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Science

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“That’s all there is, really, to the scientific method: to be able to distinguish fact from non-facts.”
Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Guest of Honor Speech at the Third World Science Fiction Convention—Denver, 1941 (p. 160)
“Scientific and humanist revolutionary leaders, on the other hand, cannot believe in the myth of the ignorance of the people.”
Paulo Freire (1921–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What India has been, the whole world is now. The whole world is becoming one country through scientific facility. And the moment is arriving when you also must find a basis of unity which is not political. If India can offer to the world her solution, it will be a contribution to humanity. There is only one history — the history of Man. All national histories are merely chapters in the larger one.”
Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nationalism in the West", 1917. Reprinted in Rabindranath Tagore and Mohit K. Ray, Essays (2007, p. 492).
“Guessing right for the wrong reason does not merit scientific immortality.”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[M]isunderstanding of probability may be the greatest of all general impediments to scientific literacy.”
Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no form of prose more difficult to understand and more tedious to read than the average scientific paper.”
Francis Crick (1916–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A major breakthrough of the Scientific Revolution - perhaps its biggest breakthrough - was to refute the intuition that the universe is saturated with purpose. In this primitive but ubiquitous understanding, everything happens for a reason, so when bad things happen - accidents, disease, famine, poverty - some agent must have wanted them to happen.”
Steven Pinker (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the first the progress of man has been slowly but surely from the artificial to the natural, from the arbitrary and chimerical to the simple and scientific. Getting himself and his affairs more and more into natural currents and following them, this is the way man has progressed.”
John Burroughs (1837–1921) said by 1921 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Greeks invented both their artistic and scientific novelties after the interiorization of the alphabet. (p. 66)”
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Newton, and 'proper scientific method' after him, conducted attention to 'continuous description' of experimental phenomena instead of to causes.”
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The scientific approach to life is not necessarily appropriate to states of visceral anguish.”
Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The reason why all of us naturally began to live in France is because France has scientific methods, machines and electricity, but does not really believe that these things have anything to do with the real business of living.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is funny that men who are supposed to be scientific cannot get themselves to realize the basic principle of physics, that action and reaction are equal and opposite, that when you persecute people you always rouse them to be strong and stronger.”
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The prophetic mission created a scientific-gnostic change in the world that converted the insipid Greek philosophies, which were formulated with all their past and present worth by the Greeks themselves into an objective mysticism and a veritable intuitive perception for masters of divine insight.”
Ruhollah Khomeini (1900–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The method of scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our Knowledge of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature" (1863)
“The absolute justice of the system of things is as clear to me as any scientific fact. The gravitation of sin to sorrow is as certain as that of the earth to the sun, and more so–for experimental proof of the fact is within reach of us all–nay, is before us all in our own lives, if we had but the eyes to see it.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is but one hypothesis regarding the origin of species of animals in general which has any scientific existence—that propounded by Mr. Darwin.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientific men get an awkward habit — no, I won't call it that, for it is a valuable habit — of believing nothing unless there is evidence for it; and they have a way of looking upon belief which is not based upon evidence, not only as illogical, but as immoral.”
Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Thomas Henry Huxley. "Lectures on Evolution Title: This is Essay# 3 from" Science and Hebrew Tradition." (1882); as cited in: William Trufant Foster, (1908) Argumentation and debating, p. 55
“It would be impossible, it would be against the scientific spirit. … Physicists should always publish their researches completely. If our discovery has a commercial future that is a circumstance from which we should not profit. If radium is to be used in the treatment of disease, it is impossible for us to take advantage of that.”
Marie Curie (1867–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Today in science history(September 19, 2026)
“Sometimes my courage fails me and I think I ought to stop working, live in the country and devote myself to gardening. But I am held by a thousand bonds, and I don't know when I shall be able to arrange things otherwise. Nor do I know whether, even by writing scientific books, I could live without the laboratory.”
Marie Curie (1867–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Today in science history(September 19, 2026)
“It is generally supposed that complete pleasure of this kind, permeating one's very flesh and bones, unfits the student for scientific pursuits in which cool judgment and observation are required. But the effect is just the opposite. Instead of producing a dissipated condition, the mind is fertilized and stimulated and developed like sun-fed plants.”
John Muir (1838–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabulary. Each day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them.”
Christopher Reeve (1952–2004) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Testimony to a U.S House of Representatives subcommittee, on NIH funding for the year 2000 (14 April 1999)
“On the economic side I cannot perceive that Russian Communism has made any contribution to our economic problems of intellectual interest or scientific value. I do not think that it contains, or is likely to contain, any piece of useful economic technique which we could not apply, if we chose, with equal or greater success in a society which retained all the marks... of British bourgeois ideals.”
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What is called "objectivity," scientific for instance (in which I firmly believe, in a given situation) imposes itself only within a context which is extremely vast, old, firmly established, or rooted in a network of conventions … and yet which still remains a context.”
Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Limited Inc (1977)
“What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of "true scientific discourse." It isn't.”
Jimmy Wales (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At root what is needed for scientific inquiry is just receptivity to data, skill in reasoning, and yearning for truth. Admittedly, ingenuity can help too.”
Willard van Orman Quine (1908–2000) said by 2000 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No, I cannot believe in the light of this speech that the reward of Lysenko's triumphant career is the advance of scientific knowledge; nor that it is the prosperity of poor peasants. The reward he is so eagerly grasping is Power, power for himself, power to threaten, power to torture, power to kill.”
Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What sort of man is Lysenko?", Listener, 40: 874-875 (1948)
“Available scientific knowledge provides a firm basis for believing that the groups of mankind differ in their innate capacity for intellectual and emotional development.”
Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: UNESCO, The Race Concept, p. 56, 1952.
“Well, I think that you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective. Answering that question with specificity is above my pay grade. But let me just speak more generally about the issue of abortion, because this is something that obviously the country wrestles with.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Answer to the question: "At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?" at the Saddleback Civil Forum with Pastor Rich Warren, (18 August 2008)
“I think it is not irreligion but a tidiness of mind, which rebels against the idea of permeating scientific research with a religious implication.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The scientific answer is relevant so far as concerns the sense-impressions … For the rest the human spirit must turn to the unseen world to which it itself belongs.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Consciousness is not wholly, nor even primarily a device for receiving sense-impressions. … there is another outlook than the scientific one, because in practice a more transcendental outlook is almost universally admitted. … who does not prize these moments that reveal to us the poetry of existence?”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Materialism in its literal sense is long since dead. … It is … belief in the universal dominance of scientific law which is nowadays generally meant by materialism.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If God is as real as the shadow of the Great War on Armistice Day, need we seek further reason for making a place for God in our thoughts and lives? We shall not be concerned if the scientific explorer reports that he is perfectly satisfied that he has got to the bottom of things without having come across either.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If in a community of the blind one man suddenly received the gift of sight, he would have much to tell which would not be at all scientific.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We have to build the spiritual world out of symbols taken from our own personality, as we build the scientific world out of the symbols of the mathematician.”
Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He thus gave to the rich a kind of scientific argument against the ideas of equality; and we know that all dominion is based upon force, force itself begins to totter as soon as is no longer supported by a firm belief in its own rightfulness.”
Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) said by 1921 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In short, we may say that the theory of Malthus, by shaping into a pseudo-scientific form the secret desires of the wealth-possessing classes, became the foundation of a whole system of practical philosophy, which permeates the minds of both the educated and uneducated, and reacts, (as practical philosophy always does) upon the theoretical philosophy of our century.”
Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) said by 1921 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe Freud was talking about something real, though perhaps his ideas, taken literally, lead to absurdity – for his genius was poetic rather than scientific; his ideas are more valuable as metaphors than as literal truths.”
Shulamith Firestone (1945–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All that progressives ask or desire is permission — in an era when "development," "evolution," is the scientific word — to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle; all they ask is recognition of the fact that a nation is a living thing and not a machine.”
Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientific and technological knowledge like all other forms of knowledge, we believe, increases as you share it with others.”
Mahathir Mohamad (born 1925) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The scientific knowledge and technology of the West cannot be simply imported into the country. It must be properly adjusted and adapted in order to fit into the special needs and requirements of the nation.”
Mahathir Mohamad (born 1925) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientific knowledge should be used not merely for material development, but also for the enhancement of the quality of life, and the achievement of peace and harmony.”
Mahathir Mohamad (born 1925) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Technological imbalance among nations, in particular between the developed and the developing countries is growing at an even greater pace with the rapid scientific and technological progress of the developed nations. This phenomenon is placing a greater strain on the already inequitable situation existing in the world economic and financial systems.”
Mahathir Mohamad (born 1925) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The construction of hypotheses is a creative act of inspiration, intuition, invention; its essence is the vision of something new in familiar material. The process must be discussed in psychological, not logical, categories; studied in autobiographies and biographies, not treatises on scientific method; and promoted by maxim and example, not syllogism or theorem.”
Milton Friedman (1912–2006) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Methodology of Positive Economics" (1953)
“Reason is a faculty far larger than mere objective force. When either the political or the scientific discourse announces itself as the voice of reason, it is playing God, and should be spanked and stood in the corner.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is... astonishing how little practical value scientific knowledge has for ordinary men, how dull and commonplace such of it as has value is, and how its value seems almost to vary inversely to its reputed utility. ...We live either by or on other people's professional knowledge.”
G. H. Hardy (1877–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ninety percent of [contemporary philosophers] see their principal task as that of beating religion out of men's heads. … We are far from being able to provide scientific basis for the theological world view.”
Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) said by 1978 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Logical Dilemmas : The Life and Work of Kurt Gödel (1997) by John W. Dawson Jr.
“When there is genuine artistry in scientific inquiry and philosophic speculation, a thinker proceeds neither by rule nor yet blindly, but by means of meaning that exist immediately as feelings having qualitative color.”
John Dewey (1859–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reality is not exhausted by knowledge. Inaccessible to research are the ultimate facts. All scientific conclusions are based on axioms, all reasoning depends ultimately upon faith. Faith is virgin thinking, preceding all transcendent knowledge. To believe is to abide at the extremities of spirit.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source