#perseverance

“I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries. This is actually is the last sentence of the Nobel lecture of her husband Pierre Curie .”

“In life, there's nothing to be feared, everything is to be understood. As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (2006) by Melvin A. Benarde”

“There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth. As quoted in The Commodity Trader's Almanac 2007 (2006) by Scott W. Barrie and Jeffrey A. Hirsch, p. 44”

“I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy. Java Connector Architecture: Building Custom Connectors and Adapters‎ (2002) by Atul Apte, p. 69”

“Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well”

“I believe international work is a heavy task, but that it is nevertheless indispensable to go through an apprenticeship in it, at the cost of many efforts and also of a real spirit of sacrifice: however imperfect it may be, the work of Geneva has a grandeur that deserves our support. Letter to Eve Curie (July 1929), as quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 341”

“You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 168”

“All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child. Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 162”

“We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity. Lecture at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York”

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. 'La vie n’est facile pour aucun de nous. Mais quoi, il faut avoir de la persévérance, et surtout de la confiance en soi. Il faut croire que l’on est doué pour quelque chose, et que, cette chose, il faut l'atteindre coûte que coûte.' As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, Part 2, p. 116”