WIST Quotations

Hand, Learned -- “On Receiving an Honorary Degree,” speech, Harvard University (1939-06-22)

Dave — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:50:21 +0000

They taught me, not by precept, but by example, that nothing is more commendable, and more fair, than that a man should lay aside all else, and seek truth; not to preach what he might find; and surely not to try to make his views prevail; but, like Lessing, to find his satisfaction in the search itself.

Learned Hand (1872–1961) American jurist
“On Receiving an Honorary Degree,” speech, Harvard University (1939-06-22)

Collected in The Spirit of Liberty (1953).

Russell, Bertrand -- Interview by Woodrow Wyatt, BBC TV (1959)

Dave — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 18:40:17 +0000

On the one hand, philosophy is to keep us thinking about things that we may come to know, and on the other hand to keep us modestly aware of how much what seems like knowledge isn’t knowledge.

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Interview by Woodrow Wyatt, BBC TV (1959)

Collected in Bertrand Russell's BBC Interviews (1959) [UK] and Bertrand Russell Speaks His Mind (1960) [US]. Reprinted (abridged) in The Humanist (1982-11/12), and in Russell Society News, #37 (1983-02).

Feynman, Richard -- “What Is Science?” address, National Science Teachers Association, New York (1966)

Dave — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 23:07:21 +0000

Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts.

Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American physicist
“What Is Science?” address, National Science Teachers Association, New York (1966)

Bell, Alexander Graham -- (Attributed)

Dave — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:20:39 +0000

There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) Scottish-American scientist, inventor, engineer
(Attributed)

Comment to a reporter a few months before he died, as quoted in the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress.