The loveliest theories are being overthrown by these damned experiments; it's no fun being a chemist anymore.

The secret of all those who make discoveries is that they regard nothing as impossible.

Observation is like a piece of glass, which, as a mirror, must be very smooth, and must be very carefully polished, in order that it may reflect the image pure and undistorted.

We may fairly judge of the commercial prosperity of a country from the amount of sulphuric acid it consumes.

I have learnt that all our theories are not Truth itself, but resting places or stages on the way to the conquest of Truth, and that we must be contented to have obtained for the strivers after Truth such a resting place which, if it is on a mountain, permits us to view the provinces already won and those still to be conquered.

The more fodder, the more flesh; the more flesh, the more manure; the more manure, the more grain.

The progress of mankind is due exclusively to the progress of natural sciences, not to morals, religion or philosophy.