"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
"The significance of a fact is relative to [the general body of scientific] knowledge. To say that a fact is significant in science, is to say that it helps to establish or refute some general law; for science, though it starts from observation of the particular, is not concerned essentially with the particular, but with the general. A fact, in science, is not a mere fact, but an instance. In this the scientist differs from the artist, who, if he deigns to notice facts at all, is likely to notice them in all their particularity."
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Source: Bertrand Russell (2009). “Unpopular Essays”, p.143, Routledge
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