#science
455 quotes
“He began to see that the recognition of relativity, interconnectedness, and impermanence as fundamental aspects of physical reality, which had been so difficult for himself and his fellow physicists, was the very basis of the Indian spiritual traditions.”
“There is a fundamental error in separating the parts from the whole , the mistake of atomizing what should not be atomized. Unity and complementarity constitute reality . Heisenberg's praise for Ruth Anshen's book Biography of An Idea found on the back cover”
“Do you believe in a personal God?”
“The problem of values is nothing but the problem of our acts, goals and morals. It concerns the compass by which we must steer our ship if we are to set a true course through life. The compass itself has been given different names by various religions and philosophies: happiness, the will of God, the meaning of life”
“In general, scientific progress calls for no more than the absorption and elaboration of new ideas”
“An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them. Ein Fachmann ist ein Mann, der einige der gröbsten Fehler kennt, die man in dem betreffenden Fach machen kann, und der sie deshalb zu vermeiden versteht.”
“Kein Chaos, aus dem nicht wieder Ordnung würde”
“Quantum theory provides us with a striking illustration of the fact that we can fully understand a connection though we can only speak of it in images and parables . Die Quantentheorie ist so ein wunderbares Beispiel dafür, daß man einen Sachverhalt in völliger Klarheit verstanden haben kann und gleichzeitig doch weiß, daß man nur in Bildern und Gleichnissen von ihm reden kann.”
“Critique of the Physical Concepts of the Corpuscular Theory”
“Über den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik”
“The mind of man is quick to see the errors of others, yet slow to recognize its own.”
“O God, I am a great sinner, but I have never doubted Thy mercy.”
“Now it is clear to me that the new star is not some kind of comet or a fiery meteor, but a star shining in the firmament.”
“I have studied all things celestial, and now I know the heavens as if they were my own backyard.”
“Let me not seem to have lived in vain. Last words, in Dreyer (1890) p. 386.”
“Those who study the stars have God for a teacher. Reported in Bob Perlongo, The Everyday Almanac , 2nd ed. (1995 [1979]) p. 15”
“An astronomer must be cosmopolitan because ignorant statesmen can not be expected to value their services. An Itinery written by Fynes Morrison , &c. (London, 1617) fol., p. 60, quoted in J. L. E. Dreyer, Tycho Brahe (Edinburgh, 1890) p. 261.”
“Epistolarum astronomicarum liber primus (1596) in Tychonis Brahe opera omnia , vol. 6, p. 23, l. 32”
“Simplicibus itaque verbis gaudet Mathematica Veritas, cum etiam per se simplex sit Veritatis oratio. Mathematical Truth therefore rejoices in simple words, since the language of Truth is itself simple.”
“For it is now quite clear to me that there are no solid spheres in the heavens. J. L. E. Dreyer (ed.) Tychonis Brahe opera omnia , vol. 3, p. 111, ll. 17”
“A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind.”
“What is God? That which has neither beginning nor end.”
“Time is the wisest of all things that are; for it brings everything to light.”
“Hope is the only good that is common to all men.”
“Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.”
“The past is certain, the future is obscure.”
“All things are full of gods.”
“Water is the principle, or the element, of things.”
“The greatest thing is to be content with what you have.”
“The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.”
“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special. Der Spiegel”
“What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary. Der Spiegel”
“If I have seen further than other men, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”
“There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the universe and what can be more special than that there is no boundary? As quoted in The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (1986) by John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler . p. 444”
“My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all. As quoted in Stephen Hawking's Universe (1985) by John Boslough, Ch. 7 : The Final Question, p. 77”
“Handicapped People and Science”
“The Quantum State of the Universe”
“When I hear the words 'Schrödinger's Cat' I reach for my gun.”
“I regard [the many worlds interpretation ] as self”
“The Large Scale Structure of Space”
“It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.”
“The mathematician has to be a poet in soul.”
“Knowledge is the only power that grows when shared.”
“The soul is the only thing that makes the body alive.”
“It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet.”
“The mathematician has to be a poet.”
“Many who have not studied mathematics confuse it with arithmetic.”
“Say what you know, do what you must, come what may.”
“Mathematics is the science of the infinite.”
“El asombro es el motor del conocimiento.”
“La paciencia es la madre de la ciencia.”
“Las neuronas son las letras del alfabeto del pensamiento.”
“Todo hombre puede ser, si se lo propone, escultor de su propio cerebro.”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning, and never lose a holy curiosity.”
“We must never be afraid to go too far, for truth lies beyond.”
“The structure of DNA is the most important discovery in biology since Darwin's theory of evolution.”
“In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success.”
“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.”
“The results suggest a helical structure (which must be very closely packed) containing 2, 3 or 4 co‐axial nucleic acid chains per helical unit, and having the phosphate groups near the outside. Notes from November 1951 about Franklin's electron microscopy imaging of DNA, which led to Watson & Crick's publication of the structure of DNA by sixteen months. As quoted in How Rosalind Franklin Discovered the Helical Structure of DNA: Experiments in Diffraction (in The Physics Teacher 49, 140 (2011); doi: 10.1119/1.3555496), quoting Rosalind Franklin and DNA (2000), page 15.”
“What’s the use of doing all this work if we don't get some fun out of this? As quoted by Aaron Klug , interview , 17 June 2005 [1]”
“Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. in answer to her father, who accused her of making science her religion, as related by Brenda Maddox (2003).  Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA . Perennial. p. 61. ISBN 0060985089 .”
“On the Philosophical Problems in Quantizing Macroscopic Objects”
“Precise language is not the problem. Clear language is the problem.”
“New Textbooks for the”
“It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe , this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil”
“Western civilization, it seems to me, stands by two great heritages. One is the scientific spirit of adventure”
“The theoretical broadening which comes from having many humanities subjects on the campus is offset by the general dopiness of the people who study these things. letter to Robert Bacher (6 April 1950), quoted in Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992) by James Gleick , p. 278”
“interview with Sylvan S. Schweber, 13 November 1984, published in QED and the Men Who Made It: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga (1994) by Silvan S. Schweber, p. 436”
“I had too much stuff. My machines came from too far away. Reflecting on the failure of his presentation at the "Pocono Conference" of 30 March”
“Principles You can't say A is made of B or vice versa. All mass is interaction. note (c. 1948), quoted in Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992) by James Gleick , p. 5”
“We scientists are clever”
“Es perverso instruir en falsedades”
“El nacionalismo es una forma de tribalismo”
“In our modern world nothing may be taken for granted”
“To many of us, this sudden silencing of the song of birds, this obliteration of the color and beauty and interest of bird life, is sufficient cause for sharp regret. To those who have never known such rewarding enjoyment of nature, there should yet remain a nagging and insistent question: If this "rain of death" has produced so disastrous an effect on birds, what of other lives, including our own? Washington Post, April 10, 1959”
“Essay on the Biological Sciences”
“Help your child to wonder”
“Writing is a lonely occupation at best. Of course there are stimulating and even happy associations with friends and colleagues, but during the actual work of creation the writer cuts himself off from all others and confronts his subject alone. He moves into a realm where he has never been before”
“The real wealth of the Nation lies in the resources of the earth”
“We have been troubled about the world, and had almost lost faith in man; it helps to think about the long history of the earth, and of how life came to be. And when we think in terms of millions of years, we are not so impatient that our own problems be solved tomorrow. Speech accepting the John Burroughs Medal (April 1952); also in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1999) edited by Linda Lear, p. 96”
“Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself, in his cities of steel and concrete, from the realities of earth and water and the growing seed. Intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into more experiments for the destruction of himself and his world. There is certainly no single remedy for this condition and I am offering no panacea. But it seems reasonable to believe”
“The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them. If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry. Acceptance speech of the National Book Award for Nonfiction (1952); also in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1999) edited by Linda Lear, p. 91”
“The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction. It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science. Acceptance speech of the National Book Award for Nonfiction (1952) for The Sea Around Us ; also in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1999) edited by Linda Lear, p. 91”
“The Future of the Wireless Art”
“The Transmission of Electric Energy Without Wires”
“The Problem of Increasing Human Energy”
“Roentgen Rays or Streams”
“On Light And Other High Frequency Phenomena”
“There is something within me that might be illusion as it is often case with young delighted people, but if I would be fortunate to achieve some of my ideals, it would be on the behalf of the whole of humanity. If those hopes would become fulfilled, the most exciting thought would be that it is a deed of a Serb. Address at the Belgrade train station”
“Ere long intelligence”
“Russians are lucky”
“Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency”
“Experiments With Alternating Currents of Very High Frequency, and Their Application to Methods of Artificial Illumination”
“The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be transparency.”
“We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough.”
“Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.”
“Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.”
“If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.”
“Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”
“How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.”
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”
“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement, but the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.”
“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
“El conocimiento es la luz del alma.”
“La verdad es la hija del tiempo, no de la autoridad.”
“En medio de todas las esferas reside el Sol.”
“I am no poet , but if you think for yourselves , as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds . Lecture notes of 1858, quoted in The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870) by Bence Jones, Vol. 2, p. 403”
“I have not been at work except in turning the tables upon table turners”
“Among those points of self”
“If you would cause your view … to be acknowledged by scientific men; you would do a great service to science. If you would even get them to say yes or no to your conclusions it would help to clear the future progress . I believe some hesitate because they do not like their thoughts disturbed. Life and Letters , 2:389.”
“But still try, for who knows what is possible... As quoted in The Life and Letters of Faraday (1870) Vol. II, edited by Henry Bence Jones , p. 483; also engraved above the doorways of the Pfahler Hall of Science at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania (see photo ).”
“On Faraday's Lines of Force”
“Observations on Mental Education”
“I have far more confidence in the one man who works mentally and bodily at a matter than in the six who merely talk about it”
“It is the great beauty of our science , chemistry , that advancement in it, whether in a degree great or small, instead of exhausting the subjects of research, opens the doors to further and more abundant knowledge , overflowing with beauty and utility. Experimental Researches in Electricity , Vol. 2 (1834) p. 257”
“Nothing is too wonderful to be true,”
“Paraphrased variants:”
“Eine neue wissenschaftliche Wahrheit pflegt sich nicht in der Weise durchzusetzen, daß ihre Gegner überzeugt werden und sich als belehrt erklären, sondern vielmehr dadurch, daß ihre Gegner allmählich aussterben und daß die heranwachsende Generation von vornherein mit der Wahrheit vertraut gemacht ist. … Eine neue große wissenschaftliche Idee pflegt sich nicht in der Weise durchzusetzen, daß ihre Gegner allmählich überzeugt und bekehrt werden”
“As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clearheaded science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about the atoms this much: There is no matter as such! All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter.”
“, here translated as”
“Als Physiker, der sein ganzes Leben der nüchternen Wissenschaft, der Erforschung der Materie widmete, bin ich sicher von dem Verdacht frei, für einen Schwarmgeist gehalten zu werden. Und so sage ich nach meinen Erforschungen des Atoms dieses: Es gibt keine Materie an sich. Alle Materie entsteht und besteht nur durch eine Kraft, welche die Atomteilchen in Schwingung bringt und sie zum winzigsten Sonnensystem des Alls zusammenhält. Da es im ganzen Weltall aber weder eine intelligente Kraft noch eine ewige Kraft gibt”
“New scientific ideas never spring from a communal body, however organized, but rather from the head of an individually inspired researcher who struggles with his problems in lonely thought and unites all his thought on one single point which is his whole world for the moment. Address on the 25th anniversary of the Kaiser”
“Planck, the Quantum, and the Historians”
“I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. The Observer (London, England) (25 January 1931), p. 17”
“We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up to now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future . The Universe in the Light of Modern Physics”
“Farsighted theologians are now working to mine the eternal metal from the teachings of Jesus and to forge it for all time . From Planck to Study (2 December 1913), (Autog. I/383, SPK); as quoted in The Dilemmas of an Upright Man : Max Planck As Spokesman for German Science (1986) by J. L. Heilbron , p. 67”
“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”
“L' univers est dissymetrique... The universe is asymmetric and I am persuaded that life, as it is known to us, is a direct result of the asymmetry of the universe or of its indirect consequences. The universe is asymmetric.”
“There does not exist a category of science to which one can give the name applied science. There are sciences and the applications of science, bound together as the fruit of the tree which bears it. Revue Scientifique (1871) Variant translation: There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.”
“Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.”
“In the field of observation, chance favors the prepared mind.”
“Fortune favors the prepared mind.”
“Chance favors the prepared mind.”
“Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés. In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind . Lecture, University of Lille”
“My plan of study is traced for this coming year... I am hoping to develop it shortly in the most successful manner... I think that I have already told you that I am on the verge of mysteries, and that the veil which covers them is getting thinner and thinner. The nights seem to me too long, yet I do not complain... I am often scolded by Mme. Pasteur, but I console her by telling her that I shall lead her to fame. The Life of Pasteur (1916) by René Vallery”
“I am on the verge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner. The nights seem to me too long... I am often scolded by Madame Pasteur, but I tell her I shall lead her to fame. Microbe Hunters (1926) by Paul De Kruif”
“I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner. Letter (December 1851); as quoted in The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History (2004) by John M. Barry”
“How does it happen that you have made so many discoveries? Are you smarter than other scientists ?”
“It seems to me that we have come to the time war ought to be given up. It no longer makes sense to kill 20 million or 40 million people because of a dispute between two nations who are running things, or decisions made by the people who really are running things. It no longer makes sense. Nobody wins. Nobody benefits from destructive war of this sort and there is all of this human suffering.”
“Everyone should know that the " war on cancer " is largely a fraud, and that the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society are derelict in their duties to the people who support them.”
“The only sane policy for the world is that of abolishing war . Nobel Lecture for The Nobel Peace Prize 1962 (11 December 1963).”
“The power to destroy the world by the use of nuclear weapons is a power that cannot be used”
“Planck ’s constant and the quantum theory that is built around it are of extreme importance for chemistry”
“We must not have a Nuclear war. We must begin to solve international disputes by the application of man's power of reason in a way that is worthy of the dignity of man. We must solve them by arbitration , negotiation, and the development of international law , the making of international agreements that will do justice to all nations and to all peoples and will benefit all nations and to all people. Now is the time to start. Debating Edward Teller , in The Nuclear Bomb Tests...Is Fallout Overrated? : Fallout and Disarmament KQED”
“We may, I believe, anticipate that the chemist of the future who is interested in the structure of proteins , nucleic acids , polysaccharides , and other complex substances with high molecular weight will come to rely upon a new structural chemistry , involving precise geometrical relationships among the atoms in the molecules and the rigorous application of the new structural principles, and that great progress will be made, through this technique, in the attack, by chemical methods, on the problems of biology and medicine. Nobel Lecture (11 December 1954).”
“Chemical Achievement and Hope for the Future.”
“A substance showing resonance between two or more valence”
“truovasi di miglio i(n) miglio bone osteriee. ( Ancient Italian ) You can find good taverns from mile to mile.”
“At once two things came to mind: fear and desire: fear of the threatening dark cave, desire to see if there was anything miraculous within it.”
“Fa vini potenti e assai, … e ‘l vino vale el più uno soldo il boccale e la libbra della vitella un soldo e ‘l sale 10 dinari, e ‘l simile il burro, ed è la loro libbra 30 once, e l’ova un soldo la soldata. ( Modern Italian ) He makes powerful and very strong wines, … and the wine is worth more than a penny per jug and the pound of veal a penny and the salt 10 denarii, and so is the butter, and their pound is 30 ounces, and the eggs a penny.”
“It is the infinite alone that cannot be attained, for if it could it would become finite. Thoughts on Art and Life , by Leonardo da Vinci ,”
“As a day well spent makes sleep seem pleasant, so a life well employed makes death pleasant. A life well spent is long.”
“Thou, O God, sellest us all benefits, at the cost of our toil....”
“Look at the grace and sweetness of men and women in the street...”
“The painter strives and competes with nature...There is nothing in all nature without its reason. If you know the reason, you do not need the experience...”
“Oysters open completely when the moon is full; and when the crab sees one it throws a piece of stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close again so that it serves the crab for meat. Such is the fate of him who opens his mouth too much and thereby puts himself at the mercy of the listener. As quoted in The 48 Laws of Power (2000) by Robert Greene, p. 33”
“Painting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen. These two arts, you may call them both either poetry or painting, have here interchanged the senses by which they penetrate to the intellect . A Treatise on Painting (1651); "The Paragone"; compiled by Francesco Melzi prior to 1542, first published as Trattato della pittura by Raffaelo du Fresne”
“Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife. As quoted by Shafique N. Virani, The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A search for Salvation (2007) p. 28.”
“Temporis filia veritas; cui me obstetricari non pudet.”
“I used to measure the heavens, now I measure the shadows of Earth. Although my mind was heaven”
“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses. As quoted by Gloria Pierre, (K)new Words: Redefine Your Communication (2005) p. 147.”
“There is a force in the earth which causes the moon to move. Essay dedicated to the Archduke Ferdinand , as quoted by Max Caspar, Kepler (1993) Sect. II, Ch. 9, p. 110.”
“In Terra inest virtus, quae Lunam del.”
“We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment. As quoted by Carl Sagan Cosmos”
“Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler.”
“Nature uses as little as possible of anything. As quoted by W. H. Auden , Louis Kronenberger , Viking Book of Aphorisms: A Personal Selection (1920) p. 98; also by Joseph Silk, The Infinite Cosmos: Questions from the Frontiers of Cosmology”
“My goal is to show that the heavenly machine is not a kind of divine living being but similar to a clockwork insofar as all the manifold motions are taken care of by one single absolutely simple magnetic bodily force, as in a clockwork all motion is taken care of by a simple weight. And indeed I also show how this physical representation can be presented by calculation and geometrically. Letter to Herwart von Hohenberg (Feb 10, 1605) Johannes Kepler, Gessamelte Werke , 15:146, quoted in Max Caspar, Kepler”
“Solo si entendemos, podremos cuidar. Solo si cuidamos, podremos ayudar.”
“The greatest discovery in science is the discovery of ignorance.”
“Science proceeds not by proving things but by disproving them.”
“Avoid boring people.”
“The double helix is a simple structure, but its implications are profound.”
“I never dreamed of being famous. I just wanted to be a scientist.”
“If we don't play God, who will?”
“DNA is the most beautiful molecule in the world.”
“Science is a collaborative effort, and no single discovery belongs to any one person.”
“The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier.”
“We used to think our fate was in the stars. Now we know it is in our genes.”
“On Action at a Distance”
“We may find illustrations of the highest doctrines of science in games and gymnastics, in travelling by land and by water, in storms of the air and of the sea, and wherever there is matter in motion. Introductory Lecture on Experimental Physics held at Cambridge in October 1871, re”
“in a few years, all the great physical constants will have been approximately estimated, and … the only occupation which will then be left to the men of science will be to carry these measurement to another place of decimals.”
“I have also a paper afloat, with an electromagnetic theory of light, which, till I am convinced to the contrary, I hold to be great guns. Letter to C. H. Cay, (Jan 5,1865) as quoted in American Journal of Physics , 44(8), page 470, 1976”
“I have also cleared the electromagnetic theory of light from all unwarrantable assumption, so that we may safely determine the velocity of light by measuring the attraction between bodies kept at a given difference of potential, the value of which is known in electromagnetic measure. Letter to C. Hockin, Esq. (Sept 7, 1864) as quoted by Lewis Campbell, William Garnett, The Life of James Clerk Maxwell: With Selections from His Correspondence and Occasional Writings”
“The general equations are next applied to the case of a magnetic disturbance propagated through a non”
“The Man Who Paved the Way for Wireless,”
“The mathematical difficulties of the theory of rotation arise chiefly from the want of geometrical illustrations and sensible images, by which we might fix the results of analysis in our minds. On a Dynamical Top, for exhibiting the phenomena of the motion of a system of invariable form about a fixed point, with some suggestions as to the Earth’s motion , read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh (20 April 1857); published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , Vol. XXI, Part IV (1857).”
“And last of all we have the secondary forms of crystals bursting in upon us, and sparkling in the rigidity of mathematical necessity and telling us, neither of harmony of design, usefulness or moral significance,”
“He that would enjoy life and act with freedom must have the work of the day continually before his eyes. Not yesterday's work, lest he fall into despair; nor to”
“Also partially quoted in Sir Sidney Lee (ed.), The Dictionary of National Biography Vol.40”
“Biographia Britannica: Or the Lives of the Most Eminent Persons who Have Flourished in Great Britain from the Earliest Ages Down to the Present Times, Volume 5”
“The Theology of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica : A Preliminary Survey ,”
“1. Fidelity & Allegiance sworn to the King is only such a fidelity and obedience as is due to him by the law of the land; for were that faith and allegiance more than what the law requires, we would swear ourselves slaves , and the King absolute; whereas, by the law, we are free men, notwithstanding those Oaths. 2. When , therefore, the obligation by the law to fidelity and allegiance ceases, that by the Oath also ceases ... Letter to Dr. Covel Feb. 21, (1688”
“Bullialdus wrote that all force respecting the Sun as its center & depending on matter must be reciprocally in a duplicate ratio of the distance from the center. Letter to Edmund Halley (June 20, 1686) quoted in I. Bernard Cohen and George E. Smith , ed.s, The Cambridge Companion to Newton (2002) p. 204”
“I have not been able to discover the cause of those properties of gravity from phenomena, and I frame no hypotheses; for whatever is not deduced from the phenomena is to be called a hypothesis, and hypotheses, whether metaphysical or physical, whether of occult qualities or mechanical, have no place in experimental philosophy. Letter to Robert Hooke (15 February 1676) [5 February 1676 ( O.S. )]”
“Paraphrases: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
“Bernard of Chartres used to say that we [the Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter. And this is not at all because of the acuteness of our sight or the stature of our body, but because we are carried aloft and elevated by the magnitude of the giants.”
“This is a variation on a much older adage, which Roger Bacon attributed to Aristotle : Amicus Plato sed magis amica veritas . Bacon was perhaps paraphrasing a statement in the Nicomachean Ethics : Where both are friends, it is right to prefer truth.”
“These are notes in Latin that Newton wrote to himself that he titled: Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae [Certain Philosophical Questions]”
“El conocimiento es el camino hacia la libertad.”
“La materia no se crea ni se destruye, se transforma.”
“El universo tiene centro en todas partes.”
“Las estrellas son otros soles como el nuestro.”
“El amor es la fuerza que mueve el universo.”
“La verdad no teme la luz del sol.”
“It is necessary for our generation to repudiate Carver and all the lesser”
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,”
“Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater. Keep your thoughts free from hate, and you need have no fear from those who hate you. Quoted in Linda O. McMurray, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol (Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 107”
“When our thoughts”
“I know that my Redeemer lives. Thank God I love humanity, complexion doesn't interest me one single a bit. George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (1991), edited by Gary R. Kremer, University of Missouri Press, p. 131”
“My beloved friend, keep your hand in that of the Master, walk daily by His side, so that you may lead others into the realms of true happiness, where a religion of hate, (which poisons both body and soul) will be unknown, having in its place the "Golden Rule" way, which is the " Jesus Way" of life, will reign supreme. Then, we can walk and talk with Jesus momentarily, because we will be attuned to His will and wishes, thus making the Creation story of the world non”
“Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world. Even if we gave Him no name at all, He would still be there, within us, waiting to give us good on this earth. Quoted in Linda O. McMurray, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol (Oxford University Press, 1982, ISBN 0”
“I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour and every moment of our lives, if we will only tune in and remain so. How to Search for Truth, letter to Hubert W. Pelt ( 1930”
“More and more as we come closer and closer in touch with nature and its teachings are we able to see the Divine and are therefore fitted to interpret correctly the various languages spoken by all forms of nature about us. How to Search for Truth, letter to Hubert W. Pelt ( 1930”
“The virgin fertility of our soils and the vast amount of unskilled labor have been more of a curse than a blessing to agriculture. This exhaustive system for cultivation, the destruction of forest, the rapid and almost constant decomposition of organic matter, have made our agricultural problem one requiring more brains than of the North, East or West. The Need of Scientific Agriculture in the South”
“The intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how heaven goes.”
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.”
“Nature … is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to men. For that reason it appears that nothing physical which sense”
“Copernicus never discusses matters of religion or faith , nor does he use argument that depend in any way upon the authority of sacred writings which he might have interpreted erroneously. ... He did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly understood.”
“To this end they make a shield of their hypocritical zeal for religion. They go about invoking the Bible, which they would have minister to their deceitful purposes. Contrary to the sense of the Bible and the intention of the holy Fathers, if I am not mistaken, they would extend such authorities until even in purely physical matters”
“Persisting in their original resolve to destroy me and everything mine by any means they can think of, these men are aware of my views in astronomy and philosophy. They know that as to the arrangement of the parts of the universe , I hold the sun to be situated motionless in the center of the revolution of the celestial orbs while the earth revolves about the sun. They know also that I support this position not only by refuting the arguments of Ptolemy and Aristotle , but by producing many counter”
“Some years ago, as Your Serene Highness well knows, I discovered in the heavens many things that had not been seen before our own age. The novelty of these things, as well as some consequences which followed from them in contradiction to the physical notions commonly held among academic philosophers, stirred up against me no small number of professors”
“It seems to me that it was well said by Madama Serenissima, and insisted on by your reverence, that the Holy Scripture cannot err, and that the decrees therein contained are absolutely true and inviolable. But I should have in your place added that, though Scripture cannot err, its expounders and interpreters are liable to err in many ways ; and one error in particular would be most grave and most frequent, if we always stopped short at the literal signification of the words.”
“Surely it is a great thing to increase the numerous host of fixed stars previously visible to the unaided vision , adding countless more which have never before been seen, exposing these plainly to the eye in numbers ten times exceeding the old and familiar stars. Translation by Stillman Drake in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo”
“Translation by Albert Van Helden in Sidereus Nuncius (Chicago, 1989), 62”
“The job of theorists, especially in biology, is to suggest new experiments. A good theory makes not only predictions, but surprising predictions that then turn out to be true.”
“Both of us had decided, quite independently of each other, that the central problem in molecular biology was the chemical structure of the gene.”
“Rather than believe that Watson and Crick made the DNA structure, I would rather stress that the structure made Watson and Crick.”
“I argued that it was important not to place too much reliance on any single piece of experimental evidence. It might turn out to be misleading, as the 5.1 Å reflection undoubtedly was. Jim was a little more brash, stating that no good model ever accounted for all the facts, since some data was bound to be misleading if not plain wrong. A theory that did fit all the data would have been "carpentered" to do so and would thus be open to suspicion. (pp. 59”
“Big questions get big answers.”
“I wasn't aware of Chargaff's rules when he said them, but the effect on me was quite electric because I realized immediately that if you had this sort of scheme that John Griffith was proposing, of adenine being paired with thymine, and guanine being paired with cytosine, then you should get Chargaff's rules. I was very excited, but I didn't actually tell Chargaff because it was something I was doing with John Griffith. ... This was very exciting, and we thought "ah ha!" and we realized”
“Unlike you and your colleagues I have formed the opinion that there is much substance to Jensen's arguments. In brief I think it likely that more than half the difference between the average I.Q. of American whites and Negroes is due to genetic reasons, and will not be eliminated by any foreseeable change in the environment. Moreover I think the social consequences of this are likely to be rather serious unless steps are taken to recognize the situation. 22 February 1971”
“And so to those of you who may be vitalists I would make this prophecy: what everyone believed yesterday, and you believe today, only cranks will believe tomorrow.”
“The ultimate aim of the modern movement in biology is in fact to explain all biology in terms of physics and chemistry. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1966, p. 10.”
“If for example I had some idea, which as it turned out would be quite wrong, was going off of the tangent, Watson would tell me in no uncertain terms this was nonsense, and vice”
“Nil terribile nisi ipse timor. Nothing is terrible except fear itself.”
“Lucid intervals and happy pauses. History of King Henry VII , III”
“Aristotle (…) a mere bond”
“Knowledge, that tendeth but to satisfaction, is but as a courtesan, which is for pleasure, and not for fruit or generation. Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature (ca. 1603), in Works , Vol. 1, p. 83; The Works of Francis Bacon (1819), Vol. 2, p. 133”
“It is not the pleasure of curiosity, nor the quiet of resolution, nor the raising of the spirit, nor victory of wit, nor faculty of speech (…) that are the true ends of knowledge (…), but it is a restitution and reinvesting, in great part, of man to the sovereignty and power, for whensoever he shall be able to call the creatures by their true names, he shall again command them. Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature (ca. 1603), in Works , Vol. I, p. 83; The Works of Francis Bacon (1819), Vol. 2, p. 133”
“Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates.”
“Meditationes Sacræ [ Sacred Meditations ] (1597), "De Hæresibus" [Of Heresies]”
“Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est. For knowledge itself is power .”
“The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power . Essex's Device”
“Libraries are as the shrine where all the relics of the ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed.”
“If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi”
“Although I think that life may be the result of an accident, I do not think that of consciousness . Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else. As quoted in The Observer (11 January 1931); also in Psychic Research (1931), Vol. 25, p. 91”
“Schrödinger equation”
“For thousands of years men have striven and suffered and begotten and women have brought forth in pain . A hundred years ago, perhaps, another man sat on this spot; like you he gazed with awe and yearning in his heart at the dying light on the glaciers. Like you he was begotten of man and born of woman. He felt pain and brief joy as you do. Was he someone else? Was it not you yourself? What is this Self of yours? What was the necessary condition for making the thing conceived this time into you, just you and not someone else? "Seek for the Road"”
“The stages of human development are to strive for: (1) Besitz [Possession] (2) Wissen [Knowledge] (3) Können [Ability] (4) Sein [Being] Writings of August 1918, quoted in A Life of Erwin Schrödinger (1994) by Walter Moore”
“No self is of itself alone . It has a long chain of intellectual ancestors. The "I" is chained to ancestry by many factors … This is not mere allegory, but an eternal memory . Writings of July 1918, quoted in A Life of Erwin Schrödinger (1994) by Walter Moore”
“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”
“'If finally we look back at that idea of [Ernst] Mach [1838”
“But it is quite easy to express the solution in words, thus: the plurality that we perceive is only an appearance; it is not real. Vedantic philosophy, in which this is a fundamental dogma, has sought to clarify it by a number of analogies, one of the most attractive being the many”
“This life of yours which you are living is not merely apiece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance. This, as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear; tat tvam asi , this is you. Or, again, in such words as "I am in the east and the west, I am above and below, I am this entire world. in Moore, Walter J., Schrödinger: Life and Thought Cambridge University Press (1992). pp.170”
“As astronomer Carl Sagan thought about what Fermi said [ Fermi paradox ], he began to be alarmed. ...This could only mean that advanced civilizations destroy themselves before they get that far, a viewpoint Sagan published in 1966. Stanley A. Rice, Life of Earth : Portrait of a Beautiful, Middle”
“The pursuit of science.”
“He was simply unable to let things be foggy. Since they always are, this kept him pretty active. Robert Oppenheimer”
“Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard , which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration... Albert Einstein , in the famous letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt which prompted attention to what eventually became the Manhattan Project . (1939”
“There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis , then you've made a measurement . If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. As quoted in Nuclear Principles in Engineering (2005) by Tatjana Jevremovic, p. 397”
“If I could remember the names of all these particles, I'd be a botanist. As quoted in Hyperspace (1995) by Michio Kaku”
“I hope it won't take long. Comment to Eugene Wigner , ten days before his death from cancer, as quoted in The collected works of Eugene Paul Wigner (1992), p. 108”
“I cannot think of a single one, not even intelligence. When asked what characteristics Nobel prize winning physicists had in common. As quoted in Physics Today (October 1994), p. 70.”
“Where are They? Maybe we are alone in the galaxy after all”
“Although the problem of transmuting chemical elements into each other is much older than a satisfactory definition of the very concept of chemical element, it is well known that the first and most important step towards its solution was made only nineteen years ago by the late Lord Rutherford, who started the method of the nuclear bombardments. Nobel lecture”
“The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.”
“The cosmologist is the historian of the universe.”
“Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive.”
“We do not know why we are born into the world, but we can try to find out what sort of world it is.”
“The exploration of space is the greatest adventure humanity can undertake.”
“With increasing distance, our knowledge fades.”
“Observations always involve theory.”
“The universe is expanding, and with it, so is our understanding.”
“The history of astronomy is a history of receding horizons.”
“Equipped with our five senses, we explore the universe around us.”
“If the apparent magnitudes of the nebulae are corrected merely for the effect of the red”
“I chucked the law for astronomy, and I knew that even if I were second”
“She deserved the Nobel Prize for her work. Often said by Hubble about Henrietta Swan Leavitt .”
“We do not know why we are born into the world, but we can try to find out what sort of a world it is”
“The whole thing is so much bigger than I am, and I can't understand it, so I just trust myself to it; and forget about it. Hubble's reply when asked about his beliefs from a friend, as quoted in Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae (1996) by Gale E. Christianson, p. 183.”
“...there must be no favored location in the universe, no center, no boundary; all must see the universe alike. And, in order to ensure this situation, the cosmologist postulates spatial isotropy and spatial homogeneity. The Observational Approach to Cosmology , 1937, p. 63”
“The history of astronomy is a history of receding horizons. The Realm of the Nebulae”
“Eventually, we reach the utmost limits of our telescopes. There, we measure shadows and search among ghostly errors of measurement for landmarks that are scarcely more substantial. The Realm of the Nebulae”
“Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive. The Realm of the Nebulae”
“The Exploration of Space”
“Even though Mendeleev always denied that electrons exist, they later turned out to be vital for ordering the elements in his table. Patricia Fara , Science A Four Thousand Year History (2009).”
“Chemical Discovery and Invention in the Twentieth Century,”
“I suppose when my unknown elements are found, more people will pay us attention.”
“I have no need of proof. The laws of nature, unlike the laws of grammar, admit of no exception.”
“We should still expect to discover many unknown simple bodies; for example, those similar to aluminum and silicon, elements with atomic weights of 65 to 75.”
“I wish to establish some sort of system not guided by chance but by some sort of definite and exact principle .”
“Doctor, you have science, I have faith.”
“To burn oil!.. You can fuel with money as well.”
“In science we must all submit not to what seems to us attractive from one point of view or another, but to what represents an agreement between theory and experiment. Faraday Lecture, the Royal Institution, London (1889) as quoted by Leon Gray, The Basics of the Periodic Table”
“The Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements”
“The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as the greatest virtues. Discourse on the Method (1637), Part I”
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)”
“The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once. Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), Meditation I”
“When someone says "I think, therefore I am," the term "therefore" does not denote a logical conclusion from a syllogism, but a simple intuition of the mind. Letter to Clerselier (1646)”
“I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake. Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), Meditation I”
“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries. Discourse on the Method (1637), Part I”
“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it. Discourse on the Method (1637), Part II”
“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. Discourse on the Method (1637), Part I”
“I doubt, therefore I think; I think, therefore I am. Principles of Philosophy (1644)”
“Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. Discourse on the Method (1637), Part IV”
“Good breeding in cattle depends on physical health, but in men on a well”
“Man is a universe in little [ Microcosm ]. Freeman (1948), p. 150”
“Coition is a slight attack of apoplexy. For man gushes forth from man, and is separated by being torn apart with a kind of blow. Freeman (1948), p. 150”
“Medicine heals diseases of the body, wisdom frees the soul from passions. Freeman (1948), p. 149”
“We know nothing accurately in reality, but [only] as it changes according to the bodily condition, and the constitution of those things that flow upon [the body] and impinge upon it. Freeman (1948), p. 142”
“By convention sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter, hot is hot, cold is cold, color is color; but in truth there are only atoms and the void. (trans. Durant 1939), Ch. XVI, §II, p. 353; citing C. Bakewell, Sourcebook in Ancient Philosophy , New York, 1909, "Fragment O" (Diels), p. 60”
“νόμωι (γάρ φησι) γλυκὺ καὶ νόμωι πικρόν, νόμωι θερμόν, νόμωι ψυχρόν, νόμωι χροιή, ἐτεῆι δὲ ἄτομα καὶ κενόν (Tetralogies of Thrasyllus, 9; Sext. Emp. adv. math. VII 135) Sweet exists by convention, bitter by convention, colour by convention; atoms and Void [alone] exist in reality. (trans. Freeman 1948), p. 92.”
“Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.”
“The first principles of the universe are atoms and empty space; everything else is merely thought to exist.”
“δοκεῖ δὲ αὐτῶι τάδε· ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν ὅλων ἀτόμους καὶ κενόν, τὰ δ'ἀλλα πάντα νενομίσθαι [δοξάζεσθαι]. ( Diogenes Laërtius , Democritus , Vol. IX, 44) Now his principal doctrines were these. That atoms and the vacuum were the beginning of the universe; and that everything else existed only in opinion.”
“La ciencia es el conocimiento cierto de lo que es.”
“El conocimiento humano es limitado, pero la curiosidad es infinita.”
“La Tierra es el centro del universo conocido.”
“On the Formation of Mould,”
“As I was led to keep in my study during many months worms in pots filled with earth, I became interested in them, and wished to learn how far they acted consciously, and how much mental power they displayed. Introduction, p. 2”
“de minimis non curat lex”
“de minimis lex non curat ,”
“(Detractors sometimes claim Darwin thought that the cell was an undifferentiated mass of protoplasm. Anyone reading the passage above will realize that Darwin thought no such thing.)”
“Aggregation of the Protoplasm within the Cells of the Tentacles”
“Concluding Remarks and Summary”
“(It is sometimes claimed that modern biologist are dogmatic "Darwinists" who uncritically accept all of Darwin's ideas. This is false: No one today accepts Darwin's hypothesis of gemmules and pangenesis .)”
“throw off minute granules or atoms, which circulate freely throughout the system, and when supplied with proper nutriment multiply by self”
“The Beagle staid at St. Helena five days, during which time I lived in the clouds in the centre of the Isd.”
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. The Demon-Haunted World (1995)”
“Books are the seeds of civilization. Cosmos (1980), Ch. 1”
“We are made of star stuff”
“The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Cosmos (1980), Ch. 1”
“For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love. Contact (1985), Ch. 1”
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Cosmos (1980), Ch. 1”
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood were all made in the interiors of collapsing stars. Cosmos (1980), Ch. 1”
“We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. Cosmos (1980), Ch. 1”
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. Cosmos (1980), Ch. 1”
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known”
“In nature, we find the fingerprints of the creator.”
“Classification is the foundation of all science.”
“The study of nature is the study of God's works.”
“Every species is a thought of God.”
“The order of nature is the order of God.”
“I thank God that I have seen the world for what it is.”
“The first step in wisdom is to know the things themselves.”
“To live by medicine is to live horribly.”
“Nature does not proceed by leaps and bounds.”
“If a tree dies, plant another in its place.”
“We may assume that plants have arisen within the orders, i.e. by genera of one order, may mix with each other. In this was there will arise species that should be referred to the mother's genus as her daughters.”
“That by their various mixings different plants have arisen which belong to the mother's natural order as they are similar to the mother with regard to their fructifications, and are, as it were, species of the order, i.e., genera.”
“That in the beginning the Creator created of each natural Order only one plant with reproductive power.”
“The principle being accepted that all Species of one Genus have arisen from one mother through different fathers, it must be assumed”
“We say there are as many genera as there are similarly constituted fructifications of different natural species. Fundamenta Botanica (1736). Original in Latin: Genera tot dicimus, quot similes constructae fructifications proserunt diversae Species naturales”
“the whole world is full of the glory of God.”
“If the names are unknown knowledge of the things also perishes . Philosophia Botanica (1751), aphorism 210. Trans. Frans A. Stafleu, Linnaeus and the Linnaeans: The Spreading of their Ideas in Systematic Botany, 1735”
“Nature does not make any leaps. All plants show an affinity with those around them, according to their geographical location. Philosophia Botanica”
“I thank Providence who has guided my destinies, that I now live ; nay, that I live happier than a king of Persia. You know, fathers and fellow”
“Linnaeus and homo religiosus,”
“In order to enter into a real knowledge of your condition, consider it in this image: A man was cast by a tempest upon an unknown island, the inhabitants of which were in trouble to find their king, who was lost; and having a strong resemblance both in form and face to this king, he was taken for him, and acknowledged in this capacity by all the people.”
“The Misery of Man Without God”
“Note on a parchment stitched to the lining of Pascal's coat, found by a servant shortly after his death, as quoted in Burkitt Speculum religionis (1929), p. 150”
“FEU. Dieu d'Abraham, Dieu d'Isaac, Dieu de Jacob, non des philosophes et savants. Certitude. Certitude. Sentiment. Joie. Paix. FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and scholars. Certainty. Certainty. Feeling. Joy. Peace.”
“Mahomet established a religion by putting his enemies to death; Jesus Christ, by commanding his followers to lay down their own lives. Thoughts on Religion and Philosophy (W. Collins, 1838), Ch. XVI, p. 202”
“On the Art of Persuasion”
“Such statements have also been attributed to Mark Twain , T.S. Eliot , Cicero , and others besides , but this article at Quote Investigator concludes that Pascal's statement is likely the original source of the phrase.”
“Literally: I made this one [letter] longer only because I have not had the leisure to make it shorter.”
“Je n'ai fait celle”
“For as old age is that period of life most remote from infancy, who does not see that old age in this universal man ought not to be sought in the times nearest his birth, but in those most remote from it? Preface to the Treatise on Vacuum”
“Public Disputes warm the Imagination, whet the Industry, and strengthen the natural Abilities.”
“Remember, that credit is money. If a man lets his money lie in my hands after it is due, he gives me interest, or so much as I can make of it during that time. This amounts to a considerable sum where a man has good and large credit, and makes good use of it.”
“Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress”
“If you would keep your Secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend. Up, Sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough. September 1741. “Poor Richard, 1741,” Founders Online , National Archives, accessed 27 May 2020. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin , vol. 2, January 1, 1735, through December 31, 1744 , ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961, pp. 292”
“On Freedom of Speech and the Press”
“Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. "On True Happiness", Pennsylvania Gazette (20 November 1735).”
“Apology for Printers”
“Transcript of Benjamin Franklin, Epitaph”
“Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion”
“What! bring ourselves down to an Equality with the Beasts of the Field! with the meanest part of the Creation ! 'Tis insufferable!”
“Reportedly his last words, said to a Roman soldier who, despite being given orders not to, killed Archimedes during the conquest of Syracuse; as quoted in World Literature: An Anthology of Human Experience (1947) by Arthur Christy, p. 655.”
“noli … istum disturbare”
“Noli turbare circulos meos . or Noli tangere circulos meos. Do not disturb my circles !”
“Give me a firm spot on which to stand, and I shall move the earth.”
“Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world.”
“Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the earth.”
“Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world. This variant derives from an earlier source than Pappus: The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus , Fragments of Book XXVI , as translated by F. R. Walton, in Loeb Classical Library (1957) Vol. XI. In Doric Greek this may have originally been Πᾷ βῶ, καὶ χαριστίωνι τὰν γᾶν κινήσω πᾶσαν [ Pā bō, kai kharistiōni tan gān kinēsō [variant kinasō ] pāsan ].”
“Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the world”
“What he exclaimed as he ran naked from his bath, realizing that by measuring the displacement of water an object produced, compared to its weight, he could measure its density (and thus determine the proportion of gold that was used in making a king's crown); as quoted by Vitruvius Pollio in De Architectura , ix.215;”
“principle of acidity”
“which supposedly entered into chemical reactions (such as combustion) but had no weight. It was a radical step, therefore, for Lavoisier to base a system of chemistry on a balance of weights and to maintain that chemistry is not concerned with weightless”
“..when they perceive that a body which was before manifest to the senses has escaped and disappeared, they should not admit or liquidate the account before it has been shown to them where the body has gone to and into what it has been received.”
“We may lay it down as an incontestible axiom, that, in all the operations of art and nature, nothing is created; an equal quantity of matter exists both before and after the experiment; the quality and quantity of the elements remain precisely the same; and nothing takes place beyond changes and modifications in the combination of these elements. Upon this principle the whole art of performing chemical experiments depends: We must always suppose an exact equality between the elements of the body examined and those of the products of its analysis. p. 226”
“We must trust to nothing but facts : These are presented to us by Nature, and cannot deceive. We ought, in every instance, to submit our reasoning to the test of experiment, and never to search for truth but by the natural road of experiment and observation. pp. xviii”
“It is a maxim universally admitted in geometry, and indeed in every branch of knowledge, that , in the progress of investigation, we should proceed from known facts to what is unknown. ...In this manner , from a series of sensations, observations, and analyses, a successive train of ideas arises, so linked together, that an attentive observer may trace back to a certain point the order and connection of the whole sum of human knowledge. pp. xv”
“Thus, while I thought myself employed only in forming a Nomenclature, and while I proposed to myself nothing more than to improve the chemical language, my work transformed itself by degrees, without my being able to prevent it, into a treatise upon the Elements of Chemistry. p.xiv”
“We think only through the medium of words.”
“Here, then: a revolution [in science and chemistry] has taken place in an important part of human knowledge since your departure from Europe... I will consider this revolution to be well advanced and even completely accomplished if you range yourself with us. ...After having brought you up to date on what is happening in chemistry, it would be well to speak to you about our political revolution. We regard it as done and without any possibility of return to the old order. Letter to Benjamin Franklin (Feb 2, 1790) as quoted by I. Bernard Cohen , Revolution in Science”
“The Chain of Reason versus the Chain of Thumbs”
“It is not sufficient to be worthy of respect in order to be respected.”
“Justice is to be found only in the imagination.”
“The truthful man is usually a liar.”
“We build upon the sand, and the older we become, the more unstable this foundation becomes.”
“Contentment is the only real wealth”
“Second to agriculture, humbug is the biggest industry of our age.”
“A heart can no more be forced to love than a stomach can be forced to digest food by persuasion.”
“My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. As soon as men will find that in one instant, whole armies can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide by golden peace. As quoted in The Military Quotation Book (2002) by James Charlton, p. 114.”
“If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I am satisfied. As quoted in The 12 best Questions To Ask Customers (2001), by Jim Meisenheimer, p. 26.”
“I would not leave anything to a man of action as he would be tempted to give up work; on the other hand, I would like to help dreamers as they find it difficult to get on in life. As quoted in Nobel, Dynamite and Peace (1929) by Ragnar Sohlman and Henrik Schück, as translated by Brian Lunn and Beatrix Lunn, p. 249; also quoted by Lester B. Pearson in his address on accepting the Nobel Peace Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway (10 December 1957) .”
“From the remotest nebulæ and from the revolving double stars, we have descended to the minutest organisms of animal creation, whether manifested in the depths of ocean or on the surface of our globe, and to the delicate vegetable germs which clothe the naked declivity of the ice”
“While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men. There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more enobled by mental cultivation than others, but none in themselves nobler than others. All are in like degree designed for freedom; a freedom which, in the ruder conditions of society, belongs only to the individual, but which, in social states enjoying political institutions, appertains as a right to the whole body of the community.”
“The principal impulse by which I was directed was the earnest endeavor to comprehend the phenomena of physical objects in their general connection, and to represent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal forces. My intercourse with highly”
“In order to ameliorate without commotion new institutions must be made, as it were, to rise out of those which the barbarism of centuries has consecrated. It will one day seem incredible that until the year 1826 there existed no law in the Great Antilles to prevent the sale of young infants and their separation from their parents, or to prohibit the degrading custom of marking the negroes with a hot iron, merely to enable these human cattle to be more easily recognized.”
“Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things.”
“The expression of vanity and self”
“One of the noblest characteristics which distinguish modern civilization from that of remoter times is, that it has enlarged the mass of our conceptions, rendered us more capable of perceiving the connection between the physical and intellectual world, and thrown a more general interest over objects which heretofore occupied only a few scientific men, because those objects were contemplated separately, and from a narrower point of view.”
“Devoted from my earliest youth to the study of nature, feeling with enthusiasm the wild beauties of a country guarded by mountains and shaded by ancient forests, I experienced in my travels, enjoyments which have amply compensated for the privations inseparable from a laborious and often agitated life.”
“the restless activity of large communities of men gradually despoil the face of the Earth”
“Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take away with us. As quoted in Seed”
“Does the inertia of a body depend upon its energy content?”
“It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing”
“If a body gives off the energy L in the form of radiation, its mass diminishes by L/c².”
“Opening of a letter to his friend Conrad Habicht in which he describes his four revolutionary Annus Mirabilis papers (18 or 25 May 1905) Doc. 27”
“Letter to Jost Winteler (July 8th, 1901), quoted in The Private Lives of Albert Einstein by Roger Highfields and Paul Carter (1993), p. 79 . Einstein had been annoyed that Paul Drude , editor of Annalen der Physik , had dismissed some criticisms Einstein made of Drude's electron theory of metals.”
“Autoritätsdusel ist der größte Feind der Wahrheit. Blind obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”
“Mes Projets d'Avenir”
“A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.”
“❝Everything should be made simple as possible but no simpler.❞ Repeated throughout his life, see: Quote Investigator”
“Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory”
“The Exclusion Principle is laid down purely for the benefit of the electrons themselves, who might be corrupted (and become dragons or demons) if allowed to associate too freely. Epigram to Robin Gandy (1954).”
“Science is a differential equation . Religion is a boundary condition . Epigram to Robin Gandy (1954); reprinted in Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing: the Enigma (Vintage edition 1992), p. 513.”
“The sentence in bold appears on the latest British £50 bank note featuring Alan Turing which was released on 23 June 2021 on what would have been his 109th birthday.”
“This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be. We have to have some experience with the machine before we really know its capabilities. It may take years before we settle down to the new possibilities, but I do not see why it should not enter any one of the fields normally covered by the human intellect, and eventually compete on equal terms. 'The Mechanical Brain. Answer Found to 300 Year Old Problem' The Times newspaper, 11 June 1949 page 4 column 5.”
“Intelligent Machinery.”
“Intelligent Machinery: A Report by A. M. Turing,”
“Proposed Electronic Calculator”
“We are leaving out of account that most important faculty which distinguishes topics of interest from others; in fact, we are regarding the function of the mathematician as simply to determine the truth or falsity of propositions.”
“Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals,”
“The Analytical Engine has no pretensions to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform”
“A large, coarse”
“Difference and Analytical Engines”
“[...] engine is the material expression of any indefinite function of any degree of generality and complexity. As quoted by Rosen, Kenneth H. (2013). Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications , McGraw”
“I may remark that the curious transformations many formulae can undergo, the unsuspected and to a beginner apparently impossible identity of forms exceedingly dissimilar at first sight, is I think one of the chief difficulties in the early part of mathematical studies. I am often reminded of certain sprites and fairies one reads of, who are at one's elbows in one shape now, and the next minute in a form most dissimilar. As quoted in Toole, Betty Alexandra (1998), Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: Prophet of the Computer Age, Strawberry Press, ISBN 0912647183 . p. 99”
“In a letter to Andrew Crosse , as quoted in Eugen Kölbing 's Englische Studien, Volume 19 (1894), Leipzig; O.R. Reisland,”
“When I behold the scientific and so”
“Perhaps you have felt already, from the tone of my letter, that I am more than ever now the bride of science. Religion to me is science , and science is religion. In that deeply”
“Our family are an alternate stratification of poetry and mathematics . In a letter to Andrew Crosse , as quoted in Eugen Kölbing 's Englische Studien, Volume 19 (1894), Leipzig; O.R. Reisland, "Byron's Daughter", p. 156.”
“We may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard”