Whitman, Walt -- Remark to the author (4 May 1888), Horace Traubel, Walt...
I like the scientific spirit — the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine — it always keeps the way...
View ArticleBrandeis, Louis -- New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 311 (1932) [dissent]
It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to...
View ArticleBernard, Claude -- An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine...
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...
View ArticleKettering, Charles F. -- (Attributed)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . Every great improvement has come after repeated failures. Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are...
View ArticlePratchett, Terry -- Lords and Ladies (1992)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat...
View ArticleKettering, Charles F. -- (Attributed)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.
View ArticleEdison, Thomas Alva -- Remarks to M. A. Rosanoff, “Edison in His Laboratory,”...
If there is such a thing as luck, then I must be the most unlucky fellow in the world. I’ve never once made a lucky strike in all my life. When I get after something I need, I start finding everything...
View ArticleNicoll, James -- “SCHRODINGER’S CAT??” sci.physics, Usenet (11 Mar 1992)
Look, I tried the cat experiment. On the third trial, the cat was dead. On each of the subsequent 413 trials, it remained dead. Am I doing something wrong? James Nicoll (b. 1961) Canadian reviewer,...
View ArticleStevenson, Robert Louis -- Virginibus Puerisque, ch. 2 “Crabbed Age and...
Give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poetVirginibus Puerisque, ch. 2 “Crabbed Age and Youth” (1881)
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Verne, Jules -- Journey to the Center of the Earth, ch. 31 (1864) [tr....
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...
View ArticleEmerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Circles,” Essays: First Series (1841)
No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet“Circles,” Essays: First...
View ArticleEmerson, Ralph Waldo -- Journal (1842)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a...
View ArticleEmerson, Ralph Waldo -- “Experience,” Essays: Second Series (1844)
That which we call sin in others, is experiment for us. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet“Experience,” Essays: Second Series (1844)
View ArticleAdams, Douglas -- Speech, Digital Biota 2 conference, Cambridge, UK (Sep 1998)
If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non-working cat. Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English writerSpeech, Digital Biota 2 conference, Cambridge,...
View ArticlePinker, Steven -- Words and Rules, ch. 4 (1999)
As an experimental psychologist, I have been trained not to believe anything unless it can be demonstrated in the laboratory on rats or sophomores. Steven Pinker (b. 1954) Canadian-American cognitive...
View ArticleNicoll, James -- Usenet post, “SCHRODINGER’S CAT??” sci.physics (11 Mar 1992)
Look, I tried the cat experiment. On the third trial, the cat was dead. On each of the subsequent 413 trials, it remained dead. Am I doing something wrong? James Nicoll (b. 1961) Canadian reviewer,...
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