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
Persons grouped around a fire or candle for warmth or light are less able to pursue independent thoughts, or even tasks, than people supplied with electric light. In the same way, the social and educational patterns latent in automation are those of self-employment and artistic autonomy.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
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
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth.
—Rene Daumal (1908–44) French Poet, Critic
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
Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
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
Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.
—Unknown
Science corrects the old creeds, sweeps away, with every new perception, our infantile catechisms, and necessitates a faith commensurate with the grander orbits and universal laws which it discloses.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Observatory: A place where astronomers conjecture away the guesses of their predecessors.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—yet it is the most precious thing we have.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
There was never yet philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently, however they have writ the style of gods, and made a pish at chance and sufferance.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Science is all metaphor.
—Timothy Leary (1920–96) American Psychologist, Author
In the scientific world I find just that disinterested devotion to great ends that I hope will spread at last through the entire range of human activity.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then newly divined conceptions bind old and new together into a reconciling law.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
I am acutely aware of the fact that the marriage between mathematics and physics which was so enormously fruitful in past centuries, has recently ended in divorce.
—Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) American Theoretical Physicist, Author
There is no record in history of a happy philosopher.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Plato was a bore.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
No delusion is greater than the notion that method and industry can make up for lack of mother-wit, either in science or in practical life.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
There’s nothing colder than chemistry.
—Anita Loos (1888–1981) American Actor, Novelist, Screenwriter
Science when well-digested is nothing but good sense and reason.
—Stanislaw Leszczynski (1677–1766) Polish King, Duke
Surely it must be plain that an ingenious man could speculate without end on both sides, and find analogies for all his dreams. Nor does it help me to tell me that the aspirations of mankind.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
Philosophy always requires something more, requires the eternal, the true, in contrast to which even the fullest existence as such is but a happy moment.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Science without conscience is the soul’s perdition.
—Francois Rabelais (1494–1553) French Humanist, Satirist
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
Philosophy! Empty thinking by ignorant conceited men who think they can digest without eating!
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
The general public has long been divided into two parts those who think science can do anything, and those who are afraid it will.
—Dixy Lee Ray (1914–1994) American Scientist, Politician
I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
There does not exist a category of science to which one can give the name applied science. There are science and the applications of science, bound together as the fruit of the tree which bears it.
—Louis Pasteur (1822–95) French Biologist
Material science now has the clear possibility and promise of the systematic utilization of all the natural resources of the earth for the good of the whole human race…. Maintaining and improving the standard of living of all the peoples of the earth through increasing use of mechanical horsepower and the scientific approach is now one of the keys to peace in the world.
—Charles Erwin Wilson (1890–1961) American Businessperson
Leave a Reply