Science is Christian, not when it condemns itself to the letter of things, but when, in the infinitely little, it discovers as many mysteries and as much depth and power as in the infinitely great.
—Edgar Quinet (1803–75) French Historian, Poet
The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
In Plato’s opinion, man was made for philosophy; in Bacon’s opinion, philosophy was made for man.
—Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) English Historian, Essayist, Philanthropist
To us, men of the West, a very strange thing happened at the turn of the century; without noticing it, we lost science, or at least the thing that had been called by that name for the last four centuries. What we now have in place of it is something different, radically different, and we don’t know what it is. Nobody knows what it is.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals. They are complementary.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
If the study of all these sciences which we have enumerated, should ever bring us to their mutual association and relationship, and teach us the nature of the ties which bind them together, I believe that the diligent treatment of them will forward the objects which we have in view, and that the labor, which otherwise would be fruitless, will be well bestowed.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Man lives for science as well as bread.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Physical science reads through its sense of touch like a blind man, and the supply of books in braille type on the spiritual life is very small.
—Austin O’Malley (1858–1932) American Aphorist, Ophthalmologist
New discoveries in science … will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who still would adventure.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Rather than have it the principal thing in my son’s mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth, and that the stars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament.
—Thomas Arnold (1795–1842) English Educationalist
The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20-20 hindsight. It’s good for seeing where you’ve been. It’s good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can’t tell you where you ought to go.
—Robert M. Pirsig (b.1928) American Writer, Philosopher, Author
If this is philosophy it is at any rate a philosophy that is not in its right mind.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Although it is difficult to pinpoint the physical base or location of awareness, it is perhaps the most precious thing concealed within our brains. And it is something that the individual alone can feel and experience. Each of us cherishes it highly, yet it is private.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Leader, Civil Rights Advocate, Author
The most heated defenders of a science, who cannot endure the slightest sneer at it, are commonly those who have not made very much progress in it and are secretly aware of this defect.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard and his desire for knowledge ceases.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
Plato was a bore.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
This is perhaps the most beautiful time in human history; it is really pregnant with all kinds of creative possibilities made possible by science and technology which now constitute the slave of man – if man is not enslaved by it.
—Jonas Salk (1914–95) American Microbiologist
For undemocratic reasons and for motives not of State, they arrive at their conclusions—largely inarticulate. Being void of self-expression they confide their views to none; but sometimes in a smoking room, one learns why things were done.
—Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) British Writer, Poet, Novelist, Short Story Author
The work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics.
Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.
There is no such thing as consensus science. If it’s consensus, it isn’t science. If it’s science, it isn’t consensus. Period.
—Michael Crichton (1942–2008) American Novelist, Director, Producer, Screenwriter
It is certain that a serious attention to the sciences and liberal arts softens and humanizes the temper, and cherishes those fine emotions in which true virtue and honor consist. It very rarely happens that a man of taste and learning is not, at least, an honest man, whatever frailties may attend him.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Scientists ofttimes have the greatest faith in a higher power. The more they dig into, establish facts and figures, the more they marvel about the mystery of it all.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
When I am in the company of scientists, I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room full of dukes.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Whether a person shows themselves to be a genius in science or in writing a song, the only point is, whether the thought, the discovery, or the deed, is living and can live on.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The study of science teaches young men to think, while study of the classics teaches them to express thought.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
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