WIST Quotations

Bernard, Claude -- An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale], ch. 3 (1865) [tr. Greene (1957)]

Dave — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:27:10 +0000

But it happens further quite naturally that men who believe too firmly in their theories, do not believe enough in the theories of others. So the dominant idea of these despisers of their fellows is to find others’ theories faulty and to try to contradict them. […] They make experiments only to destroy a theory, instead of to seek the truth. At the same time, they make poor observations, because they choose among the results of their experiments only what suits their object, neglecting whatever is unrelated to it, and carefully setting aside everything which might tend toward they idea they wish to combat.

[Mais il arrive encore tout naturellement que ceux qui croient trop à leurs théories ne croient pas assez à celles des autres. Alors l’idée dominante de ces contempteurs d’autrui est de trouver les théories des autres en défaut et de chercher à les contredire. […] Ils ne font des expériences que pour détruire une théorie, au lieu de les faire pour chercher la vérité. Ils font également de mauvaises observations, parce qu’ils ne prennent dans les résultats de leurs expériences que ce qui convient à leur but, en négligeant ce qui ne s’y rapporte pas, et en écartant bien soigneusement tout ce qui pourrait aller dans le sens de l’idée qu’ils veulent combattre.]

Claude Bernard (1813-1878) French physiologist, scientist
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale], ch. 3 (1865) [tr. Greene (1957)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Other translation:

But it still happens quite naturally that those who believe too strongly in their own theories don't believe enough in those of others. The dominant idea of these detractors of others is to find flaws in other people's theories and to try to contradict them. [...] They conduct experiments only to disprove a theory, instead of doing so to seek the truth. They also make flawed observations because they only select from the results of their experiments what suits their purpose, neglecting what is irrelevant, and carefully disregarding anything that might support the idea they want to refute.
[Google Translate]

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas -- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Epistomology and Subtractive Knowledge” (2010)

Dave — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 19:59:56 +0000

Knowledge is subtractive, not additive — what we subtract (reduction by what does not work, what not to do), not what we add (what to do).

Nassim Nicholas Taleb (b. 1960) Lebanese-American essayist, statistician, risk analyst, aphorist
The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms, “Epistomology and Subtractive Knowledge” (2010)
(Source)

Krogh, August -- “The Progress of Physiology,” Speech, International Congress of Physiological Sciences, Harvard University (1929-08-19)

Dave — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 16:36:34 +0000

We may fondly imagine that we are impartial seekers after truth, but with a few exceptions, to which I know that I do not belong, we are influenced, and sometimes strongly, by our personal bias; and we give our best thoughts to those ideas which we have to defend.

Nevertheless, we should of course all do our best to avoid controversy, in the sense that we should take every possible care to verify our facts and substantiate our conclusions before we publish our results.

August Krogh (1874-1949) Danish zoophysiologist, academic
“The Progress of Physiology,” Speech, International Congress of Physiological Sciences, Harvard University (1929-08-19)
(Source)

Reprinted in Science (1929-08-30). Quoted in Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen, August and Marie Krogh: Lives in Science, ch. 9 (1995).

Dyson, Freeman -- The Scientist as Rebel, Part 3, ch. 19 “The World on a String” (2006)

Dave — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:11:51 +0000

Progress in science is often built on wrong theories that are later corrected. It is better to be wrong than to be vague.

Freeman Dyson (1923-2020) English-American theoretical physicist, mathematician, futurist
The Scientist as Rebel, Part 3, ch. 19 “The World on a String” (2006)
(Source)

Originally published in New York Review of Books (2003-11-06).

Asimov, Isaac -- “The Role of the Heretic,” Foreword to Donald W. Goldsmith (ed.), Scientists Confront Velikovsky (1977)

Dave — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 18:50:47 +0000

Science is in far greater danger from the absence of challenge than from the coming of any number of even absurd challenges.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
“The Role of the Heretic,” Foreword to Donald W. Goldsmith (ed.), Scientists Confront Velikovsky (1977)
(Source)

Teller, Edward -- Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics, ch. 5 (1991) [with Wendy Teller, Wilson Talley]

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:30:57 +0000

A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective.

Edward Teller (1908-2003) Hungarian-American theoretical physicist
Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics, ch. 5 (1991) [with Wendy Teller, Wilson Talley]
(Source)

Feynman, Richard -- “Cargo Cult Science,” commencement address, California Institute of Technology (1974)

Dave — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:09:15 +0000

Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. You must do the best you can — if you know anything at all wrong, or possibly wrong — to explain it. If you make a theory, for example, and advertise it, or put it out, then you must also put down all the facts that disagree with it, as well as those that agree with it. There is also a more subtle problem. When you have put a lot of ideas together to make an elaborate theory, you want to make sure, when explaining what it fits, that those things it fits are not just the things that gave you the idea for the theory; but that the finished theory makes something else come out right, in addition. In summary, the idea is to try to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
“Cargo Cult Science,” commencement address, California Institute of Technology (1974)
(Source)

Asimov, Isaac -- The Roving Mind (1983)

Dave — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 00:59:26 +0000

Don’t you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don’t you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?

No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.

One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out “Don’t you believe in anything?”

“Yes”, I said. “I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
The Roving Mind (1983)

See Carl Sagan.

Asimov, Isaac -- Interview (1988) by Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, PBS TV (1988-10-22)

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 19:38:57 +0000

Science doesn’t purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It’s a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Russian-American author, polymath, biochemist
Interview (1988) by Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas, PBS TV (1988-10-22)
(Source)

(Source (Video))

Part 2 of the interview (the first half aired 1988-10-17). Collected in Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas (1989).

Verne, Jules -- Journey to the Center of the Earth, ch. 31 (1864) [tr. Malleson (1877)]

Dave — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 18:52:21 +0000

Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth.

[La science, mon garçon, est faite d’erreurs, mais d’erreurs qu’il est bon de commettre, car elles mènent peu à peu à la vérité.]

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
Journey to the Center of the Earth, ch. 31 (1864) [tr. Malleson (1877)]
(Source)

Alt. trans.: "Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."

Bernard, Claude -- An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale] (1865)

Dave — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:15:29 +0000

Indeed, proof that a given condition always precedes or accompanies a phenomenon does not warrant concluding with certainty that a given condition is the immediate cause of that phenomenon. It must still be established that when this condition is removed, the phenomenon will no longer appear.

Claude Bernard (1813-1878) French physiologist, scientist
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale] (1865)

Bernard, Claude -- An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale] (1865)

Dave — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 19:28:07 +0000

Theories are only verified hypotheses, verified by more or less numerous facts. Those verified by the most facts are the best, but even then they are never final, never to be absolutely believed.

Claude Bernard (1813-1878) French physiologist, scientist
An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine [Introduction à l’Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale] (1865)

Verne, Jules -- Journey to the Center of the Earth [Voyage au centre de la Terre], ch. 30 [Liedenbrock] (1864)

Dave — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 17:46:54 +0000

Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which is was good to fall into, for they led to the truth.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
Journey to the Center of the Earth [Voyage au centre de la Terre], ch. 30 [Liedenbrock] (1864)
(Source)

Alt. trans.: "Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."

Novella, Seven -- The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe Podcast, #292 (16 Feb 2011)

Dave — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 14:26:27 +0000

What do you think science is? There is nothing magical about science. It is simply a systematic way for carefully and thoroughly observing nature and using consistent logic to evaluate results. So which part of that exactly do you disagree with? Do you disagree with being thorough? Using careful observation? Being systematic? Or using consistent logic?

Steven Novella (b. 1964) American clinical neurologist, academic, skeptic
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe Podcast, #292 (16 Feb 2011)
(Source)

Storr, Anthony -- Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners and Madmen, ch. 10 (1996)

Dave — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:06:28 +0000

There should be no articles of faith in science, unless it be the faith that no discovery, no law, is so absolute that it cannot be superseded.

Anthony Storr (1920-2001) English psychiatrist and author
Feet of Clay: Saints, Sinners and Madmen, ch. 10 (1996)
(Source)

Huxley, T. H. -- “Science and Religion,” lecture (Dec 1858)

Dave — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:22:23 +0000

The great and peculiar benefit which a fair course of scientific study confers, even on those who do not follow it as a profession, is that it compels such a firm and entire faith in our mental processes, so far as their range extends, that it teaches us what this range is, and enables us to distinguish between the natural and the artificial limitations of man’s powers. And let me bid you remember that this faith does not rest upon mere testimony, however respectable, however solemnly supported. The works of science are her witness. Her age of inspiration and of miracles is not over, but beginning, and its duration will be coeval with that of the intellect of man. Nor is access to her deepest secrets restricted to a race or to a priesthood. Every man can, if he pleases, apply to the sources of all scientific knowledge directly, and verify for himself the conclusions of others. In science, faith is based solely on the assent of the intellect; and the most complete submission to ascertained truth is wholly voluntary, because it is accompanied by perfect freedom, nay, by every encouragement, to test and try that truth to the uttermost.

T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“Science and Religion,” lecture (Dec 1858)
(Source)

Quoted in The Government School of Mines, The Builder (Jan 1859)

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

Dave — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 13:01:28 +0000

If you have a good scientific imagination, you can think of all sorts of things that might be true, and that’s the essence of science. You first think of something that might be true — then you look to see if it is, and generally it isn’t.

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].

Huxley, T. H. -- “On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge” (1870)

Dave — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 13:57:17 +0000

The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.

T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge” (1870)

Bronowski, Jacob -- The Ascent of Man ch. 4 (1973)

Dave — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:11:57 +0000

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

Jacob Bronowski (1908-1974) Polish-English humanist and mathematician
The Ascent of Man ch. 4 (1973)

Descartes, René -- Discourse on Method [Discours de la méthode], Part 3 (1637) [tr. Haldane & Ross (1911)]

Dave — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:57:12 +0000

Not that indeed I imitated the sceptics, who only doubt for the sake of doubting, and pretend to be always uncertain; for, on the contrary, my design was only to provide myself with good ground for assurance, and to reject the quicksand and mud in order to find the rock or clay.

[Non que j’imitasse pour cela les sceptiques, qui ne doutent que pour douter, et affectent d’être toujours irrésolus; car, au contraire, tout mon dessein ne tendoit qu’à m’assurer, et à rejeter la terre mouvante et le sable pour trouver le roc ou l’argile.]

René Descartes (1596-1650) French philosopher, mathematician
Discourse on Method [Discours de la méthode], Part 3 (1637) [tr. Haldane & Ross (1911)]
(Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Not that I therein imitated the Scepticks, who doubt onely to the end they may doubt, and affect to be always unresolved: For on the contrary, all my designe tended onely to fix my self, and to avoid quick-mires and sands, that I might finde rock and clay.
[tr. Newcombe ed. (1649)]

Not that in this I imitated the sceptics who doubt only that they may doubt, and seek nothing beyond uncertainty itself; for, on the contrary, my design was singly to find ground of assurance, and cast aside the loose earth and sand, that I might reach the rock or the clay.
[tr. Veitch (1901)]

For all that, I did not imitate the sceptics who doubt only for doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the contrary, my whole intention was to arrive at a certainty, and to dig away the drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay beneath.
[tr. Huxley (1870)]

In doing this I was not copying the sceptics, who doubt only for the sake of doubting and pretend to be always undecided; on the contrary, my whole aim was to reach certainty -- to cast aside the loose earth and sand so as to come upon rock or clay.
[tr. Cottingham, Stoothoff (1985)]

Feynman, Richard -- “Cargo Cult Science,” commencement address, California Institute of Technology (1974)

Dave — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:32:52 +0000

But there is one feature I notice that is generally missing in Cargo Cult Science. That is the idea that we all hope you have learned in studying science in school — we never explicitly say what this is, but just hope that you catch on by all the examples of scientific investigation. It is interesting, therefore, to bring it out now and speak of it explicitly. It’s a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty — a kind of leaning over backwards. For example, if you’re doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid — not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you’ve eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked — to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
“Cargo Cult Science,” commencement address, California Institute of Technology (1974)
(Source)

Feynman, Richard -- The Character of Physical Law, ch 7 “Seeking New Laws” (1965)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The inexperienced, and crackpots, and people like that, make guesses that are simple, but you can immediately see that they are wrong, so that does not count. Others, the inexperienced students, make guesses that are very complicated, and it sort of looks as if it is all right, but I know it is not true because the truth always turns out to be simpler than you thought.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist
The Character of Physical Law, ch 7 “Seeking New Laws” (1965)
(Source)

Huxley, T. H. -- “The Coming of Age of The Origin of Species,” lecture, Royal Institution (19 Mar 1880)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

History warns us, however, that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions; and, as matters now stand, it is hardly rash to anticipate that, in another twenty years, the new generation, educated under the influences of the present day, will be in danger of accepting the main doctrines of the ‘Origin of Species’ with as little reflection, and it may be with as little justification, as so many of our contemporaries, twenty years ago, rejected them. Against any such a consummation let us all devoutly pray; for the scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

T. H. Huxley (1825-1895) English biologist [Thomas Henry Huxley]
“The Coming of Age of The Origin of Species,” lecture, Royal Institution (19 Mar 1880)
(Source)

First printed in Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science (6 May 1880).