Quotes about science
558 quotes from 241 people
Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares.
Daniel Dennett1942–2024Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (2005), p. 2Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!
Douglas Adams1952–2001Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (1987)A harvest is made honorable when it sustains the giver as well as the taker.
Robin Wall Kimmererborn 1953Braiding Sweetgrass (2013), p. 194Great theories are expansive; failures mire us in dogmatism and tunnel vision.
Stephen Jay Gould1941–2002Eight Little Piggies (1993), “More Light on Leaves”, p. 165The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.
Neil deGrasse Tysonborn 1958Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO, 4 February 2011)To name and describe you must first see, and science polishes the gift of seeing.
Robin Wall Kimmererborn 1953Braiding Sweetgrass (2013), p. 48If there is any consistent enemy of science, it is not religion, but irrationalism.
Stephen Jay Gould1941–2002Ever Since Darwin (1977), “The Reverend Thomas’ Dirty Little Planet”, p. 141We have the dubious distinction of being the deadliest species in the annals of biology.
Yuval Noah Harariborn 1976Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011), Chapter 4: “The Flood”I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.
Willa Cather1873–1947O Pioneers! (1913), Part II, Ch. 8Disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases.
Stephen Hawking1942–2018A Brief History of Time (1988), p. 147I like to define biology as the history of the earth and all its life — past, present, and future.
Rachel Carson1907–1964Preface to Humane Biology Projects (1961) by the Animal Welfare InstituteWest of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut.
H. P. Lovecraft1890–1937The Colour Out of Space (1927)- Stephen Hawking1942–2018Reith Lecture 2: Black holes ain’t as black as they are painted (2015) · BBC Radio 4 audio file
Nikola Tesla1856–1943“Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency” (February 1892)
Werner Heisenberg1901–1976“Introductory” in The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory (1930) as translated by Carl Eckhart and Frank C. Hoyt, p. 10