I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery has its own beauty.

I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory.

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

We believe the substance we have extracted from pitchblende contains a metal not yet observed, related to bismuth by its analytical properties. If the existence of this new metal is confirmed we propose to call it polonium, from the name of the original country of one of us.

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.

Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.