The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanations of complex facts. We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest. The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, ‘Seek simplicity and distrust it.
The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment... We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet’s father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it.
I would be a billionaire if I was looking to be a selfish boss. That’s not me.
The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.
Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.
The point about zero is that we do not need to use it in the operation of daily life. No one goes out to buy zero fish.
If a dog jumps into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.
The misconception which has haunted philosophic literature throughout the centuries is the notion of ‘independent existence.’ There is no such mode of existence; every entity is to be understood in terms of the way it is interwoven with the rest of the universe.
From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the joy of discovery.
Dogmatism is the anti-Christ of learning.
Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct form ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended.
Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.