Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Science
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“From the way of Go, the beauty of Japan and the Orient had fled. Everything had become science and regulation. The road to advancement in rank, which controlled the life of a player, had become a meticulous point system. One conducted the battle only to win, and there was no margin for remembering the dignity and the fragrance of Go as an art.”
Yasunari Kawabata (1899–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science.”
Yann Martel (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've called science fiction "reality ahead of schedule.”
Syd Mead (1933–2019) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Borrowing an idea from Los Angeles, 2091",The New York Times May 22, 2008
“As I learned Dutch I began to formulate an almost impossibly ambitious goal: I would study political science to find out why this society, although it appeared to me to be godless, worked when every society I had lived in, no matter how Muslim it claimed to be, was rotten with corruption, violence, and self-centered guile.”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't know much about history, Don't know much Biology. Don't know much about a science book, Don't know much about the French I took. But I do know that I love you, And I know that if you love me, too, What a wonderful world this would be.”
Sam Cooke (1931–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Muslim religion is so unreformed since it was created that nowhere in the Muslim world has there been any real advance in science, or art or literature, or technology in the last 500 years...we've leapt ahead in all material terms, but the Muslim world would say we have fallen down in all spiritual and moral terms. We have to accept our share of the blame and they have to accept theirs.”
Norman Tebbit (1931–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I look for a man who is very confident. I like intelligent and am drawn to men with a strong science background. I think the only conventionally handsome guy I have ever been attracted to was Steve McQueen, but that was just his tough guy thing. I love European guys and I LOVE Firemen! I love a guy who can do crazy things with me and laugh, and did I mention that I love Firemen.”
Tera Patrick (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is sometimes admitted that many propositions that are affirmed by intelligent people, such as that democracy is the best form of government or that world peace depends upon world government, cannot be tested by the method of experimental science.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The progress of science is not a simple linear advance, each stage marking the solution of posing of problems previously implicit or explicit in it, and in turn posing new problems.”
Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Because of their very nature, science and logical thinking can never decide what is possible or impossible. Their only function is to explain what has been ascertained by experience and observation.”
Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) said by 1925 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The destruction of the atom [the split of it, in modern physics] seemed to me to be the same as the destruction of the world.. ..science to me appeared to be dead: its most important basis was only a lunacy, a mistake perpetrated by learned men.. ..who blindly mistook one object for another.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A faith which we follow upon orders imposed from outside is no faith, and a community which puts its dependence upon such a pseudo-faith is ultimately bound to ruin itself because of the paralysis which the lack of a healthy growing science imposes upon it.”
Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And the world's like a science And I'm like a secret And I saw you lingering still, still I saw you lingering still”
Zooey Deschanel (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So when I say the word "evolution", I'm not referring to microevolution, which everybody agrees happened. I'm referring to anything else above that. And there's simply no evidence for it at all. And if somebody wants to believe it, that's fine. I don't care what you believe. But I don't want you using my tax dollars to teach the kids that it's science. Cuz it's not.”
Kent Hovind (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the 20th Congress of British Communist Party, Harry Pollitt, made [a] long report... Usual slogans spread about the building - 'Marxism is the science of working-class power'. Those present mostly lower middle class, few working class. On platform sat the Executive Committee, really deplorable faces. Unpleasant thought that in many parts of Europe, such people already in absolute power.”
Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Like It Was: The Diaries of Malcolm Muggeridge (1981), p. 247
“One volcano in Hawaii, one volcano in Indonesia, produces enough gases in the atmosphere, which include those natural elements that are in the Earth's crust, that, uh, kind of make all the, you know, the science that we have about what we produce, moot.”
Jim Gibbons (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Science is not about status quo. It’s about revolution.”
Leon M. Lederman (1922–2018) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? (1993), p. 193
“A time traveler from the year 1899 would be continually amazed by our advanced technology—our cars and airplanes, our skyscraper cities, our TV, radio, computers, and communication abilities. Probably the traveler would be most shaken by our science, from astronomy to zoology. The only place in which this visitor would be comfortably at home is in most of our high schools.”
Leon M. Lederman (1922–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behavior control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.”
Lewis Thomas (1913–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“An excess of science will leave none of us alive.”
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'll break the spell or the science of her singing yet. As the only man left it devolves on me to do it.”
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The grand rule of doing to others as we wish that they should do unto us is more applicable than any system of political science. The honour of England does not consist in defending every English officer or English subject, right or wrong, but in taking care that she does not infringe the rules of justice, and that they are not infringed against her.”
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Queen Victoria, 29 December 1851 as quoted in Lady John Russell: A Memoir (1910), edited by Desmond McCarthy and Agatha Russell. p. 119
“Entropy! The development of reliable knowledge is anti-entropic. Science’s task in a social system is comparable to the function of intelligence in the individual. It holds against disorganization, isolation, noise, entropy. But we, here—we’ve allied ourselves with an entropic subsystem. We’re not generating structure, we’re helping to degrade the system!”
James Tiptree Jr. (1915–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The belief in creation as the background of empiricomathematical [sic] science–that seems strange. Yet the ways of thought, human thought, in its search for truth are, indeed, very strange.”
Alexandre Koyré (1892–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Newtonian Studies (1965), p. 114.
“Einstein believed that religion and science could coexist without being at odds with one another, in spite of the religious zealots and the gung-ho atheists being constantly at war with each other.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our strongest ally in the battle against death is the combination of futurism, transhumanism, science, technology, philosophy, and politics.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Despite the separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution, a Christian politician facing a conundrum may ask, “What would Jesus do?” or WWJD. A transhumanist politician not only relies on a moral compass but also seeks the best solutions with the help of science and technology in addition to formal and informal politics.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everyone is using science and technology to enhance or to alter our body chemistry in order to stay healthy and be more in control of our lives. We are all transhumanists to varying degrees.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) Christian transhumanists see science and technology as the key to bring lasting peace and hasten the Second Coming of Christ.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To err is human. Yet it is a sign of how far computer science has come that to err is also artificially intelligent”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What the Judgment of Solomon exemplifies is that wisdom trumps science and technology: Regardless of who the biological mother was—based on DNA test results, King Solomon recognized that the best mother would be the caring woman. Imagine an AI judge who is as wise as King Solomon!”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Artificial intelligence is neither to be blamed nor to be feared. It is human decision-makers' overreliance on AI without proper vetting and meticulous data collection that can result in catastrophic consequences. “Garbage in, garbage out” in computer science describes the danger of incorrect or poor-quality input that will always produce faulty output.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The suburban housewife — she was the dream image of the young American women and the envy, it was said, of women all over the world. The American housewife — freed by science and labor-saving appliances from the drudgery, the dangers of childbirth, and the illnesses of her grandmother … had found true feminine fulfilment.”
Betty Friedan (1921–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My brothers and my sisters, do always persevere in true and earnest prayer, and the Lord will hear you. Believe that the highest revelations of science are conformable to the doctrine of the efficacy of prayer; that in this doctrine the highest philosophy harmonizes with the purest devotion.”
Keshub Chunder Sen (1838–1884) first seen 1870 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sermon at Hackney Unitarian Church, London, on 24th April 1870.
“Any evolutionary science... is a close-knit body of theory. It is a theory of a process, of an unfolding sequence... of cumulative causation. The great deserts of the evolutionist leaders... lie... in their having shown how this colorless impersonal sequence of cause and effect can be made use of for theory proper, by virtue of its cumulative character.”
Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: pp. 375-378; As cited in: Geoffrey M. Hodgson, "Veblen and darwinism." International review of sociology 14.3 (2004): 343-361
“A civilization which is dominated by this matter-of-fact insight must prevail against any cultural scheme that lacks this element. This characteristic of western civilization comes to a head in modern science, and finds its highest material expression in the technology of the machine industry.”
Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) said by 1929 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Frank Knight
“Science is the description of phenomena and the formulation of their relations.”
Boris Sidis (1867–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Psychology is the science of psychic states both as to content and form, regarded from an objective standpoint, and brought in relation to the living corporeal individual.”
Boris Sidis (1867–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The psycho-physiological hypothesis is both inductively and deductively the sine qua non of the science of psychology.”
Boris Sidis (1867–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In science, you don't just get to cherry-pick the parts that justify what you were going to do anyway! That's religion! You're thinking of religion.”
John Oliver (born 1977) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Last Week Tonight -- "Scientific Studies" (ff. 0:14:44), (8 May 2016)
“A distinguished economist, on being asked to define the subject matter of his science, once replied, "Economics is what economists do.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have been gradually coming under the conviction, disturbing for a professional theorist, that there is no such thing as economics - there is only social science applied to economic problems.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The concept of a value-free science is absurd.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 4 cited in: John B. Davis (2011)
“The organization of science into disciplines sets up a series of ghettos with remarkable distances of artificial social space between them.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kenneth Boulding (1973) Image and Environment. p. ix
“Economics, we learn in the history of thought, only became a science by escaping from the casuistry and moralizing of medieval thought.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[In science any model depends on a pre-chosen taxonomy] a set of classifications into which we divide the enormous complexity of the real world... Land, labor, and capital are extremely heterogeneous aggregates, not much better than earth, air, fire, and water.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kenneth Boulding (1986) "What Went Wrong with Economics?" in: The American Economist Vol 30 (Spring) pp. 7-8, as cited in: (2013) "What Boulding Said Went Wrong with Economics, A Quarter Century On
“It can have no analogy in fact with the descriptions of those who know nothing of the subject; furthermore, it is not to be represented as this or that by any person whomsoever: it is that which it is, drawing from itself only, even as mathematics do, for it is the exact and absolute science of Nature and her laws.”
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Magic is the traditional science of the secrets of Nature which has been transmitted to us from the Magi.”
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is a true and a false science, a Divine and an Infernal Magic – in other words, one which is delusive and tenebrous.”
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Magic is the divinity of man conquered by science in union with faith; the true Magi are Men-Gods, in virtue of their intimate union with the divine principle.”
Eliphas Levi (1810–1875) said by 1875 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source