (561)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chief (99)  |  Circumspection (5)  |  Combination (150)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Consider (428)  |  Cure (124)  |  Defect (31)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Different (595)  |  Effect (414)  |  Engage (41)  |  Erroneous (31)  |  Error (339)  |  Exactness (29)  |  Examination (102)  |  Fault (58)  |  Form (976)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Happen (282)  |  Historian (59)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Importance (299)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merit (51)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motive (62)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Object (438)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physician (284)  |  Politician (40)  |  Possible (560)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Principle (530)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Profession (108)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Result (700)  |  Sagacity (11)  |  Skill (116)  |  Subject (543)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Useful (260)  |  Vast (188)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weakness (50)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wise (143)  |  Writer (90)

It were indeed to be wish’d that our art had been less ingenious, in contriving means destructive to mankind; we mean those instruments of war, which were unknown to the ancients, and have made such havoc among the moderns. But as men have always been bent on seeking each other’s destruction by continual wars; and as force, when brought against us, can only be repelled by force; the chief support of war, must, after money, be now sought in chemistry.
A New Method of Chemistry, 3rd edition (1753), Vol. I, trans. P. Shaw, 189-90.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Art (680)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Chief (99)  |  Continual (44)  |  Destruction (135)  |  Force (497)  |  Havoc (7)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Modern (402)  |  Money (178)  |  Must (1525)  |  Other (2233)  |  Support (151)  |  Unknown (195)  |  War (233)  |  Wish (216)

It would indeed be a great delusion, if we stated that those sports of Nature [we find] enclosed in rocks are there by chance or by some vague creative power. Ah, that would be superficial indeed! In reality, those shells, which once were alive in water and are now dead and decomposed, were made thus by time not Nature; and what we now find as very hard, figured stone, was once soft mud and which received the impression of the shape of a shell, as I have frequently demonstrated.
La vana speculazione disingannata del senso (1670), trans. Ezio Vaccari, 83-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Chance (244)  |  Creation (350)  |  Creative (144)  |  Dead (65)  |  Decomposition (19)  |  Delusion (26)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hard (246)  |  Impression (118)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mud (26)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Power (771)  |  Reality (274)  |  Rock (176)  |  Shape (77)  |  Shell (69)  |  Soft (30)  |  Sport (23)  |  Stone (168)  |  Superficial (12)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vague (50)  |  Water (503)

Know thyself! This is the source of all wisdom, said the great thinkers of the past, and the sentence was written in golden letters on the temple of the gods. To know himself, Linnæus declared to be the essential indisputable distinction of man above all other creatures. I know, indeed, in study nothing more worthy of free and thoughtful man than the study of himself. For if we look for the purpose of our existence, we cannot possibly find it outside ourselves. We are here for our own sake.
As translated and quoted in Ernst Haeckel and E. Ray Lankester (trans.) as epigraph for Chap. 9, The History of Creation (1886), Vol. 1, 244.
Science quotes on:  |  Creature (242)  |  Declare (48)  |  Declared (24)  |  Distinction (72)  |  Essential (210)  |  Existence (481)  |  Find (1014)  |  Free (239)  |  God (776)  |  Golden (47)  |  Great (1610)  |  Himself (461)  |  Indisputable (8)  |  Know (1538)  |  Letter (117)  |  Carolus Linnaeus (36)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Outside (141)  |  Past (355)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Sake (61)  |  Sentence (35)  |  Source (101)  |  Study (701)  |  Temple (45)  |  Thinker (41)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Thyself (2)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Writing (192)

Knowledge and wisdom are indeed not identical; and every man’s experience must have taught him that there may be much knowledge with little wisdom, and much wisdom with little knowledge. But with imperfect knowledge it is difficult or impossible to arrive at right conclusions. Many of the vices, many of the miseries, many of the follies and absurdities by which human society has been infested and disgraced may be traced to a want of knowledge.
Presidential Address to Anniversary meeting of the Royal Society (30 Nov 1859), Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1860), 10, 163.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurdity (34)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Disgrace (12)  |  Experience (494)  |  Folly (44)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Society (14)  |  Identical (55)  |  Imperfect (46)  |  Imperfection (32)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lack (127)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Misery (31)  |  Must (1525)  |  Right (473)  |  Society (350)  |  Vice (42)  |  Want (504)  |  Wisdom (235)

Kurt Gödel’s achievement in modern logic is singular and monumental—indeed it is more than a monument, it is a landmark which will remain visible far in space and time. … The subject of logic has certainly completely changed its nature and possibilities with Gödel's achievement.
From remarks at the Presentation (Mar 1951) of the Albert Einstein Award to Dr. Gödel, as quoted in 'Tribute to Dr. Gödel', in Jack J. Bulloff, ‎Thomas C. Holyok (eds.), Foundations of Mathematics: Symposium Papers Commemorating the Sixtieth Birthday of Kurt Gödel (1969), ix. https://books.google.com/books?id=irZLAAAAMAAJ Kurt Gödel, ‎Jack J. Bulloff, ‎Thomas C. Holyoke - 1969 -
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Change (639)  |  Completely (137)  |  Kurt Gödel (8)  |  Landmark (9)  |  Logic (311)  |  Modern (402)  |  Monument (45)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Remain (355)  |  Singular (24)  |  Space (523)  |  Space And Time (38)  |  Subject (543)  |  Time (1911)  |  Visible (87)  |  Will (2350)

Land that is left wholly to nature, that has no improvement of pasturage, tillage, or planting, is called, as indeed it is, “waste”.
In John Locke and Thomas Preston Peardon (ed.), The Second Treatise of Civil Government: An Essay Concerning the True Original, Extent and End of Civil Government (Dec 1689, 1952), 25.
Science quotes on:  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Call (781)  |  Ecology (81)  |  Improvement (117)  |  Land (131)  |  Leave (138)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Pasture (15)  |  Planting (4)  |  Tillage (3)  |  Waste (109)  |  Wholly (88)

Laplace considers astronomy a science of observation, because we can only observe the movements of the planets; we cannot reach them, indeed, to alter their course and to experiment with them. “On earth,” said Laplace, “we make phenomena vary by experiments; in the sky, we carefully define all the phenomena presented to us by celestial motion.” Certain physicians call medicine a science of observations, because they wrongly think that experimentation is inapplicable to it.
From An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865), as translated by Henry Copley Greene (1957), 18. A footnote cites Laplace, Système du monde, Chap. 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Call (781)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Celestial (53)  |  Certain (557)  |  Consider (428)  |  Course (413)  |  Defining (3)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimentation (7)  |  Inapplicable (2)  |  Pierre-Simon Laplace (63)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Motion (320)  |  Movement (162)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physician (284)  |  Planet (402)  |  Present (630)  |  Reach (286)  |  Sky (174)  |  Think (1122)  |  Variation (93)  |  Wrongly (2)

Let me suggest to you a simple test one can apply to scientific activities to determine whether or not they can constitute the practice of physics. Is what you are doing beautiful? Many beautiful things are created without the use of physical knowledge, but I know of no really worthwhile physics that isn’t beautiful. Indeed, one of the most distressing symptoms of scientific illiteracy is the impression so often given to school children that science is a mechanistic activity subject to algorithmic description.
In 'Physics and the APS in 1979', Physics Today (Apr 1980), 33, No. 4, 50.
Science quotes on:  |  Activity (218)  |  Algorithm (5)  |  Apply (170)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Children (201)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Determine (152)  |  Doing (277)  |  Illiteracy (8)  |  Impression (118)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Most (1728)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Practice (212)  |  School (227)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Illiteracy (8)  |  Simple (426)  |  Subject (543)  |  Symptom (38)  |  Test (221)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Use (771)  |  Worthwhile (18)

Lives with no more sense of spiritual meaning than that provided by shopping malls, ordinary television, and stagnant workplaces are barren lives indeed.
Quoted in Kim Lim (ed.), 1,001 Pearls of Spiritual Wisdom: Words to Enrich, Inspire, and Guide Your Life (2014), 29
Science quotes on:  |  Barren (33)  |  Live (650)  |  Mall (2)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Provide (79)  |  Sense (785)  |  Shop (11)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Stagnant (4)  |  Television (33)  |  Workplace (2)

M. Waldman … concluded with a panegyric upon modern chemistry…:— “The ancient teachers of this science” said he, “Promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted and that the elixir of life is a chimera. But these philosophers seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding-places. They ascend into the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.”
In Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (1823), Vol. 1, 73-74. Webmaster note: In the novel, when the fictional characters meet, M. Waldman, professor of chemistry, sparks Victor Frankenstein’s interest in science. Shelley was age 20 when the first edition of the novel was published anonymously (1818).
Science quotes on:  |  Air (366)  |  Alchemist (23)  |  Ancient (198)  |  Ascend (30)  |  Blood (144)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Chimera (10)  |  Command (60)  |  Crucible (8)  |  Dabble (2)  |  Dirt (17)  |  Discover (571)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Elixir (6)  |  Elixir Of Life (2)  |  Eye (440)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hiding (12)  |  Invisible (66)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Little (717)  |  Master (182)  |  Metal (88)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Mimic (2)  |  Miracle (85)  |  Mock (7)  |  Modern (402)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Perform (123)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Promise (72)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Show (353)  |  Teacher (154)  |  Thunder (21)  |  Transmutation (24)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Man is the Reasoning Animal. Such is the claim. I think it is open to dispute. Indeed, my experiments have proven to me that he is the Unreasoning Animal. … It seems plain to me that whatever he is he is not a reasoning animal. His record is the fantastic record of a maniac. I consider that the strongest count against his intelligence is the fact that with that record back of him he blandly sets himself up as the head animal of the lot: whereas by his own standards he is the bottom one.
In truth, man is incurably foolish. Simple things which the other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning. Among my experiments was this. In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends. I put them in a cage. In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit. In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves. Finally a monkey. They lived together in peace; even affectionately.
Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen. Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping. Then I stayed away two whole days. When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh—not a specimen left alive. These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.
In Mark Twain and Bernard DeVoto (ed.), Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings (1962), 180-181. [Note: As a humorous, irreverent consideration of Man and Christianity, these essays (written c.1909) remained unpublished for over 50 years after Twain’s death (1910), because his daughter and literary executor (Clara Clemens Samossoud) felt that some of the pieces did not accurately represent her father’s beliefs, but eventually, she consented to their publication.]
Science quotes on:  |  Aberdeen (2)  |  Against (332)  |  Alive (97)  |  Animal (651)  |  Arkansas (2)  |  Army (35)  |  Back (395)  |  Bone (101)  |  Bottom (36)  |  Brahman (2)  |  Buddhist (5)  |  Cage (12)  |  Cat (52)  |  Catholic (18)  |  Chaos (99)  |  China (27)  |  Christian (44)  |  Claim (154)  |  Consider (428)  |  Count (107)  |  Course (413)  |  Court (35)  |  Detail (150)  |  Disagreed (4)  |  Disagreement (14)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Dog (70)  |  Dove (3)  |  End (603)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fantastic (21)  |  Flesh (28)  |  Fool (121)  |  Foolish (41)  |  Fox (9)  |  Friend (180)  |  Goose (13)  |  Greek (109)  |  Himself (461)  |  History (716)  |  Hour (192)  |  Incapable (41)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Ireland (8)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learning (291)  |  Lot (151)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Methodist (2)  |  Monkey (57)  |  Next (238)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Peace (116)  |  Proof (304)  |  Rabbit (10)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Record (161)  |  Result (700)  |  Right (473)  |  Salvation (13)  |  Scotland (6)  |  Set (400)  |  Simple (426)  |  Soon (187)  |  Specimen (32)  |  Squirrel (11)  |  Strongest (38)  |  Tame (4)  |  Theology (54)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Together (392)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Turban (2)  |  Two (936)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wild (96)

Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he may be into the bargain, is simply the most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species.
From 'Remarks at The Peace Banquet' (7 Oct 1904), Boston, on the closing day of the World’s Peace Congress. Printed in Atlantic Monthly (Dec 1904), 845-846. Collected in Essays in Religion and Morality (1982), Vol. 9, 121.
Science quotes on:  |  Bargain (5)  |  Beast (58)  |  Biological (137)  |  Consider (428)  |  Formidable (8)  |  Man (2252)  |  Most (1728)  |  Prey (13)  |  Species (435)  |  Systematic (58)  |  Whatever (234)

Man, so far as natural science by itself is able to teach us, is no longer the final cause of the universe, the heaven-descended heir of all the ages. His very existence is an accident, his story a brief and discreditable episode in the life of one of the meanest of the planets. Of the combination of causes which first converted a piece or pieces of unorganised jelly into the living progenitors of humanity, science indeed, as yet, knows nothing.
In 'The Religion of Humanity', Essays and Addresses by the Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour (1893), 307.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Age (509)  |  Brief (37)  |  Cause (561)  |  Combination (150)  |  Convert (22)  |  Descend (49)  |  Descended (2)  |  Discredit (8)  |  Episode (5)  |  Existence (481)  |  Final (121)  |  First (1302)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heir (12)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Jelly (6)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Planet (402)  |  Progenitor (5)  |  Story (122)  |  Teach (299)  |  Universe (900)

Mathematical studies … when combined, as they now generally are, with a taste for physical science, enlarge infinitely our views of the wisdom and power displayed in the universe. The very intimate connexion indeed, which, since the date of the Newtonian philosophy, has existed between the different branches of mathematical and physical knowledge, renders such a character as that of a mere mathematician a very rare and scarcely possible occurrence.
In Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1827), Vol. 3, Chap. 1, Sec. 3, 184.
Science quotes on:  |  Branch (155)  |  Character (259)  |  Connection (171)  |  Different (595)  |  Display (59)  |  Enlarge (37)  |  Exist (458)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mere (86)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Occurrence (53)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Science (104)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Rare (94)  |  Render (96)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  Taste (93)  |  Universe (900)  |  View (496)  |  Wisdom (235)

Mathematicians attach great importance to the elegance of their methods and their results. This is not pure dilettantism. What is it indeed that gives us the feeling of elegance in a solution, in a demonstration? It is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details. But this is exactly what yields great results, in fact the more we see this aggregate clearly and at a single glance, the better we perceive its analogies with other neighboring objects, consequently the more chances we have of divining the possible generalizations. Elegance may produce the feeling of the unforeseen by the unexpected meeting of objects we are not accustomed to bring together; there again it is fruitful, since it thus unveils for us kinships before unrecognized. It is fruitful even when it results only from the contrast between the simplicity of the means and the complexity of the problem set; it makes us then think of the reason for this contrast and very often makes us see that chance is not the reason; that it is to be found in some unexpected law. In a word, the feeling of mathematical elegance is only the satisfaction due to any adaptation of the solution to the needs of our mind, and it is because of this very adaptation that this solution can be for us an instrument. Consequently this esthetic satisfaction is bound up with the economy of thought.
In 'The Future of Mathematics', Monist, 20, 80. Translated from the French by George Bruce Halsted.
Science quotes on:  |  Accustom (52)  |  Accustomed (46)  |  Adaptation (59)  |  Aesthetic (48)  |  Aggregate (24)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Attach (57)  |  Balance (82)  |  Better (493)  |  Both (496)  |  Bound (120)  |  Chance (244)  |  Complexity (121)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Contrast (45)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Detail (150)  |  Dilettante (2)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Due (143)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Ensemble (8)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Glance (36)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happy (108)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Importance (299)  |  Instrument (158)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Meeting (22)  |  Method (531)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Neighboring (5)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Permit (61)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  See (1094)  |  Set (400)  |  Simplicity (175)  |  Single (365)  |  Solution (282)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Together (392)  |  Unexpected (55)  |  Unforeseen (11)  |  Unity (81)  |  Word (650)  |  Yield (86)

Mathematics is indeed dangerous in that it absorbs students to such a degree that it dulls their senses to everything else.
While a student, an observation made about his teacher, Professor Karl Schellbach. Quoted, without citation, in Howard W. Eves, Mathematical Circles Adieu, (1977).
Science quotes on:  |  Absorb (54)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Degree (277)  |  Dull (58)  |  Everything (489)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Sense (785)  |  Student (317)

Mathematics is much more than a language for dealing with the physical world. It is a source of models and abstractions which will enable us to obtain amazing new insights into the way in which nature operates. Indeed, the beauty and elegance of the physical laws themselves are only apparent when expressed in the appropriate mathematical framework.
In Principles of Electrodynamics (1972, 1987), 105.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Amazing (35)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Appropriate (61)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Enable (122)  |  Express (192)  |  Framework (33)  |  Insight (107)  |  Language (308)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Model (106)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physical Law (15)  |  Physical World (30)  |  Source (101)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Mathematics pursues its own course unrestrained, not indeed with an unbridled licence which submits to no laws, but rather with the freedom which is determined by its own nature and in conformity with its own being.
In Die Entwickelung der Mathematik in den letzten Jahrhunderten (1869), 20. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-book (1914), 12. From the original German, “Die Mathematik folgt frei ihren eigenen Bahnen; zwar nicht mit der zügellosen Freiheit, die keinen Gesetzen unterliegt, sondern mit der Freiheit, die sich aus ihrer Natur heraus und mit ihr in Uebereinstimmung selbst determinirt.”
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Conformity (15)  |  Course (413)  |  Determine (152)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Law (913)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Pursue (63)  |  Submit (21)  |  Unrestrained (4)

Mathematics, indeed, is the very example of brevity, whether it be in the shorthand rule of the circle, c = πd, or in that fruitful formula of analysis, e = -1, —a formula which fuses together four of the most important concepts of the science,—the logarithmic base, the transcendental ratio π, and the imaginary and negative units.
In 'The Poetry of Mathematics', The Mathematics Teacher (May 1926), 19, No. 5, 293.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Base (120)  |  Brevity (8)  |  Circle (117)  |  Circumference (23)  |  Concept (242)  |  Example (98)  |  Formula (102)  |  Fruitful (61)  |  Fuse (5)  |  Imaginary (16)  |  Important (229)  |  Logarithm (12)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Negative (66)  |  Pi (14)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Rule (307)  |  Shorthand (5)  |  Together (392)  |  Transcendental (11)  |  Unit (36)

Mathematics, too, is a language, and as concerns its structure and content it is the most perfect language which exists, superior to any vernacular; indeed, since it is understood by every people, mathematics may be called the language of languages. Through it, as it were, nature herself speaks; through it the Creator of the world has spoken, and through it the Preserver of the world continues to speak.
In Die Mathematik die Fackeltragerin einer neutn Zeit (1889), 5. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 194. From the original German, “Denn auch die Mathematik ist eine Sprache, und zwar nach Bau und Inhalt die vollkommenste Sprache, die es giebt, höher als jede Volkssprache; ja, weil alle Völker sie verstehen, kann sie die Sprache der Sprachen heißen. In ihr spricht sozusagen die Natur selbst, in ihr hat der Schöpfer der Welt geredet und in ihr redet noch immer ihr Erhalter.”
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Concern (239)  |  Content (75)  |  Continue (179)  |  Creator (97)  |  Exist (458)  |  Language (308)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  People (1031)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Speak (240)  |  Structure (365)  |  Superior (88)  |  Through (846)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understood (155)  |  World (1850)

Men of Science. If they are worthy of the name they are indeed about God's path and about his bed and spying out all his ways.
Samuel Butler, Henry Festing Jones (ed.), The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1917), 219.
Science quotes on:  |  Bed (25)  |  God (776)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Name (359)  |  Path (159)  |  Spy (9)  |  Way (1214)  |  Worth (172)

Men today who have had an irreproachable training in the art are seen to abstain from the use of the hand as from the plague, and for this very reason, lest they should be slandered by the masters of the profession as barbers… . For it is indeed above all things the wide prevalence of this hateful error that prevents us even in our age from taking up the healing art as a whole, makes us confine ourselves merely to the treatment of internal complaints, and, if I may utter the blunt truth once for all, causes us, to the great detriment of mankind, to study to be healers only in a very limited degree.
As given in George I. Schwartz and ‎Philip W. Bishop, 'Andreas Vesalius', Moments of Discovery: The Development of Modern Science (1958), Vol. 1, 521.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstain (7)  |  Age (509)  |  Art (680)  |  Barber (5)  |  Blunt (5)  |  Cause (561)  |  Complaint (13)  |  Degree (277)  |  Detriment (3)  |  Error (339)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hand (149)  |  Healer (3)  |  Healing (28)  |  Internal (69)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Master (182)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Merely (315)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Plague (42)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Profession (108)  |  Reason (766)  |  Slander (3)  |  Study (701)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Today (321)  |  Training (92)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wide (97)

Modern Science has along with the theory that the Earth dated its beginning with the advent of man, swept utterly away this beautiful imagining. We can, indeed, find no beginning of the world. We trace back events and come to barriers which close our vistabarriers which, for all we know, may for ever close it. They stand like the gates of ivory and of horn; portals from which only dreams proceed; and Science cannot as yet say of this or that dream if it proceeds from the gate of horn or from that of ivory.
In short, of the Earth's origin we have no certain knowledge; nor can we assign any date to it. Possibly its formation was an event so gradual that the beginning was spread over immense periods. We can only trace the history back to certain events which may with considerable certainty be regarded as ushering in our geological era.
John Joly
Lecture at the Royal Dublin Society, 6 Feb 1914. Published in Science Progress, Vol. 9, 37. Republished in The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays, (1915), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Back (395)  |  Barrier (34)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Certain (557)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Dream (222)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Era (51)  |  Event (222)  |  Find (1014)  |  Formation (100)  |  Gate (33)  |  History (716)  |  Horn (18)  |  Immense (89)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Science (55)  |  Origin (250)  |  Period (200)  |  Portal (9)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Regard (312)  |  Say (989)  |  Short (200)  |  Spread (86)  |  Stand (284)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Trace (109)  |  World (1850)

Mountains have been formed by one [or other] of the causes of the formation of stone, most probably from agglutinative clay which slowly dried and petrified during ages of which we have no record. It seems likely that this habitable world was in former days uninhabitable and, indeed, submerged beneath the ocean. Then, becoming exposed little by little, it petrified in the course of ages.
Avicenna
Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidium (1021-23), trans. E. J. Hohnyard and D. C. Mandeville (1927), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Beneath (68)  |  Cause (561)  |  Course (413)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Form (976)  |  Formation (100)  |  Former (138)  |  Little (717)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Ocean (216)  |  Other (2233)  |  Petrification (5)  |  Record (161)  |  Stone (168)  |  World (1850)

My Opinion is this—that deep Thinking is attainable only by a man of deep Feeling, and that all Truth is a species of Revelation. The more I understand of Sir Isaac Newton’s works, the more boldly I dare utter to my own mind … that I believe the Souls of 500 Sir Isaac Newtons would go to the making up of a Shakspere [sic] or a Milton… Mind in his system is always passive—a lazy Looker-on on an external World. If the mind be not passive, if it be indeed made in God's Image, & that too in the sublimest sense—the image of the Creator—there is ground for suspicion, that any system built on the passiveness of the mind must be false, as a system.
Letter to Thomas Poole, 23 March 1801. In Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), The Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1956), Vol. 2, 709.
Science quotes on:  |  Creator (97)  |  Dare (55)  |  Deep (241)  |  Feeling (259)  |  God (776)  |  Ground (222)  |  Image (97)  |  Making (300)  |  Man (2252)  |  John Milton (31)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Revelation (51)  |  Sense (785)  |  William Shakespeare (109)  |  Soul (235)  |  Species (435)  |  Suspicion (36)  |  System (545)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understand (648)  |  Work (1402)  |  World (1850)

Natural Magick is taken to be nothing else, but the chief power of all the natural Sciences; which therefore they call the top and perfection of Natural Philosophy, and which is indeed the active part of the same; which by the assistance of natural forces and faculties, through their mutual & opportune application, performs those things that are above Humane Reason.
In The Vanity of the Arts and Sciences (1530), translation (1676), 110.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Application (257)  |  Assistance (23)  |  Call (781)  |  Chief (99)  |  Force (497)  |  Humane (19)  |  Magic (92)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Forces (6)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Perform (123)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Power (771)  |  Reason (766)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Top (100)

Nature has but one plan of operation, invariably the same in the smallest things as well as in the largest, and so often do we see the smallest masses selected for use in Nature, that even enormous ones are built up solely by fitting these together. Indeed, all Nature’s efforts are devoted to uniting the smallest parts of our bodies in such a way that all things whatsoever, however diverse they may be, which coalesce in the structure of living things construct the parts by means of a sort of compendium.
'On the Developmental Process', in H. B. Adelmann (ed.), Marcello Malpighi and the Evolution of Embryology (1966), Vol. 2, 843.
Science quotes on:  |  Body (557)  |  Building (158)  |  Coalesce (5)  |  Coalescence (2)  |  Compendium (5)  |  Construct (129)  |  Construction (114)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Devotion (37)  |  Diversity (75)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effort (243)  |  Enormous (44)  |  Invariability (6)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Large (398)  |  Largest (39)  |  Living (492)  |  Living Thing (4)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Operation (221)  |  Part (235)  |  Plan (122)  |  Sameness (3)  |  See (1094)  |  Select (45)  |  Selection (130)  |  Small (489)  |  Structure (365)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Together (392)  |  Uniting (4)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whatsoever (41)

Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to animal life in such a way that it is impossible to determine the exact line of demarcation, nor on which side thereof an intermediate form should lie. Thus, next after lifeless things comes the plant, and of plants one will differ from another as to its amount of apparent vitality; and, in a word, the whole genus of plants, whilst it is devoid of life as compared with an animal, is endowed with life as compared with other corporeal entities. Indeed, as we just remarked, there is observed in plants a continuous scale of ascent towards the animal. So, in the sea, there are certain objects concerning which one would be at a loss to determine whether they be animal or vegetable. For instance, certain of these objects are fairly rooted, and in several cases perish if detached.
Aristotle
History of Animals, 588b, 4-14. In Jonathan Barnes (ed.) The Complete Works of Aristotle (1984), Vol. 1, 922.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Animal (651)  |  Animal Life (21)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Certain (557)  |  Continuous (83)  |  Determine (152)  |  Differ (88)  |  Endowed (52)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Form (976)  |  Genus (27)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Lifeless (15)  |  Little (717)  |  Loss (117)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Next (238)  |  Object (438)  |  Observed (149)  |  Other (2233)  |  Perish (56)  |  Plant (320)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Root (121)  |  Scale (122)  |  Sea (326)  |  Side (236)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vegetable (49)  |  Vitality (24)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

Neither the Army nor the Navy is of any protection, or very slight protection, against aerial raids. We may therefore look forward with certainty to the time that is coming, and indeed is almost now at hand, when sea power and land power will be secondary to air power, and that nation which gains control of the air will practically control the world.
In 'Preparedness for Aerial Defense', Addresses Before the Eleventh Annual Convention of the Navy League of the United States, Washington, D.C., April 10-13, 1916 (1916), 76.
Science quotes on:  |  Aerial (11)  |  Against (332)  |  Air (366)  |  Army (35)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Coming (114)  |  Control (182)  |  Forward (104)  |  Gain (146)  |  Look (584)  |  Nation (208)  |  Navy (10)  |  Power (771)  |  Protection (41)  |  Raid (5)  |  Sea (326)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Although this quote is frequently seen, “the quotation does not appear in any of Mead’s published work, and may have first appeared in one of her public speeches, perhaps, some say, in her speech at the first Earth Day celebration in 1970.” As stated by Nancy Lutkehaus, 'Margaret Mead: Public Anthropologist', Anthropology Now (Apr 2009), 1, No. 1, 34.
Science quotes on:  |  Change (639)  |  Citizen (52)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Group (83)  |  Never (1089)  |  Small (489)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  World (1850)

Nirvana is a state of pure blissful knowledge ... It has nothing to do with the individual. The ego or its separation is an illusion. Indeed in a certain sense two ‘I’s are identical namely when one disregards all special contents–their Karma. The goal of man is to preserve his Karma and to develop it further ... when man dies his Karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Blissful (3)  |  Carrier (6)  |  Certain (557)  |  Content (75)  |  Create (245)  |  Develop (278)  |  Die (94)  |  Disregard (12)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ego (17)  |  Far (158)  |  Goal (155)  |  Identical (55)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Individual (420)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  Namely (11)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Pure (299)  |  Sense (785)  |  Separation (60)  |  Special (188)  |  State (505)  |  Two (936)

No aphorism is more frequently repeated in connection with field trials, than that we must ask Nature few questions, or, ideally, one question, at a time. The writer is convinced that this view is wholly mistaken. Nature, he suggests, will best respond to a logical and carefully thought out questionnaire; indeed, if we ask her a single question, she will often refuse to answer until some other topic has been discussed.
'The Arrangement of Field Experiments', The Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1926, 33, 511.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Aphorism (22)  |  Ask (420)  |  Best (467)  |  Carefully (65)  |  Connection (171)  |  Field (378)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Other (2233)  |  Question (649)  |  Questionnaire (3)  |  Refuse (45)  |  Research (753)  |  Single (365)  |  Thought (995)  |  Time (1911)  |  Topic (23)  |  Trial (59)  |  View (496)  |  Wholly (88)  |  Will (2350)  |  Writer (90)

Not long ago the head of what should be a strictly scientific department in one of the major universities commented on the odd (and ominous) phenomenon that persons who can claim to be scientists on the basis of the technical training that won them the degree of Ph.D. are now found certifying the authenticity of the painted rag that is called the “Turin Shroud” or adducing “scientific” arguments to support hoaxes about the “paranormal” or an antiquated religiosity. “You can hire a scientist [sic],” he said, “to prove anything.” He did not adduce himself as proof of his generalization, but he did boast of his cleverness in confining his own research to areas in which the results would not perturb the Establishment or any vociferous gang of shyster-led fanatics. If such is indeed the status of science and scholarship in our darkling age, Send not to ask for whom the bell tolls.
In 'The Price of the Head', Instauration Magazine (Mar 1980).
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Antiquated (3)  |  Area (33)  |  Argument (145)  |  Ask (420)  |  Authenticity (5)  |  Basis (180)  |  Bell (35)  |  Boast (22)  |  Call (781)  |  Certify (2)  |  Claim (154)  |  Cleverness (15)  |  Comment (12)  |  Confine (26)  |  Degree (277)  |  Department (93)  |  Establishment (47)  |  Fanatic (7)  |  Find (1014)  |  Gang (4)  |  Generalization (61)  |  Head (87)  |  Himself (461)  |  Hire (7)  |  Hoax (6)  |  Long (778)  |  Long Ago (12)  |  Major (88)  |  Odd (15)  |  Ominous (5)  |  Paint (22)  |  Paranormal (3)  |  Person (366)  |  Perturb (2)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prove (261)  |  Prove Anything (7)  |  Rag (2)  |  Religiosity (2)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Say (989)  |  Scholarship (22)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Send (23)  |  Shroud (2)  |  Status (35)  |  Strictly (13)  |  Support (151)  |  Technical (53)  |  Toll (3)  |  Training (92)  |  Turin (3)  |  University (130)  |  Win (53)

Nothing in our experience suggests the introduction of [complex numbers]. Indeed, if a mathematician is asked to justify his interest in complex numbers, he will point, with some indignation, to the many beautiful theorems in the theory of equations, of power series, and of analytic functions in general, which owe their origin to the introduction of complex numbers. The mathematician is not willing to give up his interest in these most beautiful accomplishments of his genius.
In 'The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,' Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics (Feb 1960), 13, No. 1 (February 1960). Collected in Eugene Paul Wigner, A.S. Wightman (ed.), Jagdish Mehra (ed.), The Collected Works of Eugene Paul Wigner (1955), Vol. 6, 537.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Ask (420)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Complex (202)  |  Complex Number (3)  |  Equation (138)  |  Experience (494)  |  Function (235)  |  General (521)  |  Genius (301)  |  Indignation (5)  |  Interest (416)  |  Justify (26)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Number (710)  |  Origin (250)  |  Owe (71)  |  Point (584)  |  Power (771)  |  Series (153)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Will (2350)  |  Willing (44)

Now, it may be stretching an analogy to compare epidemics of cholera—caused by a known agent—with that epidemic of violent crime which is destroying our cities. It is unlikely that our social problems can be traced to a single, clearly defined cause in the sense that a bacterial disease is ‘caused’ by a microbe. But, I daresay, social science is about as advanced in the late twentieth century as bacteriological science was in the mid nineteenth century. Our forerunners knew something about cholera; they sensed that its spread was associated with misdirected sewage, filth, and the influx of alien poor into crowded, urban tenements. And we know something about street crime; nowhere has it been reported that a member of the New York Stock Exchange has robbed ... at the point of a gun. Indeed, I am naively confident that an enlightened social scientist of the next century will be able to point out that we had available to us at least some of the clues to the cause of urban crime.
'Cholera at the Harvey,' Woods Hole Cantata: Essays on Science and Society (1985).
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  20th Century (40)  |  Advance (298)  |  Agent (73)  |  Alien (35)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Associate (25)  |  Available (80)  |  Bacteria (50)  |  Cause (561)  |  Century (319)  |  Cholera (7)  |  City (87)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Clue (20)  |  Compare (76)  |  Confident (25)  |  Crime (39)  |  Crowd (25)  |  Define (53)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Disease (340)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Epidemic (8)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Filth (5)  |  Forerunner (4)  |  Gun (10)  |  Influx (2)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Late (119)  |  Member (42)  |  Microbe (30)  |  Misdirect (2)  |  New (1273)  |  New York (17)  |  Next (238)  |  Nowhere (28)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Out (9)  |  Poor (139)  |  Problem (731)  |  Report (42)  |  Rob (6)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sewage (9)  |  Single (365)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Social Scientist (5)  |  Something (718)  |  Spread (86)  |  Stock Exchange (2)  |  Street (25)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Teenager (6)  |  Trace (109)  |  Unlikely (15)  |  Urban (12)  |  Violent (17)  |  Will (2350)

Obviously, what our age has in common with the age of the Reformation is the fallout of disintegrating values. What needs explaining is the presence of a receptive audience. More significant than the fact that poets write abstrusely, painters paint abstractly, and composers compose unintelligible music is that people should admire what they cannot understand; indeed, admire that which has no meaning or principle.
In Reflections on the Human Condition (1973), 62.
Science quotes on:  |  Admire (19)  |  Age (509)  |  Audience (28)  |  Common (447)  |  Compose (20)  |  Composer (7)  |  Disintegrate (3)  |  Explain (334)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fallout (2)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Music (133)  |  Need (320)  |  Obviously (11)  |  Paint (22)  |  Painter (30)  |  People (1031)  |  Poet (97)  |  Presence (63)  |  Principle (530)  |  Receptive (5)  |  Reformation (6)  |  Significant (78)  |  Understand (648)  |  Unintelligible (17)  |  Value (393)  |  Write (250)

Oersted would never have made his great discovery of the action of galvanic currents on magnets had he stopped in his researches to consider in what manner they could possibly be turned to practical account; and so we would not now be able to boast of the wonders done by the electric telegraphs. Indeed, no great law in Natural Philosophy has ever been discovered for its practical implications, but the instances are innumerable of investigations apparently quite useless in this narrow sense of the word which have led to the most valuable results.
From Silvanus Phillips Thompson, 'Introductory Lecture to the Course on Natural Philosophy', The Life of Lord Kelvin (1910), Vol. 1, Appendix to Chap. 5, 249.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Action (342)  |  Apparently (22)  |  Boast (22)  |  Consider (428)  |  Current (122)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Electric (76)  |  Great (1610)  |  Implication (25)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Instance (33)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Law (913)  |  Lead (391)  |  Magnet (22)  |  Manner (62)  |  Most (1728)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Never (1089)  |  Hans Christian Oersted (5)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Possible (560)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Practical (225)  |  Research (753)  |  Result (700)  |  Sense (785)  |  Sense Of The Word (6)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Turn (454)  |  Useless (38)  |  Value (393)  |  Wonder (251)  |  Word (650)

On the whole, I cannot help saying that it appears to me not a little extraordinary, that a theory so new, and of such importance, overturning every thing that was thought to be the best established in chemistry, should rest on so very narrow and precarious a foundation, the experiments adduced in support of it being not only ambiguous or explicable on either hypothesis, but exceedingly few. I think I have recited them all, and that on which the greatest stress is laid, viz. That of the formation of water from the decomposition of the two kinds of air, has not been sufficiently repeated. Indeed it required so difficult and expensive an apparatus, and so many precautions in the use of it, that the frequent repetition of the experiment cannot be expected; and in these circumstances the practised experimenter cannot help suspecting the accuracy of the result and consequently the certainty of the conclusion.
Considerations on the Doctrine of Phlogiston (1796), 57-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Accuracy (81)  |  Air (366)  |  Ambiguity (17)  |  Ambiguous (14)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Being (1276)  |  Best (467)  |  Certainty (180)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Decomposition (19)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Establish (63)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Expect (203)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimenter (40)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Formation (100)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Importance (299)  |  Kind (564)  |  Little (717)  |  Narrow (85)  |  New (1273)  |  Precarious (6)  |  Repeat (44)  |  Repetition (29)  |  Required (108)  |  Rest (287)  |  Result (700)  |  Stress (22)  |  Support (151)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)  |  Use (771)  |  Water (503)  |  Whole (756)

One can say, looking at the papers in this symposium, that the elucidation of the genetic code is indeed a great achievement. It is, in a sense, the key to molecular biology because it shows how the great polymer languages, the nucleic acid language and the protein language, are linked together.
'The Genetic Code: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow', Cold Spring Harbour Symposium on Quantitative Biology, 1966, 31, 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Acid (83)  |  Biology (232)  |  Code (31)  |  DNA (81)  |  Elucidation (7)  |  Genetic (110)  |  Great (1610)  |  Language (308)  |  Looking (191)  |  Molecular Biology (27)  |  Nucleic Acid (23)  |  Paper (192)  |  Polymer (4)  |  Protein (56)  |  Say (989)  |  Sense (785)  |  Show (353)  |  Together (392)

One of the earliest questions asked by an intelligent child is: “What is this made of?” “What is that made of?” And the answer is generally more or less satisfactory. For example, if the question relates to butter, the reply may be, “From cream.” It may be explained, besides, that when cream is beaten up, or churned, the butter separates, leaving skim-milk behind. But the question has not been answered. The child may ask, “Was the butter in the milk before it was churned? or has it been made out of the milk by the churning?” Possibly the person to whom the question is addressed may know that the milk contained the butter in the state of fine globules, and that the process of churning breaks up the globules, and causes them to stick together. The original question has not really been answered; and indeed it is not an easy one to reply to. Precisely such questions suggested themselves to the people of old, and they led to many speculations.
Opening paragraph of Modern Chemistry (1900, rev. 1907), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Beat (42)  |  Behind (139)  |  Break (109)  |  Butter (8)  |  Cause (561)  |  Child (333)  |  Churn (4)  |  Cream (6)  |  Earliest (3)  |  Easy (213)  |  Enquiry (89)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Globule (5)  |  Intelligent (108)  |  Know (1538)  |  Milk (23)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Old (499)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Possibly (111)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Process (439)  |  Question (649)  |  Reply (58)  |  Satisfactory (19)  |  Separate (151)  |  Separation (60)  |  Speculation (137)  |  State (505)  |  Stick (27)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Together (392)

One should first discourage people from doing mathematics; there is no need for too many mathematicians. But, if after that, they still insist on doing mathematics, then one should indeed encourage them, and help them.
Reply to question, “How could we encourage young people to take up mathematics, especially in the schools?” C.T. Chong and Y.K. Leong, 'An Interview With Jean-Pierre Serre', Singapore Mathematical Society Mathematical Medley (1985), 13, No. 1, 11-19.
Science quotes on:  |  Discourage (14)  |  Doing (277)  |  Encourage (43)  |  First (1302)  |  Help (116)  |  Insist (22)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Need (320)  |  People (1031)  |  Still (614)  |  Teaching (190)

Our failure to discern a universal good does not record any lack of insight or ingenuity, but merely demonstrates that nature contains no moral messages framed in human terms. Morality is a subject for philosophers, theologians, students of the humanities, indeed for all thinking people. The answers will not be read passively from nature; they do not, and cannot, arise from the data of science. The factual state of the world does not teach us how we, with our powers for good and evil, should alter or preserve it in the most ethical manner.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Alter (64)  |  Answer (389)  |  Arise (162)  |  Contain (68)  |  Data (162)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Discern (35)  |  Do (1905)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Evil (122)  |  Factual (8)  |  Failure (176)  |  Frame (26)  |  Good (906)  |  Good And Evil (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Humanities (21)  |  Ingenuity (42)  |  Insight (107)  |  Lack (127)  |  Manner (62)  |  Merely (315)  |  Message (53)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Passively (3)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Power (771)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Read (308)  |  Record (161)  |  State (505)  |  Student (317)  |  Subject (543)  |  Teach (299)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Theologian (23)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Universal (198)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

Our highest claim to respect, as a nation, rests not in the gold, nor in the iron and the coal, nor in inventions and discoveries, nor in agricultural productions, nor in our wealth, grown so great that a war debt of billions fades out under ministrations of the revenue collector without fretting the people; nor, indeed, in all these combined. That claim finds its true elements in our systems of education and of unconstrained religious worship; in our wise and just laws, and the purity of their administration; in the conservative spirit with which the minority submits to defeat in a hotly-contested election; in a free press; in that broad humanity which builds hospitals and asylums for the poor, sick, and insane on the confines of every city; in the robust, manly, buoyant spirit of a people competent to admonish others and to rule themselves; and in the achievements of that people in every department of thought and learning.
From his opening address at an annual exhibition of the Brooklyn Industrial Institute. As quoted in biographical preface by T. Bigelow to Austin Abbott (ed.), Official Report of the Trial of Henry Ward Beecher (1875), Vol. 1, xiv.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Agriculture (78)  |  Asylum (5)  |  Billion (104)  |  Build (211)  |  Buoyant (6)  |  City (87)  |  Claim (154)  |  Coal (64)  |  Competent (20)  |  Conservative (16)  |  Debt (15)  |  Defeat (31)  |  Department (93)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Education (423)  |  Election (7)  |  Element (322)  |  Find (1014)  |  Free (239)  |  Gold (101)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hospital (45)  |  Humanity (186)  |  Insane (9)  |  Invention (400)  |  Iron (99)  |  Law (913)  |  Learning (291)  |  Manly (3)  |  Minority (24)  |  Nation (208)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Poor (139)  |  Production (190)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revenue (3)  |  Robust (7)  |  Rule (307)  |  Sick (83)  |  Spirit (278)  |  System (545)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thought (995)  |  War (233)  |  Wealth (100)  |  Wise (143)  |  Worship (32)

People have wracked their brains for an explanation of benzene and how the celebrated man [Kekulé] managed to come up with the concept of the benzene theory. With regard to the last point especially, a friend of mine who is a farmer and has a lively interest in chemistry has asked me a question which I would like to share with you. My “agricultural friend” apparently believes he has traced the origins of the benzene theory. “Has Kekulé,” so ran the question, “once been a bee-keeper? You certainly know that bees too build hexagons; they know well that they can store the greatest amount of honey that way with the least amount of wax. I always liked it,” my agricultural friend went on, “When I received a new issue of the Berichte; admittedly, I don't read the articles, but I like the pictures very much. The patterns of benzene, naphthalene and especially anthracene are indeed wonderful. When I look at the pictures I always have to think of the honeycombs of my bee hives.”
A. W. Hofmann, after-dinner speech at Kekulé Benzolfest (Mar 1890). Trans. in W. H. Brock, O. Theodor Benfrey and Susanne Stark, 'Hofmann's Benzene Tree at the Kekulé Festivities', Journal of Chemical Education (1991), 68, 888.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Ask (420)  |  Bee (44)  |  Benzene (7)  |  Brain (281)  |  Build (211)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Concept (242)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Farmer (35)  |  Friend (180)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Hexagon (4)  |  Honey (15)  |  Interest (416)  |  August Kekulé (14)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Lively (17)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mine (78)  |  New (1273)  |  Origin (250)  |  Pattern (116)  |  People (1031)  |  Picture (148)  |  Point (584)  |  Question (649)  |  Read (308)  |  Regard (312)  |  Share (82)  |  Store (49)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Wax (13)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wonderful (155)

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice.
An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). In R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner (eds.), An Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1976), Vol. 1, Book 1, Chapter 10, Part 2, 145.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Consistency (31)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Conspiracy (6)  |  Contrivance (12)  |  Conversation (46)  |  Diversion (10)  |  End (603)  |  Execution (25)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Justice (40)  |  Law (913)  |  Liberty (29)  |  Meeting (22)  |  People (1031)  |  Prevent (98)  |  Prevention (37)  |  Price (57)  |  Public (100)  |  Raise (38)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Together (392)  |  Trade (34)

Philosophers, if they have much imagination, are apt to let it loose as well as other people, and in such cases are sometimes led to mistake a fancy for a fact. Geologists, in particular, have very frequently amused themselves in this way, and it is not a little amusing to follow them in their fancies and their waking dreams. Geology, indeed, in this view, may be called a romantic science.
Conversations on Geology (1840), 5.
Science quotes on:  |  Amusement (37)  |  Call (781)  |  Dream (222)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Fancy (50)  |  Follow (389)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Little (717)  |  Loose (14)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Other (2233)  |  Particular (80)  |  People (1031)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Romance (18)  |  Romantic (13)  |  Themselves (433)  |  View (496)  |  Waking (17)  |  Way (1214)

Physio-philosophy has to show how, and in accordance indeed with what laws, the Material took its origin; and, therefore, how something derived its existence from nothing. It has to portray the first periods of the world's development from nothing; how the elements and heavenly bodies originated; in what method by self-evolution into higher and manifold forms, they separated into minerals, became finally organic, and in Man attained self-consciousness.
In Lorenz Oken, trans. by Alfred Tulk, Elements of Physiophilosophy (1847), 1.
Science quotes on:  |  Accordance (10)  |  Attain (126)  |  Body (557)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Creation (350)  |  Definition (238)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Development (441)  |  Element (322)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Existence (481)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Manifold (23)  |  Material (366)  |  Method (531)  |  Mineral (66)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Organic (161)  |  Origin (250)  |  Origination (7)  |  Period (200)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Portrayal (2)  |  Self (268)  |  Separation (60)  |  Show (353)  |  Showing (6)  |  Something (718)  |  World (1850)

POTABLE, n. Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be unscientific—and without science we are as the snakes and toads.
The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (1911), Vol. 7, The Devil's Dictionary,  260-261.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Basis (180)  |  Bear (162)  |  Declare (48)  |  Diligent (19)  |  Disorder (45)  |  Drinking (21)  |  Find (1014)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  Humour (116)  |  Ingenuity (42)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Invention (400)  |  Known (453)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Most (1728)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Palatable (3)  |  Potable (3)  |  Race (278)  |  Snake (29)  |  Substitute (47)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Thirst (11)  |  Toad (10)  |  Unscientific (13)  |  Water (503)

Reason must approach nature with the view, indeed, of receiving information from it, not, however, in the character of a pupil, who listens to all that his master chooses to tell him, but in that of a judge, who compels the witnesses to reply to those questions which he himself thinks fit to propose. To this single idea must the revolution be ascribed, by which, after groping in the dark for so many centuries, natural science was at length conducted into the path of certain progress.
Critique of Pure Reason, translated by J.M.D. Meiklejohn (1855), Preface to the Second Edition, xxvii.
Science quotes on:  |  Approach (112)  |  Ascribe (18)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Character (259)  |  Choose (116)  |  Compel (31)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Dark (145)  |  Fit (139)  |  Grope (5)  |  Himself (461)  |  Idea (881)  |  Information (173)  |  Judge (114)  |  Listen (81)  |  Master (182)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Path (159)  |  Progress (492)  |  Proposition (126)  |  Pupil (62)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reply (58)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Single (365)  |  Tell (344)  |  Think (1122)  |  View (496)  |  Witness (57)

Science is the language of the temporal world; love is that of the spiritual world. Man, indeed, describes more than he explains; while the angelic spirit sees and understands. Science saddens man; love enraptures the angel; science is still seeking; love has found.
The Works of Honoré de Balzac (1896), Vol. 19, 80.
Science quotes on:  |  Angel (47)  |  Describe (132)  |  Explain (334)  |  Find (1014)  |  Language (308)  |  Love (328)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Sadness (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Seek (218)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Still (614)  |  Temporal (4)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  World (1850)

Science is the way—a powerful way, indeed—to study the natural world. Science is not particularly effective—in fact, it’s rather ineffective—in making commentary about the supernatural world. Both worlds, for me, are quite real and quite important. They are investigated in different ways. They coexist. They illuminate each other.
From transcript of interview by Bob Abernathy with Francis Collins on PBS TV program 'Religion and Ethics'(16 Jun 2000).
Science quotes on:  |  Both (496)  |  Coexist (4)  |  Commentary (3)  |  Different (595)  |  Effective (68)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Illuminate (26)  |  Important (229)  |  Ineffective (6)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Making (300)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural World (33)  |  Other (2233)  |  Powerful (145)  |  Real (159)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Study (701)  |  Supernatural (26)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

Science itself is badly in need of integration and unification. The tendency is more and more the other way ... Only the graduate student, poor beast of burden that he is, can be expected to know a little of each. As the number of physicists increases, each specialty becomes more self-sustaining and self-contained. Such Balkanization carries physics, and indeed, every science further away, from natural philosophy, which, intellectually, is the meaning and goal of science.
Science, The Center of Culture (1970), 92. Quoted by Victor F. Weisskopf, 'One Hundred Years of the Physical Review', in H. Henry Stroke, Physical Review: The First Hundred Years: a Selection of Seminal Papers and Commentaries, Vol. 1, 15.
Science quotes on:  |  Badly (32)  |  Beast (58)  |  Become (821)  |  Expect (203)  |  Expectation (67)  |  Goal (155)  |  Graduate (32)  |  Graduate Student (13)  |  Increase (225)  |  Integration (21)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Meaning (244)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Philosophy (52)  |  Need (320)  |  Number (710)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Poor (139)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Contained (3)  |  Self-Sustaining (3)  |  Specialty (13)  |  Student (317)  |  Tendency (110)  |  Unification (11)  |  Way (1214)

Scientific studies have strengthened my faith, strengthened it indeed to an extent that no study besides could have effected.
Quoted in Arthur Holmes, 'The Faith of the Scientist', The Biblical World (1916), 48 7. [Source identifies 'Professor Meehan'. Webmaster believes this would be Thomas Meeham.'.]
Science quotes on:  |  Effect (414)  |  Extent (142)  |  Faith (209)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Study (701)

Scientific work, especially mathematical work which is purely conceptual, may indeed possess the appearance of beauty, because of the inner coherence which it shares with fine art, or may resemble a piece of architecture.
From 'Characters of the Beautiful', Beauty, Chap. 3, collected in Collected Works Of Samuel Alexander (2000), 51-52.
Science quotes on:  |  Appearance (145)  |  Architecture (50)  |  Art (680)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Coherence (13)  |  Conceptual (11)  |  Inner (72)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Possess (157)  |  Purely (111)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Share (82)  |  Work (1402)

Scientists should not be ashamed to admit, as many of them apparently are ashamed to admit, that hypotheses appear in their minds along uncharted by-ways of thought; that they are imaginative and inspirational in character; that they are indeed adventures of the mind.
In 'Is the Scientific Paper Fraudulent?', The Saturday Review (1 Aug 1964), 43.
Science quotes on:  |  Admit (49)  |  Adventure (69)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Appear (122)  |  Character (259)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Shame (15)  |  Thought (995)  |  Uncharted (10)  |  Way (1214)

Sedimentation in the past has often been very rapid indeed and very spasmodic. This may be called the Phenomenon of the Catastrophic Nature of the Stratigraphical Record.
In The Nature of the Stratigraphical Record, (1973), 42.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Catastrophic (10)  |  Geology (240)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Past (355)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Record (161)  |  Sedimentation (3)  |  Stratigraphy (7)

Since 1849 I have studied incessantly, under all its aspects, a question which was already in my mind [since 1832. I confess that my scheme is still a mere dream, and I do not shut my eyes to the fact that so long as I alone believe it to be possible, it is virtually impossible. ... The scheme in question is the cutting of a canal through the Isthmus of Suez. This has been thought of from the earliest historical times, and for that very reason is looked upon as impracticable. Geographical dictionaries inform us indeed that the project would have been executed long ago but for insurmountable obstacles. [On his inspiration for the Suez Canal.]
Letter to M.S.A. Ruyssenaers, Consul-General for Holland in Egypt, from Paris (8 Jul 1852), seeking support. Collected in Ferdinand de Lesseps, The Suez Canal: Letters and Documents Descriptive of Its Rise and Progress in 1854-1856 (1876), 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Alone (324)  |  Already (226)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Belief (615)  |  Canal (18)  |  Confess (42)  |  Do (1905)  |  Dream (222)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Historical (70)  |  Idea (881)  |  Impossibility (60)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Incessantly (3)  |  Inform (50)  |  Inspiration (80)  |  Insurmountable (3)  |  Isthmus (2)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Obstacle (42)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Project (77)  |  Question (649)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scheme (62)  |  Shut (41)  |  Still (614)  |  Study (701)  |  Suez Canal (2)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)

So I want to admit the assumption which the astronomer—and indeed any scientist—makes about the Universe he investigates. It is this: that the same physical causes give rise to the same physical results anywhere in the Universe, and at any time, past, present, and future. The fuller examination of this basic assumption, and much else besides, belongs to philosophy. The scientist, for his part, makes the assumption I have mentioned as an act of faith; and he feels confirmed in that faith by his increasing ability to build up a consistent and satisfying picture of the universe and its behavior.
From Science and the Nation (1957), 49. Also quoted in Ronald Keast, Dancing in the Dark: The Waltz in Wonder of Quantum Metaphysics (2009), 106.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Act (278)  |  Act Of Faith (4)  |  Anywhere (16)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Astronomer (97)  |  Basic (144)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Behaviour (42)  |  Belong (168)  |  Build (211)  |  Cause (561)  |  Confirm (58)  |  Confirmation (25)  |  Consistent (50)  |  Examination (102)  |  Faith (209)  |  Feel (371)  |  Future (467)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Mention (84)  |  Past (355)  |  Past Present and Future (2)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Physical (518)  |  Picture (148)  |  Present (630)  |  Result (700)  |  Rise (169)  |  Satisfying (5)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Time (1911)  |  Universe (900)  |  Want (504)

Society is indeed a contract. … It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790, 2005), 54.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Become (821)  |  End (603)  |  Generation (256)  |  Living (492)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Science And Society (25)  |  Society (350)  |  Virtue (117)

Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief and he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor for convincing and converting other people to his view.
In When Prophecy Fails (1956), 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Belief (615)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Convert (22)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Fervor (8)  |  Happen (282)  |  Heart (243)  |  Individual (420)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Present (630)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Show (353)  |  Something (718)  |  Suppose (158)  |  Truth (1109)  |  View (496)  |  Whole (756)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wrong (246)

That alone is worthy to be called Natural History, which investigates and records the condition of living things, of things in a state of nature; if animals, of living animals:— which tells of their 'sayings and doings,' their varied notes and utterances, songs and cries; their actions, in ease and under the pressure of circumstances; their affections and passions, towards their young, towards each other, towards other animals, towards man: their various arts and devices, to protect their progeny, to procure food, to escape from their enemies, to defend themselves from attacks; their ingenious resources for concealment; their stratagems to overcome their victims; their modes of bringing forth, of feeding, and of training, their offspring; the relations of their structure to their wants and habits; the countries in which they dwell; their connexion with the intimate world around them, mountain or plain, forest or field, barren heath or bushy dell, open savanna or wild hidden glen, river, lake, or sea:— this would be indeed zoology, i.e. the science of living creatures.
A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica (1851), vi-vii.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Affection (44)  |  Alone (324)  |  Animal (651)  |  Art (680)  |  Attack (86)  |  Barren (33)  |  Call (781)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Concealment (10)  |  Condition (362)  |  Creature (242)  |  Device (71)  |  Doing (277)  |  Escape (85)  |  Field (378)  |  Food (213)  |  Forest (161)  |  Habit (174)  |  History (716)  |  Ingenious (55)  |  Investigate (106)  |  Lake (36)  |  Living (492)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural History (77)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Offspring (27)  |  Open (277)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overcome (40)  |  Passion (121)  |  Pressure (69)  |  Progeny (16)  |  Protect (65)  |  Record (161)  |  River (140)  |  Sea (326)  |  Song (41)  |  State (505)  |  Structure (365)  |  Tell (344)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Training (92)  |  Utterance (11)  |  Various (205)  |  Victim (37)  |  Want (504)  |  Wild (96)  |  World (1850)  |  Young (253)  |  Zoology (38)

That there is no such thing as the scientific method, one might easily discover by asking several scientists to define it. One would find, I am sure, that no two of them would exactly agree. Indeed, no two scientists work and think in just the same ways.
In Science in the Making (1957), 8-9.
Science quotes on:  |  Agreement (55)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Definition (238)  |  Discover (571)  |  Find (1014)  |  Method (531)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Two (936)  |  Way (1214)  |  Work (1402)

The achievements of the Beagle did not just depend on FitzRoy’s skill as a hydrographer, nor on Darwin’s skill as a natural scientist, but on the thoroughly effective fashion in which everyone on board pulled together. Of course Darwin and FitzRoy had their quarrels, but all things considered, they were remarkably infrequent. To have shared such cramped quarters for nearly five years with a man often suffering from serious depression, prostrate part of the time with sea sickness, with so little friction, Darwin must have been one of the best-natured people ever! This is, indeed, apparent in his letters. And anyone who has participated in a scientific expedition will agree that when he wrote from Valparaiso in July 1834 that ‘The Captain keeps all smooth by rowing everyone in turn, which of course he has as much right to do as a gamekeeper to shoot partridges on the first of September’, he was putting a finger on an important ingredient in the Beagle’s success.
From Introduction to The Beagle Record (1979, 2012), 9.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Beagle (14)  |  Best (467)  |  Biography (254)  |  Captain (16)  |  Consider (428)  |  Course (413)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Depend (238)  |  Depression (26)  |  Do (1905)  |  Effective (68)  |  Expedition (9)  |  First (1302)  |  Robert Fitzroy (4)  |  Friction (14)  |  Hydrographer (3)  |  Importance (299)  |  Ingredient (16)  |  Letter (117)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Scientist (6)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Partridge (2)  |  People (1031)  |  Pull (43)  |  Quarrel (10)  |  Right (473)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sea (326)  |  Serious (98)  |  Sickness (26)  |  Skill (116)  |  Smooth (34)  |  Success (327)  |  Suffering (68)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Time (1911)  |  Together (392)  |  Turn (454)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

The analytical geometry of Descartes and the calculus of Newton and Leibniz have expanded into the marvelous mathematical method—more daring than anything that the history of philosophy records—of Lobachevsky and Riemann, Gauss and Sylvester. Indeed, mathematics, the indispensable tool of the sciences, defying the senses to follow its splendid flights, is demonstrating today, as it never has been demonstrated before, the supremacy of the pure reason.
In 'What Knowledge is of Most Worth?', Presidential address to the National Education Association, Denver, Colorado (9 Jul 1895). In Educational Review (Sep 1895), 10, 109.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Daring (17)  |  René Descartes (83)  |  Estimates of Mathematics (30)  |  Expand (56)  |  Flight (101)  |  Follow (389)  |  Carl Friedrich Gauss (79)  |  Geometry (271)  |  History (716)  |  Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (51)  |  Nikolay Ivanovich Lobachevsky (8)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Pure (299)  |  Reason (766)  |  Record (161)  |  Bernhard Riemann (7)  |  Science And Mathematics (10)  |  Sense (785)  |  Splendid (23)  |  Supremacy (4)  |  James Joseph Sylvester (58)  |  Today (321)  |  Tool (129)

The artist and the scientist—and the physician, in a sense, is both—is a man who is presumed to be interested primarily in his work, not in its emoluments. He can do genuinely good work, indeed, only to the extent that he is so interested. The moment he begins habitually to engage in enterprises that offer him only profit he ceases to be either an artist or a scientist, and becomes a mere journeyman artisan.
From Baltimore Evening Sun (12 May 1924). Collected in A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949, 1956), 297.
Science quotes on:  |  Artisan (9)  |  Artist (97)  |  Become (821)  |  Begin (275)  |  Both (496)  |  Cease (81)  |  Do (1905)  |  Emolument (3)  |  Engage (41)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Extent (142)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Good (906)  |  Habitual (5)  |  Interest (416)  |  Journeyman (3)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mere (86)  |  Moment (260)  |  Offer (142)  |  Physician (284)  |  Profit (56)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Sense (785)  |  Work (1402)

The beautiful has its place in mathematics as elsewhere. The prose of ordinary intercourse and of business correspondence might be held to be the most practical use to which language is put, but we should be poor indeed without the literature of imagination. Mathematics too has its triumphs of the Creative imagination, its beautiful theorems, its proofs and processes whose perfection of form has made them classic. He must be a “practical” man who can see no poetry in mathematics.
In A Scrap-book of Elementary Mathematics: Notes, Recreations, Essays (1908), 208.
Science quotes on:  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Business (156)  |  Classic (13)  |  Correspondence (24)  |  Creative (144)  |  Form (976)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Language (308)  |  Literature (116)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Perfection (131)  |  Place (192)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Poor (139)  |  Practical (225)  |  Process (439)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prose (11)  |  See (1094)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Triumph (76)  |  Use (771)

The belief that mathematics, because it is abstract, because it is static and cold and gray, is detached from life, is a mistaken belief. Mathematics, even in its purest and most abstract estate, is not detached from life. It is just the ideal handling of the problems of life, as sculpture may idealize a human figure or as poetry or painting may idealize a figure or a scene. Mathematics is precisely the ideal handling of the problems of life, and the central ideas of the science, the great concepts about which its stately doctrines have been built up, are precisely the chief ideas with which life must always deal and which, as it tumbles and rolls about them through time and space, give it its interests and problems, and its order and rationality. That such is the case a few indications will suffice to show. The mathematical concepts of constant and variable are represented familiarly in life by the notions of fixedness and change. The concept of equation or that of an equational system, imposing restriction upon variability, is matched in life by the concept of natural and spiritual law, giving order to what were else chaotic change and providing partial freedom in lieu of none at all. What is known in mathematics under the name of limit is everywhere present in life in the guise of some ideal, some excellence high-dwelling among the rocks, an “ever flying perfect” as Emerson calls it, unto which we may approximate nearer and nearer, but which we can never quite attain, save in aspiration. The supreme concept of functionality finds its correlate in life in the all-pervasive sense of interdependence and mutual determination among the elements of the world. What is known in mathematics as transformation—that is, lawful transfer of attention, serving to match in orderly fashion the things of one system with those of another—is conceived in life as a process of transmutation by which, in the flux of the world, the content of the present has come out of the past and in its turn, in ceasing to be, gives birth to its successor, as the boy is father to the man and as things, in general, become what they are not. The mathematical concept of invariance and that of infinitude, especially the imposing doctrines that explain their meanings and bear their names—What are they but mathematicizations of that which has ever been the chief of life’s hopes and dreams, of that which has ever been the object of its deepest passion and of its dominant enterprise, I mean the finding of the worth that abides, the finding of permanence in the midst of change, and the discovery of a presence, in what has seemed to be a finite world, of being that is infinite? It is needless further to multiply examples of a correlation that is so abounding and complete as indeed to suggest a doubt whether it be juster to view mathematics as the abstract idealization of life than to regard life as the concrete realization of mathematics.
In 'The Humanization of Teaching of Mathematics', Science, New Series, 35, 645-46.
Science quotes on:  |  Abide (12)  |  Abound (17)  |  Abstract (141)  |  Approximate (25)  |  Aspiration (35)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attention (196)  |  Bear (162)  |  Become (821)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Birth (154)  |  Boy (100)  |  Build (211)  |  Call (781)  |  Case (102)  |  Cease (81)  |  Central (81)  |  Change (639)  |  Chaotic (2)  |  Chief (99)  |  Cold (115)  |  Complete (209)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Concept (242)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Constant (148)  |  Content (75)  |  Correlate (7)  |  Correlation (19)  |  Deal (192)  |  Deep (241)  |  Detach (5)  |  Determination (80)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Dominant (26)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Dream (222)  |  Element (322)  |  Ralph Waldo Emerson (161)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Equation (138)  |  Especially (31)  |  Estate (5)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Example (98)  |  Excellence (40)  |  Explain (334)  |  Far (158)  |  Fashion (34)  |  Father (113)  |  Figure (162)  |  Find (1014)  |  Finite (60)  |  Fixed (17)  |  Flux (21)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Freedom (145)  |  Functionality (2)  |  General (521)  |  Give (208)  |  Gray (9)  |  Great (1610)  |  Guise (6)  |  Handle (29)  |  High (370)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Idea (881)  |  Ideal (110)  |  Idealization (3)  |  Impose (22)  |  Indication (33)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinitude (3)  |  Interdependence (4)  |  Interest (416)  |  Invariance (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Law (913)  |  Lawful (7)  |  Life (1870)  |  Limit (294)  |  Man (2252)  |  Match (30)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mean (810)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Meanings (5)  |  Midst (8)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Most (1728)  |  Multiply (40)  |  Must (1525)  |  Mutual (54)  |  Name (359)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Needless (4)  |  Never (1089)  |  Notion (120)  |  Object (438)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderly (38)  |  Painting (46)  |  Partial (10)  |  Passion (121)  |  Past (355)  |  Perfect (223)  |  Permanence (26)  |  Pervasive (6)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Precisely (93)  |  Presence (63)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Process (439)  |  Provide (79)  |  Pure (299)  |  Rationality (25)  |  Realization (44)  |  Regard (312)  |  Represent (157)  |  Restriction (14)  |  Rock (176)  |  Roll (41)  |  Save (126)  |  Scene (36)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Seem (150)  |  Sense (785)  |  Serve (64)  |  Serving (15)  |  Show (353)  |  Space (523)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Stately (12)  |  Static (9)  |  Successor (16)  |  Suffice (7)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Supreme (73)  |  System (545)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Time And Space (39)  |  Transfer (21)  |  Transformation (72)  |  Transmutation (24)  |  Tumble (3)  |  Turn (454)  |  Unto (8)  |  Variability (5)  |  Variable (37)  |  View (496)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)  |  Worth (172)

The concepts and methods on which the classification of hominid taxa is based do not differ in principle from those used for other zoological taxa. Indeed, the classification of living human populations or of samples of fossil hominids is a branch of animal taxonomy.
Opening sentence of 'The Taxonomic Evaluation of Fossil Hominids' (1963). Collected in Sherwood L. Washburn, Classification and Human Evolution (1964), 332.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Branch (155)  |  Classification (102)  |  Concept (242)  |  Differ (88)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fossil (143)  |  Hominid (4)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Living (492)  |  Method (531)  |  Other (2233)  |  Population (115)  |  Principle (530)  |  Sample (19)  |  Taxonomy (19)  |  Zoological (5)

The determination of the average man is not merely a matter of speculative curiosity; it may be of the most important service to the science of man and the social system. It ought necessarily to precede every other inquiry into social physics, since it is, as it were, the basis. The average man, indeed, is in a nation what the centre of gravity is in a body; it is by having that central point in view that we arrive at the apprehension of all the phenomena of equilibrium and motion.
A Treatise on Man and the Development of his Faculties (1842). Reprinted with an introduction by Solomon Diamond (1969), 96.
Science quotes on:  |  Apprehension (26)  |  Average (89)  |  Basis (180)  |  Body (557)  |  Central (81)  |  Centre Of Gravity (4)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Determination (80)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Importance (299)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Man (2252)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nation (208)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Other (2233)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Service (110)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Speculation (137)  |  System (545)  |  View (496)

The domain, over which the language of analysis extends its sway, is, indeed, relatively limited, but within this domain it so infinitely excels ordinary language that its attempt to follow the former must be given up after a few steps. The mathematician, who knows how to think in this marvelously condensed language, is as different from the mechanical computer as heaven from earth.
In Jahresberichte der Deutschen Mathematiker Vereinigung, 13, 367. As translated in Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath’s Quotation-Book (1914), 197.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Computer (131)  |  Condense (15)  |  Different (595)  |  Domain (72)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Excel (4)  |  Extend (129)  |  Follow (389)  |  Former (138)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Know (1538)  |  Language (308)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Marvelous (31)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics As A Language (20)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Must (1525)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Relatively (8)  |  Step (234)  |  Sway (5)  |  Think (1122)

The embryos of mammals, of birds, lizards, and snakes are, in their earliest states, exceedingly like one another, both as a whole and in the mode of development of their parts, indeed we can often distinguish such embryos only by their size. I have two little embryos in spirit [alcohol] to which I have omitted to attach the names. I am now quite unable to say to what class they belong.
Science quotes on:  |  Alcohol (22)  |  Attach (57)  |  Belong (168)  |  Bird (163)  |  Both (496)  |  Class (168)  |  Development (441)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Embryo (30)  |  Embryology (18)  |  Exceedingly (28)  |  Little (717)  |  Lizard (7)  |  Mammal (41)  |  Name (359)  |  Say (989)  |  Snake (29)  |  Spirit (278)  |  State (505)  |  Taxonomy (19)  |  Two (936)  |  Whole (756)

The external world of physics has … become a world of shadows. In removing our illusions we have removed the substance, for indeed we have seen that substance is one of the greatest of our illusions. Later perhaps we may inquire whether in our zeal to cut out all that is unreal we may not have used the knife too ruthlessly. Perhaps, indeed, reality is a child which cannot survive without its nurse illusion. But if so, that is of little concern to the scientist, who has good and sufficient reasons for pursuing his investigations in the world of shadows and is content to leave to the philosopher the determination of its exact status in regard to reality.
In Introduction to The Nature of the Physical World (1928), xiv.
Science quotes on:  |  Become (821)  |  Child (333)  |  Concern (239)  |  Cut (116)  |  Determination (80)  |  Exact (75)  |  External (62)  |  Good (906)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Illusion (68)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Knife (24)  |  Little (717)  |  Nurse (33)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Pursuing (27)  |  Reality (274)  |  Reason (766)  |  Regard (312)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Shadow (73)  |  Status (35)  |  Substance (253)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Survive (87)  |  Unreal (4)  |  World (1850)  |  Zeal (12)

The fact that stares one in the face is that people of the greatest sincerity and of all levels of intelligence differ and have always differed in their religious beliefs. Since at most one faith can be true, it follows that human beings are extremely liable to believe firmly and honestly in something untrue in the field of revealed religion. One would have expected this obvious fact to lead to some humility, to some thought that however deep one's faith, one may conceivably be mistaken. Nothing is further from the believer, any believer, than this elementary humility. All in his power … must have his faith rammed down their throats. In many cases children are indeed indoctrinated with the disgraceful thought that they belong to the one group with superior knowledge who alone have a private wire to the office of the Almighty, all others being less fortunate than they themselves.
From 'Religion is a Good Thing', collected in R. Duncan and M. Wesson-Smith (eds.) Lying Truths: A Critical Scruting of Current Beliefs and Conventions (1979), 205. As quoted in Paul Davies, God and the New Physics (1984), 6-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Almighty (23)  |  Alone (324)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Believer (26)  |  Belong (168)  |  Children (201)  |  Deep (241)  |  Differ (88)  |  Down (455)  |  Elementary (98)  |  Expect (203)  |  Face (214)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Faith (209)  |  Field (378)  |  Follow (389)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Honestly (10)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Humility (31)  |  Intelligence (218)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Lead (391)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Obvious (128)  |  Office (71)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Power (771)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Reveal (152)  |  Revealed (59)  |  Sincerity (8)  |  Something (718)  |  Superior (88)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thought (995)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Untrue (12)  |  Wire (36)

The frontiers of science are separated now by long years of study, by specialized vocabularies, arts, techniques, and knowledge from the common heritage even of a most civilized society; and anyone working at the frontier of such science is in that sense a very long way from home, a long way too from the practical arts that were its matrix and origin, as indeed they were of what we today call art.
Address at the close of the year-long Bicentennial Celebration of Columbia University (26 Dec 54). Printed in 'Prospects in the Arts and Sciences', Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Feb 1955), 52.
Science quotes on:  |  Art (680)  |  Call (781)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Common (447)  |  Frontier (41)  |  Heritage (22)  |  Home (184)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Long (778)  |  Matrix (14)  |  Most (1728)  |  Origin (250)  |  Practical (225)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Sense (785)  |  Separation (60)  |  Society (350)  |  Specialization (24)  |  Study (701)  |  Technique (84)  |  Today (321)  |  Vocabulary (10)  |  Way (1214)  |  Year (963)

The gradual advance of Geology, during the last twenty years, to the dignity of a science, has arisen from the laborious and extensive collection of facts, and from the enlightened spirit in which the inductions founded on those facts have been deduced and discussed. To those who are unacquainted with this science, or indeed to any person not deeply versed in the history of this and kindred subjects, it is impossible to convey a just impression of the nature of that evidence by which a multitude of its conclusions are supported:—evidence in many cases so irresistible, that the records of the past ages, to which it refers, are traced in language more imperishable than that of the historian of any human transactions; the relics of those beings, entombed in the strata which myriads of centuries have heaped upon their graves, giving a present evidence of their past existence, with which no human testimony can compete.
The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise (1838), 47-8.
Science quotes on:  |  Advance (298)  |  Age (509)  |  Being (1276)  |  Collection (68)  |  Conclusion (266)  |  Dignity (44)  |  Enlighten (32)  |  Enlightened (25)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Existence (481)  |  Extensive (34)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Geology (240)  |  Grave (52)  |  Historian (59)  |  History (716)  |  Human (1512)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Impression (118)  |  Induction (81)  |  Irresistible (17)  |  Kindred (12)  |  Laborious (17)  |  Language (308)  |  Last (425)  |  More (2558)  |  Multitude (50)  |  Myriad (32)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Past (355)  |  Person (366)  |  Present (630)  |  Record (161)  |  Research (753)  |  Spirit (278)  |  Strata (37)  |  Subject (543)  |  Support (151)  |  Testimony (21)  |  Transaction (13)  |  Year (963)

The greatest achievements in the science of this [twentieth] century are themselves the sources of more puzzlement than human beings have ever experienced. Indeed, it is likely that the twentieth century will be looked back at as the time when science provided the first close glimpse of the profundity of human ignorance. We have not reached solutions; we have only begun to discover how to ask questions.
In 'On Science and Certainty', Discover Magazine (Oct 1980).
Science quotes on:  |  20th Century (40)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Ask (420)  |  Asking (74)  |  Back (395)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Century (319)  |  Discover (571)  |  Experience (494)  |  First (1302)  |  Glimpse (16)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Ignorance (254)  |  Look (584)  |  More (2558)  |  Profundity (6)  |  Question (649)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reaching (2)  |  Solution (282)  |  Solution. (53)  |  Source (101)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

The hype, skepticism and bewilderment associated with the Internet—concerns about new forms of crime, adjustments in social mores, and redefinition of business practices— mirror the hopes, fears, and misunderstandings inspired by the telegraph. Indeed, they are only to be expected. They are the direct consequences of human nature, rather than technology.
Given a new invention, there will always be some people who see only its potential to do good, while others see new opportunities to commit crime or make money. We can expect the same reactions to whatever new inventions appear in the twenty-first century.
Such reactions are amplified by what might be termed chronocentricity—the egotism that one’s own generation is poised on the very cusp of history. Today, we are repeatedly told that we are in the midst of a communications revolution. But the electric telegraph was, in many ways, far more disconcerting for the inhabitants of the time than today’s advances are for us. If any generation has the right to claim that it bore the full bewildering, world-shrinking brunt of such a revolution, it is not us—it is our nineteenth- century forebears.
In The Victorian Internet (1998).
Science quotes on:  |  Adjustment (21)  |  Advance (298)  |  Amplified (6)  |  Bewilderment (8)  |  Business (156)  |  Century (319)  |  Claim (154)  |  Commit (43)  |  Communication (101)  |  Concern (239)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Crime (39)  |  Direct (228)  |  Do (1905)  |  Electric (76)  |  Expect (203)  |  Fear (212)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Generation (256)  |  Good (906)  |  History (716)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Nature (71)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Internet (24)  |  Invention (400)  |  Mirror (43)  |  Misunderstanding (13)  |  Money (178)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Potential (75)  |  Practice (212)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Right (473)  |  See (1094)  |  Skepticism (31)  |  Social (261)  |  Technology (281)  |  Telegraph (45)  |  Term (357)  |  Time (1911)  |  Today (321)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

The idea of an indivisible, ultimate atom is inconceivable by the lay mind. If we can conceive of an idea of the atom at all, we can conceive it as capable of being cut in half; indeed, we cannot conceive it at all unless we so conceive it. The only true atom, the only thing which we cannot subdivide and cut in half, is the universe. We cannot cut a bit off the universe and put it somewhere else. Therefore the universe is a true atom and, indeed, is the smallest piece of indivisible matter which our minds can conceive; and they cannot conceive it any more than they can the indivisible, ultimate atom.
Samuel Butler, Henry Festing Jones (ed.), The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1917), 58.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Being (1276)  |  Capable (174)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Cut (116)  |  Idea (881)  |  Indivisible (22)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Ultimate (152)  |  Universe (900)

The importance of a result is largely relative, is judged differently by different men, and changes with the times and circumstances. It has often happened that great importance has been attached to a problem merely on account of the difficulties which it presented; and indeed if for its solution it has been necessary to invent new methods, noteworthy artifices, etc., the science has gained more perhaps through these than through the final result. In general we may call important all investigations relating to things which in themselves are important; all those which have a large degree of generality, or which unite under a single point of view subjects apparently distinct, simplifying and elucidating them; all those which lead to results that promise to be the source of numerous consequences; etc.
From 'On Some Recent Tendencies in Geometric Investigations', Rivista di Matematica (1891), 44. In Bulletin American Mathematical Society (1904), 444.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Apparent (85)  |  Artifice (4)  |  Attach (57)  |  Attached (36)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Degree (277)  |  Different (595)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Distinct (98)  |  Elucidate (4)  |  Final (121)  |  Gain (146)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Great (1610)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Importance (299)  |  Invent (57)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Judge (114)  |  Large (398)  |  Lead (391)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessary (370)  |  New (1273)  |  Noteworthy (4)  |  Numerous (70)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Present (630)  |  Problem (731)  |  Promise (72)  |  Relative (42)  |  Result (700)  |  Simplify (14)  |  Single (365)  |  Solution (282)  |  Source (101)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subject (543)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Time (1911)  |  Unite (43)  |  View (496)

The importance of C.F. Gauss for the development of modern physical theory and especially for the mathematical fundament of the theory of relativity is overwhelming indeed; also his achievement of the system of absolute measurement in the field of electromagnetism. In my opinion it is impossible to achieve a coherent objective picture of the world on the basis of concepts which are taken more or less from inner psychological experience.
Quoted in G. Waldo Dunnington, Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science (2004), 350.
Science quotes on:  |  Absolute (153)  |  Achievement (187)  |  Basis (180)  |  Concept (242)  |  Development (441)  |  Electromagnetism (19)  |  Experience (494)  |  Field (378)  |  Carl Friedrich Gauss (79)  |  Importance (299)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Inner (72)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Modern (402)  |  More (2558)  |  More Or Less (71)  |  Objective (96)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Overwhelming (30)  |  Physical (518)  |  Picture (148)  |  Psychological (42)  |  Relativity (91)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Theory Of Relativity (33)  |  World (1850)

The indescribable pleasure—which pales the rest of life's joys—is abundant compensation for the investigator who endures the painful and persevering analytical work that precedes the appearance of the new truth, like the pain of childbirth. It is true to say that nothing for the scientific scholar is comparable to the things that he has discovered. Indeed, it would be difficult to find an investigator willing to exchange the paternity of a scientific conquest for all the gold on earth. And if there are some who look to science as a way of acquiring gold instead of applause from the learned, and the personal satisfaction associated with the very act of discovery, they have chosen the wrong profession.
From Reglas y Consejos sobre Investigacíon Cientifica: Los tónicos de la voluntad. (1897), as translated by Neely and Larry W. Swanson, in Advice for a Young Investigator (1999), 50.
Science quotes on:  |  Abundance (26)  |  Abundant (23)  |  Acquisition (46)  |  Act (278)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Appearance (145)  |  Applause (9)  |  Childbirth (2)  |  Choice (114)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Comparable (7)  |  Compensation (8)  |  Conquest (31)  |  Difficult (263)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Endurance (8)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Find (1014)  |  Gold (101)  |  Indescribable (2)  |  Investigator (71)  |  Joy (117)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Life (1870)  |  Look (584)  |  New (1273)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Pain (144)  |  Pale (9)  |  Paternity (2)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Pleasure (191)  |  Preceding (8)  |  Profession (108)  |  Rest (287)  |  Satisfaction (76)  |  Say (989)  |  Scholar (52)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Willing (44)  |  Willingness (10)  |  Work (1402)  |  Wrong (246)

The last few meters up to the summit no longer seem so hard. On reaching the top, I sit down and let my legs dangle into space. I don’t have to climb anymore. I pull my camera from my rucksack and, in my down mittens, fumble a long time with the batteries before I have it working properly. Then I film Peter. Now, after the hours of torment, which indeed I didn’t recognize as torment, now, when the monotonous motion of plodding upwards is at an end, and I have nothing more to do than breathe, a great peace floods my whole being. I breathe like someone who has run the race of his life and knows that he may now rest forever. I keep looking all around, because the first time I didn’t see anything of the panorama I had expected from Everest, neither indeed did I notice how the wind was continually chasing snow across the summit. In my state of spiritual abstraction, I no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single, narrow, gasping lung, floating over the mists and the summits.
In Everest: Expedition to the Ultimate (1979), 180.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstraction (48)  |  Across (32)  |  Anymore (5)  |  Battery (12)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belong (168)  |  Breathe (49)  |  Camera (7)  |  Chase (14)  |  Climb (39)  |  Continually (17)  |  Dangle (2)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  End (603)  |  Everest (10)  |  Expect (203)  |  Eyesight (5)  |  Film (12)  |  First (1302)  |  First Time (14)  |  Float (31)  |  Flood (52)  |  Forever (111)  |  Gasp (6)  |  Great (1610)  |  Hard (246)  |  Hour (192)  |  Keep (104)  |  Know (1538)  |  Last (425)  |  Leg (35)  |  Let (64)  |  Life (1870)  |  Long (778)  |  Looking (191)  |  Lung (37)  |  Meter (9)  |  Mist (17)  |  Monotonous (3)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Myself (211)  |  Narrow (85)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Notice (81)  |  Panorama (5)  |  Peace (116)  |  Plod (3)  |  Properly (21)  |  Pull (43)  |  Race (278)  |  Reach (286)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Rest (287)  |  Rucksack (3)  |  Run (158)  |  See (1094)  |  Seem (150)  |  Single (365)  |  Sit (51)  |  Snow (39)  |  Someone (24)  |  Space (523)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  State (505)  |  Summit (27)  |  Time (1911)  |  Top (100)  |  Torment (18)  |  Upward (44)  |  Upwards (6)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wind (141)  |  Work (1402)

The man who is thoroughly convinced of the universal operation of the law of causation cannot for a moment entertain the idea of a being who interferes in the course of events–provided, of course, that he takes the hypothesis of causality really seriously. He has no use for the religion of fear and equally little for social or moral religion. A God who rewards and punishes is inconceivable to him for the simple reason that a man’s actions are determined by necessity, external and internal, so that in God’s eyes he cannot be responsible, any more than an inanimate object is responsible for the motions it undergoes. Science has therefore been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death.
From 'Religion And Science', as collected in Ideas And Opinions (1954), 39, given its source as: “Written expressly for the New York Times Magazine. Appeared there November 9, 1930 (pp. 1-4). The German text was published in the Berliner Tageblatt, November 11, 1930.” The NYT Magazine article in full, is reprinted in Edward H. Cotton (ed.), Has Science Discovered God? A Symposium of Modern Scientific Opinion (1931), 101. This original version directly from the magazine has significantly different wording, beginning, “For anyone who is pervaded with the sense of causal law….” See this alternate form on the Albert Einstein Quotes page on this website. As for why the difference, Webmaster speculates the book form editor perhaps used a revised translation from Einstein’s German article.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Base (120)  |  Basis (180)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Being (1276)  |  Causality (11)  |  Causation (14)  |  Charge (63)  |  Convinced (23)  |  Course (413)  |  Death (406)  |  Determine (152)  |  Education (423)  |  Effectually (2)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Equally (129)  |  Ethical (34)  |  Event (222)  |  External (62)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fear (212)  |  God (776)  |  Hope (321)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Inanimate (18)  |  Inconceivable (13)  |  Interfere (17)  |  Internal (69)  |  Law (913)  |  Law Of Causation (2)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moment (260)  |  Moral (203)  |  Morality (55)  |  More (2558)  |  Motion (320)  |  Necessary (370)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Need (320)  |  Object (438)  |  Of Course (22)  |  Operation (221)  |  Poor (139)  |  Provide (79)  |  Punish (8)  |  Punishment (14)  |  Really (77)  |  Reason (766)  |  Religion (369)  |  Religious (134)  |  Responsible (19)  |  Restrain (6)  |  Reward (72)  |  Seriously (20)  |  Simple (426)  |  Social (261)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Thoroughly (67)  |  Tie (42)  |  Undergo (18)  |  Undermine (6)  |  Universal (198)  |  Unjust (6)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)

The mathematical conception is, from its very nature, abstract; indeed its abstractness is usually of a higher order than the abstractness of the logician.
In 'Mathematics', Encyclopedia Britannica (1883), Vol. 15, 636.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Conception (160)  |  Logician (18)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Mathematics And Logic (27)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Usually (176)

The mathematician pays not the least regard either to testimony or conjecture, but deduces everything by demonstrative reasoning, from his definitions and axioms. Indeed, whatever is built upon conjecture, is improperly called science; for conjecture may beget opinion, but cannot produce knowledge.
In Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Essay 1, chap. 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Axiom (65)  |  Beget (4)  |  Build (211)  |  Call (781)  |  Called Science (14)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Deduce (27)  |  Definition (238)  |  Demonstrative (14)  |  Everything (489)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Least (75)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Nature Of Mathematics (80)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Pay (45)  |  Produce (117)  |  Reason (766)  |  Reasoning (212)  |  Regard (312)  |  Testimony (21)  |  Whatever (234)

The moon, which is a favorite of the poets and portrayed by the Buddhists as representing the esthetic qualities of peace, serenity and beauty, is now being conquered by man’s ever expanding knowledge of science and technology. What was a mere conceptional imagination is today a concrete reality. The American landing on the moon symbolizes the very acme of scientific achievement. It is indeed a phenomenal feat of far-reaching consequences for the world of science.
In 'Reactions to Man’s Landing on the Moon Show Broad Variations in Opinions', The New York Times (21 Jul 1969), 6.
Science quotes on:  |  Achievement (187)  |  Aesthetics (12)  |  America (143)  |  Beauty (313)  |  Being (1276)  |  Buddhist (5)  |  Concept (242)  |  Concrete (55)  |  Conquer (39)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Far-Reaching (9)  |  Favorite (37)  |  Feat (11)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Moon (252)  |  Moon Landing (9)  |  Peace (116)  |  Poet (97)  |  Quality (139)  |  Reality (274)  |  Represent (157)  |  Science And Technology (46)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Serenity (11)  |  Symbolize (8)  |  Technology (281)  |  Today (321)  |  World (1850)

The moral attitudes of a people that is supported by religion need always aim at preserving and promoting the sanity and vitality of the community and its individuals, since otherwise this community is bound to perish. A people that were to honor falsehood, defamation, fraud, and murder would be unable, indeed, to subsist for very long.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Bind (26)  |  Bound (120)  |  Community (111)  |  Defamation (2)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Fraud (15)  |  Honor (57)  |  Individual (420)  |  Long (778)  |  Moral (203)  |  Murder (16)  |  Need (320)  |  Otherwise (26)  |  People (1031)  |  Perish (56)  |  Preserve (91)  |  Preserving (18)  |  Promote (32)  |  Religion (369)  |  Sanity (9)  |  Subsist (5)  |  Support (151)  |  Unable (25)  |  Vitality (24)

The most striking characteristic of the written language of algebra and of the higher forms of the calculus is the sharpness of definition, by which we are enabled to reason upon the symbols by the mere laws of verbal logic, discharging our minds entirely of the meaning of the symbols, until we have reached a stage of the process where we desire to interpret our results. The ability to attend to the symbols, and to perform the verbal, visible changes in the position of them permitted by the logical rules of the science, without allowing the mind to be perplexed with the meaning of the symbols until the result is reached which you wish to interpret, is a fundamental part of what is called analytical power. Many students find themselves perplexed by a perpetual attempt to interpret not only the result, but each step of the process. They thus lose much of the benefit of the labor-saving machinery of the calculus and are, indeed, frequently incapacitated for using it.
In 'Uses of Mathesis', Bibliotheca Sacra (Jul 1875), 32, 505.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Algebra (117)  |  Analysis (244)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Attend (67)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Definition (238)  |  Desire (212)  |  Find (1014)  |  Form (976)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Incapacitate (2)  |  Interpret (25)  |  Labor (200)  |  Labor-Saving (3)  |  Language (308)  |  Law (913)  |  Logic (311)  |  Lose (165)  |  Machinery (59)  |  Mathematics As A Language (20)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Perform (123)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Perplex (6)  |  Power (771)  |  Process (439)  |  Reach (286)  |  Reason (766)  |  Result (700)  |  Rule (307)  |  Sharp (17)  |  Sharpness (9)  |  Stage (152)  |  Step (234)  |  Striking (48)  |  Student (317)  |  Symbol (100)  |  Themselves (433)  |  Visible (87)  |  Wish (216)

The name of Sir Isaac Newton has by general consent been placed at the head of those great men who have been the ornaments of their species. … The philosopher [Laplace], indeed, to whom posterity will probably assign a place next to Newton, has characterized the Principia as pre-eminent above all the productions of human intellect.
In Life of Sir Isaac Newton (1831), 1, 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Assign (15)  |  Characterize (22)  |  Consent (14)  |  General (521)  |  Great (1610)  |  Head (87)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Intellect (32)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Pierre-Simon Laplace (63)  |  Mathematicians and Anecdotes (141)  |  Name (359)  |  Sir Isaac Newton (363)  |  Next (238)  |  Ornament (20)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Place (192)  |  Posterity (29)  |  Preeminent (6)  |  Principia (14)  |  Probably (50)  |  Production (190)  |  Species (435)  |  Will (2350)

The natural scientist is concerned with a particular kind of phenomena … he has to confine himself to that which is reproducible … I do not claim that the reproducible by itself is more important than the unique. But I do claim that the unique exceeds the treatment by scientific method. Indeed it is the aim of this method to find and test natural laws…
In Aufsätze und Vorträge über Physik und Erkenntnistheorie (1961), 94. Quoted in Erhard Scheibe and Brigitte Falkenburg (ed), Between Rationalism and Empiricism: Selected Papers in the Philosophy of Physics (2001), 276
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Claim (154)  |  Concern (239)  |  Do (1905)  |  Find (1014)  |  Himself (461)  |  Kind (564)  |  Law (913)  |  Method (531)  |  More (2558)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Reproducible (9)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Method (200)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Test (221)  |  Treatment (135)  |  Unique (72)

The new chemistry indeed has given us a new principle of the generation of rain, by proving water to be a composition of different gases, and has aided our theory of meteoric lights.
Letter (5 Sep 1822) to George F. Hopkins. Collected in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (1854), Vol. 7, 260.
Science quotes on:  |  Aid (101)  |  Aurora (3)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Composition (86)  |  Different (595)  |  Gas (89)  |  Generation (256)  |  Light (635)  |  New (1273)  |  Principle (530)  |  Rain (70)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Water (503)

The observer is not he who merely sees the thing which is before his eyes, but he who sees what parts the thing is composed of. To do this well is a rare talent. One person, from inattention, or attending only in the wrong place, overlooks half of what he sees; another sets down much more than he sees, confounding it with what he imagines, or with what he infers; another takes note of the kind of all the circumstances, but being inexpert in estimating their degree, leaves the quantity of each vague and uncertain; another sees indeed the whole, but makes such an awkward division of it into parts, throwing into one mass things which require to be separated, and separating others which might more conveniently be considered as one, that the result is much the same, sometimes even worse than if no analysis had been attempted at all.
In A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive (1858), 216.
Science quotes on:  |  Analysis (244)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Attend (67)  |  Awkward (11)  |  Being (1276)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Composed (3)  |  Confound (21)  |  Confounding (8)  |  Consider (428)  |  Convenience (54)  |  Degree (277)  |  Division (67)  |  Do (1905)  |  Down (455)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Eye (440)  |  Half (63)  |  Imagine (176)  |  Inattention (5)  |  Inexpert (2)  |  Infer (12)  |  Kind (564)  |  Mass (160)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  Note (39)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observer (48)  |  Other (2233)  |  Overlook (33)  |  Part (235)  |  Person (366)  |  Place (192)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Rare (94)  |  Require (229)  |  Result (700)  |  See (1094)  |  Separate (151)  |  Set (400)  |  Set Down (2)  |  Talent (99)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Throwing (17)  |  Uncertain (45)  |  Vague (50)  |  Whole (756)  |  Worse (25)  |  Wrong (246)

The only sure foundations of medicine are, an intimate knowledge of the human body, and observation on the effects of medicinal substances on that. The anatomical and clinical schools, therefore, are those in which the young physician should be formed. If he enters with innocence that of the theory of medicine, it is scarcely possible he should come out untainted with error. His mind must be strong indeed, if, rising above juvenile credulity, it can maintain a wise infidelity against the authority of his instructors, and the bewitching delusions of their theories.
In letter to Caspar Wistar (21 Jun 1807), collected in Thomas Jefferson Randolph (ed.), Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson (1829), Vol. 4, 93.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Authority (99)  |  Body (557)  |  Clinic (4)  |  Clinical (18)  |  Credulity (16)  |  Delusion (26)  |  Effect (414)  |  Enter (145)  |  Error (339)  |  Form (976)  |  Foundation (177)  |  Human (1512)  |  Infidelity (3)  |  Innocence (13)  |  Instructor (5)  |  Juvenile (4)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Maintain (105)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Must (1525)  |  Observation (593)  |  Physician (284)  |  Possible (560)  |  Rising (44)  |  Scarcely (75)  |  School (227)  |  Strong (182)  |  Substance (253)  |  Taint (10)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Wisdom (235)  |  Wise (143)  |  Young (253)

The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Exist (458)  |  Good (906)  |  Ground (222)  |  Hold (96)  |  Lack (127)  |  Measure (241)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Passion (121)

The order of ... successive generations is indeed much more clearly proved than many a legend which has assumed the character of history in the hands of man; for the geological record is the work of God.
Siluria (1872), 476.
Science quotes on:  |  Character (259)  |  Generation (256)  |  Geological Record (2)  |  God (776)  |  History (716)  |  Legend (18)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Order (638)  |  Proof (304)  |  Record (161)  |  Succession (80)  |  Successive (73)  |  Work (1402)

The origin of volcanic energy is one of the blankest mysteries of science, and it is strange indeed, that a class of phenomena so long familiar to the human race and so zealously studied through all the ages should be so utterly without explanation. (1880)
In Report on the Geology of the High Plateaus of Utah (1880), 113.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Class (168)  |  Energy (373)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Familiar (47)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Race (104)  |  Long (778)  |  Mystery (188)  |  Origin (250)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Race (278)  |  Strange (160)  |  Study (701)  |  Through (846)  |  Volcano (46)

The peculiar taste both in pure and in mixed nature of those relations about which it is conversant, from its simple and definite phraseology, and from the severe logic so admirably displayed in the concatenation of its innumerable theorems, are indeed immense, and well entitled to separate and ample illustration.
In Philosophy of the Human Mind (1816), Vol. 2, Chap. 2, Sec. 3, 157.
Science quotes on:  |  Both (496)  |  Definite (114)  |  Display (59)  |  Illustration (51)  |  Immense (89)  |  Innumerable (56)  |  Logic (311)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Peculiar (115)  |  Pure (299)  |  Separate (151)  |  Simple (426)  |  Taste (93)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Value Of Mathematics (60)

The point [is] largely scientific in character …[concerning] the methods which can be invented or adopted or discovered to enable the Earth to control the Air, to enable defence from the ground to exercise control—indeed dominance—upon aeroplanes high above its surface. … science is always able to provide something. We were told that it was impossible to grapple with submarines, but methods were found … Many things were adopted in war which we were told were technically impossible, but patience, perseverance, and above all the spur of necessity under war conditions, made men’s brains act with greater vigour, and science responded to the demands.
[Remarks made in the House of Commons on 7 June 1935. His speculation was later proved correct with the subsequent development of radar during World War II, which was vital in the air defence of Britain.]
Quoting himself in The Second World War: The Gathering Storm (1948, 1986), Vol. 1, 134.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Air (366)  |  Airplane (43)  |  Brain (281)  |  Britain (26)  |  Character (259)  |  Common (447)  |  Condition (362)  |  Control (182)  |  Defence (16)  |  Defense (26)  |  Demand (131)  |  Development (441)  |  Discover (571)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Enable (122)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Grapple (11)  |  Greater (288)  |  Ground (222)  |  High (370)  |  House (143)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Invention (400)  |  Method (531)  |  Necessity (197)  |  Patience (58)  |  Perseverance (24)  |  Point (584)  |  Radar (9)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Something (718)  |  Sonar (2)  |  Speculation (137)  |  Submarine (12)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Surface (223)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Vigour (18)  |  Vital (89)  |  War (233)  |  World (1850)

The popularisation of scientific doctrines is producing as great an alteration in the mental state of society as the material applications of science are effecting in its outward life. Such indeed is the respect paid to science, that the most absurd opinions may become current, provided they are expressed in language, the sound of which recals [sic] some well-known scientific phrase.
'Introductory Lecture on Experimental Physics' (1871). In W. D. Niven (ed.), The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell (1890), Vol. 2, 242.
Science quotes on:  |  Absurd (60)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Application (257)  |  Become (821)  |  Current (122)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Express (192)  |  Great (1610)  |  Known (453)  |  Language (308)  |  Life (1870)  |  Material (366)  |  Mental (179)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Most (1728)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Phrase (61)  |  Respect (212)  |  Science And Society (25)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Society (350)  |  Sound (187)  |  State (505)

The prevailing trend in modern physics is thus much against any sort of view giving primacy to ... undivided wholeness of flowing movement. Indeed, those aspects of relativity theory and quantum theory which do suggest the need for such a view tend to be de-emphasized and in fact hardly noticed by most physicists, because they are regarded largely as features of the mathematical calculus and not as indications of the real nature of things.
Wholeness and the Implicate Order? (1981), 14.
Science quotes on:  |  Against (332)  |  Aspect (129)  |  Calculus (65)  |  Do (1905)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feature (49)  |  Flow (89)  |  Give (208)  |  Hardly (19)  |  Indication (33)  |  Largely (14)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Modern (402)  |  Modern Physics (23)  |  Most (1728)  |  Movement (162)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nature Of Things (30)  |  Need (320)  |  Notice (81)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Prevail (47)  |  Primacy (3)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Physics (19)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Real (159)  |  Reality (274)  |  Regard (312)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Sort (50)  |  Suggest (38)  |  Tend (124)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Trend (23)  |  Undivided (3)  |  View (496)  |  Wholeness (9)

The purpose of the history of science is to establish the genesis and the development of scientific facts and ideas, taking into account all intellectual exchanges and all influences brought into play by the very progress of civilization. It is indeed a history of civilization considered from its highest point of view. The center of interest is the evolution of science, but general history remains always in the background.
In 'The History of Science', The Monist (July 1916), 26, No. 3, 333.
Science quotes on:  |  Account (195)  |  Background (44)  |  Center (35)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Consider (428)  |  Considered (12)  |  Development (441)  |  Establish (63)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exchange (38)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  General (521)  |   Genesis (26)  |  Highest (19)  |  History (716)  |  History Of Science (80)  |  Idea (881)  |  Influence (231)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Interest (416)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Progress (492)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Remain (355)  |  Remains (9)  |  Scientific (955)  |  View (496)

The pursuit of pretty formulas and neat theorems can no doubt quickly degenerate into a silly vice, but so can the quest for austere generalities which are so very general indeed that they are incapable of application to any particular.
In Men of Mathematics (1937), Vol. 2, 488.
Science quotes on:  |  Application (257)  |  Austere (7)  |  Degenerate (14)  |  Doubt (314)  |  Formula (102)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Incapable (41)  |  Neat (5)  |  Particular (80)  |  Pretty (21)  |  Pursuit (128)  |  Quest (39)  |  Quickly (21)  |  Silly (17)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Vice (42)

The radius of space began at zero; the first stages of the expansion consisted of a rapid expansion determined by the mass of the initial atom, almost equal to the present mass of the universe. If this mass is sufficient, and the estimates which we can make indicate that this is indeed so, the initial expansion was able to permit the radius to exceed the value of the equilibrium radius. The expansion thus took place in three phases: a first period of rapid expansion in which the atom-universe was broken into atomic stars, a period of slowing-down, followed by a third period of accelerated expansion. It is doubtless in this third period that we find ourselves today, and the acceleration of space which followed the period of slow expansion could well be responsible for the separation of stars into extra-galactic nebulae.
From 'La formation des Nebuleuses dans l’Univers en Expansion', Comptes Rendus (1933), 196, 903-904. As translated in Helge Kragh, Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe (1996), 52.
Science quotes on:  |  Acceleration (12)  |  Atom (381)  |  Big Bang (45)  |  Broken (56)  |  Consist (223)  |  Down (455)  |  Equilibrium (34)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Expansion (43)  |  Find (1014)  |  First (1302)  |  Follow (389)  |  Galactic (6)  |  Indicate (62)  |  Mass (160)  |  Origin Of The Universe (20)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Period (200)  |  Permit (61)  |  Phase (37)  |  Present (630)  |  Separation (60)  |  Slow (108)  |  Space (523)  |  Stage (152)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Today (321)  |  Universe (900)  |  Value (393)  |  Zero (38)

The reason it is so hard to attain to something good in any of the arts and sciences is that it involves attaining to a certain stipulated point; to do something badly according to a predetermined rule would be just as hard, if indeed it would then still deserve to be called bad.
Aphorism 53 in Notebook C (1772-1773), as translated by R.J. Hollingdale in Aphorisms (1990). Reprinted as The Waste Books (2000), 42.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Art (680)  |  Attain (126)  |  Attainment (48)  |  Bad (185)  |  Badly (32)  |  Call (781)  |  Certain (557)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Do (1905)  |  Good (906)  |  Hard (246)  |  Involve (93)  |  Point (584)  |  Predetermined (3)  |  Reason (766)  |  Rule (307)  |  Science And Art (195)  |  Something (718)  |  Still (614)

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court restricting obscenity in books, magazines and movies, requires that we re-examine our own journals for lewd contents. The recent chemical literature provides many examples of words and concepts whose double meaning and thinly veiled overtones are an affront to all clean chemists. What must a layman think of ‘coupling constants’, ‘tickling techniques’, or indeed ‘increased overlap’? The bounds of propriety are surely exceeded when heterocyclic chemists discuss homoenolization.
In Chemical Engineering News (8 Oct 1973), 68.
Science quotes on:  |  Book (413)  |  Bound (120)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemist (169)  |  Clean (52)  |  Concept (242)  |  Constant (148)  |  Court (35)  |  Examine (84)  |  Journal (31)  |  Layman (21)  |  Lewd (2)  |  Literature (116)  |   Magazine (26)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Movie (21)  |  Must (1525)  |  Obscenity (4)  |  Overlap (9)  |  Overtone (3)  |  Propriety (6)  |  Recent (78)  |  Require (229)  |  Supreme (73)  |  Supreme Court (2)  |  Surely (101)  |  Technique (84)  |  Think (1122)  |  Tickling (2)  |  Veil (27)  |  Word (650)

The reformer [of the body of law] who would seek to improve such a system in any material degree, mistakes his vocation. That task had better be left to time and experience. He will often find it impossible to know what to eradicate and what to spare, and in plucking up the tares, the wheat may sometimes be destroyed. “The pound of flesh” may be removed, indeed, but with it will come, gushing forth, the blood of life.
From biographical preface by T. Bigelow to Austin Abbott (ed.), Official Report of the Trial of Henry Ward Beecher (1875), Vol. 1, xii.
Science quotes on:  |  Better (493)  |  Blood (144)  |  Body (557)  |  Degree (277)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Eradicate (6)  |  Experience (494)  |  Find (1014)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Improve (64)  |  Know (1538)  |  Law (913)  |  Life (1870)  |  Material (366)  |  Mistake (180)  |  Pluck (5)  |  Reformer (5)  |  Remove (50)  |  Seek (218)  |  System (545)  |  Task (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Vocation (10)  |  Wheat (10)  |  Will (2350)

The respect which in all ages and countries has ever been paid to inventors seems, indeed, to rest on something more profound than mere gratitude for the benefits which they have been the means of conferring on mankind; and to imply, if it does not express, a consciousness that by the grand and original conceptions of their minds they approach somewhat more nearly than their fellows to the qualities and pre-eminence of a higher order of being.
The Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt (1854), Vol.1, 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Approach (112)  |  Being (1276)  |  Benefit (123)  |  Conception (160)  |  Consciousness (132)  |  Eminence (25)  |  Express (192)  |  Fellow (88)  |  Gratitude (14)  |  Inventor (79)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  Mind (1377)  |  More (2558)  |  Nearly (137)  |  Order (638)  |  Pre-eminence (4)  |  Profound (105)  |  Respect (212)  |  Rest (287)  |  Something (718)

The saying that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing is, to my mind, a very dangerous adage. If knowledge is real and genuine, I do not believe that it is other than a very valuable posession, however infinitesimal its quantity may be. Indeed, if a little knowledge is dangerous, where is a man who has so much as to be out of danger?
'Instruction in Physiology', in Science and Culture and Other Essays (1882), 91.
Science quotes on:  |  Adage (4)  |  Danger (127)  |  Dangerous (108)  |  Do (1905)  |  Genuine (54)  |  Infinitesimal (30)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Little (717)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possession (68)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Real (159)  |  French Saying (67)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Value (393)

The science of calculation … is indispensable as far as the extraction of the square and cube roots: Algebra as far as the quadratic equation and the use of logarithms are often of value in ordinary cases: but all beyond these is but a luxury; a delicious luxury indeed; but not to be indulged in by one who is to have a profession to follow for his subsistence.
In Letter (18 Jun 1799) to William G. Munford. On founders.archives.gov website.
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Beyond (316)  |  Calculation (134)  |  Case (102)  |  Cube (14)  |  Delicious (3)  |  Equation (138)  |  Extraction (10)  |  Far (158)  |  Follow (389)  |  Indispensable (31)  |  Indulge (15)  |  Logarithm (12)  |  Luxury (21)  |  Often (109)  |  Ordinary (167)  |  Profession (108)  |  Quadratic (3)  |  Root (121)  |  Square (73)  |  Subsistence (9)  |  Use (771)  |  Value (393)

The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon and the effects of our medicine on the human system are in the highest degree uncertain, except indeed that they have already destroyed more lives than war, pestilence, and famine combined.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Already (226)  |  Barbarous (4)  |  Combine (58)  |  Degree (277)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Effect (414)  |  Famine (18)  |  High (370)  |  Human (1512)  |  Jargon (13)  |  Live (650)  |  Medicine (392)  |  More (2558)  |  Pestilence (14)  |  System (545)  |  Uncertain (45)  |  War (233)

The scientist knows very well that he is approaching ultimate truth only in an asymptotic curve and is barred from ever reaching it; but at the same time he is proudly aware of being indeed able to determine whether a statement is a nearer or a less near approach to the truth.
In On Aggression (1966, 2002), 279.
Science quotes on:  |  Ability (162)  |  Approach (112)  |  Asymptotic (2)  |  Awareness (42)  |  Being (1276)  |  Curve (49)  |  Determination (80)  |  Determine (152)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Nearness (3)  |  Pride (84)  |  Reach (286)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Statement (148)  |  Time (1911)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Ultimate (152)

The scientist, by the very nature of his commitment, creates more and more questions, never fewer. Indeed the measure of our intellectual maturity, one philosopher suggests, is our capacity to feel less and less satisfied with our answers to better problems.
Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality (1955), 67.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Better (493)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Commitment (28)  |  Create (245)  |  Feel (371)  |  Intellect (251)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Maturity (14)  |  Measure (241)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Never (1089)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Problem (731)  |  Question (649)  |  Satisfy (29)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Suggest (38)

The soul seems to be a very tenuous substance … [and] seems to be made of a most subtle texture, extremely mobile or active corpuscles, not unlike those of flame or heat; indeed, whether they are spherical, as the authors of atoms propound, or pyramidical as Plato thought, or some other form, they seem from their own motion and penetration through bodies to create the heat which is in the animal.
As quoted in Margaret J. Osler and Paul Lawrence Farber (eds.), Religion, Science, and Worldview: Essays in Honor of Richard S. Westfall (2002), 169.
Science quotes on:  |  Active (80)  |  Anatomy (75)  |  Animal (651)  |  Atom (381)  |  Author (175)  |  Body (557)  |  Corpuscle (14)  |  Create (245)  |  Flame (44)  |  Form (976)  |  Heat (180)  |  Mobile (4)  |  Most (1728)  |  Motion (320)  |  Other (2233)  |  Penetration (18)  |  Plato (80)  |  Pyramid (9)  |  Soul (235)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Substance (253)  |  Subtle (37)  |  Tenuous (3)  |  Texture (8)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)

The stakes are immense, the task colossal, the time is short. But we may hope–we must hope–that man’s own creation, man’s own genius, will not destroy him. Scholars, indeed all men, must move forward in the faith of that philosopher who held that there is no problem the human reason can propound which the human reason cannot reason out.
From 'Is Einstein Right?', in William Allison Shimer (ed.), The American Scholar (1946), 15, 476. Reprinted in American Thought 1947 (1947), 196. Gauss is commenting on an article by Einstein about the challenges following the creation of the atomic bomb, 'The Real Problem Is in the Hearts of Men', New York Times Magazine (23 Jun 1946), SM4.
Science quotes on:  |  Colossal (15)  |  Creation (350)  |  Destroy (189)  |  Faith (209)  |  Forward (104)  |  Genius (301)  |  Hold (96)  |  Hope (321)  |  Human (1512)  |  Immense (89)  |  Man (2252)  |  Move (223)  |  Must (1525)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Problem (731)  |  Propound (2)  |  Reason (766)  |  Scholar (52)  |  Short (200)  |  Stake (20)  |  Task (152)  |  Time (1911)  |  Will (2350)

The subsequent course of nature, teaches, that God, indeed, gave motion to matter; but that, in the beginning, he so guided the various motion of the parts of it, as to contrive them into the world he design'd they should compose; and establish'd those rules of motion, and that order amongst things corporeal, which we call the laws of nature. Thus, the universe being once fram'd by God, and the laws of motion settled, and all upheld by his perpetual concourse, and general providence; the same philosophy teaches, that the phenomena of the world, are physically produced by the mechanical properties of the parts of matter; and, that they operate upon one another according to mechanical laws. 'Tis of this kind of corpuscular philosophy, that I speak.
'The Excellence and Grounds of the Mechanical Philosophy', In P. Shaw (ed.), The Philosophical Works of Robert Boyle (1725), Vol. 1, 187.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Being (1276)  |  Call (781)  |  Contrive (10)  |  Course (413)  |  Design (203)  |  General (521)  |  God (776)  |  Kind (564)  |  Law (913)  |  Laws Of Motion (10)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Order (638)  |  Perpetual (59)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Produced (187)  |  Providence (19)  |  Rule (307)  |  Settled (34)  |  Speak (240)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Universe (900)  |  Various (205)  |  World (1850)

The success of the paradigm... is at the start largely a promise of success ... Normal science consists in the actualization of that promise... Mopping up operations are what engage most scientists throughout their careers. They constitute what I am here calling normal science... That enterprise seems an attempt to force nature into the preformed and relatively inflexible box that the paradigm supplies. No part of the aim of normal science is to call forth new sorts of phenomena; indeed those that will not fit the box are often not seen at all. Nor do scientists normally aim to invent new theories, and they are often intolerant of those invented by others.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), 23-4.
Science quotes on:  |  Aim (175)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Box (22)  |  Call (781)  |  Career (86)  |  Consist (223)  |  Constitute (99)  |  Do (1905)  |  Engage (41)  |  Enterprise (56)  |  Fit (139)  |  Force (497)  |  Most (1728)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Other (2233)  |  Paradigm (16)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Promise (72)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Start (237)  |  Success (327)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Throughout (98)  |  Will (2350)

The Sun is no lonelier than its neighbors; indeed, it is a very common-place star,—dwarfish, though not minute,—like hundreds, nay thousands, of others. By accident the brighter component of Alpha Centauri (which is double) is almost the Sun's twin in brightness, mass, and size. Could this Earth be transported to its vicinity by some supernatural power, and set revolving about it, at a little less than a hundred million miles' distance, the star would heat and light the world just as the Sun does, and life and civilization might go on with no radical change. The Milky Way would girdle the heavens as before; some of our familiar constellations, such as Orion, would be little changed, though others would be greatly altered by the shifting of the nearer stars. An unfamiliar brilliant star, between Cassiopeia and Perseus would be—the Sun. Looking back at it with our telescopes, we could photograph its spectrum, observe its motion among the stars, and convince ourselves that it was the same old Sun; but what had happened to the rest of our planetary system we would not know.
The Solar System and its Origin (1935), 2-3.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Alpha Centauri (2)  |  Alter (64)  |  Alteration (31)  |  Altered (32)  |  Back (395)  |  Brightness (12)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Cassiopeia (2)  |  Change (639)  |  Civilization (220)  |  Common (447)  |  Component (51)  |  Constellation (18)  |  Convince (43)  |  Distance (171)  |  Double (18)  |  Dwarf (7)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Happen (282)  |  Happened (88)  |  Heat (180)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Know (1538)  |  Life (1870)  |  Light (635)  |  Little (717)  |  Loneliness (6)  |  Look (584)  |  Looking (191)  |  Mass (160)  |  Mile (43)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Million (124)  |  Minute (129)  |  Motion (320)  |  Nearer (45)  |  Nearness (3)  |  Neighbor (14)  |  Observation (593)  |  Observe (179)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Perseus (2)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Planet (402)  |  Planetary (29)  |  Power (771)  |  Radical (28)  |  Rest (287)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Set (400)  |  Shift (45)  |  Size (62)  |  Solar System (81)  |  Spectrum (35)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Sun (407)  |  Supernatural (26)  |  System (545)  |  Telescope (106)  |  Thousand (340)  |  Transport (31)  |  Transportation (19)  |  Twin (16)  |  Unfamiliar (17)  |  Unfamiliarity (5)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

The understanding must not however be allowed to jump and fly from particulars to axioms remote and of almost the highest generality (such as the first principles, as they are called, of arts and things), and taking stand upon them as truths that cannot be shaken, proceed to prove and frame the middle axioms by reference to them; which has been the practice hitherto, the understanding being not only carried that way by a natural impulse, but also by the use of syllogistic demonstration trained and inured to it. But then, and then only, may we hope well of the sciences when in a just scale of ascent, and by successive steps not interrupted or broken, we rise from particulars to lesser axioms; and then to middle axioms, one above the other; and last of all to the most general. For the lowest axioms differ but slightly from bare experience, while the highest and most general (which we now have) are notional and abstract and without solidity. But the middle are the true and solid and living axioms, on which depend the affairs and fortunes of men; and above them again, last of all, those which are indeed the most general; such, I mean, as are not abstract, but of which those intermediate axioms are really limitations.
The understanding must not therefore be supplied with wings, but rather hung with weights, to keep it from leaping and flying. Now this has never yet been done; when it is done, we may entertain better hopes of science.
From Novum Organum (1620), Book 1, Aphorism 104. Translated as The New Organon: Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man), collected in James Spedding, Robert Ellis and Douglas Heath (eds.), The Works of Francis Bacon (1857), Vol. 4, 97.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Art (680)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Bare (33)  |  Being (1276)  |  Better (493)  |  Broken (56)  |  Call (781)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Depend (238)  |  Differ (88)  |  Entertain (27)  |  Experience (494)  |  First (1302)  |  Fly (153)  |  Flying (74)  |  Fortune (50)  |  General (521)  |  Generality (45)  |  Hope (321)  |  Impulse (52)  |  Intermediate (38)  |  Jump (31)  |  Last (425)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Living (492)  |  Logic (311)  |  Mean (810)  |  Most (1728)  |  Must (1525)  |  Natural (810)  |  Never (1089)  |  Other (2233)  |  Practice (212)  |  Principle (530)  |  Proceed (134)  |  Prove (261)  |  Remote (86)  |  Rise (169)  |  Scale (122)  |  Solid (119)  |  Stand (284)  |  Step (234)  |  Successive (73)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Train (118)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Use (771)  |  Way (1214)  |  Weight (140)  |  Wing (79)

The value of history is, indeed, not scientific but moral: by liberalizing the mind, by deepening the sympathies, by fortifying the will, it enables us to control, not society, but ourselves—a much more important thing; it prepares us to live more humanely in the present and to meet rather than to foretell the future.
In 'A New Philosophy of History', The Dial (2 Sep 1915), 148. This is Becker’s concluding remark in his 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:  |  Control (182)  |  Deepen (6)  |  Enable (122)  |  Foretell (12)  |  Fortify (4)  |  Future (467)  |  History (716)  |  Live (650)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Moral (203)  |  More (2558)  |  Ourselves (247)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Present (630)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Society (350)  |  Sympathy (35)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Value (393)  |  Will (2350)

The Wegener hypothesis has been so stimulating and has such fundamental implications in geology as to merit respectful and sympathetic interest from every geologist. Some striking arguments in his favor have been advanced, and it would be foolhardy indeed to reject any concept that offers a possible key to the solution of profound problems in the Earth’s history.
Published while geologists remained sceptical of Alfred Wegener’s idea of Continental Drift, Though unconvinced, he published these thoughts suggesting that critics should be at least be open-minded. His patience was proven justified when two decades later, the theory of plate tectonics provided a mechanism for the motion of the continents.
Some Thoughts on the Evidence for Continental Drift (1944).
Science quotes on:  |  Argument (145)  |  Concept (242)  |  Continent (79)  |  Continental Drift (15)  |  Decade (66)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Favor (69)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Geologist (82)  |  Geology (240)  |  History (716)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Idea (881)  |  Interest (416)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Merit (51)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motion (320)  |  Offer (142)  |  Open (277)  |  Patience (58)  |  Plate Tectonics (22)  |  Possible (560)  |  Problem (731)  |  Profound (105)  |  Reject (67)  |  Remain (355)  |  Solution (282)  |  Striking (48)  |  Sympathetic (10)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)  |  Alfred L. Wegener (12)

The year which has passed ... has not been unproductive in contributions of interest and value, in those sciences to which we are professedly more particularly addicted, as well as in every other walk of scientific research. It has not, indeed, been marked by any of those striking discoveries which at once revolutionize, so as to speak, the department of science on which they bear.
Summary of the year in which the Darwin-Wallace communication was read. 'Presidential Address', Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 24 May (1859), viii.
Science quotes on:  |  Bear (162)  |  Contribution (93)  |  Charles Darwin (322)  |  Department (93)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Interest (416)  |  Marked (55)  |  More (2558)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Research (753)  |  Revolutionize (8)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Speak (240)  |  Striking (48)  |  Value (393)  |  Walk (138)  |  Alfred Russel Wallace (41)  |  Year (963)

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)  |  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)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Year (963)

There is a point of view among astronomical researchers that is generally referred to as the Principle of Mediocrity. ... If the Sun and its retinue of worlds is only one system among many, then many other systems will be like ours: home to life. Indeed, to the extent that this is true, we should be prepared for the possibility that, even in the Milky Way galaxy, billions of planets may be carpeted by the dirty, nasty business known as life.
Quoted in 'Do Aliens Exist in the Milky Way', PBS web page for WGBH Nova, 'Origins.'
Science quotes on:  |  Billion (104)  |  Business (156)  |  Carpet (3)  |  Dirty (17)  |  Extent (142)  |  Extraterrestrial Life (20)  |  Galaxy (53)  |  Home (184)  |  Known (453)  |  Life (1870)  |  Mediocrity (8)  |  Milky Way (29)  |  Nasty (8)  |  Other (2233)  |  Planet (402)  |  Point (584)  |  Point Of View (85)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Principle (530)  |  Researcher (36)  |  Retinue (3)  |  Sun (407)  |  System (545)  |  View (496)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)  |  World (1850)

There is only one nature—the division into science and engineering is a human imposition, not a natural one. Indeed, the division is a human failure; it reflects our limited capacity to comprehend the whole.
from Recent Development of Physical Science (p. 10)
Science quotes on:  |  Capacity (105)  |  Division (67)  |  Engineering (188)  |  Failure (176)  |  Human (1512)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Science And Engineering (16)  |  Whole (756)

There is scarce any one invention, which this nation has produced in our age, but it has some way or other been set forward by his assistance. ... He is indeed a man born for the good of mankind, and for the honour of his country. ... So I may thank God, that Dr. Wilkins was an Englishman, for wherever he had lived, there had been the chief seat of generous knowledge and true philosophy.
In Micrographia, Preface. Cited in Charles Coulston Gillispie, Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1976), Vol. 14, 369-370.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Assistance (23)  |  Born (37)  |  Chief (99)  |  Country (269)  |  Englishman (5)  |  Forward (104)  |  Generous (17)  |  God (776)  |  Good (906)  |  Honour (58)  |  Invention (400)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mankind (356)  |  Nation (208)  |  Other (2233)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Scarce (11)  |  Seat (7)  |  Set (400)  |  Thank (48)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Way (1214)  |  Wherever (51)  |  John Wilkins (4)

These estimates may well be enhanced by one from F. Klein (1849-1925), the leading German mathematician of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. “Mathematics in general is fundamentally the science of self-evident things.” ... If mathematics is indeed the science of self-evident things, mathematicians are a phenomenally stupid lot to waste the tons of good paper they do in proving the fact. Mathematics is abstract and it is hard, and any assertion that it is simple is true only in a severely technical sense—that of the modern postulational method which, as a matter of fact, was exploited by Euclid. The assumptions from which mathematics starts are simple; the rest is not.
Mathematics: Queen and Servant of Science (1952),19-20.
Science quotes on:  |  19th Century (41)  |  Abstract (141)  |  Assumption (96)  |  Century (319)  |  Do (1905)  |  Estimate (59)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Evident (92)  |  Exploit (19)  |  Fact (1257)  |  General (521)  |  German (37)  |  Good (906)  |  Hard (246)  |  Felix Klein (15)  |  Last (425)  |  Lot (151)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Matter (821)  |  Method (531)  |  Modern (402)  |  Paper (192)  |  Rest (287)  |  Self (268)  |  Self-Evident (22)  |  Sense (785)  |  Simple (426)  |  Start (237)  |  Stupid (38)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Ton (25)  |  Waste (109)

Think of the image of the world in a convex mirror. ... A well-made convex mirror of moderate aperture represents the objects in front of it as apparently solid and in fixed positions behind its surface. But the images of the distant horizon and of the sun in the sky lie behind the mirror at a limited distance, equal to its focal length. Between these and the surface of the mirror are found the images of all the other objects before it, but the images are diminished and flattened in proportion to the distance of their objects from the mirror. ... Yet every straight line or plane in the outer world is represented by a straight line or plane in the image. The image of a man measuring with a rule a straight line from the mirror, would contract more and more the farther he went, but with his shrunken rule the man in the image would count out exactly the same results as in the outer world, all lines of sight in the mirror would be represented by straight lines of sight in the mirror. In short, I do not see how men in the mirror are to discover that their bodies are not rigid solids and their experiences good examples of the correctness of Euclidean axioms. But if they could look out upon our world as we look into theirs without overstepping the boundary, they must declare it to be a picture in a spherical mirror, and would speak of us just as we speak of them; and if two inhabitants of the different worlds could communicate with one another, neither, as far as I can see, would be able to convince the other that he had the true, the other the distorted, relation. Indeed I cannot see that such a question would have any meaning at all, so long as mechanical considerations are not mixed up with it.
In 'On the Origin and Significance of Geometrical Axioms,' Popular Scientific Lectures< Second Series (1881), 57-59. In Robert Édouard Moritz, Memorabilia Mathematica (1914), 357-358.
Science quotes on:  |  Aperture (5)  |  Axiom (65)  |  Behind (139)  |  Boundary (55)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Consideration (143)  |  Convex (6)  |  Convince (43)  |  Count (107)  |  Declare (48)  |  Different (595)  |  Discover (571)  |  Distance (171)  |  Distort (22)  |  Distortion (13)  |  Do (1905)  |  Euclid (60)  |  Experience (494)  |  Farther (51)  |  Focal Length (2)  |  Good (906)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Image (97)  |  Inhabitant (50)  |  Lie (370)  |  Limit (294)  |  Limited (102)  |  Line (100)  |  Long (778)  |  Look (584)  |  Man (2252)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Measurement (178)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mirror (43)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Object (438)  |  Other (2233)  |  Picture (148)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Question (649)  |  Represent (157)  |  Result (700)  |  Rigid (24)  |  Rule (307)  |  See (1094)  |  Short (200)  |  Sight (135)  |  Sky (174)  |  Solid (119)  |  Speak (240)  |  Straight (75)  |  Straight Line (34)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)  |  Think (1122)  |  Two (936)  |  World (1850)

This brings me to the final point of my remarks, the relation between creativity and aging, a topic with which I have had substantial experience. Scientific research, until it has gone through the grueling and sometimes painful process of publication, is just play, and play is characteristic of young vertebrates, particularly young mammals. In some ways, scientific creativity is related to the exuberant behavior of young mammals. Indeed, creativity seems to be a natural characteristic of young humans. If one is fortunate enough to be associated with a university, even as one ages, teaching allows one to contribute to, and vicariously share, in the creativity of youth.”
In 'Integrative Biology: An Organismic Biologist’s Point of View', Integrative and Comparative Biology (2005), 45, 331.
Science quotes on:  |  Age (509)  |  Aging (9)  |  Allow (51)  |  Associate (25)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Bring (95)  |  Characteristic (154)  |  Contribute (30)  |  Creativity (84)  |  Enough (341)  |  Experience (494)  |  Exuberant (2)  |  Final (121)  |  Fortunate (31)  |  Grueling (2)  |  Human (1512)  |  Mammal (41)  |  Natural (810)  |  Painful (12)  |  Particularly (21)  |  Play (116)  |  Point (584)  |  Process (439)  |  Publication (102)  |  Relate (26)  |  Relation (166)  |  Remark (28)  |  Research (753)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Seem (150)  |  Share (82)  |  Sometimes (46)  |  Substantial (24)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  Through (846)  |  Topic (23)  |  University (130)  |  Vertebrate (22)  |  Way (1214)  |  Young (253)  |  Youth (109)

This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call serendipity, a very expressive word, which as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right—now do you understand serendipity?
Letter to Sir Horace Mann (28 Jan 1754), in W. S. Lewis, Warren Hunting Smith and George L. Lam (eds.), Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Sir Horace Mann (1960), Vol. 20, 407-408.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Better (493)  |  Blind (98)  |  Call (781)  |  Definition (238)  |  Derivation (15)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Do (1905)  |  Eating (46)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Expressive (6)  |  Eye (440)  |  Fairy (10)  |  Grass (49)  |  Instance (33)  |  Kind (564)  |  Making (300)  |  Mule (2)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Prince (13)  |  Quest (39)  |  Read (308)  |  Right (473)  |  Road (71)  |  Sagacity (11)  |  Serendipity (17)  |  Side (236)  |  Silly (17)  |  Tell (344)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Traveled (2)  |  Understand (648)  |  Will (2350)  |  Word (650)

This investigation has yielded an unanticipated result that reaction of cyanic acid with ammonia gives urea, a noteworthy result in as much as it provides an example of the artificial production of an organic, indeed a so-called animal, substance from inorganic substances.
[The first report of the epoch-making discovery, that an organic compound can be produced from inorganic substances.]
In 'On the Artificial Formation of Urea'. In J.C. Poggendorff's Annalen der Physik und Chemie (1828), 88, 253. Alternate translation in 'Über Künstliche Bildung des Hamstoffs', Annalen der Physik und Chemie (1828), 12, 253, as translated in Quarterly Journal of Science (Apr-Jun 1828), 25, 491. Collected in Henry Marshall Leicester and Herbert S. Klickstein, A Source Book in Chemistry, 1400-1900 (1951), 310.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Ammonia (15)  |  Animal (651)  |  Artificial (38)  |  Call (781)  |  Compound (117)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Epoch (46)  |  First (1302)  |  Inorganic (14)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Making (300)  |  Noteworthy (4)  |  Organic (161)  |  Organic Chemistry (41)  |  Organic Compound (3)  |  Produced (187)  |  Production (190)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Result (700)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Substance (253)  |  Unanticipated (2)  |  Urea (2)  |  Yield (86)

This very important property of rods, and indeed also of each kind of cone, this limitation of output to a single dimension of change, may be called the Principle of Univariance and stated thus: “The output of a receptor depends upon its quantum catch, but not upon what quanta are caught.” … Young's theory of colour vision may now be stated in terms of cone pigments. “There are three classes of cone each containing a different visual pigment. The output of each cone is univariant, depending simply upon the quantum catch of its pigment. Our sensation of colour depends upon the ratios of these three cone outputs.”
Principle of Univariance, concerning color vision, as stated in Lecture to a meeting of the Physiological Society at Chelsea College, London (17 Apr 1970), and reported in 'Pigments and Signals in Colour Vision', The Journal of Physiology (1972), 220 No. 3, 4P.
Science quotes on:  |  Call (781)  |  Change (639)  |  Color (155)  |  Cone (8)  |  Depend (238)  |  Different (595)  |  Dimension (64)  |  Eye (440)  |  Kind (564)  |  Limitation (52)  |  Output (12)  |  Photon (11)  |  Pigment (9)  |  Principle (530)  |  Property (177)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Ratio (41)  |  Retina (4)  |  Rod (6)  |  Sensation (60)  |  Single (365)  |  Term (357)  |  Terms (184)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Vision (127)  |  Young (253)  |  Thomas Young (15)

Those who knew that the judgements of many centuries had reinforced the opinion that the Earth is placed motionless in the middle of heaven, as though at its centre, if I on the contrary asserted that the Earth moves, I hesitated for a long time whether to bring my treatise, written to demonstrate its motion, into the light of day, or whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and certain others, who used to pass on the mysteries of their philosophy merely to their relatives and friends, not in writing but by personal contact, as the letter of Lysis to Hipparchus bears witness. And indeed they seem to me to have done so, not as some think from a certain jealousy of communicating their doctrines, but so that their greatest splendours, discovered by the devoted research of great men, should not be exposed to the contempt of those who either find it irksome to waste effort on anything learned, unless it is profitable, or if they are stirred by the exhortations and examples of others to a high-minded enthusiasm for philosophy, are nevertheless so dull-witted that among philosophers they are like drones among bees.
'To His Holiness Pope Paul III', in Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543), trans. A. M. Duncan (1976), 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Assert (69)  |  Bear (162)  |  Bee (44)  |  Better (493)  |  Certain (557)  |  Contact (66)  |  Contempt (20)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Demonstrate (79)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Discover (571)  |  Drone (4)  |  Dull (58)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Effort (243)  |  Enthusiasm (59)  |  Exposed (33)  |  Find (1014)  |  Follow (389)  |  Friend (180)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Heaven (266)  |  High (370)  |  Hipparchus (5)  |  Jealousy (9)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Letter (117)  |  Light (635)  |  Long (778)  |  Lysis (4)  |  Merely (315)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Motion (320)  |  Move (223)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Other (2233)  |  Pass (241)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Philosophy (409)  |  Profitable (29)  |  Pythagoras (38)  |  Research (753)  |  Splendour (8)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Time (1911)  |  Treatise (46)  |  Waste (109)  |  Witness (57)  |  Writing (192)

Through the Middle Ages and down to the late eighteenth century, many philosophers, most men of science, and, indeed, most educated men, were to accept without question—the conception of the universe as a Great Chain of Being, composed of an immense, or—by the strict but seldom rigorously applied logic of the principle of continuity—of an infinite number of links ranging in hierarchical order from the meagerest kind of existents, which barely escape non-existence, through 'every possible' grade up to the ens perfectissimum—or, in a somewhat more orthodox version, to the highest possible kind of creature, between which and the Absolute Being the disparity was assumed to be infinite—every one of them differing from that immediately above and that immediately below it by the 'least possible' degree of difference.
The Great Chain of Being (1936), 59.
Science quotes on:  |  18th Century (21)  |  Absolute (153)  |  Accept (198)  |  Age (509)  |  Applied (176)  |  Being (1276)  |  Century (319)  |  Conception (160)  |  Continuity (39)  |  Creature (242)  |  Degree (277)  |  Difference (355)  |  Down (455)  |  Escape (85)  |  Existence (481)  |  Great (1610)  |  Great Chain Of Being (2)  |  Immediately (115)  |  Immense (89)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Kind (564)  |  Late (119)  |  Logic (311)  |  Men Of Science (147)  |  Middle Age (19)  |  Middle Ages (12)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Number (710)  |  Order (638)  |  Philosopher (269)  |  Possible (560)  |  Principle (530)  |  Question (649)  |  Seldom (68)  |  Through (846)  |  Universe (900)

Thus far I have explained the phenomena of the heavens and of our sea by the force of gravity, but I have not yet assigned a cause to gravity. Indeed, this force arises from some cause that penetrates as far as the centers of the sun and planets without any diminution of its power to act, and that acts not in proportion to the quantity of the surfaces of the particles on which it acts (as mechanical causes are wont to do) but in proportion to the quantity of solid matter, and whose action is extended everywhere to immense distances, always decreasing as the squares of the distances.
The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687), 3rd edition (1726), trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman (1999), General Scholium, 943.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Arise (162)  |  Assign (15)  |  Cause (561)  |  Centre (31)  |  Decrease (16)  |  Diminution (5)  |  Distance (171)  |  Do (1905)  |  Everywhere (98)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Extend (129)  |  Force (497)  |  Gravity (140)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Immense (89)  |  Inverse Square Law (5)  |  Law Of Gravity (16)  |  Matter (821)  |  Mechanical (145)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Particle (200)  |  Penetrate (68)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Planet (402)  |  Power (771)  |  Proportion (140)  |  Quantity (136)  |  Sea (326)  |  Solid (119)  |  Square (73)  |  Sun (407)  |  Surface (223)

To discover the laws of operative power in material productions, whether formed by man or brought into being by Nature herself, is the work of a science, and is indeed what we more especially term Science.
Lecture (26 Nov 1851), to the London Society of Arts, 'The General Bearing of the Great Exhibition on the Progress of Art and Science', collected in Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851' (1852), 7.
Science quotes on:  |  Being (1276)  |  Discover (571)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Form (976)  |  Law (913)  |  Man (2252)  |  Material (366)  |  More (2558)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nomenclature (159)  |  Operative (10)  |  Power (771)  |  Production (190)  |  Term (357)  |  Work (1402)

To the east was our giant neighbor Makalu, unexplored and unclimbed, and even on top of Everest the mountaineering instinct was sufficient strong to cause me to spend some moments conjecturing as to whether a route up that mountain might not exist. Far away across the clouds the great bulk of Kangchenjunga loomed on the horizon. To the west, Cho Oyu, our old adversary from 1952, dominated the scene and we could see the great unexplored ranges of Nepal stretching off into the distance. The most important photograph, I felt, was a shot down the north ridge, showing the North Col and the old route that had been made famous by the struggles of those great climbers of the 1920s and 1930s. I had little hope of the results being particularly successful, as I had a lot of difficulty in holding the camera steady in my clumsy gloves, but I felt that they would at least serve as a record. After some ten minutes of this, I realized that I was becoming rather clumsy-fingered and slow-moving, so I quickly replaced my oxygen set and experience once more the stimulating effect of even a few liters of oxygen. Meanwhile, Tenzing had made a little hole in the snow and in it he placed small articles of food – a bar of chocolate, a packet of biscuits and a handful of lollies. Small offerings, indeed, but at least a token gifts to the gods that all devoted Buddhists believe have their home on this lofty summit. While we were together on the South Col two days before, Hunt had given me a small crucifix that he had asked me to take to the top. I, too, made a hole in the snow and placed the crucifix beside Tenzing’s gifts.
As quoted in Whit Burnett, The Spirit of Adventure: The Challenge (1955), 349.
Science quotes on:  |  Across (32)  |  Adversary (7)  |  Article (22)  |  Ask (420)  |  Bar (9)  |  Become (821)  |  Becoming (96)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Buddhist (5)  |  Bulk (24)  |  Camera (7)  |  Cause (561)  |  Chocolate (5)  |  Climb (39)  |  Climber (7)  |  Cloud (111)  |  Clumsy (7)  |  Conjecture (51)  |  Devote (45)  |  Devoted (59)  |  Difficulty (201)  |  Distance (171)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Down (455)  |  East (18)  |  Effect (414)  |  Everest (10)  |  Exist (458)  |  Experience (494)  |  Famous (12)  |  Far (158)  |  Feel (371)  |  Food (213)  |  Giant (73)  |  Gift (105)  |  Give (208)  |  Glove (4)  |  God (776)  |  Great (1610)  |  Handful (14)  |  Hold (96)  |  Hole (17)  |  Home (184)  |  Hope (321)  |  Horizon (47)  |  Hunt (32)  |  Important (229)  |  Instinct (91)  |  Least (75)  |  Little (717)  |  Lofty (16)  |  Loom (20)  |  Lot (151)  |  Meanwhile (2)  |  Minute (129)  |  Moment (260)  |  More (2558)  |  Most (1728)  |  Mountain (202)  |  Mountaineering (5)  |  Neighbor (14)  |  Nepal (2)  |  North (12)  |  Offering (2)  |  Old (499)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Packet (3)  |  Particularly (21)  |  Photograph (23)  |  Place (192)  |  Quickly (21)  |  Range (104)  |  Realize (157)  |  Record (161)  |  Replace (32)  |  Result (700)  |  Ridge (9)  |  Route (16)  |  Scene (36)  |  See (1094)  |  Serve (64)  |  Set (400)  |  Shoot (21)  |  Show (353)  |  Slow (108)  |  Small (489)  |  Snow (39)  |  South (39)  |  Spend (97)  |  Steady (45)  |  Stimulate (21)  |  Stretch (39)  |  Strong (182)  |  Struggle (111)  |  Successful (134)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Summit (27)  |  Together (392)  |  Token (10)  |  Top (100)  |  Two (936)  |  Unexplored (15)  |  West (21)

Today it is no longer questioned that the principles of the analysts are the more far-reaching. Indeed, the synthesists lack two things in order to engage in a general theory of algebraic configurations: these are on the one hand a definition of imaginary elements, on the other an interpretation of general algebraic concepts. Both of these have subsequently been developed in synthetic form, but to do this the essential principle of synthetic geometry had to be set aside. This principle which manifests itself so brilliantly in the theory of linear forms and the forms of the second degree, is the possibility of immediate proof by means of visualized constructions.
In Riemannsche Flächen (1906), Bd. 1, 234.
Science quotes on:  |  Algebra (117)  |  Analyst (8)  |  Both (496)  |  Brilliant (57)  |  Concept (242)  |  Configuration (8)  |  Construction (114)  |  Definition (238)  |  Degree (277)  |  Develop (278)  |  Do (1905)  |  Element (322)  |  Engage (41)  |  Essential (210)  |  Far-Reaching (9)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Geometry (271)  |  Imaginary (16)  |  Immediate (98)  |  Interpretation (89)  |  Lack (127)  |  Linear (13)  |  Manifest (21)  |  Mean (810)  |  Means (587)  |  More (2558)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Principle (530)  |  Proof (304)  |  Question (649)  |  Set (400)  |  Set Aside (4)  |  Study And Research In Mathematics (61)  |  Subsequent (34)  |  Synthetic (27)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Today (321)  |  Two (936)  |  Visualize (8)

Truth and falsity, indeed understanding, is not necessarily something purely intellectual, remote from feelings and attitudes. ... It is in the total conduct of men rather than in their statements that truth or falsehood lives, more in what a man does, in his real reaction to other men and to things, in his will to do them justice, to live at one with them. Here lies the inner connection between truth and justice. In the realm of behavior and action, the problem recurs as to the difference between piece and part.
From 'On Truth', collected in Mary Henle (ed.), Documents of Gestalt Psychology (1961), 28.
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Attitude (84)  |  Behavior (95)  |  Conduct (70)  |  Connection (171)  |  Difference (355)  |  Do (1905)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Falsity (16)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Inner (72)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Justice (40)  |  Lie (370)  |  Life (1870)  |  Live (650)  |  Man (2252)  |  More (2558)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Piece (39)  |  Problem (731)  |  Purely (111)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Real (159)  |  Realm (87)  |  Recur (4)  |  Remote (86)  |  Something (718)  |  Statement (148)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Total (95)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Will (2350)

Understanding a theory has, indeed, much in common with understanding a human personality. We may know or understand a man's system of dispositions pretty well; that is to say, we may be able to predict how he would act in a number of different situations. But since there are infinitely many possible situations, of infinite variety, a full understanding of a man's dispositions does not seem to be possible.
Objective Knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach (1972), 299.
Science quotes on:  |  Act (278)  |  Action (342)  |  Common (447)  |  Different (595)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Human (1512)  |  Infinite (243)  |  Infinity (96)  |  Know (1538)  |  Man (2252)  |  Number (710)  |  Personality (66)  |  Possibility (172)  |  Possible (560)  |  Predict (86)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Say (989)  |  Situation (117)  |  Solution (282)  |  System (545)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Understand (648)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Variety (138)

We are now witnessing, after the slow fermentation of fifty years, a concentration of technical power aimed at the essential determinants of heredity, development and disease. This concentration is made possible by the common function of nucleic acids as the molecular midwife of all reproductive particles. Indeed it is the nucleic acids which, in spite of their chemical obscurity, are giving to biology a unity which has so far been lacking, a chemical unity.
Nucleic Acid (1947), 266-7.
Science quotes on:  |  Acid (83)  |  Aim (175)  |  Biology (232)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Common (447)  |  Concentration (29)  |  Development (441)  |  Disease (340)  |  DNA (81)  |  Essential (210)  |  Fermentation (15)  |  Function (235)  |  Genetics (105)  |  Heredity (62)  |  Nucleic Acid (23)  |  Particle (200)  |  Possible (560)  |  Power (771)  |  Slow (108)  |  Spite (55)  |  Unity (81)  |  Year (963)

We have all heard of the puzzle given to Archimedes…. His finding that the crown was of gold was a discovery; but he invented the method of determining the density of solids. Indeed, discoverers must generally be inventors; though inventors are not necessarily discoverers.
From 'How Discoveries Are Made', Cassell's Magazine, Illustrated (May 1908), 629.
Science quotes on:  |  Archimedes (63)  |  Crown (39)  |  Density (25)  |  Determining (2)  |  Discoverer (43)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Gold (101)  |  Invented (4)  |  Inventor (79)  |  Method (531)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Puzzle (46)  |  Solid (119)

We have decided to call the entire field of control and communication theory, whether in the machine or in the animal, by the name Cybernetics, which we form from the Greek … for steersman. In choosing this term, we wish to recognize that the first significant paper on feedback mechanisms is an article on governors, which was published by Clerk Maxwell in 1868, and that governor is derived from a Latin corruption … We also wish to refer to the fact that the steering engines of a ship are indeed one of the earliest and best-developed forms of feedback mechanisms.
In Cybernetics (1948), 19.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Article (22)  |  Best (467)  |  Call (781)  |  Clerk (13)  |  Communication (101)  |  Control (182)  |  Corruption (17)  |  Cybernetic (5)  |  Cybernetics (5)  |  Decision (98)  |  Develop (278)  |  Development (441)  |  Engine (99)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feedback (10)  |  Field (378)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Governor (13)  |  Greek (109)  |  Latin (44)  |  Machine (271)  |  Maxwell (42)  |  James Clerk Maxwell (91)  |  Mechanism (102)  |  Name (359)  |  Paper (192)  |  Recognize (136)  |  Ship (69)  |  Significant (78)  |  Term (357)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Wish (216)

We have here spoken of the prediction of facts of the same kind as those from which our rule was collected. But the evidence in favour of our induction is of a much higher and more forcible character when it enables us to explain and determine cases of a kind different from those which were contemplated in the formation of our hypothesis. The instances in which this has occurred, indeed, impress us with a conviction that the truth of our hypothesis is certain. No accident could give rise to such an extraordinary coincidence. No false supposition could, after being adjusted to one class of phenomena, so exactly represent a different class, when the agreement was unforeseen and contemplated. That rules springing from remote and unconnected quarters should thus leap to the same point, can only arise from that being where truth resides.
In The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840), Vol. 2, 230.
Science quotes on:  |  Accident (92)  |  Agreement (55)  |  Arise (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Certain (557)  |  Character (259)  |  Class (168)  |  Coincidence (20)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Determine (152)  |  Different (595)  |  Enable (122)  |  Evidence (267)  |  Explain (334)  |  Extraordinary (83)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  Formation (100)  |  Hypothesis (314)  |  Impress (66)  |  Induction (81)  |  Kind (564)  |  Leap (57)  |  More (2558)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Point (584)  |  Prediction (89)  |  Remote (86)  |  Represent (157)  |  Reside (25)  |  Rise (169)  |  Rule (307)  |  Supposition (50)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Unconnected (10)  |  Unforeseen (11)

We have the opportunity of observing her [Nature] through these delicate and pellucid teguments of the bodies of Insects acting according to her usual course and way, undisturbed, whereas when we endeavour to pry into her secrets by breaking open the doors upon her, and dissecting and mangling creatures whil'st there is life yet within them, we find her indeed at work, but put into such disorder by the violence offer'd, as it may easily be imagin'd how differing a thing we should find, if we could, as we can with a Microscope, in these smaller creatures, quietly peep in at the windows, without frighting her out of her usual byas.
Micrographia, or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries thereupon (1665), 186.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Course (413)  |  Creature (242)  |  Delicate (45)  |  Disorder (45)  |  Door (94)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Find (1014)  |  Insect (89)  |  Life (1870)  |  Microscope (85)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Offer (142)  |  Open (277)  |  Opportunity (95)  |  Secret (216)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)  |  Violence (37)  |  Way (1214)  |  Window (59)  |  Work (1402)

We know that nature invariably uses the same materials in its operations. Its ingeniousness is displayed only in the variation of form. Indeed, as if nature had voluntarily confined itself to using only a few basic units, we observe that it generally causes the same elements to reappear, in the same number, in the same circumstances, and in the same relationships to one another. If an organ happens to grow in an unusual manner, it exerts a considerable influence on adjacent parts, which as a result fail to reach their standard degree of development.
'Considérations sur les pieces de la tête osseuse des animaux vertebras, et particulièrement sur celle du crane des oiseaux', Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 1807, 10, 343. Trans. J. Mandelbaum. Quoted in Pietro Corsi, The Age of Lamarck (1988), 232.
Science quotes on:  |  Basic (144)  |  Cause (561)  |  Circumstance (139)  |  Circumstances (108)  |  Considerable (75)  |  Degree (277)  |  Development (441)  |  Display (59)  |  Element (322)  |  Evolution (635)  |  Exert (40)  |  Fail (191)  |  Form (976)  |  Grow (247)  |  Happen (282)  |  Influence (231)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Know (1538)  |  Material (366)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Number (710)  |  Observe (179)  |  Operation (221)  |  Operations (107)  |  Organ (118)  |  Reach (286)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Result (700)  |  Unusual (37)  |  Use (771)  |  Variation (93)

We may indeed live yet to see, or at least we may feel some confidence that those who come after us will see, such bodies as oxygen and hydrogen in the liquid, perhaps even in the solid state, and the question of their metallic or non-metallic nature thereby finally settled.
In Thomas Andrews, Peter Guthrie Tait (ed.) and Alexander Crum Brown (ed.) The Scientific Papers of the Late Thomas Andrews (1889), lx.
Science quotes on:  |  Confidence (75)  |  Feel (371)  |  Hydrogen (80)  |  Liquid (50)  |  Live (650)  |  Matter (821)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Oxygen (77)  |  Question (649)  |  See (1094)  |  Settled (34)  |  Solid (119)  |  State (505)  |  Will (2350)

We must make the following remark: a proof, that after a certain time t1, the spheres must necessarily be mixed uniformly, whatever may be the initial distribution of states, cannot be given. This is in fact a consequence of probability theory, for any non-uniform distribution of states, no matter how improbable it may be, is still not absolutely impossible. Indeed it is clear that any individual uniform distribution, which might arise after a certain time from some particular initial state, is just as improbable as an individual non-uniform distribution; just as in the game of Lotto, any individual set of five numbers is as improbable as the set 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It is only because there are many more uniform distributions than non-uniform ones that the distribution of states will become uniform in the course of time. One therefore cannot prove that, whatever may be the positions and velocities of the spheres at the beginning, the distributions must become uniform after a long time; rather one can only prove that infinitely many more initial states will lead to a uniform one after a definite length of time than to a non-uniform one. Loschmidt's theorem tells us only about initial states which actually lead to a very non-uniform distribution of states after a certain time t1; but it does not prove that there are not infinitely many more initial conditions that will lead to a uniform distribution after the same time. On the contrary, it follows from the theorem itself that, since there are infinitely many more uniform distributions, the number of states which lead to uniform distributions after a certain time t1, is much greater than the number that leads to non-uniform ones, and the latter are the ones that must be chosen, according to Loschmidt, in order to obtain a non-uniform distribution at t1.
From 'On the Relation of a General Mechanical Theorem to the Second Law of Thermodynamics' (1877), in Stephen G. Brush (ed.), Selected Readings in Physics (1966), Vol. 2, Irreversible Processes, 191-2.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Arise (162)  |  Become (821)  |  Beginning (312)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chosen (48)  |  Condition (362)  |  Consequence (220)  |  Contrary (143)  |  Course (413)  |  Definite (114)  |  Distribution (51)  |  Entropy (46)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Follow (389)  |  Game (104)  |  Gas (89)  |  Greater (288)  |  Impossible (263)  |  Individual (420)  |  Kinetic Theory (7)  |  Lead (391)  |  Long (778)  |  Matter (821)  |  More (2558)  |  Must (1525)  |  Necessarily (137)  |  Number (710)  |  Obtain (164)  |  Order (638)  |  Probability (135)  |  Proof (304)  |  Prove (261)  |  Set (400)  |  Sphere (118)  |  State (505)  |  Still (614)  |  Tell (344)  |  Theorem (116)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Time (1911)  |  Whatever (234)  |  Will (2350)

What has been learned in physics stays learned. People talk about scientific revolutions. The social and political connotations of revolution evoke a picture of a body of doctrine being rejected, to be replaced by another equally vulnerable to refutation. It is not like that at all. The history of physics has seen profound changes indeed in the way that physicists have thought about fundamental questions. But each change was a widening of vision, an accession of insight and understanding. The introduction, one might say the recognition, by man (led by Einstein) of relativity in the first decade of this century and the formulation of quantum mechanics in the third decade are such landmarks. The only intellectual casualty attending the discovery of quantum mechanics was the unmourned demise of the patchwork quantum theory with which certain experimental facts had been stubbornly refusing to agree. As a scientist, or as any thinking person with curiosity about the basic workings of nature, the reaction to quantum mechanics would have to be: “Ah! So that’s the way it really is!” There is no good analogy to the advent of quantum mechanics, but if a political-social analogy is to be made, it is not a revolution but the discovery of the New World.
From Physics Survey Committee, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, 'The Nature of Physics', in report Physics in Perspective (1973), 61-62. As cited in I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (1985), 554-555.
Science quotes on:  |  Analogy (76)  |  Basic (144)  |  Being (1276)  |  Body (557)  |  Century (319)  |  Certain (557)  |  Change (639)  |  Curiosity (138)  |  Decade (66)  |  Discovery (837)  |  Doctrine (81)  |  Einstein (101)  |  Albert Einstein (624)  |  Equally (129)  |  Evoke (13)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Experimental (193)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Facts (553)  |  First (1302)  |  Formulation (37)  |  Fundamental (264)  |  Good (906)  |  History (716)  |  Insight (107)  |  Intellectual (258)  |  Introduction (37)  |  Landmark (9)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Man (2252)  |  Mechanic (120)  |  Mechanics (137)  |  Nature (2017)  |  New (1273)  |  New World (6)  |  People (1031)  |  Person (366)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physicist (270)  |  Physics (564)  |  Picture (148)  |  Political (124)  |  Profound (105)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Mechanics (47)  |  Quantum Theory (67)  |  Question (649)  |  Reaction (106)  |  Recognition (93)  |  Reject (67)  |  Rejected (26)  |  Relativity (91)  |  Replace (32)  |  Revolution (133)  |  Say (989)  |  Scientific (955)  |  Scientific Revolution (13)  |  Scientist (881)  |  Social (261)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Thought (995)  |  Understanding (527)  |  Vision (127)  |  Way (1214)  |  World (1850)

What I chiefly admired, and thought altogether unaccountable, was the strong disposition I observed in them [the mathematicians of Laputa] towards news and politics; perpetually inquiring into public affairs; giving their judgments in matters of state; and passionately disputing every inch of party opinion. I have indeed observed the same disposition among most of the mathematicians I have known in Europe, although I could never discover the least analogy between the two sciences.
In Gulliver's Travels, Part 8, chap. 2.
Science quotes on:  |  Admire (19)  |  Altogether (9)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Chiefly (47)  |  Discover (571)  |  Disposition (44)  |  Dispute (36)  |  Europe (50)  |  Give (208)  |  Inch (10)  |  Inquire (26)  |  Judgment (140)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Least (75)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Matter (821)  |  Most (1728)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  News (36)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Opinion (291)  |  Party (19)  |  Passionately (3)  |  Perpetually (20)  |  Politics (122)  |  Public Affairs (2)  |  Same (166)  |  State (505)  |  Strong (182)  |  Thought (995)  |  Two (936)

What is it indeed that gives us the feeling of elegance in a solution, in a demonstration? It is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details.
From 'L’Avenir des Mathématiques', Science et Méthode (1908, 1920), Livre Premier, Chap. 2, 25. English as in Henri Poincaré and George Bruce Halsted (trans.), 'The Future of Mathematics', Science and Method collected in The Foundations of Science: Science and Hypothesis, The Value of Science, Science and Method (1913), 372. From the French, “Qu’est-ce qui nous donne en effet dans une solution, dans une démonstration, le sentiment de l’élégance? C’est l’harmonie des diverses parties, leur symétrie, leur heureux balancement; c’est en un mot tout ce qui y met de l'ordre, tout ce qui leur donne de l’unité, ce qui nous permet par conséquent d’y voir clair et d’en comprendre l’ensemble en même temps que les détails”.
Science quotes on:  |  Balance (82)  |  Both (496)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Comprehend (44)  |  Demonstration (120)  |  Detail (150)  |  Diverse (20)  |  Elegance (40)  |  Ensemble (8)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Happy (108)  |  Harmony (105)  |  Introduce (63)  |  Order (638)  |  Part (235)  |  Permit (61)  |  Proof (304)  |  See (1094)  |  Solution (282)  |  Symmetry (44)  |  Unity (81)  |  Word (650)

What others strive to see dimly and blindly, like bats in twilight, he [Petrus Peregrinus] gazes at in the full light of day, because he is a master of experiment. Through experiment he gains knowledge of natural things, medical, chemical, and indeed of everything in the heavens or earth. … He has even taken note of the remedies, lot casting, and charms used by old women and by wizards and magicians, and of the deceptions and devices of conjurors, so that nothing which deserves inquiry should escape him, and that he may be able to expose the falsehoods of magicians.
Science quotes on:  |  Bat (10)  |  Casting (10)  |  Charm (54)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Deception (9)  |  Deserve (65)  |  Device (71)  |  Earth (1076)  |  Escape (85)  |  Everything (489)  |  Experiment (736)  |  Expose (28)  |  Falsehood (30)  |  Gain (146)  |  Gaze (23)  |  Heaven (266)  |  Heavens (125)  |  Inquiry (88)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Light (635)  |  Lot (151)  |  Magician (15)  |  Master (182)  |  Medicine (392)  |  Natural (810)  |  Nothing (1000)  |  Old (499)  |  Other (2233)  |  Scientist (881)  |  See (1094)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Through (846)

What parts of the interior or the atmosphere give rise to the various phenomena, or indeed, if these regions have any parts at all, are questions which we ask of the stars in vain.
In Modern Astrophysics (1924), 182.
Science quotes on:  |  Ask (420)  |  Atmosphere (117)  |  In Vain (12)  |  Interior (35)  |  Part (235)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Question (649)  |  Region (40)  |  Rise (169)  |  Star (460)  |  Stars (304)  |  Vain (86)  |  Various (205)

What really matters for me is … the more active role of the observer in quantum physics … According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator.
Letter to Niels Bohr (1955). Quoted in Robert J. Scully, The Demon and the Quantum (2007), 22.
Science quotes on:  |  According (236)  |  Active (80)  |  Classical (49)  |  Comparison (108)  |  Event (222)  |  Matter (821)  |  Merely (315)  |  More (2558)  |  New (1273)  |  Observation (593)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physical (518)  |  Physics (564)  |  Quantum (118)  |  Quantum Physics (19)  |  Role (86)

What remains to be learned may indeed dwarf imagination. Nevertheless, the universe itself is closed and finite. … The uniformity of nature and the general applicability of natural laws set limits to knowledge. If there are just 100, or 105, or 110 ways in which atoms may form, then when one has identified the full range of properties of these, singly and in combination, chemical knowledge will be complete.
Presidential Address (28 Dec 1970) to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'Science: Endless Horizons or Golden Age?', Science (8 Jan 1971), 171, No. 3866, 24.
Science quotes on:  |  Atom (381)  |  Chemical (303)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Closed (38)  |  Combination (150)  |  Complete (209)  |  Dwarf (7)  |  Finite (60)  |  Form (976)  |  General (521)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Law (913)  |  Learn (672)  |  Learned (235)  |  Limit (294)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Law (46)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Nevertheless (90)  |  Range (104)  |  Remain (355)  |  Set (400)  |  Uniformity (38)  |  Universe (900)  |  Way (1214)  |  Will (2350)

When Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning-rod, the clergy, both in England and America, with the enthusiastic support of George III, condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of God. For, as all right-thinking people were aware, lightning is sent by God to punish impiety or some other grave sin—the virtuous are never struck by lightning. Therefore if God wants to strike any one, Benjamin Franklin [and his lightning-rod] ought not to defeat His design; indeed, to do so is helping criminals to escape. But God was equal to the occasion, if we are to believe the eminent Dr. Price, one of the leading divines of Boston. Lightning having been rendered ineffectual by the “iron points invented by the sagacious Dr. Franklin,” Massachusetts was shaken by earthquakes, which Dr. Price perceived to be due to God’s wrath at the “iron points.” In a sermon on the subject he said,“In Boston are more erected than elsewhere in New England, and Boston seems to be more dreadfully shaken. Oh! there is no getting out of the mighty hand of God.” Apparently, however, Providence gave up all hope of curing Boston of its wickedness, for, though lightning-rods became more and more common, earthquakes in Massachusetts have remained rare.
In An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1943), 6-7.
Science quotes on:  |  America (143)  |  Attempt (266)  |  Boston (7)  |  Both (496)  |  Common (447)  |  Condemn (44)  |  Criminal (18)  |  Defeat (31)  |  Design (203)  |  Divine (112)  |  Do (1905)  |  Due (143)  |  Earthquake (37)  |  Escape (85)  |  Benjamin Franklin (95)  |  God (776)  |  Grave (52)  |  Hope (321)  |  Iron (99)  |  Lightning (49)  |  Lightning-Rod (2)  |  More (2558)  |  Never (1089)  |  New (1273)  |  Occasion (87)  |  Other (2233)  |  People (1031)  |  Point (584)  |  Price (57)  |  Providence (19)  |  Punishment (14)  |  Rare (94)  |  Remain (355)  |  Render (96)  |  Right (473)  |  Sagacious (7)  |  Science And Religion (337)  |  Sermon (9)  |  Sin (45)  |  Strike (72)  |  Subject (543)  |  Support (151)  |  Thinking (425)  |  Virtuous (9)  |  Want (504)  |  Wickedness (3)  |  Will (2350)

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)  |  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)  |  Why (491)  |  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)  |  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)  |  Why (491)  |  Year (963)

When we survey our lives and endeavours we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings. We see that our whole nature resembles that of the social animals. We eat food that others have grown, wear clothes that others have made, live in houses that others have built. The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been communicated to us by other people through the medium of a language which others have created. Without language our mental capacities would be poor indeed, comparable to those of the higher animals; we have, therefore, to admit that we owe our principal advantage over the beasts to the fact of living in human society. The individual, if left alone from birth would remain primitive and beast-like in his thoughts and feelings to a degree that we can hardly conceive. The individual is what he is and has the significance that he has not so much in virtue of his individuality, but rather as a member of a great human society, which directs his material and spiritual existence from the cradle to the grave.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Admit (49)  |  Advantage (144)  |  Alone (324)  |  Animal (651)  |  Beast (58)  |  Beast-Like (2)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Bind (26)  |  Birth (154)  |  Bound (120)  |  Build (211)  |  Capacity (105)  |  Clothes (11)  |  Communicate (39)  |  Comparable (7)  |  Conceive (100)  |  Cradle (19)  |  Create (245)  |  Degree (277)  |  Desire (212)  |  Direct (228)  |  Eat (108)  |  Endeavor (74)  |  Endeavour (63)  |  Existence (481)  |  Fact (1257)  |  Feeling (259)  |  Feelings (52)  |  Food (213)  |  Grave (52)  |  Great (1610)  |  Greater (288)  |  Grow (247)  |  Hardly (19)  |  High (370)  |  House (143)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Being (185)  |  Human Society (14)  |  Individual (420)  |  Individuality (25)  |  Knowledge (1647)  |  Language (308)  |  Leave (138)  |  Live (650)  |  Living (492)  |  Material (366)  |  Medium (15)  |  Member (42)  |  Mental (179)  |  Nature (2017)  |  Observe (179)  |  Other (2233)  |  Owe (71)  |  Part (235)  |  People (1031)  |  Poor (139)  |  Primitive (79)  |  Principal (69)  |  Remain (355)  |  Resemble (65)  |  See (1094)  |  Significance (114)  |  Social (261)  |  Society (350)  |  Soon (187)  |  Spiritual (94)  |  Survey (36)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Virtue (117)  |  Wear (20)  |  Whole (756)

Where we reach the sphere of mathematics we are among processes which seem to some the most inhuman of all human activities and the most remote from poetry. Yet it is just here that the artist has the fullest scope for his imagination. … We are in the imaginative sphere of art, and the mathematician is engaged in a work of creation which resembles music in its orderliness, … It is not surprising that the greatest mathematicians have again and again appealed to the arts in order to find some analogy to their own work. They have indeed found it in the most varied arts, in poetry, in painting, and in sculpture, although it would certainly seem that it is in music, the most abstract of all the arts, the art of number and time, that we find the closest analogy.
In The Dance of Life (1923), 138-139.
Science quotes on:  |  Abstract (141)  |  Activity (218)  |  Analogy (76)  |  Appeal (46)  |  Art (680)  |  Artist (97)  |  Certainly (185)  |  Creation (350)  |  Engage (41)  |  Find (1014)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Human (1512)  |  Imagination (349)  |  Inhuman (4)  |  Mathematician (407)  |  Mathematics (1395)  |  Most (1728)  |  Music (133)  |  Number (710)  |  Order (638)  |  Orderliness (9)  |  Painting (46)  |  Poetry (150)  |  Process (439)  |  Reach (286)  |  Remote (86)  |  Resemble (65)  |  Scope (44)  |  Sculpture (12)  |  Sphere (118)  |  Time (1911)  |  Various (205)  |  Work (1402)

Which do I consider my greatest invention? … I like the phonograph best … because I love music. And then it has brought so much joy into millions of homes all over this country, and, indeed, all over the world.
As quoted from an interview by B.C. Forbes in The American Magazine (Jan 1921), 86.
Science quotes on:  |  Best (467)  |  Consider (428)  |  Country (269)  |  Do (1905)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Home (184)  |  Invention (400)  |  Joy (117)  |  Love (328)  |  Million (124)  |  Music (133)  |  Phonograph (8)  |  World (1850)

While the method of the natural sciences is... analytic, the method of the social sciences is better described as compositive or synthetic. It is the so-called wholes, the groups of elements which are structurally connected, which we learn to single out from the totality of observed phenomena... Insofar as we analyze individual thought in the social sciences the purpose is not to explain that thought, but merely to distinguish the possible types of elements with which we shall have to reckon in the construction of different patterns of social relationships. It is a mistake... to believe that their aim is to explain conscious action ... The problems which they try to answer arise only insofar as the conscious action of many men produce undesigned results... If social phenomena showed no order except insofar as they were consciously designed, there would indeed be no room for theoretical sciences of society and there would be, as is often argued, only problems of psychology. It is only insofar as some sort of order arises as a result of individual action but without being designed by any individual that a problem is raised which demands a theoretical explanation... people dominated by the scientistic prejudice are often inclined to deny the existence of any such order... it can be shown briefly and without any technical apparatus how the independent actions of individuals will produce an order which is no part of their intentions... The way in which footpaths are formed in a wild broken country is such an instance. At first everyone will seek for himself what seems to him the best path. But the fact that such a path has been used once is likely to make it easier to traverse and therefore more likely to be used again; and thus gradually more and more clearly defined tracks arise and come to be used to the exclusion of other possible ways. Human movements through the region come to conform to a definite pattern which, although the result of deliberate decision of many people, has yet not be consciously designed by anyone.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Action (342)  |  Aim (175)  |  Analytic (11)  |  Analyze (12)  |  Answer (389)  |  Anyone (38)  |  Apparatus (70)  |  Argue (25)  |  Arise (162)  |  Being (1276)  |  Belief (615)  |  Best (467)  |  Better (493)  |  Break (109)  |  Briefly (5)  |  Broken (56)  |  Call (781)  |  Clearly (45)  |  Conform (15)  |  Connect (126)  |  Conscious (46)  |  Consciously (6)  |  Construction (114)  |  Country (269)  |  Decision (98)  |  Define (53)  |  Definite (114)  |  Deliberate (19)  |  Demand (131)  |  Deny (71)  |  Describe (132)  |  Design (203)  |  Different (595)  |  Distinguish (168)  |  Dominate (20)  |  Easier (53)  |  Easy (213)  |  Element (322)  |  Everyone (35)  |  Exclusion (16)  |  Existence (481)  |  Explain (334)  |  Explanation (246)  |  Fact (1257)  |  First (1302)  |  Form (976)  |  Gradually (102)  |  Group (83)  |  Himself (461)  |  Human (1512)  |  Inclined (41)  |  Independent (74)  |  Individual (420)  |  Instance (33)  |  Intention (46)  |  Learn (672)  |  Likely (36)  |  Merely (315)  |  Method (531)  |  Mistake (180)  |  More (2558)  |  Movement (162)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Observe (179)  |  Observed (149)  |  Often (109)  |  Order (638)  |  Other (2233)  |  Part (235)  |  Path (159)  |  Pattern (116)  |  People (1031)  |  Phenomenon (334)  |  Possible (560)  |  Prejudice (96)  |  Problem (731)  |  Produce (117)  |  Psychology (166)  |  Purpose (336)  |  Raise (38)  |  Reckon (31)  |  Region (40)  |  Relationship (114)  |  Result (700)  |  Room (42)  |  Seek (218)  |  Seem (150)  |  Show (353)  |  Single (365)  |  So-Called (71)  |  Social (261)  |  Social Science (37)  |  Society (350)  |  Sort (50)  |  Structurally (2)  |  Synthetic (27)  |  Technical (53)  |  Theoretical (27)  |  Theoretical Science (4)  |  Thought (995)  |  Through (846)  |  Totality (17)  |  Track (42)  |  Traverse (5)  |  Try (296)  |  Type (171)  |  Way (1214)  |  Whole (756)  |  Wild (96)  |  Will (2350)

Who—aside from certain big children who are indeed found in the natural sciences—still believes that the findings of astronomy, biology, physics, or chemistry could teach us anything about the meaning of the world?
Max Weber
From a Speech (1918) presented at Munich University, published in 1919, and collected in 'Wissenschaft als Beruf', Gessammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (1922), 524-525. As given in H.H. Gerth and C. Wright-Mills (translators and eds.), 'Science as a Vocation', Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (1946), 142.
Science quotes on:  |  Astronomy (251)  |  Belief (615)  |  Biology (232)  |  Certain (557)  |  Chemistry (376)  |  Child (333)  |  Children (201)  |  Find (1014)  |  Meaning (244)  |  Natural (810)  |  Natural Science (133)  |  Physic (515)  |  Physics (564)  |  Still (614)  |  Teach (299)  |  Teaching (190)  |  World (1850)

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)  |  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 (491)

Without knowing it, we utilize hundreds of products each day that owe their origin to wild animals and plants. Indeed our welfare is intimately tied up with the welfare of wildlife. Well may conservationists proclaim that by saving the lives of wild species, we may be saving our own.
In 'Wild Species: A Key Factor in Our Daily Lives', A Wealth Of Wild Species: Storehouse For Human Welfare (1983), Prologue, 3.
Science quotes on:  |  Animal (651)  |  Conservationist (5)  |  Hundred (240)  |  Hundreds (6)  |  Intimately (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Knowing (137)  |  Live (650)  |  Origin (250)  |  Owe (71)  |  Plant (320)  |  Proclaim (31)  |  Product (166)  |  Save (126)  |  Species (435)  |  Tie (42)  |  Utilize (10)  |  Welfare (30)  |  Wild (96)  |  Wild Animal (9)  |  Wildflower (3)  |  Wildlife (16)

Without seeking, truth cannot be known at all. It can neither be declared from pulpits, nor set down in articles, nor in any wise prepared and sold in packages ready for use. Truth must be ground for every man by itself out of its husk, with such help as he can get, indeed, but not without stern labor of his own.
…...
Science quotes on:  |  Article (22)  |  Declare (48)  |  Declared (24)  |  Down (455)  |  Ground (222)  |  Help (116)  |  Husk (4)  |  Know (1538)  |  Known (453)  |  Labor (200)  |  Man (2252)  |  Must (1525)  |  Package (6)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Pulpit (2)  |  Ready (43)  |  Seek (218)  |  Sell (15)  |  Set (400)  |  Set Down (2)  |  Stern (6)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Use (771)  |  Wise (143)

Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Bible
(circa 325 A.D.)
Science quotes on:  |  Archaeology (51)  |  Beautiful (271)  |  Bone (101)  |  Death (406)  |  Sepulchre (4)  |  White (132)

Yes indeed: the human mind, so blind and languid, shamefully and dishonourably wishes to hide, and yet does not wish anything to be concealed from itself. But it is repaid on the principle that while the human mind lies open to the truth, truth remains hidden from it. Yet even thus, in its miserable condition, it prefers to find joy in true rather than false things. It will be happy if it comes to find joy only in that truth by which all things are true—without any distraction interfering.
Confessions [c.397], Book X, chapter 23 (34), trans. H. Chadwick (1991), 200.
Science quotes on:  |  Blind (98)  |  Concealed (25)  |  Condition (362)  |  Find (1014)  |  Happy (108)  |  Hide (70)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Joy (117)  |  Lie (370)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Open (277)  |  Principle (530)  |  Remain (355)  |  Research (753)  |  Thing (1914)  |  Truth (1109)  |  Will (2350)  |  Wish (216)


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.