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Science

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“We had principles in mathematics that were granted to be absolute in mathematics for over 800 years, but new science has gotten rid of those absolutism, gotten — forward other different logics of looking at mathematics, and sort of turned the way we look at it as a science altogether after 800 years.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born 1956) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Columbia University speech, 24 September 2007
“[I]t is necessary to insist upon this extraordinary but undeniable fact: experimental science has progressed thanks in great part to the work of men astoundingly mediocre, and even less than mediocre. That is to say, modern science, the root and symbol of our actual civilization, finds a place for the intellectually commonplace man and allows him to work therein with success.”
José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955) said by 1955 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All good science is art. And all good art is science.”
John Fowles (1926–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Magic, as far as Faustaff knew, rejected reason. Religion accepted it, of course, but hardly encouraged it. Only science accepted it and encouraged it. Faustaff suddenly saw mankind’s social and psychological evolution in a clear, simple light. Science alone accepted man as he was and sought to exploit his full potential.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To those who think that all this sounds like science fiction, we point out that yesterday's science fiction is today's fact. The Industrial Revolution has radically altered man's environment and way of life, and it is only to be expected that as technology is increasingly applied to the human body and mind, man himself will be altered as radically as his environment and way of life have been.”
Theodore Kaczynski (1942–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Much of good science — and perhaps all of great science — has its roots in fantasy.”
E. O. Wilson (1929–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mystics understand the roots of the Tao but not its branches; scientists understand its branches but not its roots. Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science; but man needs both.”
Fritjof Capra (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think the opportunity to deal with students and getting them properly oriented on science and theology and the relation between those is going to be important because science has been such an instrument used by the materialists to undermine the Christian faith and religious belief generally.”
William A. Dembski (born 1960) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: {{citation |title=Dembski to head seminary's new science & theology center |date=2004-09-16 |journal=Baptist Press |first=Jeff
“We expect to learn new tricks because one of our science based abilities is being able to predict. That after all is what science is about. Learning enough about how a thing works so you'll know what comes next. Because as we all know everything obeys the universal laws, all you need is to understand the laws.”
James Burke (science historian) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is said that science fiction and fantasy are two different things. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, and fantasy is the impossible made probable.”
Rod Serling (1924–1975) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Twilight Zone, "The Fugitive" (1962).
“Golden cities. Golden towns And long cars, in long lines and great big signs And they all say: Hallelujah. Yodellayheehoo Every man for himself. Ooo coo coo Golden cities. Golden towns. Thanks for the ride Big Science. Hallelujah. Big Science. Yodellayheehoo”
Laurie Anderson (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What they [critics of Lessing's switch to science fiction] didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”
Doris Lessing (1919–2013) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Boston Book Review interview by Harvey Blume (February 1998)
“But that science moves inexorably closer to finding objective truth can only be denied by peculiar philosophers, naive literary critics, and misguided social scientists. The fantastic success of science in explaining and predicting, above all in making incredible advances in technology, is proof that scientists are steadily learning more and more about how the universe behaves.”
Martin Gardner (1914–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was mathematics, the non-empirical science par excellence, wherein the mind appears to play only with itself, that turned out to be the science of sciences, delivering the key to those laws of nature and the universe that are concealed by appearances.”
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Spirituality leaps where science cannot yet follow, because science must always test and measure, and much of reality and human experience is immeasurable.”
Starhawk (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If Jesus does come down out of the clouds like a superhero, Christianity will stand revealed as a science. That will be the science of Christianity.”
Sam Harris (born 1967) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sam Harris, “Religion, Terror, and Self-Transcendence.” The Ethical Culture Society and the Center for Inquiry, New York, NY, November 16, 2005 (broadcast on CSPAN-2)
“Science is a way of describing reality; it is therefore limited by the limits of observation; and it asserts nothing which is outside observation. Anything else is not science; it is scholastics.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science as we know it is indeed a creation of the last three hundred years. It has been made in and by the world that took its settled shape about 1660, when Europe at last shook off the long nightmare of religious wars and settled into a life of inquisitive trade and industry. Science is embodied in those new societies; it has been made by them and has helped to make them.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mastery and the greatness of science rests in the end on this, that here the rational and the empirical are knotted together. Science is fact and thought giving strength to one another.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science is a great many things, and I have called them a great many names; but in the end they all return to this: science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The discoveries of science, the works of art are explorations — more, are explosions, of a hidden likeness. The discoverer or the artist presents in them two aspects of nature and fuses them into one. This is the act of creation, in which an original thought is born, and it is the same act in original science and original art.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A fact is discovered, a theory is invented; is any theory ever deep enough for it to be truly called a creation? Most scientists would answer: no! Science, they would say, engages only part of the mind - the rational intellect - but creation must engage the whole mind. Science demands none of that ground swell of emotion, none of the rich bottom of personality, which fills out the work of art...”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ability... to experiment with imaginary situations, gives man a freedom... the pleasure in trying out and exploring imaginary situations. A child's play is concerned with this pleasure; and so is much of art, and much of science... [P]ure science... is a form of play, in this sense.”
Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) said by 1974 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no national science, just as there is no national multiplication table; what is national is no longer science.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science affirms that ..." Science is voiceless; it is the scientists who talk.”
Simone Weil (1909–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Facts are the materials of science, but all Facts involve Ideas. Since, in observing Facts, we cannot exclude Ideas, we must, for the purposes of science, take care that the Ideas are clear and rigorously applied.”
William Whewell (1794–1866) said by 1866 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The science you enjoy now is the science we taught you. The medicine you treat yourselves with is the medicine we gave you. It’s the same with the astronomy you know, the mathematics, the literature, the art...”
Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Oriana Fallaci (2 December 1979), Corriere della Sera
“True science discovers God in an ever-increasing degree — as though God were waiting behind every door opened by science.”
Pope Pius XII (1876–1958) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 22 November 1951
“A contemporary poet has characterized this sense of the personality of art and of the impersonality of science in these words,—"Art is myself, science is ourselves.”
Claude Bernard (1813–1878) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bernard's aphorism (alternate translation: "Art is I, science is we") is actually a creative paraphrase of a longish passage in Victor Hugo's William Shakespeare (1864), Book III, Ch. IV. See in the English translation …
“A modern poet has characterized the personality of art and the impersonality of science as follows: Art is I: Science is We.”
Claude Bernard (1813–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The rise of experimental science has not made the Great Conversation irrelevant. ... Science itself is part of the Great Conversation.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes you see boys and girls, you see we came from a dot and that dot came from nothing. Now they call that Science and put it in a Science book? I’d call that a fairy tale and put it in the garbage.”
Kent Hovind (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One does not have to be an honours grad in political science from Harvard University to recognise the unethical and inhumane nature of this administration but well, I happen to be an honours grad in political science from Harvard University, so I can confirm that for you”
Tom Morello (born 1964) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conservatives roasted for discovering Rage Against the Machine is political, dailydot, 2020
“Today, with confidence in science & at the direction of the Office of the Attending Physician, I received the COVID-19 vaccine. As the vaccine is being distributed, we must all continue mask wearing, social distancing & other science-based steps to save lives & crush the virus.”
Nancy Pelosi (born 1940) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: via twitter (December 18, 2020)
“In the prayer of faith there is a divine science; it is a science that everyone who would make his lifework a success must understand.”
Ellen G. White (1827–1915) first seen 1903 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Education (1903), Ch. 30, Faith and Prayer, p. 257
“No science of any kind can be divorced from ethical considerations... Science is a human learning process which arises in certain subcultures in human society and not in others, and a subculture as we seen is a group of people defined by acceptance of certain common values, that is, an ethic which permits extensive communication between them.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 2 cited in: John B. Davis (2011) Kenneth Boulding as a Moral Scientist Working paper
“Magic, or rather magical power, comprehends two things, a science and a force: without the force the science is nothing, or rather it is a danger.”
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We need no science of formulae, but a science of forms.”
Viktor Schauberger (1885–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Engineering does not require science. Science helps a lot but people built perfectly good brick walls long before they knew why cement works.”
Alan Cox (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To have success in science, you need some luck. But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck. And it's not enough to be smart — lots of people are very bright and get nowhere in life. In my view, you have to combine intelligence with a willingness not to follow conventions when they block your path forward.”
James D. Watson (1928–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Religion asks questions about morals, whereas science just asks questions about the natural world. But when people try to use religion to address the natural world, science pushes back on it, and religion has to accommodate the results. Beliefs can be permanent, but beliefs can also be flexible. Personally, if I find out my belief is wrong, I change my mind. I think that's a good way to live.”
Lisa Randall (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made the rules of our moral conduct a matter of science. For one man of science, there are thousands who are not. What would have become of them? Man was destined for society. His morality, therefore, was to be formed to this object. He was endowed with a sense of right and wrong, merely relative to this.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) said by 1826 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If science were communism, was it also not possible that communism could itself become a science?”
John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Bernal in Gary Werskey, The Visible College (1978), p. 137
“It would be as one-sided to assess the effects of science on society as of society on science.”
John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The theme which constantly recurs is the complex interaction between techniques, science, and philosophy. Science stands as a middle term between the established and transmitted practice of men who work for a living, and the pattern of ideas and traditions which assure the continuity of society and the rights and privileges of the classes that make it up.”
John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The belief that established science and scholarship-which have so relentlessly excluded women from their making-are "objective" and "value-free" and that feminist studies are "unscholarly," "biased," and "ideological" dies hard. Yet the fact is that all science, and all scholarship, and all art are ideological; there is no neutrality in culture.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Understanding is, after all, what science is all about — and science is a great deal more than mindless computation.”
Roger Penrose (born 1931) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Golden Ratio : The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number (2002) by Mario Livio, p. 201.
“In every science, after having analysed the ideas, expressing the more complicated by means of the more simple, one finds a certain number that cannot be reduced among them, and that one can define no further. These are the primitive ideas of the science; it is necessary to acquire them through experience, or through induction; it is impossible to explain them by deduction.”
Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932) first seen 1894 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Notations de Logique Mathématique (1894), p. 173, as quoted in "The Mathematical Philosophy of Giuseppe Peano" by Hubert C. Kennedy, in Philosophy of Science Vol. 30, No. 3 (July 1963)
“The science of sanitation, the use of water, and the growing knowledge of hydrotherapy...The science of prevention... certain modes of procedure... whereby forces are correctly used, and certain destructive agencies are controlled and prevented from going the destructive way.”
Alice Bailey (1880–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The science of inoculation is purely physical in origin, and concerns only the animal body. This latter science will shortly be superseded by a higher technique, but the time is not yet. p. 322/4”
Alice Bailey (1880–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source