Nothing in this world is to be feared... only understood.

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.

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.

Life is not easy for any for us.

It is my earnest desire that some of you should carry on this scientific work and keep for your ambition the determination to make a permanent contribution to science.

After all, science is essentially international, and it is only through lack of the historical sense that national qualities have been attributed to it.

The older one gets, the more one feels that the present must be enjoyed; it is a precious gift, comparable to a state of grace