Famous quotes
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“There is no scientific justification for sexually mutilating kids. They are not doing it for a scientifically defensible reason. They are doing it because they believe in a very specific religious ideology.”
Tucker Carlson (born 1969) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: on Tucker Carlson Tonight in "Stop Sexualizing Kids" monologue (21 November 2022)
“All our scientific observations of the universe and quanta can only, in the end, be observations of ourselves.”
Alan Moore (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The time has come when scientific truth must cease to be the property of the few, when it must be woven into the common life of the world.”
Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) first seen 1863 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Methods of Study in Natural History (1863), ch. 4, p. 42
“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.”
Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) said by 1873 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) edited by Alan L. Mackay, (p. 2)
“Scientific knowledge, even in the most modest persons, has mingled with it a something which partakes of insolence. Absolute, peremptory facts are bullies, and those who keep company with them are apt to get a bullying habit of mind.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Stand-up is a very scientific and very exhaustive study of the human experience.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As long as scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems.”
Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) first seen 1945 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by George H. W. Bush in remarks while presenting National Medals of Science and Technology (13 November 1990). This might be a paraphrase of statements from his introduction to "Science The Endless Frontier" (…
“Scientific theory is a contrived foothold in the chaos of living phenomena.”
Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not even probable, let alone scientifically proven, that HIV causes AIDS. If there is evidence that HIV causes AIDS, there should be scientific documents which either singly or collectively demonstrate that fact, at least with a high probability. There are no such documents.”
Kary Mullis (1944–2019) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Spin Magazine, Vol. 10 No.4, 1994.
“The precarious ontological link between Logos and Eros is broken, and scientific rationality emerges as essentially neutral.”
Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Modern exegesis...completely relegated God to the incomprehensible, the otherworldly, and the inexpressible in order to be able to treat the biblical text itself as an entirely worldly reality according to natural-scientific methods.”
Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All parties seem to be agreed on one point, that the dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India contain neither literary nor scientific information, and are moreover so poor and rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be easy to translate any valuable work into them.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thin women are more sensual; scientific fact — the nerve ends are closer to the surface.”
Mary McCarthy (1912–1989) said by 1989 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have learned more from my failures than can ever be revealed in the cold print of a scientific article. [...] [Failures] are much more fun to hear about afterwards; they are not so funny at the time.”
C. A. R. Hoare (1934–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Against the wall, near the head of the bunk, was a rack filled with books. I glanced over them, noting with astonishment such names as Shakespeare, Tennyson, Poe, and De Quincey. There were scientific works too, among which were represented men such as Tyndall, Proctor, and Darwin.”
Jack London (1876–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One is forced to the view, for which there is so much evidence even though without rigorous scientific basis, that besides this material world another, second, purely spiritual world order exists, with just as many diversities as that in which we live-—we are to participate in it.”
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science (1955) by Guy Waldo Dunnington. p. 349
“The Scientific Attitude and Fallibilism in Philosophical Writings of Peirce, selected and edited with an introducton by Justus Buchler. p. 49”
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In general, scientific progress calls for no more than the absorption and elaboration of new ideas — and this is a call most scientists are happy to heed.”
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Physics and Beyond : Encounters and Conversation (1971), p. 70
“The great scientific contribution in theoretical physics that has come from Japan since the last war may be an indication of a certain relationship between philosophical ideas in the tradition of the Far East and the philosophical substance of quantum theory.”
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The existing scientific concepts cover always only a very limited part of reality, and the other part that has not yet been understood is infinite.”
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once the spark was struck the story would spread like wildfire, and would be in the papers in next to no time. The Director had never had any cause to think highly of newspaper reporters, particularly of their scientific accuracy.”
Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I am to be remembered, I hope it will not be primarily for my specialized scientific work, but as a generalist; one to whom, enlarging Terence's words, nothing human and nothing in external nature was alien.”
Julian Huxley (1887–1975) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memories (1970)
“I criticize the present methods because they are based on a rather low level of scientific thinking. We are capable of much greater sophistication in our solution of the problem.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All of these things raise the question of the communication of scientific knowledge to the public. Is industry becoming a screen through which facts must be filtered, so that the hard, uncomfortable truths are kept back and only the harmless morsels allowed to filter through?”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we could have a full exposure of "the tricks of trade" of all sorts, of humbugs and deceivers of past times, religious, political, financial, scientific, quackish and so forth, we might perhaps look for a somewhat wiser generation to follow us. I shall be well satisfied if I can do something towards so good a purpose.”
P. T. Barnum (1810–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have no doubt in my mind that our chief national problems relating to the eradication of poverty, illiteracy and disease and the scientific production and distribution can be tackled only along socialistic lines. The Very first thing that our future national government will have to do is to set up a commission for drawing up a comprehensive plan for reconstruction.”
Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1945) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Alternative Leadership 1936-1941 (1996) by Aleander Werth p. 63
“[National-Socialism is] not only narrow and selfish but arrogant [with a] very weak scientific foundation [for its racial philosophy].”
Subhas Chandra Bose (1897–1945) said by 1945 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in Leonard Gordon, Bengal The Nationalist Movement, p 260, and in Elst, K. (2010). The saffron swastika: The notion of "Hindu fascism". p 959
“In all matters but particularly in architecture ...that which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking and that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific principles. ...One who professes himself an architect should be well versed in both directions.”
Vitruvius (80–15 BC) said by 15 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tyrannosaurus rex, an animal to spark the imagination for all of us. What kind of an animal was it? What did it look like? How did it live? Now, scientific research has answered such questions, and not just about T. rex, but the other species that lived alongside it. And the latest imaging technology enables us to bring them all… to life.”
David Attenborough (born 1926) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A new scientific theory is seldom stated with such clarity by its original author, and usually takes many years to creep into public conciousness.”
John Ziman (1925–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It [chess] is not only the most delightful and scientific, but the most moral of amusements.”
Paul Morphy (1837–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But “everyone knew” were words of death in scientific research.”
Gillian Anderson (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In particular, and most importantly, this is the reason why the scientific worldview contains of itself no ethical values, no esthetical values, not a word about our own ultimate scope or destination, and no God, if you please. Whence came I and whither go I?”
Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a great believer rather than the popular scientific way of dealing with things that 'Nothing exists unless you can prove it'. I am pretty much the other way that pretty much anything can exist unless you can disprove it.”
Anthony Stewart Head (1954–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I know that Seurat is completely the opposite of a romantic, which I am, but with a good portion of the scientific, of the rationalist, which creates the struggle from which I sometimes emerge the victor, but exhausted.”
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a letter to Camoin, Autumn 1914; as quoted in Matisse on Art, Jack Flam, University of California Press 1995 p. 275, note 5
“Before the 1940s the terms "system" and "systems thinking" had been used by several scientists, but it was Bertalanffy's concepts of an open system and a general systems theory that established systems thinking as a major scientific movement”
Fritjof Capra (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With the subsequent strong support from cybernetics, the concepts of systems thinking and systems theory became integral parts of the established scientific language, and led to numerous new methodologies and applications - systems engineering, systems analysis, systems dynamics, and so on.”
Fritjof Capra (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Christ is indispensable to any scientific theory, even if its practitioners do not have a clue about him.”
William A. Dembski (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The scientific picture of the world championed since the Enlightenment is not just wrong but massively wrong. Indeed entire fields of inquiry, especially in the human sciences, will need to be rethought from the ground up in terms of intelligent design.”
William A. Dembski (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This whole universe, with all its vastness, grandeur and beauty, is nothing but sheer imagination. In spite of so many discoveries, researches and scientific knowledge, the creation remains a great unsolved riddle.”
Meher Baba (1894–1969) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Message in Bombay (October 1922), p. 431.
“I can't help believing that these things that come from the subconscious mind have a sort of truth to them. It may not be a scientific truth, but it's psychological truth.”
Brian Aldiss (1925–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As you will never be sure which are the right problems to work on, most of the time that you spend in the laboratory or at your desk will be wasted. If you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to spending most of your time not being creative, to being becalmed on the ocean of scientific knowledge.”
Steven Weinberg (1933–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hypnotism will become more and more a tool of scientific investigation. Telepathy will be proven without a doubt, and utilized, sadly enough in the beginning, for purposes of war and intrigue. Nevertheless telepathy will enable your race to make its first contact with alien intelligence.”
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“However faith in an idea is frowned upon in scientific circles, but no new concept or idea, or discovery, ever came unless there was first faith that it indeed existed.”
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wondered whether the scientific modern brain could not get to the stage of realising that Space is not an empty homogeneous medium, but full of intricate differences, intelligible and real, though not with our common reality.”
John Buchan (1875–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there is some way to hasten the introduction of civilization to the only part of the world where it has not entered and to interest the public in the matter. I would be flattered if Brussels became the headquarters of this humanitarian and scientific movement which, if it succeeded in developing, would mark the end of the century with a good deed.”
Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) said by 1909 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Inculturation of Christian marriage in the Belgian Congo. 1919-1950. The Policy Making of the Mission Superiors on Polygamy; their directives to the missionaries and influence on the policy of the State. (Betty Eggermon…
“The capacity to distinguish between empirical knowledge and value-judgments, and the fulfillment of the scientific duty to see the factual truth as well as the practical duty to stand up for our own ideals constitute the program to which we wish to adhere with ever increasing firmness.”
Max Weber (1864–1920) first seen 1904 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Max Weber, “Objectivity in Social Science and Social Policy” (1904)
“Scientific research is not conducted in a social vacuum.”
Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 263 (1973 Edition)
“Scientific collaborations are akin to marriages, or temporary marriages. Their breakup is not unlike a divorce and rarely avoids acrimony.”
Peter Freund (1936–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is an age of scientific wonders. You miss somebody so you pick up the phone to say hello. Three minutes for sixty-five cents. Nobody goes broke.”
Mordecai Richler (1931–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source