Science Increases Our Power In Proportion As

It Is What We Know Already That Often Prevents Us From Learning.

We Must Keep Our Freedom Of Mind, ... And Must Believe That In Nature What Is Absurd, According To Our Theories, Is Not Always Impossible.

To Be Worthy Of The Name, An Experimenter Must Be At Once Theorist And Practitioner. While He Must Completely Master The Art Of Establishing Experimental Facts, Which Are The Materials Of Science, He Must Also Clearly Understand The Scientific Principles Which Guide His Reasoning Through The Varied Experimental Study Of Natural Phenomena. We Cannot Separate These Two Things: Head And Hand. An Able Hand, Without A Head To Direct It, Is A Blind Tool; The Head Is Powerless Without Its Executive Hand.

Ardent Desire For Knowledge, In Fact, Is The One Motive Attracting And Supporting Investigators In Their Efforts; And Just This Knowledge, Really Grasped And Yet Always Flying Before Them, Becomes At Once Their Sole Torment And Their Sole Happiness. Those Who Do Not Know The Torment Of The Unknown Cannot Have The Joy Of Discovery Which Is Certainly The Liveliest That The Mind Of Man Can Ever Feel.

It Is Impossible To Devise An Experiment Without A Preconceived Idea; Devising An Experiment, We Said, Is Putting A Question; We Never Conceive A Question Without An Idea Which Invites An Answer. I Consider It, Therefore, An Absolute Principle That Experiments Must Always Be Devised In View Of A Preconceived Idea, No Matter If The Idea Be Not Very Clear Nor Very Well Defined.