Tortuous Quotes (3 quotes)
~~[Orphan ?]~~ Reason is the slow and tortuous method by which those who do not know the truth discover it.
Webmaster presently believes this is an orphan quote, best attributed to Anonymous. It seem to be unsupported when attributed to Blaise Pascal, for example, as quoted, without citation, in Morris Kline, 'Ancients versus Moderns, A New Battle of the Books', The Mathematics Teacher (Oct 1958), 51, No. 6, 423. Also later published, without citation, in Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times (1972), 296. Webmaster has not yet found a primary source for this as a quote by Pascal - not in English, not in French, and not in any earlier books. This is suspicious. (Can you help?) Furthermore, this sentence is also often seen in more recent books and online quotes pages as a first sentence, followed by a second sentence, “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” The second sentence is a known Pascal quote verified in original French texts. However, Webmaster has not yet found, in any original French text, any instance of these two sentences together. Thus, putting them together more definitely appears to be a misquote. Can you help? [It is included on the Blaise Pascal page to link it with this cautionary note. —Webmaster]
Reason is the slow and tortuous method by which those who do not know the truth discover it.
Webmaster presently believes this is an orphan quote, best attributed to Anonymous. It seem to be unsupported when attributed to Blaise Pascal, for example, as quoted, without citation, in Morris Kline, 'Ancients versus Moderns, A New Battle of the Books', The Mathematics Teacher (Oct 1958), 51, No. 6, 423. Also later published, without citation, in Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times (1972), 296. Webmaster has not yet found a primary source for this as a quote by Pascal - not in English, not in French, and not in any earlier books. This is suspicious. (Can you help?) Furthermore, this sentence is also often seen in more recent books and online quotes pages as a first sentence, followed by a second sentence, “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.” The second sentence is a known Pascal quote verified in original French texts. However, Webmaster has not yet found, in any original French text, any instance of these two sentences together. Thus, putting them together more definitely appears to be a misquote. Can you help? [It is included on the Blaise Pascal page to link it with this cautionary note. —Webmaster]
When I look back to … the long and ever tortuous path which led [to quantum theory], finally, to its disclosure, the whole development seems to me to provide a fresh illustration of the long-since proved saying of Goethe’s that man errs as long as he strives.
From Nobel Prize Lecture (2 Jun 1920), 'The Genesis and Present State of Development of the Quantum Theory', Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921 (1967), and on the nobelprize.org web site. This passage of Planck’s speech is translated very differently by James Murphy in 'Introduction: Max Planck: a Biographical Sketch' to Max Planck (trans.), Where is Science Going (1932), 23. See elsewhere on this web page, beginning, “Looking back…”.
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) -- 
