It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they were found because it was possible to find them.

To know anything well involves a profound sensation of ignorance.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

The foolish man conceives the idea of ‚self.‘ The wise man sees there is no ground on which to build the idea of ‚self;‘ thus, he has a right conception of the world and well concludes that all compounds amassed by sorrow will be dissolved again, but the truth will remain.

Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.

I’m not the sort of person who gives up on things. The first time we crossed the Atlantic in the balloon, it crashed, and we went on and did the Pacific. First time we crossed the Atlantic in a boat, it sank, and we went on and got the record. So, generally speaking, we will pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down, and carry on.

The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.

For me, when you are have people wondering what is next, what is coming out, you are on the right track.

Every time I say something that’s extremely truthful out loud, it literally breaks the Internet.

Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe.

There may not be one Truth – there may be several truths – but saying that is not to say that reality doesn’t exist.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

We are not to give credit to the many, who say that none ought to be educated but the free; but rather to the philosophers, who say that the well-educated alone are free.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate.

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not.

Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.

To discover and know has always been a deep tendency of our nature. Can we not recognize it already in caveman?

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

Creationists make it sound as though a ‚theory‘ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

Intense feeling too often obscures the truth.

Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it’s to be true and not cover up the cracks.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

Knowledge slowly builds up what Ignorance in an hour pulls down.

An example I often use to illustrate the reality of vanity, is this: look at the peacock; it’s beautiful if you look at it from the front. But if you look at it from behind, you discover the truth… Whoever gives in to such self-absorbed vanity has huge misery hiding inside them.

A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth, to say no. That’s where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It’s having backbone.

Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn’t happen.

I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.

Today, we’re still loaded down – and, to some extent, embarrassed – by ancient myths, but we respect them as part of the same impulse that has led to the modern, scientific kind of myth. But we now have the opportunity to discover, for the first time, the way the universe is in fact constructed as opposed to how we would wish it to be constructed.

What’s important in Libya is, first of all, it has a good deal of oil. A lot of the country is unexplored; there may be a lot more. And it’s very high-quality oil, so very valuable.

Collecting facts is important. Knowledge is important. But if you don’t have an imagination to use the knowledge, civilization is nowhere.

Quarks came in a number of varieties – in fact, at first, only three were needed to explain all the hundreds of particles and the different kinds of quarks – they are called u-type, d-type, s-type.

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.

Can the mind see the truth of its own incapacity to know the unknown? Surely if I see very clearly that my mind cannot know the unknown, there is absolute quietness.

Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.

I have discovered that my interest in my dear pupil, Mabel, has ripened into a far deeper feeling than that of mere friendship. In fact, I know that I have learned to love her very sincerely.

Falsehood has an infinity of combinations, but truth has only one mode of being.

After having dispatched a meal, I went ashore, and found no habitation save a single house, and that without an occupant; we had no doubt that the people had fled in terror at our approach, as the house was completely furnished.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

You can know or not know how a car runs and still enjoy riding in a car.

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.

I love that I can tell the truth and have people laugh at it.

The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.

If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people – including me – would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

My desire was not to pass any island without taking possession, so that, one having been taken, the same may be said of all.

As long as you know men are like children, you know everything!

Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper.

Nothing is more noble, nothing more venerable than fidelity. Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

I have a big following among the biogeeks of this world. Nobody ever puts them in books.