All serious innovation is only rendered possible by some accident enabling unpopular persons to survive.

We are ... led to a somewhat vague distinction between what we may call "hard" data and "soft" data. This distinction is a matter of degree, and must not be pressed; but if not taken too seriously it may help to make the situation clear. I mean by "hard" data those which resist the solvent influence of critical reflection, and by "soft" data those which, under the operation of this process, become to our minds more or less doubtful.

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.

There was, I think, never any reason to believe in any innate superiority of the male, except his superior muscle.

Skilled work, of no matter what kind, is only done well by those who take a certain pleasure in it, quite apart from its utility, either to themselves in earning a living, or to the world through its outcome.

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.