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Science

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“Science can function only by abstracting from the reality in which the scientist has his being. In spite of the astonishing complications it discovers, with which it dazzles and almost blinds us, science is compelled by its own terms of reference to be a drastic simplification.”
J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't have to be a scientist – you don't have to play the Bunsen burner – in order to understand enough science to overtake your imagined need and fill that fancied gap. Science needs to be released from the lab into the culture.”
Richard Dawkins (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science and the arts shared the same language at the Restoration. They no longer seem to do so today. But the reason is that they share the same silence: they lack the same language. And it is the business of each of us to make that one universal language which alone can unite art and science, and layman and scientist, in a common understanding.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bigotry and science can have no communication with each other, for science begins where bigotry and absolute certainty end. The scientist believes in proof without certainty, the bigot in certainty without proof. Let us never forget that tyranny most often springs from a fanatical faith in the absoluteness of one’s beliefs.”
Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no indication of success up to now in the bringing together of art and science. To achieve success the artist must be spiritually at home in the field of science so he can think and feel in the same way as the scientist. A spiritual union, not a technical one, is requested.”
Naum Gabo (1890–1977) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote of Naum Gabo (1969), in Studio international. Vol.178. p. 64
“What is the aim of science?” “What?” “Man’s happiness. If science doesn’t make men happier, what good is it? Knowledge is power, a weapon, and if the scientist doesn’t care where it’s aimed, what makes him different from a mercenary soldier?”
Dmitri Bilenkin (1933–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Pure science is no more and no less than the logical process of deduction and experimentation upon observable events. It has no good or bad about it, merely right or wrong in a strictly mathematical definition. What people do with that science is cause for ethical debate, but it is not for the true scientist to concern themselves with that. Leave it to the politicians and philosophers.”
Catherine Webb (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The natural scientist will always exhibit a tendency to delimit his science as sharply and as narrowly as possible, to make it completely methodical, to systematize it. Natural science thus limits itself to what can be proved mathematically, or to that to which the law of causality applies, or to the purely functional.”
Friedrich Georg Jünger (1898–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I learnt a lot from being in the fields. You have to learn about the birds. You have to learn the sounds. That is science, you know. You had to learn in the field what kind of plants are edible, and so science started there in my view. I think that is when a scientist was born.”
Tebello Nyokong (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“# Another trait of science that leads to much hostility or misunderstanding by the non-scientist is the fact that science is practiced by a small elite... (which) has cultural patterns discernibly different from those of the rest of society...”
Walter Orr Roberts (1915–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a scientist with a strong academic profile, working at the science-policy-practice interface. With three decades of leading on-the-ground policy and practice, I bring a practical approach to the science: always asking what can be most useful to the decision makers who must make evidence-led judgments on which strategies to implement.”
Debra Roberts (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a world in which you can be a scientist. But you must believe in yourself. Science requires dedication, hard work, and confidence. You can’t do it alone—find mentors, seek guidance, and surround yourself with people who will help you succeed. And remember, science is global. Don’t limit yourself to the opportunities in front of you. Get a passport. Explore the world.”
Dorothy J. Phillips (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Much in the study of the paranormal was what we would now call pseudo-science. But the line between science and pseudo-science is smudged and shifting; where it lies seems clear only in retrospect. There is no pristine science untouched by the vagaries of faith.”
John Gray (philosopher) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although scientists come in all faiths, including no faith at all, there is no Hindu science, no Muslim science, and no Jewish science. There is only science, combining brainpower from the whole world to produce one accepted body of knowledge. In contrast, there are thousands of religions, most differing profoundly in what they see as “true.”
Jerry Coyne (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For many people, the shoddily thought out doctrines of borderline science are the closest approximation to comprehensible science readily available. The popularity of borderline science is a rebuke to the schools, the press and commercial television for their sparse, unimaginative and ineffective efforts at science education; and to us scientists, for doing so little to popularize our subject.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Finally, integral spirituality—as the very name "integral" implies—transcends and includes science, it does not exclude, repress, or deny science. To say that the spiritual currents of the cosmos cannot be captured by empirical science is not to say that they deny science, only that they show their face to other methods of seeking knowledge, of which the world has an abundance.”
Ken Wilber (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When a politician, on a subject implicating science — hard science, economic science, social science — says, ‘The debate is over,’ you may be sure of two things. It’s that the debate is raging and he’s losing it.”
George Will (born 1941) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Discussion, Fox News Sunday, February 16, 2014
“Debunking bad science should be constant obligation of the science community, even if it takes time away from serious research or seems to be a losing battle. One takes comfort from the fact there is no Gresham's laws in science. In the long run, good science drives out bad.”
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Night Is Large (1996), Introduction to Part III, Pseudoscience p. 171
“Science is feasible when the variables are few and can be enumerated; when their combinations are distinct and clear. We are tending toward the condition of science and aspiring to do it. The artist works out his own formulas; the interest of science lies in the art of making science.”
Paul Valéry (1871–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Anything which uses science as part of its name isn't: political science, creation science, computer science.”
Hal Abelson (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have a feeling that if the women of India take to science and interest themselves in the progress and advance of science as well, they will achieve what even men have failed to do. Women have one quality--the quality of devotion. It is one of the most important passports to success in science. Let us therefore not imagine that intellect is a sole prerogative of males only in science.”
C. V. Raman (1888–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let men of science keep the method of science within the limits of science; let their readers, at all events, beware to do so. Within these limits there is complete compatibility of science with religion, and forever will be.”
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no science fiction without science, just as there is no science without science fiction.”
Carlo Rubbia (born 1934) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul.”
Amit Ray (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Learning science means learning to talk science... Talking science means observing, describing, comparing, classifying, analysing, discussing, hypothesizing, theorizing, questioning, challenging, arguing, designing experiments, following procedures, judging, evaluating, deciding, concluding, generalizing, reporting ... in and through the language of science.”
Jay Lemke (born 1946) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 1; as cited in: Bernard Laplante, "Teaching science to language minority students in elementary classrooms." NYSABE Journal 12 (1997): 62-83.
“Politics is not a science of the past; politics is the science of the future. You must use the past as a lever with which to manufacture the future. Politics is not a science, it is not a profession which consists in standing still; it is in this country essentially a science and a profession of progress.”
Lord Randolph Churchill (1849–1895) first seen 1886 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Dartford (2 October 1886), quoted in The Times (4 October 1886), p. 10
“Psychoanalysis is not science. But very few things are science. Nor is Kant's ethics a science, but it is a high-level reflection about the human being in his relation with the world, as is Freud's reflection. What seems curious is the scarce insistence about the fact that Kantian ethics is not science, while everyone seems so preoccupied with stressing the non-scientificity of psychoanalysis.”
Julio Cabrera (born 1944) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Margens das filosofias da linguagem, Editora da UnB, Brasília, 2009 (1st reprint), p. 224
“Science follows evidence; political science follows opinion; religious science follows myth and is therefore no science at all.”
Robert S. McElvaine (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science-writing is a very old-profession. Science probably separated from witchcraft when science-writing began. Just so long as information was passed along by word of mouth only, it was always susceptible to control by a few for their own benefit and to mystify the many. When it began to be written about, science came up out of the atmosphere of the cauldron and the alembic.”
Lewis Strauss (1896–1974) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks Prepared by Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman, United States Atomic Energy Commission, For Delivery At The Founders' Day Dinner, National Association of Science Writers, on Thursday, September 16, 1954
“What may begin as an honest error...has a way of evolving through almost imperceptible steps from self-delusion to fraud. The line between foolishness and fraud is thin. Because it is not always easy to tell when that line is crossed, I use the term voodoo science to cover them all: pathological science, junk science, pseudoscience and fraudulent science.”
Robert L. Park (1931–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With respect to science, the assumption behind consensus is that science is a source of authority and that authority increases with the number of scientists. Of course, science is not primarily a source of authority. Rather, it is a particularly effective approach to inquiry and analysis. Skepticism is essential to science; consensus is foreign.”
Richard Lindzen (born 1940) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Climate Alarm: Where Does it Come From?", Marshall Institute (December 1, 2004)
“Normal science" means research firmly based upon one or more past scientific achievements, achievements that some particular scientific community acknowledges for a time as supplying the foundation for its further practice.”
Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My Harvard classmate, Thomas S. Kuhn wrote, some years ago, an influential book about scientific revolutions. Fortunately, many scientific revolutions do not follow his scenario, but the one he focused on, the discovery of quantum mechanics, is well described by his model, which is most valid for a revolution occurring in the central core of a mature science.”
Philip Warren Anderson (1923–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Marxism disguises itself as science and owing to this it is easier for Marxism to portray the existing society as acting on the basis of scientific laws of his history, to portray the leadership’s selfishness and idiocy as ingenious scientific foresight etc.”
Alexander Zinoviev (1922–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The outlook before the Scientific Revolution was content with scholastic logic applied to a nature of hierarchies. The Scientific Revolution ended that: it linked the rational and the empirical, thought and fact, theory and practical experiment. And this has remained the content of science ever since.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Although many historians of the new millennium now take issue with the notion of a Scientific Revolution, it is generally agreed that Newton's work culminated the long development of European science, creating a synthesis that opened the way for the scientific culture of the modern age.”
John Freely (1926–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientific pictures are often not just about science. They may... have an undeniable aesthetic quality. They may even have been primarily works of art that possess a scientific message.”
John D. Barrow (1952–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is important to distinguish between the scientific concept of law as a generalization, and the social concept of law which is prescriptive and normative. A desire for tolerance in respecting the laws of different social systems must not lead us into the mistake of attributing volition to the entities of science or relativism to scientific laws.”
Mordechai Ben-Ari (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The promise approach to achieve gender balance in sciences is to show young people the full range of scientific professions while they’re still at school. Fostering and supporting girls to consider scientific careers may help them to choose to study science disciplines.”
Farida Fassi wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I teach undergrad and grad mathematics courses, I do scientific research, I supervise grad students’ research, and I have some administrative duties in my department and university and within the larger scientific community. I am an applied mathematician, so my research involves using mathematical and computational methods to solve problems in science.”
Lucy Campbell (mathematician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I dislike hearing people talk about the scientific method. Science is simply the art of understanding nature, including man, of course, using all rational methods. There are a thousand scientific methods, and their only common thread is that they are all rational.”
Laurence McKinley Gould (1896–1995) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Science in Our Seamless Web", MIT Technology Review (January 1975) p. 9. Quoted in Alvin Silverstein, Conquest of Death: The Prospects for Emortality in Our Time (1979) ch. 4, p. 31
“Our country has two major problems. The first is an anti-scientific mindset, which ranges from vaccine refusal to support for the Stamina method, opposition to GMOs and animal testing. And this is due to the fact that schools ignore science as a cultural component; in other words, they do not teach the scientific method.”
Silvio Garattini (born 1928) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Listening to a cultivated person of today who jokes and almost boasts of his scientific ignorance is as sad as listening to a scientist who boasts of not having read any poem.”
Carlo Rovelli (born 1956) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Il Sole 24 Ore cultural supplement, October 17, 2010.
“The question of the origin of the universe is one of the most exciting topics for a scientist to deal with. It reaches far beyond its purely scientific significance, since it is related to human existence, to mythology, and to religion. Furthermore, it deals with questions are connected with the fundamental structure of matter, with elementrary particles.”
Victor Frederick Weisskopf (1908–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Our goal was to] translate aspects of culture never successfully recorded by the scientist, although often caught by the artist, into some form of communication sufficiently clear and sufficiently unequivocal to satisfy the requirements of scientific enquiry.”
Margaret Mead (1901–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our single greatest defense against scientific ignorance is education, and early in the life of every scientist, the child's first interest was sparked by a teacher.”
Peter Agre (born 1949) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Peter Agre's speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 2003
“The experience or the vision is the artist’s counterpart to the scientific discovery of a principle or law. What the scientist does when he discovers a new law is to give a new ordering to observed facts. The artist is engaged in a similar task. He gives new meaning to our experience and organizes it in a different way due to his perception of subtler qualities in reality.”
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Find out what really fascinates you and follow that. Almost anything in nature, if you follow it, you will find a scientific problem. That is a better way to do it than following fads, because what is fashionable today may have been solved or fallen out of fashion once you have become a working scientist.”
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We hunger for a wholeness and express it on every hand. The scientist longs for a "field theory" to unify the fragments of his thought. Ultimate prediction and control are his dream. The theological equivalent expressed long ago as monotheism. The scientific form expresses as an insatiable appetite, an intellectual concupiscence desiring more than the very stars could ever assuage.”
Joseph Chilton Pearce (1926–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a scientist and educator first. I strive to promote rational, skeptical, evidence-based thought and to improve scientific literacy with every word I write and every conversation I have.”
Cara Santa Maria (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source