Science
Marjorie Stoneman Douglas on the Future
“The future lies in the strength with which people can set their powers of creation against their impulses for destruction. Perhaps this is the unending frontier.” Marjorie Stoneman Douglas
Arthur Koestler on Discovery
“The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.” Arthur Koestler British (Hungarian-born) author (1905 – 1983)
Arthur C. Clarke on Science Fiction
“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.” Arthur C. Clarke English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Albert Einstein on Technology & Humanity
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein on Science
“The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.” Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)
Albert Einstein on Love
“Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” Albert Einstein
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)
William Gibson on Futurism
“The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” William Gibson US science fiction novelist in Canada (1948 – )
Albert Einstein on Logic and Imagination
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert Einstein
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)
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)
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 Education
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein
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 – )
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)
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
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)
Edsger Dijkstra on Computers
“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” Edsger Dijkstra
Isaac Newton on Science
“I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light.” Isaac Newton English mathematician & physicist (1642 – 1727)
Albert Einstein on Science & Religion
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein on Mistakes
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” Albert Einstein
Richard Feynman on Science
“I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.” Richard Feynman US educator & physicist (1918 – 1988)
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)
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
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)
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
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
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
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)
Ambrose Bierce on Science
“There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary US author & satirist (1842 – 1914)
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 – )
Niels Bohr on the Future
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Niels Bohr Danish physicist (1885 – 1962)
Indira Gandhi on Science
“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” Indira Gandhi
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)
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
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)
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)
Isaac Asimov on Computers
“I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.” Isaac Asimov
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)
Marie Curie on Science & Understanding
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” Marie Skłodowska-Curie Polish chemist & physicist (1867 – 1934)
Frank Herbert on Science Fiction
“The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.” Frank Herbert US science fiction novelist (1920 – 1986)