Science Quotes
450 quotes
Science
Insights from brilliant minds who unlocked nature's secrets
450 Quotes
If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things
— Interview with George Sylvester Viereck, 1929
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it
— Twitter and public lectures, c. 2011
Nature hides her secrets because of her essential loftiness, but not by means of ruse
— Letter to Karl Schlect (30 October 1918)
The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together
— Cosmos (1980), Episode 2
We have to remember that what we observe is not nature herself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning
— Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science (1958)
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe
— /My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911/
Facts are the seeds from which theories spring, but only imagination can make them blossom
— Personal journals, circa 1870
In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind
— Lecture at the University of Lille, 1854
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it
— Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (1949)
We must keep our minds open, but not so open that our brains fall out
— Speech at the National Science Teachers Association, 1966
We are like the explorers of old, launching bravely into seas whose farthest coasts are veiled in fog, trusting only our compasses and our wits
— Interview in The New York Times, 1996
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants
— Letter to Robert Hooke (1675)
We must not wait until the storm is past, but learn to work in the rain
— As quoted in 'Madame Curie: A Biography' by Ève Curie (1937)
One must credit the mysterious; it is the playing field for intuition and reason alike
— Speech at Vassar College, 1921
The history of science is a history of replacing old metaphors with new ones
— Collected Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, Vol. 2
The joy of discovery is like the torch that lights the darkness within the corridors of the mind
— .
To doubt and to test, to imagine and to measure: here lies the restless compass of the mind
— The Ascent of Man (1973), Episode 1
The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing
— Life Magazine, May 2, 1955
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe
— Cosmos (1980)
In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons
— Letter to her brother (1894)
There are no facts, only interpretations
— The Will to Power, Book III (1885-1888)
A scientist lives with all reality. There is nothing better. To live with all reality is a very strange thing. There are very few people who do it. Everyone who does it changes.
— From an interview in ‘The New Yorker’, 1969
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge
— Lecture at the Royal Society, 2010
The universe rewards calculated daring, not reckless enthusiasm
— Remark in correspondence with colleagues (paraphrased by contemporaries)
There are no shortcuts in evolution; only adaptation and patience carve deep change
— Public remarks, late career interviews (paraphrased from various sources)
The laws of nature are written in a dialect that yields to those who seek its grammar within the chaos
— The Scientific Imagination: A Talk, 1958
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)
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us
— Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (TV series)
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it
— attributed; opening lecture at the symposium 'Science and Synthesis', 1946
Time is what prevents everything from happening at once
— As quoted in Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne (1994)
I never weary of the night sky; it is a vast laboratory where the smallest questions become the greatest experiments
— Interview with American Institute of Physics, 1989
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few
— Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1970)
A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.
— Quoted in Scientific American, 1970s
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.
— Interview, Der Spiegel (1988)
We are made of star-stuff
— Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (TV Series, Episode 1, 1980)
A theory can be proved by experiment; but no path leads from experiment to the birth of a theory
— Letter to Erwin Schrödinger (1915)
The harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty
— 'On Growth and Form' (1917)
The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable
— Nature, Essay (1836)
One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike
— From Clark, Ronald W. 'Einstein: The Life and Times' (1971)
Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth
— Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), Chapter 10
The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists
— Science and Humanism, lecture
If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it
— Anecdotal attribution in management and problem-solving literature
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper
— From the novel 'A Shadow Passes' (1919)
It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data; insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts
— A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
Mathematics reveals its secrets only to those who approach it with pure love, for its own beauty
— Attributed; contextualized from historical anecdotes of Archimedes' passion for mathematics
The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions
— Le Cru et le Cuit (The Raw and the Cooked)
If you want to find out anything from the theoretical physics standpoint, you better make damn sure you understand quantum mechanics
— The Character of Physical Law (1965), Chapter 6: Probability and Uncertainty—the Quantum Mechanical View of Nature
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems
— Often attributed to Erdős by colleagues and in mathematical folklore
Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed
— Novum Organum, 1620
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be discovered
— Speech at the National Academy of Sciences, 2006
The great thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them
— Speech at Nobel Banquet, 1915
And yet, the atoms come together with such unpredictability that every snowflake, every living thing, every star is unique
— Journal entries collected posthumously
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought
— As quoted in Irving Good, The Scientist Speculates (1962)
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less
— As quoted in 'Madame Curie: A Biography' by Eve Curie (1937)
Each time we glimpse further into the cosmos, we find not a mirror but a window, inviting us to imagine realities stranger than our own
— Public Lecture, Royal Institution, 2015
Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter
— Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, 1916
The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine
— Possible Worlds and Other Essays, 1927
The sea of truth is vast, and our little boat can never chart all its coasts
— . Context from Maxwell's lectures on science and humility (paraphrased from his personal letters)
It does not matter what you look at, but what you see
— Journal entry, 5 August 1851
A question that makes us uneasy is of greater value than a certainty that puts us at rest
— Lecture at Cold Spring Harbor, 1950s
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change
— Attributed, though sometimes to Dr. Wayne Dyer; Planck often discussed perception in physics lectures
The universe does not behave according to our preconceptions, it continues to surprise beyond our boldest conjectures
— University of Chicago lecture, 1979
Progress is made by trial and failure; the failures are generally a hundred times more numerous than the successes; yet they are usually left unchronicled
— Address at University of London, 1904
Every discovery contains an irrational element, or a creative intuition
— Book: The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems
— Discourse on the Method, Part Two
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
— Interview with Newsweek, 1980
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose
— Possible Worlds and Other Essays (1927)
What you see is evidence of things unseen
— Attributed; also found in letters and recollections
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool
— Feynman's Commencement Address, Caltech, 1974
To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk
— The Art of Seeing (book, 1943)
The real measure of a scientist is how he faces the unknown, not how much he knows already
— Nature and the Greeks, Chapter 2
All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial
— As quoted in 'The Strangest Man' by Graham Farmelo (2009)
The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas
— Comment during lectures and publications (attributed)
The universe is not obliged to be understood by you
— Anecdotal, attributed in various interviews
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers
— Lecture at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (paraphrasing Shakespeare)
Errors are the portals of discovery
— Ulysses, 1922
The map is not the territory
— Science and Sanity (1933)
Science is the great adventure of asking questions nobody has thought to ask before
— The Savage Mind (La Pensée Sauvage), 1962
We are stardust, contemplating the stars, constructing a bridge between atom and cosmos with every question we ask
— Personal notebook, unpublished reflection
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion
— . Fragment; quoted by Aristotle and later sources
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you
— Twitter post, May 2013
In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence
— Letter to a young student (1930), published in 'Ideas and Opinions'
The mind is a slow instrument, requiring patience to untangle the knots of nature, each revelation demanding calm persistence
— Advice for a Young Investigator (1897)
Every solution breeds new questions; the horizon recedes as we approach
— Interview for The Guardian, 2006
The microbe is nothing; the terrain is everything
— Attributed remarks, late in life (source: Louis Pasteur: Free Lance of Science by René Vallery-Radot)
The good thing about science is that it forces us to relearn humility each time we think we have conquered nature
— Speech, University of Washington (1963)
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning
— From 'Physics and Philosophy' (1958)
To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.
— Lecture to Vassar College students, 1878
The great architect of the universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician
— The Mysterious Universe (1930)
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition
— Pale Blue Dot (1994)
The great end of life is not knowledge but action
— Collected Essays, Vol IX: On Improving Natural Knowledge (1866)
Sometimes the universe whispers its secrets so softly that only those willing to listen for a lifetime will ever hear them
— Lecture at University of Chicago, 1977
Patterns whisper their secrets to those who listen with equations
— Memoir, private letter
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition
— Cosmos (1980)
Bite deep into nature and she will bite back in kind
— Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1980)
In science, there are no shortcuts to truth
— As attributed in 'Louis Pasteur: Free Lance of Science' by René Vallery-Radot
To unravel the secrets of nature is to court her mysteries with patience, for every answer is but a door to deeper questions
— Lectures on Astronomy, Vassar College (c. 1870s)
The scientist is an atom’s way of knowing about atoms
— From a lecture at Harvard University, late 1950s
What we know is a drop; what we don't know is an ocean
— As recounted by Joseph Spence in Anecdotes, Observation, and Characters of Books and Men (1820)
In the fields of observation chance favors only the mind that is prepared
— Lecture, University of Lille, 1854
Science is the poetry of reality
— Unweaving the Rainbow (1998)
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science
— The World As I See It (1931)
There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws; there is only the way of intuition
— In conversation with Karl Popper, as recounted in 'Conjectures and Refutations' (1963)
The subtleties of nature are many times greater than the subtleties of the senses and understanding
— Novum Organum (1620)
It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science
— The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Nature is relentless and unchangeable, and it is indifferent as to whether its hidden reasons and actions are understandable to man or not
— Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
What I observe today may contradict what I believed yesterday, but it is only in this acknowledgment that real progress hides
— Letter to Otto Hahn, 1945 (published collection)
There are paths which lead to truth, as well as others which lead to new questions
— From 'Pensées d’un Biologiste' (1939)
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be discovered
— Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation (TV series, episode 12)
If you thought that science was certain—well, that is just an error on your part
— Lecture "The Uncertainty of Science," 1963, in The Meaning of It All
The wonderful arrangement and harmony of the universe could only have come about according to the plan of a being endowed with reason
— General Scholium, Principia Mathematica (1713)
Life is a process which may be abstracted from other processes running on a universal computer
— Lecture at the London Mathematical Society, 1947
Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our sense experience correspond to a logically uniform system of thought
— Ideas and Opinions (book, 1954)
A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns
— A Mathematician's Apology, 1940
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done
— Speech at the presentation of her Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1911
Somewhere, on the edge of perception, nature whispers riddles that only patience learns to answer
— Private notes/literary journals (unpublished)
Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life
— The Sense of Wonder, 1965
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere
— Attributed in interviews and various publications, early-mid 20th century
Vague and nebulous is the beginning of all things, but not their end
— Speech at Warsaw University (1923)
Imagination encircles the world
— What Life Means to Einstein (interview)
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance
— From 'On Scientific Method' (address, 1936)
To understand something as simple as a blade of grass means to master the universe
— The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. I
Every scientist is a piece of the puzzle, glimpsing just enough to know how vast the unfinished picture remains
— Interview with Discover Magazine, 1998
The task is to ask the right question; the answer is relatively easy
— The Savage Mind, 1962
Curiosity is more important than knowledge
— Remark to Motzart's son Karl, attributed in Alice Calaprice's 'The Quotable Einstein'
What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens
— Contarini Fleming: A Psychological Romance (1832)
Experiment is the sole judge of scientific truth, for it alone can answer our questions about nature
— The Character of Physical Law, 1965, Chapter 7
The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions
— Le Cru et le Cuit (The Raw and the Cooked), 1964
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.
— Lecture Notes, 1920s (as cited in various sources)
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination
— 'The Quest for Certainty' (1929)
What I cannot create, I do not understand
— Note on Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool
— Caltech commencement address, 1974
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! but That's funny
— Essay collection, The Tragedy of the Moon (1972), essay "The Eureka Phenomenon"
The greatest enemy to knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge
— Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays (1993)
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing
— .
If you want to understand nature, you must accept her terms and read her with care and humility
— Quoted in 'The Life of James Clerk Maxwell' by Campbell & Garnett
Creativity in science is not a magical burst of inspiration, but the patient stitching together of small insights over years
— Lecture at Carnegie Institution, 1997
The progress of science is the story of minds learning to listen to nature’s subtle dissent
— Letter to Otto Hahn, 1945
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
— Cosmos (TV Series), 1980 Episode "The Backbone of Night"
To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit
— Introduction to 'A Brief History of Time' (1988)
The creative principle resides in mathematics; in a certain sense, therefore, I hold true that pure thought can grasp reality, as the ancients dreamed
— /The World As I See It/
The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones
— The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936)
The brain is wider than the sky
— Poem 632 (Johnson Edition)
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
— Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation (TV Series, 1980)
The universe is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures
— Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
In questions of science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs
— Article: Scientific Investigation (1882)
In such simple yet unexplored phenomena lives the urge for investigation, which cannot wait to uncover the hidden logic of things
— Personal letter (1902)
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
— Newsweek science column (c. 1980s)
No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars
— Annales (fragment)
To comprehend the world, we must gaze not only at its marvels but at the worm in the apple, the crack in the crystal
— Personal conversations, c. 1973 (collected in 'Feynman Lectures')
The language of mathematics reveals patterns where chaos once seemed sovereign, granting us brief glimpses of order beneath the surface
— Letter to Joseph Fourier, 1826
To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age
— Opticks, Book III, Query 31
The imagination is the laboratory of the mind, where hypotheses are born before the test tubes confirm them.
— Public lecture on discovery and observation, c. 1996
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man
— The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I
Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn to God’s glory
— Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals (1896), p. 121
The experiment is the question mark at the end of each of nature’s sentences
— Remark to colleagues, 1947
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination
— The Quest for Certainty (1929)
The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine
— A quote attributed to Tesla in response to Thomas Edison and others' rejection of his ideas
The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error
— From 'Life of Galileo' (play, Scene 9)
Progress in science comes when experiments contradict theory
— Disturbing the Universe (1979)
Errors are the portals of discovery
— Ulysses (1922), Episode Nine: 'Scylla and Charybdis'
Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement
— Business Process Improvement: The Breakthrough Strategy for Total Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness (1991)
The universe takes on strange hues in the light of new instruments, revealing secrets that our ancestors could scarcely have imagined
— Speech at the American Museum of Natural History, 2001
The grand aim of all science is to cover the greatest number of empirical facts by logical deduction from the smallest number of hypotheses or axioms
— Letter to Felix Klein, 1917
The search for truth is more precious than its possession
— Letter to Felix Klein, 1918
I cannot imagine a scientist who does not have many pictures in his head, because images are the driving force of thought
— Marie Curie: A Life (biography by Susan Quinn)
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool
— Cargo Cult Science, Caltech Commencement Address (1974)
There is no pill, no potion, to substitute for the joy of watching a concept crystallize beneath your gaze
— Nobel lecture, 1983
The universe is not only lawful, it is also subtle; it smiles at our expectation even as it confounds our predictions
— /Letter to George Gamow, 1953/
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
— Cosmos (TV series), Episode 12: Encyclopedia Galactica
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
— Cosmos: The Art of Science, Television Series
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition
— Cosmos (1980), Episode 13 "Who Speaks for Earth?"
Discovery is often the art of letting the mind wander through the shadowy corridors that others have not dared to enter
— Public address at University of Chicago, 1958
Wonder is the catalyst that transforms simple facts into luminous understanding
— Keynote speech to the American Museum of Natural History, 2002
All models are wrong, but some are useful
— Empirical Model-Building and Response Surfaces (1978)
The joy of curiosity is that it dances just ahead of certainty, always inviting us onward
— Notebook entry, King's College London archives
Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.
— The Peter Prescription (1972)
The scientist is not a person who never fails but one who never quits.
— attributed; see Alice Calaprice, The Einstein Almanac (2004)
Science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think
— The Ascent of Man (1973), Episode 11
We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers
— Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (TV Series, Episode 1)
Every brilliant experiment, like every great work of art, starts with an act of imagination
— Speech at the University of Michigan, 1962
The reward of the young scientist is the emotional thrill of being the first person in the history of the world to see something or to understand something
— Article in 'Science', 1979
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition
— The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chapter I
An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature’s answer
— Scientific Autobiography, 1948
The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation
— The World As I See It
Chance favors only the prepared mind
— Speech at the University of Lille (1854)
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems
— Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 34
We must make the theory as simple as possible but not one bit simpler
— Attributed; variant of Occam's razor in discussions with colleagues
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
— Interview, Parade Magazine, 1980
The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance—the idea that anything is possible
— Zen in the Art of Writing, 1990
The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge
— The Feud (1983)
Observation is a more powerful force than you could possibly reckon; it defies all expectation, it simply is, and unnecessarily so
— Reported remarks, Feynman Lectures (paraphrased from various lectures)
What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand
— Xunzi, Chapter 8 - 'Exhortation to Learning'
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man
— The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1963)
The scientist finds his reward in what Henri Poincaré calls the joy of comprehension, and not in the possibilities of control
— Ideas and Opinions, essay collection (1954)
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition
— Cosmos (1980)
Somewhere, on the edge of reason, we are compelled to wander, for it is only there that the answers hide in shadow
— Speech at Nobel Banquet, 2015
The proper sort of scientific genius is always a little naive, but it is the innocence which lets him see what others are too wise to notice
— Letter to Lewis Campbell, 1857
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes
— In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu), Vol. 5
The universe is a grand symphony; we are learning to decipher the score note by note
— Nobel Prize Banquet Speech, 1963
In science there are no shortcuts to truth
— Science and Its Application to Life (speech, 1884)
The marvel of a living cell does not lie in its complexity, but in the harmony that holds it together against the entropy of the world
— Nobel Prize lecture, 1983
In questions of science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs
— Memories of My Life (autobiography), 1908
Nature composes some of her loveliest poems for the microscope and the telescope
— The Gendered Atom: Reflections on the Sexual Psychology of Science
The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim
— EWD896: On the cruelty of really teaching computing science (1984)
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms
— The Speed of Darkness (1968)
The good thing about science is that it compels us to keep moving beyond the edge of our understanding, to live constantly at the threshold between certainty and mystery
— The Ascent of Man (1973)
There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science
— As quoted in Pasteur: The History of a Mind (1939) by Émile Duclaux
Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated
— Letter to her father, 1940
If you want to find out anything from the theoretical physics standpoint, you better make damn sure you understand quantum mechanics
— /Lecture at Caltech, 1965/
Facts are the air of scientists. Without them you can never fly
— Quoted in 'A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations' (1991)
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual
— Letter to Cristina of Lorraine (1615)
The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them
— As quoted in The Art of Scientific Investigation by W. I. B. Beveridge (1957)
Science is nothing but perception
— Theaetetus, 152a
The imagination needs room to breathe, and so science gives it the entire universe
— Interview, Discover magazine (1997)
Atoms are not things
— Physics and Philosophy (1958)
Experiment is the sole interpreter of the artifices of Nature
— Codex Leicester (manuscript)
Somewhere, on the edge of reason, we are compelled to wander, for it is only there that the answers hide in shadow
— Letter to her brother (1894)
You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore
— . Faulkner spoke this line in a 1950 speech at Virginia, later cited in interviews and collected writings.
To invent is to see what everyone has seen and to think what no one has thought
— As quoted in Irving Good's 'The Scientist Speculates', 1962
When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky
— As retold in interviews, attributed in "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" introductory materials
Science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think
— The Ascent of Man (1973)
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man
— The Feynman Lectures on Physics
The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine
— Interview, New York World, 1896
Progress in science depends on new techniques, new discoveries and new ideas, probably in that order
— Nobel Prize autobiography, 2002
The smallest particle and the grandest star obey the same logic, but it is in their surprising conversation that new laws are born
— Lecture at Columbia University, 1972
To understand the universe, you must be willing to admit that your perceptions are only one thread in a much larger tapestry waiting to be unraveled
— Interview in Discover Magazine, 1998
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough
— Attributed; various sources, possibly paraphrased from conversations
Wonder is the seed of knowledge
— De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623), Book III
The universe looks less like a big machine than a big thought
— The Mysterious Universe (1930)
The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists
— 'What Is Life?' (1944)
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning
— Physics and Philosophy, 1958
It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame
— Book: The Human Use of Human Beings (1950)
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use
— Letter to Grand Duchess Christina, 1615
Doubt is the key to knowledge
— Principles of Philosophy (1644)
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms
— The Speed of Darkness (1968)
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.
— Speech, 'Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking', 2010
The greatest gift of the human mind is its capacity to connect observations seemingly unrelated
— Essay: The Eureka Phenomenon, 1971
All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have
— Letter to Hans Muehsam, 9 July 1932
The process of discovery is in effect a continual flight from wonder
— The Ascent of Man (1973)
The excitement lies not in mapping out vast territories, but in exploring the tiny corners no one has bothered to look into
— Interview with Discover Magazine, 1990s
The charm of a mystery is almost always greater than the charm of its solution
— Ars Conjectandi (1713)
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd
— Letter to Frederick the Great (1767)
We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances
— Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Book III, Rule I
There are no solved problems; there are only problems that are more or less solved
— Science and Method (1908)
A fact needs imagination to make it useful; the mind must dance with what is measured if it is to understand
— The Ascent of Man, Episode 3
The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees
— Science and the Human Temperament (1935)
There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance
— Precepts, Section 1 (translated from Greek)
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry
— The Character of Physical Law (1965), Chapter 1
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things
— Letter to Dr. Bentley (1692)
We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress
— Lecture, 'The Value of Science', 1955
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
— Letter to Carl Seelig, 1952
The universe is wider than our views of it
— Walden, Chapter 18: Conclusion
Precision is the language with which the cosmos reveals its smallest secrets
— Physics and the Beautiful, Peking University Lecture, 1987
We are like children collecting pebbles on the shore, while the vast ocean of truth stretches unexplored before us
— Reported remark, Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, by Sir David Brewster
No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong
— As quoted in Ronald W. Clark's Einstein: The Life and Times (1971)
It is the weight, not numbers, of experiments that is to be regarded
— Letter to Oldenburg, February 1672
The universe seems comprehensible, but it is even stranger for being so
— As quoted in The Strangest Man by Graham Farmelo (2009)
To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk
— /The Daybooks of Edward Weston, 1923/
What I learn today may contradict what I thought yesterday, and this is the privilege of intellect.
— Speech at Colorado College (1953)
The history of science is the story of refinement—of seeing through coarser lenses and forging sharper ones with every generation
— Lecture at Columbia University, 1956
To understand a system, you must understand its connections, not just its parts
— General System Theory (1968)
The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet
— Anecdotal remark about space exploration challenges, c. 1950s
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be found at the far edges of the known
— Lecture at International Conference on Women in Physics, 2002
Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition
— Quoted in 'Turing: Pioneer of the Information Age' by B. Jack Copeland (2013)
I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking
— As quoted in 'Einstein: His Life and Times' by Philipp Frank
Every generation formulates its own questions to interrogate the universe, and the universe patiently outlasts them all
— A Reason for Hope, 1999
The plural of anecdote is not data
— . Often attributed to Brinner in economic and scientific circles, source circa 1980s.
The most beautiful theory is clouded by the faintest experiment in opposition to it
— Attributed in various sources on Curie's philosophy
The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he is one who asks the right questions
— La Pensée Sauvage (The Savage Mind), 1962
The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you
— Reminiscences, as quoted in Physics and Beyond
Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else
— Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection
— Science and Hypothesis (1902)
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man
— The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 1
Doubt is not to be feared, for all progress grows in the soil of uncertainty
— Remarks at a Copenhagen lecture, 1932
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful
— Science and Method (1908)
Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend
— The Meaning of It All, Lecture 1
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be discovered
— Often attributed to interviews, summing up Sagan's views on curiosity
To understand light, one must probe the darkness with patient questions
— Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Colloquium, 1996
The important point is to be creative, not only in your answers but in your questions.
— Infinite in All Directions (1988)
It is through error that discovery and invention arise
— Notes on Life and Letters, 1921
The essential point in science is not so much the method as the spirit of adventure, of curiosity, of trying to discover the unknown
— As quoted in Madame Curie: A Biography by Eve Curie (1937)
Truth in science can be defined as the working hypothesis best suited to open the way to the next better one
— Behind the Mirror: A Search for a Natural History of Human Knowledge (1973)
The great tragedy of science—the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact
— Biogenesis and Abiogenesis (1870)
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
— Attributed; widespread in interviews and recollections (exact origin uncertain)
The surest way to make discoveries is to look at what everyone else can see, and think what no one else has thought
— Quoted in 'The Scientist Speculates' (1962)
We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe
— Notes on Optics (manuscripts)
The most important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them
— Nature Magazine, 1915
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful
— Science and Method (1908)
It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover
— Science and Method (1908)
Nature answers only the questions we have learned how to ask
— Physics and Philosophy (1958)
The important discoveries are rarely made by accident. But, by following up on accidents, new worlds may open up
— Lecture on penicillin, Nobel Prize address, 1945
Every equation is a doorway; behind each, worlds await that logic alone cannot predict
— Letter to G.H. Hardy, 1913
The less one knows about the universe, the easier it is to explain
— Science and Information Theory (1956)
The scientist does not belong to a nation; he belongs to all of humanity
— Speech at the Sorbonne (7 April 1886)
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science
— The Nature of Science, 1954 speech
The scientist finds his pleasure in understanding, not in controlling, the forces of the world
— Essay for 'Atlantic Monthly', 1869
Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity
— Conversation with Linus Pauling, recounted by Pauling (1966)
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry
— The Character of Physical Law (1965), Lecture 2
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not Eureka! but That's funny
— Essay: The Eureka Phenomenon (1971)
The task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen, but to think what nobody has yet thought about that which everybody sees
— What Is Life? (1944)
All our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have
— Letter to Hans Mühsam, 1951
Every solution breeds new questions; the horizon recedes as we approach
— Quoted in The Physicist's Conception of Nature (1958)
It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge
— Address at the State University of New York (1931)
The great book of nature can be read only by those who have learned its language and characters
— Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
Truth is found in the simplicity of ideas, not their complexity
— Widely attributed to Newton’s reflections on nature and scientific reasoning
Being able to admit when we are wrong is the prelude to every genuine advance; humility and curiosity make honest lab workers of us all
— Letter to Adrienne Weill, 1951
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man
— 'The Feynman Lectures on Physics', Vol. 1
The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible
— Physics and Reality (essay), 1936
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful
— Book: Science and Method (1908)
The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome
— .
The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that the mind of man can ever feel
— An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (1865)
Above all, do not fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.
— Interview, La Stampa, 2005
The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics
— Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
Observation is a passive science, experimentation an active science
— An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, 1865
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition
— The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995)
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 73
The more deeply we probe nature, the more astonishing are the discoveries we make, and the more we realize how much remains unknown
— Interview, Discover Magazine, 1997
We are led by the serendipity of unexpected results to places we never could have imagined
— .
The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s, must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colors or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way
— A Mathematician's Apology (1940)
No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars
— Siderius Nuncius (1610)
If you always assume you are right, you lose the delightful surprise of learning you were wrong
— Advice to Young Scientists (1979)
The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions
— The Savage Mind, 1962
You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself
— . Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
The universe cannot be read until we have learned the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language
— Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
Pasteurization is the triumph of reason over nature
— Attributed during lectures on microbiology and pasteurization (circa 1880s)
Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain’t so easy as some people suppose
— Personal correspondence (Letter to William Dean Howells, 1871)
Truth and clarity are complementary; as the one advances, the other recedes
— Physics and Philosophy (1958)
The great strength of science is not in its certainty, but in its perpetual readiness to be mistaken
— The Ascent of Man (1973), Epilogue
Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand
— Apollo 11 pre-flight press conference, 1969
No one should approach the temple of science with the soul of a money changer
— Religio Medici
There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words
— Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Essay I, Chapter VI
Rivers carve canyons not by force, but by persistence; so too is understanding shaped by countless gentle questions
— Speech at University of Guelph, 2002
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
— Anecdotal, as recounted in various interviews and biographies
We are at our most powerful the moment we realize how small we are before the vastness of the unknown
— Conference speech, Royal Society, 2008
If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment
— As quoted in Rutherford at Manchester (1962) by J.B. Birks
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them
— Attributed, various sources
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination
— attributed; widely cited in interviews and lectures, circa 1929
The scientist is an atom’s way of knowing about atoms
— 1967 Nobel Banquet speech
Science is wonderfully equipped to answer the question 'How?' but it gets terribly confused when you ask the question 'Why?'
— Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature (1978)
The universe is not only lawful, it is also subtly beautiful in its laws
— On Beauty and Theoretical Physics, BBC Interview, 1978
Every new fact opens a fresh chapter in the story of confusion before it becomes a page in the book of knowledge
— Reflecting on her laboratory notes, circa 1910
Theories are nets cast to catch what we call 'the world'—to rationalize, to explain, and to master it. We endeavor to make the mesh ever finer and finer
— The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Preface
Our theories determine what we measure
— Physics and Philosophy (1958)
To understand the physical universe, one must first learn to speak its language, and mathematics is the grammar it obeys
— Speech at the University of Michigan, 1958
Sometimes you have to go out on a limb, because that’s where the fruit is
— Interview with Time Magazine, 2002
For a moment, imagine the universe as a great library, and every question we ask is a key to yet another unread book
— Personal writings, 19th century
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars
— Cosmos (1980), Episode 9 "The Lives of the Stars"
The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship
— Time Enough for Love (1973)
What we believe is more important than what we know, for knowledge can be wrong
— Speech at University of California, San Diego, 1967
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advance
— On Science (various writings and interviews)
No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong
— Attributed, widely cited in scientific literature
It is through geometry that one approaches the divine
— Harmonices Mundi (1619)
We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct
— As quoted by Freeman Dyson, in 'Innovation in Physics', Scientific American, 1958
The more I study science, the more I believe in God
— Reported conversation, as cited in various biographical sources
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life
— Letter to his sister Susan Darwin (1836)
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change
— Notebooks, later summarized in The Origin of Species (1859)
A single equation can contain the poetry of a thousand sunsets
— The Emperor's New Mind (1989)
When the solution is simple, God is answering
— Attributed in conversations and reports, early 20th century
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler
— Lecture attributed to Einstein at the California Institute of Technology, 1933
The great tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact
— Biogenesis and Abiogenesis (1870)
It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring
— The Demon-Haunted World (1995)
Nature’s laws sleep until awakened by the questions of a persistent mind
— Acceptance speech, Comstock Prize, 1959
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar
— The Story of My Life (1903)
The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858)
If I were to awaken after having slept for a thousand years, my first question would be: Has the mystery of gravity been solved?
— As quoted in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 24 (1884)
Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think
— Quoted in 'Potentiality and Actuality' by Karl Popper
The ascent of man is the ascent of consciousness into the hidden layers of reality
— The Ascent of Man, Episode 1
The great tragedy of science—the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact
— Biogenesis and Abiogenesis (1870)
Every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you
— Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself
The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures
— Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
It is in the minute and the immense, in the drop and the star, that we find the same order retold, echoing nature’s unbroken logic
— Lecture, Princeton University (1948)
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science
— The Nature of Science, Harper's Magazine (1937)
One measures a circle, beginning anywhere
— Lectures on Engineering, 1923
I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned
— The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, 1981 interview
The microscope cannot show us what we lack the curiosity to seek
— Symposium on Astronomy, 1989
A true laboratory is not one that is merely decked with apparatus but one in which the investigator thoughtfully contemplates the work at hand
— Address at the opening of the Physics Laboratory, University of Mysore, 1933
The universe looks less like a big machine than a big thought
— The Mysterious Universe (1930)
It is the tension between accessibility and mystery that propels inquiry onward, for a half-glimpsed truth is more tantalizing than a finished answer
— The Ascent of Man (book, Epilogue)
To confine our attention to the terrestrial sphere would surely limit the mind
— Interview in Discover Magazine (2000)
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science
— On Science, published in 'The Ultimate Quotable Einstein' (2010)
The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent
— Pale Blue Dot (1994)
The universe is full of secrets patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper
— Attributed to Russell in various anthologies; original publication uncertain
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
— Quoted in Life magazine, 1929
An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature’s answer
— Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (1949)
Every great scientific truth goes through three stages: first, people say it conflicts with the Bible; next, they say it has been discovered before; lastly, they say they always believed it
— Attributed in various lectures and writings (19th century)
The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine
— Possible Worlds and Other Essays (1927)
The most solid stone in the structure of science is the experimental fact
— Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (1949)
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advance
— Address to the Physical Society, Berlin, 1919
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact
— Life on the Mississippi
To ask the right question is already half the solution to a problem
— Modern Man in Search of a Soul (1933)
What we observe is not nature itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning
— Physics and Philosophy (1958)
There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement
— Speech to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1900
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas
— In a 1935 letter to J. H. M. Wedderburn
Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones; but a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house
— Science and Method (1908)
There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths
— Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (1979)
Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins, and who can say which has the wider vision
— Les Misérables, Vol. 5, Book I, Ch. 5 (1862)
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
— ,
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled
— Appendix F, Rogers Commission Report (on the Challenger disaster), 1986
The deepest joy of discovery lies not in what the world reveals to us, but in how it transforms the mind that seeks
— Personal journals, 19th century
The scientist's greatest virtue is the willingness to abandon even the most cherished hypothesis when it no longer fits the facts
— Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (book), 1998
It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover
— Science and Method (1908)
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper
— Book: A Shadow Passes (1919)
The value of a scientific theory is measured not only by the answers it provides but by the questions it leaves us to ponder
— Nature and the Greeks (book)
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought
— Lecture at the University of Szeged, 1937
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk
— . Possibly apocryphal, reflecting his attitude toward practical innovation.
There is no logical path to these laws; only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them
— Physics and Reality (1936), Journal of the Franklin Institute
The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it
— Twitter post (4 March 2011)
Theories crumble, but good observations never fade
— Science and the University (1950)
What we know is a drop, what we do not know is an ocean
— Attributed; reported by Joseph Spence, Anecdotes (1754)
In questions of science, the smallest experiment is worth more than the greatest theory
— Lecture at the Royal Institution, 1854
The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination – but the combination is locked up in the safe
— Let Me Count the Ways (1965)
Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts
— Feynman’s speech, National Science Teachers Association, 1966
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool
— Commencement address, California Institute of Technology (1974)
Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them
— Quoted in Philosopher-Scientist by Philipp Frank
Somewhere, on the edge of perception, nature whispers riddles answered only by patience
— Lecture notes, Vassar College (c. 1870s)
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual
— Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
Every living thing is a masterpiece, written by nature’s own hand, and every page we turn in the book of life reveals more than we expect
— Speech at Scripps College, 1962
Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth
— Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864 (character Professor Lidenbrock)
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them
— Attributed to Galileo in various historical works
Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion
— Electromagnetic Theory, Vol. 1 (1893)
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful
— Science and Method (1908)
To understand is to perceive patterns
— The Hedgehog and the Fox (1953)
The best scientist is not he who knows the most facts, but he who sees the greatest mystery in what he observes
— From Planck’s autobiography, Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers (1949)
There is no law except the law that there is no law
— Quoted in Timothy Ferris, The Whole Shebang (1997)
Every answer opens up a dozen new questions—the horizon recedes as our curiosity advances
— Interview with BBC Radio 4, 2013
The universe is not indifferent to our efforts—it rewards precision and punishes negligence
— Lecture to Physics Society, Berlin, 1942
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future
— Attributed (various sources)
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance
— On Science (Essay)
In every great discovery, truth is grasped less by the power of deduction than by a leap in the imagination
— Man on His Nature (1940)
The universe is not populated by mere things, but by processes, symphonies of change playing out on a cosmic stage
— Order Out of Chaos (book)
Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater
— Letter to Barbara Wilson, 1943
Discovery arises from looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different
— Lecture at the University of Szeged
If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.
— Attributed in various biographical sources
The essence of science is independent thinking, hard work, and not equipment
— Interview, BBC Horizon: 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out' (1981)
Between calculated facts and wild guesses, the adventure of discovery leaps from hunch to proof across the chasm of uncertainty
— Acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1963
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life
— General Discussion of the Power of Judgment (Critique of Pure Reason, 1781)
The universe is built on a plan the profound symmetry of which is somehow present in the inner structure of our intellect
— Scientist Speculates, 1962
Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition
— The Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chapter I, Part iii
The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking
— Ideas and Opinions (book)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored
— Proper Studies (1927)
The universe is a grand book which cannot be read until one first learns to comprehend the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written; it is written in the language of mathematics
— Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), 1623
Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think
— Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations (1971)
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things
— Correspondence with Robert Hooke, 1676
What I cannot create, I do not understand
— Written on Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death
To understand the universe, you must first embrace the audacity to question everything, especially your own assumptions
— Interview, late 1980s
The great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me
— Reportedly said late in life and recorded by Joseph Spence in 'Anecdotes,' 1754
Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof
— Lecture, 1984, as quoted in The Quantum and the Lotus by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science
— The Realm of the Nebulae, 1936
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance—it is the illusion of knowledge
— The Discoverers