Science quotes
7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside science — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"To speculate without facts is to attempt to enter a house of which one has not the key, by wandering aimlessly round and round, searching the walls and now and then peeping through the windows. Facts are the key."
"A man, in his books, may be said to walk the earth a long time after he is gone."
"In science the new is an advance; but in morals, as contradicting our inner ideals and historic idols, it is ever a retrogression."
"People who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief."
"First of all a natural talent is required; for when Nature opposes, everything else is in vain; but when Nature leads the way to what is most excellent, instruction in the art takes place."
"Proof, one might say, does not merely shew that it is like this, but: how it is like this. It shows how 13+14 yield 27."
"To our senses, the elements are four and have ever been, and will ever be for they are the elements of life, of poetry, and of perception, the four Great Ones, the Four Roots, the First Four of Fire and the Wet, Earth and the wide Air of the World. To find the other many elements, you must go to the laboratory and hunt them down. But the four we have always with us, they are our world. Or rather, they have us with them."
"The great pagan world of which Egypt and Greece were the last living termsonce had a vast and perhaps perfect science of itsown, a science in terms of life. In our era this science crumbled into magic and charlatanry. But even wisdom crumbles."
"Sanctions alone could not stop Iran's nuclear program. But they did help bring Iran to the negotiating table."
"Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and work to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology."
"We need to spend a trillion dollars rebuilding our schools, our roads, our basic science and research here in the United States."
"Look, first of all, the climate is changing. I don't think the science is clear what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural. It's convoluted. And for the people to say the science is decided on, this is just really arrogant, to be honest with you, it's this intellectual arrogance that now you can't even have a conversation about it. The climate is changing, and we need to adapt to that reality."
"It [the earth] alone remains immoveable, whilst all things revolve round it."
"[May] this civic and social landmark [the Washington, D.C., Jewish Community Center] ... be a constant reminder of the inspiring service that has been rendered to civilization by men and women of the Jewish faith. May [visitors] recall the long array of those who have been eminent in statecraft, in science, in literature, in art, in the professions, in business, in finance, in philanthropy and in the spiritual life of the world."
"Whenever Nature's bounty is in danger of exhaustion, the chemist has sought for a substitute. The conquest of disease has made great progress as a result of your efforts. Wherever we look, the work of the chemist has raised the level of our civilization and has increased the productive capacity of the nation. Waste materials, formerly cast aside, are now being utilized."
"-ev'n with us the breath Of Science dims the mirror of our joy."
"I have ever been prone to seek adventure and to investigate and experiment where wiser men would have left well enough alone."
"Earlier this week ... scientists announced the completion of a task that once seemed unimaginable; and that is, the deciphering of the entire DNA sequence of the human genetic code. This amazing accomplishment is likely to affect the 21st century as profoundly as the invention of the computer or the splitting of the atom affected the 20th century. I believe that the 21st century will be the century of life sciences, and nothing makes that point more clearly than this momentous discovery. It will revolutionize medicine as we know it today."
"How science dwindles, and how volumes swell, How commentators each dark passage shun, And hold their farthing candle to the sun!"
"Midway from Nothing to the Deity!"
