Science
Isaac Asimov on Knowledge
“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” Isaac Asimov US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 – 1992)
L. Frank Baum on Imagination
“Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.” L. Frank Baum
Albert Einstein on Science & Religion
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein on Education
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein
Thomas A. Edison on Failure
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas A. Edison, (attributed) US inventor (1847 – 1931)
Albert Einstein on God & Science
“God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.” Albert Einstein
Patrick Young on Weather
“The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.” Patrick Young
Galileo Galilei on Science
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” Galileo Galilei Italian astronomer & physicist (1564 – 1642)
R. Buckminster Fuller on Science
“Everything you’ve learned in school as ‘obvious’ becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There’s not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines.” R. Buckminster Fuller US architect & engineer (1895 – 1983)
William S. Burroughs on Politics and Science Fiction
“After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say ‘I want to see the manager.’ “ William S. Burroughs US author (1914 – 1997)
Woody Allen on the Universe
“I’m astounded by people who want to ‘know’ the universe when it’s hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.” Woody Allen US movie actor, comedian, & director (1935 – )
Willie Tyler on Lightning
“The reason lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place is that the same place isn’t there the second time.” Willie Tyler
Edsger Dijkstra on Computers
“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” Edsger Dijkstra
Pope John Paul II on Science and Faith
“Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.” Pope John Paul II
Albert Einstein on Solving Problems
“The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation.” Albert Einstein
John F. Kennedy on Politics
“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” John F. Kennedy
William J. Broad on the Universe
“The crux… is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing.” William J. Broad
Nikola Tesla on Scientists
“The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.” Nikola Tesla, Modern Mechanics and Inventions. July, 1934 US (Serbian-born) electrical inventor (1857 – 1943)
Paul Dirac on Science and Poetry
“In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.” Paul Dirac English physicist in US (1902 – 1984)
Albert Einstein on Mistakes
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein
Stephen Hawking on Science
“If human life were long enough to find the ultimate theory, everything would have been solved by previous generations. Nothing would be left to be discovered.” Stephen Hawking, Interview with The Guardian (UK) September 27, 2005 English cosmologist and physicist (1942 – )
Albert Einstein on Computers
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” Albert Einstein
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“At the present rate of progress, it is almost impossible to imagine any technical feat that cannot be achieved – if it can be achieved at all – within the next few hundred years.” Arthur C. Clarke, 1983 English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Indira Gandhi on Science
“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” Indira Gandhi
Niels Bohr on the Future
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Niels Bohr Danish physicist (1885 – 1962)
Fred Hoyle Cynical Quote
“There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don’t know what it’s a plan for.” Fred Hoyle English astronomer, mathematician, & popularizer of science (1915 – 2001)
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” Arthur C. Clarke, “Technology and the Future” (Clarke’s second law) English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Ernest Rutherford on Science
“All science is either physics or stamp collecting.” Ernest Rutherford, in J. B. Birks “Rutherford at Manchester” (1962) British chemist & physicist (1871 – 1937)
George Bernard Shaw on Education
“A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.” George Bernard Shaw Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
Edward Teller on Science
“A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.” Edward Teller US (Hungarian-born) physicist (1908 – 2003)
Thomas H. Huxley on Science
“The great tragedy of Science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” Thomas H. Huxley English biologist (1825 – 1895)
Robert Heinlein on Progress
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love US science fiction author (1907 – 1988)
Robert Bakker on Taxes
“I want to find a voracious, small-minded predator and name it after the IRS.” Robert Bakker, paleontologist
John Sladek on the Future
“The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive.” John Sladek
Stephen Jay Gould on Science
“The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.” Stephen Jay Gould US author, naturalist, paleontologist, & popularizer of science (1941 – 2002)
Bertrand Russell on Mathematics
“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty – a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.” Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 – 1970)
Albert Einstein on Future
“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.” Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)
Frank Borman on Humanity and Progress
“Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.” Frank Borman
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Albert Einstein on Education
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death” Albert Einstein
Arthur C. Clarke on Intelligence
“It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.” Arthur C. Clarke English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Philip K. Dick on Reality
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” Philip K. Dick, How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later, 1978 US science fiction author (1928 – 1982)
Albert Einstein on Imagination
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” Albert Einstein
Rene Descartes on Truth
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” Rene Descartes French mathematician & philosopher (1596 – 1650)
Albert Einstein on Art and Science
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)
H. P. Lovecraft Cynical Quote
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.” H. P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, first line US horror & supernatural author (1890 – 1937)
Isaac Asimov on Science
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny… ‘ Isaac Asimov
Martin Luther King Jr. on Science
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963 US black civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 – 1968)
Carl Sagan on Science
“I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.” Carl Sagan US astronomer & popularizer of astronomy (1934 – 1996)
Louis Pasteur on Education
“Fortune favors the prepared mind.” Louis Pasteur
Clive James on Technology
“It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” Clive James
Thomas A. Edison
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” Thomas A. Edison US inventor (1847 – 1931)
Bill Watterson on Intelligent Life
“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.” Bill Watterson, cartoonist, Calvin and Hobbes US cartoonist (1958 – )
Albert Einstein on Science
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein, (attributed) US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)
Isaac Asimov on Computers
“Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.” Isaac Asimov US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 – 1992)
Douglas Adams on Society
“Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news, which follows its own rules” Douglas Adams
Neil Armstrong on Mystery
“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) Apollo 11 astronaut, first man on the Moon.
Blore’s Razor
“Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier.” Blore’s Razor
Douglas Adams on Space
“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 – 2001)
Albert Einstein on Education
“I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)