Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,159,190 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Science
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“The organic unity of mathematics is inherent in the nature of this science, for mathematics is the foundation of all exact knowledge of natural phenomena. That it may completely fulfil this high mission, may the new century bring it gifted masters and many zealous and enthusiastic disciples!”
David Hilbert (1862–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am the enfant terrible of literature and science.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Tis certainly a kind of indignity to philosophy, whose sovereign authority ought every where to be acknowledg'd, to oblige her on every occasion to make apologies for her conclusions, and justify herself to every particular art and science, which may be offended at her.”
David Hume (1711–1776) said by 1776 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sentiments of men often differ with regard to beauty and deformity of all kinds, even while their general discourse is the same ... In all matters of opinion and science, the case is opposite: The difference among men is there oftener found to lie in generals than in particulars; and to be less in reality than in appearance.”
David Hume (1711–1776) said by 1776 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What wonder if the kindly beams he shed, Revived the drooping arts again; If science raised her head, And soft humanity, that from rebellion fled.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Th’ illiterate writer, empiric-like, applies To minds diseased unsafe chance remedies: The learn’d in schools, where knowledge first began, Studies with care th’ anatomy of man; Sees virtue, vice, and passions in their cause, And fame from science, not from fortune, draws.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are remembrances that will not vanish,— Thoughts of the past we would but cannot banish: As if to show how impotent mere will, We loathe the pang, and yet must suffer still: For who is there can say they will forget? —It is a power no science teaches yet.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Can we ring the bells backward? Can we unlearn the arts that pretend to civilize, and then burn the world? There is a march of science; but who shall beat the drums for its retreat?”
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) first seen 1830 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to George Dyer (20 December 1830)
“You can tell when a Hollywood historical film was made by looking at the eye makeup of their leading ladies, and you can tell the date of an old science fiction novel by every word on the page. Nothing dates harder and faster and more strangely than the future.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of Time, and Gully Foyle", Foreword to a 1999 edition of The Stars My Destination (1956)
“Doctor Who has never pretended to be hard science fiction ... At best Doctor Who is a fairytale, with fairytale logic about this wonderful man in this big blue box who at the beginning of every story lands somewhere where there is a problem.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Neil Gaiman reveals power of writing Doctor Who" by Tim Masters at BBC News (24 May 2010)
“One important idea is that science is a means whereby learning is achieved, not by mere theoretical speculation on the one hand, nor by the undirected accumulation of practical facts on the other, but rather by a motivated iteration between theory and practice.”
George E. P. Box (1919–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scouting is not an abstruse or difficult science: rather it is a jolly game if you take it in the right light. In the same time it is educative, and (like Mercy) it is apt to benefit him that giveth as well as him that receives.”
Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Aids to Scoutmastership (1920) Preface
“Do you know that ages will pass and mankind will proclaim in its wisdom and science that there is no crime and, therefore no sin, but that there are only hungry people. "Feed them first and then demand virtue of them!" — that is what they will inscribe on their banner which they will raise against you and which will destroy your temple.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The search for patterns without critical analysis, and rigid skepticism without a search for patterns, are the antipodes of incomplete science. The effective pursuit of knowledge requires both functions.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best antidote for pseudoscience, I firmly believe, is science.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a good idea not to make up our minds prematurely on this issue. It is probably best not to let our personal preferences influence the decision. Rather, in the long tradition of successful science, we should permit nature to reveal the truth to us.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If the press descended, the science would surely suffer.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The desire to be connected with the cosmos reflects a profound reality for we are connected. Not in the trivial ways that the pseudo-science of astrology promises but in the deepest ways.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable. We are all fallible, even leaders. But however clear it is that criticism is necessary for progress, governments tend to resist.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science is, at least in part, informed worship.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The enterprise of knowledge is consistent surely with science; it should be with religion, and it is essential for the welfare of the human species.”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The history of science—especially physics—has in part been the tension between the natural tendency to project our everyday experience on the universe and the universe's noncompliance...”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Der Spiegel (17 October 1988)
“The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological — technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Hawking's article A Brief History of Relativity, in Time magazine (31 December 1999)
“I'm not religious in the normal sense. I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Stephen Hawking prepares for weightless flight", New Scientist (26 April 2007)
“Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with The Guardian (15 May 2011)
“I used to think that information was destroyed in black holes. But the AdS/CFT correspondence led me to change my mind. This was my biggest blunder, or at least my biggest blunder in science.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stephen Hawking at 70: Exclusive interview" in New Scientist, (4 January 2012). In his comment that he "used to think that information was destroyed in black holes", he is referring to the black hole information paradox.
“The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron. ... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science could predict that the universe must have had a beginning.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Mathematics is more than a tool and language for science. It is also an end in itself, and as such, it has, over the centuries, affected our worldview in its own right.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you would meet and put questions to. Although, if there were such a God, I would like to ask however did he think of anything as complicated as M-theory in eleven dimensions.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's tempting to dismiss the notion of highly intelligent machines as mere science fiction, but this would be a mistake, and potentially our worst mistake ever.”
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When, as we must often do, we fear science, we really fear ourselves. Human dignity is better served by embracing knowledge.”
John Polanyi (born 1929) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Nobel Banquet in Stockholm (1986)
“Authority in science exists to be questioned, since heresy is the spring from which new ideas flow.”
John Polanyi (born 1929) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address delivered to the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression awards banquet, in The Globe and Mail (27 November 2004).
“The science fiction approach doesn't mean it's always about the future; it's an awareness that this is different.”
Neal Stephenson (born 1959) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Conversation With Neal Stephenson. SF Site interview with Catherine Asaro, September 1999.
“To conquer by sheer force is becoming harder and harder every day. Defensive is getting continuously the advantage of offensive, as we progress in the satanic science of destruction. The new art of controlling electrically the movements and operations of individualized automata at a distance without wires, will soon enable any country to render its coasts impregnable against all naval attacks.”
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The foremost, or indeed the sole condition which is required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community, is to love equality, or to get men to believe you love it. Thus the science of despotism, which was once so complex, is simplified, and reduced as it were to a single principle.”
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In time truth and science and nature will adapt themselves to art. Things will happen logically, and the villain be discomfited instead of being elected to the board of directors. But in the meantime fiction must not only be divorced from fact, but must pay alimony and be awarded custody of the press despatches.”
O. Henry (1862–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To believe in science, one must believe in the rationality of the world.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in q:it:Gabriella Greison, Max Planck e la fede nella luce invisibile, avvenire.it, 7 November 2025.
“But science sets out confidently on the endeavor finally to know the thing in itself, and even though we realize that this ideal goal can never be completely reached, still we struggle on towards it untiringly. And we know that at every step of the way each effort will be richly rewarded.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Both religion and science require a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations… To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers as translated by F. Gaynor (1949), p. 184
“Natural science wants man to learn, religion wants him to act.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source