It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth.

Our Scottish theory ... is that every country has need of Scotchmen, but that Scotland has no need of the citizens of any other country.

Ask with urgency and passion.

But science is the great instrument of social change, all the greater because its object is not change but knowledge, and its silent appropriation of this dominant function, amid the din of political and religious strife, is the most vital of all the revolutions which have marked the development of modern civilisation.

Science preceded the theory of science, and is independent of it. Science preceded naturalism, and will survive it.

I am more or less happy when being praised, not very comfortable when being abused, but I have moments of uneasiness when being explained.

There are plenty of cases of war being begun before it is declared.