In the realm of scientific observation, luck is granted only to those who are prepared.

Preconceived ideas are like searchlights which illumine the path of the experimenter and serve him as a guide to interrogate nature. They become a danger only if he transforms them into fixed ideas-this is why I should like to see these profound words inscribed on the threshold of all the temples of science: 'The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.'

Without theory, practice is but routine born of habit. Theory alone can bring forth and develop the spirit of invention. ... [Do not] share the opinion of those narrow minds who disdain everything in science which has not an immediate application. ... A theoretical discovery has but the merit of its existence: it awakens hope, and that is all. But let it be cultivated, let it grow, and you will see what it will become.

If you suppress laboratories, physical science will be stricken with barrenness and death.

Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.

Posterity will one day laugh at the foolishness of modern materialistic philosophers.

The greatest malfunction of spirit is to believe things.