Science can only ascertain¹ what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain² value judgements of all kinds remain necessary.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), Out of My Later Years, 1936

Science without religion is lame³, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), "Science, Philosophy and Religion: a Symposium⁴", 1941

When a distinguished⁵ but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - ), Clarke's first law

Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without any proof.

Ashley Montague

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

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 virtue⁶, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.

Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

Ernest Rutherford (1871 - 1937), in J. B. Birks "Rutherford at Manchester" (1962)

Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.

George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist.

Harrison Ford⁷ (1942 - ), as Indiana Jones

Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.

Henri Poincare (1854 - 1912)

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets⁸ knowledge, the latter ignorance.

Hippocrates (460 BC - 377 BC), Law

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804)

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds⁹ new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...'

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

Perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to fly if unsupported by the air. Facts are the air of science. Without them a man of science can never rise.

Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936)

That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on your way to the pertinent¹⁰ answer.

Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent¹¹ of Man, 1973

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.

Konrad Lorenz (1903 - 1989)

The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic¹² engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers.

Lewis Thomas (1913 - 1993)

There are no such things as applied¹³ sciences, only applications of science.

Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895)

As an adolescent I aspired¹⁴ to lasting¹⁵ fame, I craved¹⁶ factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.

M. Cartmill

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 phenomena¹⁷ which impress him like a fairy tale.

Marie Curie (1867 - 1934)

We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.

Marie Curie (1867 - 1934), Lecture at Vassar College, May 14, 1921

There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale¹⁸ returns of conjecture¹⁹ out of such a trifling²⁰ investment of fact.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Strength to Love, 1963

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Max Planck, Scientific Autobiography²¹ and Other Papers, 1950

As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.

Noam Chomsky (1928 - ), in a television interview

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 (1902 - 1984)

I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.

Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988)

Philosophers say a great deal about what is absolutely necessary for science, and it is always, so far as one can see, rather naive²², and probably wrong.

Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988)

Science is one thing, wisdom is another. Science is an edged tool, with which men play like children, and cut their own fingers.

Sir Arthur Eddington (1882 - 1944), Attributed in Robert L. Weber "More Random²³ Walks in Science", 1982

In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea first occurs.

Sir Francis Darwin (1848 - 1925), Eugenics Review, April 1914