„I am among those who think that science has great beauty.“
As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 341
Variant translation: A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.
Contesto: I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery also has its beauty.
Neither do I believe that the spirit of adventure runs any risk of disappearing in our world. If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.
Marie Curie8
chimica e fisica polacca naturalizzata russa e in seguito f… 1867 - 1934Citazioni simili
„Among creations I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end, O Arjuna, I am the science of the Self, and I am the logic of all arguments.“
— Baba Hari Dass master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition 1923 - 2018
Bhagavad Gita, Ch X, verse 32
Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Ch. VII-XII, 2014
„Among the people who knew a great deal about the hydrogen bomb, I was the only advocate of it. And that is, I think, my contribution.“
— Edward Teller Hungarian-American nuclear physicist 1908 - 2003
On the creation of the hydrogen bomb, in Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
Contesto: At the end of the war, most people wanted to stop. I didn't. Because here was more knowledge. And in the coming uncertain period, with a dangerous man like Stalin around, and our incomplete knowledge, I felt that more knowledge is necessary. Among the people who knew a great deal about the hydrogen bomb, I was the only advocate of it. And that is, I think, my contribution. Not that I invented it, others would have — and others in the Soviet Union did. But I was the one person who put knowledge, and the availability of knowledge, above everything else.
„Those who think that science is ethically neutral confuse the findings of science, which are, with the activity of science, which is not.“
— Jacob Bronowski Polish-born British mathematician 1908 - 1974
Part 3: "The Sense of Human Dignity", §6 (p. 63–64)
Science and Human Values (1956, 1965)
Contesto: Tolerance among scientists cannot be based on indifference, it must be based on respect. Respect as a personal value implies, in any society, the public acknowledgements of justice and of due honor. These are values which to the layman seem most remote from any abstract study. Justice, honor, the respect of man for man: What, he asks, have these human values to do with science? [... ]
Those who think that science is ethically neutral confuse the findings of science, which are, with the activity of science, which is not.
„I have never been one of those who cares about happiness. Happiness is a strange notion. I am just not made for it. It has never been a goal of mine; I do not think in those terms.“
— Werner Herzog German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and opera director 1942
„Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.“
— Rachel Carson American marine biologist and conservationist 1907 - 1964
The Sense of Wonder (1965)
Contesto: Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
„Her work has a real beauty. Some of her lyrical work is likely, I think, to survive among the lasting things in English literature and by these, even if they are fine rather than great, she may take her rank among the immortals.“
— Sarojini Naidu Indian politician, governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1947 to 1949 1879 - 1949
Aurobindo said on her poetry quoted in Critical Response To Indian Poetry In English, p123/xxxx
„The enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves in all their beauty only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it.“
— Carl Friedrich Gauss German mathematician and physical scientist 1777 - 1855
Letter to Sophie Germain (30 April 1807) ([...]; les charmes enchanteurs de cette sublime science ne se décèlent dans toute leur beauté qu'à ceux qui ont le courage de l'approfondir. Mais lorsqu'une personne de ce sexe, qui, par nos meurs [sic] et par nos préjugés, doit rencontrer infiniment plus d'obstacles et de difficultés, que les hommes, à se familiariser avec ces recherches épineuses, sait néanmoins franchir ces entraves et pénétrer ce qu'elles ont de plus caché, il faut sans doute, qu'elle ait le plus noble courage, des talents tout à fait extraordinaires, le génie superieur.)
Contesto: The enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves in all their beauty only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it. But when a person of that sex, that, because of our mores and our prejudices, has to encounter infinitely more obstacles and difficulties than men in familiarizing herself with these thorny research problems, nevertheless succeeds in surmounting these obstacles and penetrating their most obscure parts, she must without doubt have the noblest courage, quite extraordinary talents and superior genius.
„Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated.“
— Albert Einstein German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity 1879 - 1955
"My Credo", a speech to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin (Autumn 1932), as published in Einstein: A Life in Science (1994) by Michael White and John Gribbin, p. 262.
1930s
„On the plane home I remember thinking that I am who I am because I have faith in myself, and it has always been the possibility of emotionally rewarding the experiences that has encouraged me to gamble on myself; those experiences have made all that I do worthwhile.“
— Yanni Greek pianist, keyboardist, composer, and music producer 1954
„I am not an atheist — I think I'm happily confused and a work in progress; I'm sort of more agnostic. I do think that science has become the lens through which we see the world, more and more.“
— Dan Brown American author 1964
"Da Vinci Code Author Dan Brown Says He Has Abandoned Christianity, but Is Not an Atheist" The Christian Post (24 Oct 2017) https://www.christianpost.com/news/da-vinci-code-author-dan-brown-says-he-has-abandoned-christianity-but-is-not-an-atheist-204122
„Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.“
— Isaac Asimov American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction and popular … 1920 - 1992
As quoted in The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners (2004) edited by Geoff Tibballs, p. 299
General sources
„The great tragedy of Science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.“
— Thomas Henry Huxley English biologist and comparative anatomist 1825 - 1895
Presidential Address at the British Association, "Biogenesis and abiogenesis" (1870) http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE8/B-Ab.html; later published in Collected Essays, Vol. 8, p. 229
1870s
„I am jealous of those who think more deeply, who write better, who draw better, who ski better, who look better, who live better, who love better than I.“
— Sylvia Plath American poet, novelist and short story writer 1932 - 1963
Origine: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
„Ours is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world.Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition, I do not say among the rabble, who are not worthy of being enlightened and who are apt for every yoke; I say among honest people, among men who think, among those who wish to think. … My one regret in dying is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise, the finest and most respectable which the human mind can point out.“
— Voltaire French writer, historian, and philosopher 1694 - 1778
La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.<p>Votre Majesté rendra un service éternel au genre humain en détruisant cette infâme superstition, je ne dis pas chez la canaille, qui n’est pas digne d’être éclairée, et à laquelle tous les jougs sont propres; je dis chez les honnêtes gens, chez les hommes qui pensent, chez ceux qui veulent penser... Je ne m’afflige de toucher à la mort que par mon profond regret de ne vous pas seconder dans cette noble entreprise, la plus belle et la plus respectable qui puisse signaler l’esprit humain.
Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great (New York: Brentano's, 1927), transl. Richard Aldington, letter 156 from Voltaire to Frederick II of Prussia, 5 January 1767 http://perso.orange.fr/dboudin/VOLTAIRE/45/1767/6651.html
Often misquoted as "Christianity is...", while in the context, Voltaire was referring specifically to Catholicism.
Citas
„I am one who tells the truth and exposes evil and seeks with Beauty for Beauty to set the world right.“
— W.E.B. Du Bois American sociologist, historian, activist and writer 1868 - 1963
p. xi
„I find it funny to praise myself, but I think I am beautiful, just like Chandramukhi.“
— Madhuri Dixit Indian actress 1967
Quote, When personality comes first.....
