Faith in the possibility of science, generated antecedently to the development of modern scientific theory, is an unconscious derivative from medieval theology.

The ultimate metaphysical ground is the creative advance into novelty.

The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanation of complex facts... Seek simplicity and distrust it.

Other nations of different habits are not enemies: they are godsends. Men require of their neighbours something sufficiently akin to be understood, something sufficiently different to provoke attention, and something great enough to command admiration. We must not expect, however, all the virtues.

The progress of Science consists in observing interconnections and in showing with a patient ingenuity that the events of this ever-shifting world are but examples of a few general relations, called laws. To see what is general in what is particular, and what is permanent in what is transitory, is the aim of scientific thought.

Nature, even in the act of satisfying anticipation, often provides a surprise.

Speech is human nature itself, with none of the artificiality of written language.