Isaac Asimov on facts

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…’

Why is it that you physicists always require so much expensive equipment? Now the Department of Mathematics requires nothing but money for paper, pencils, and erasers…and the Department of Philosophy is better still. It doesn’t even ask for erasers.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan1927–2003Often credited to Unattributed

The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935

• Education

If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.