A centre of excellence is, by definition, a place where second class people may perform first class work.

I will simply express my strong belief, that that point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all, not only in things of natural philosophy, but in every department of dally life.

Work, finish, publish.

I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.

Now I must take you to a very interesting part of our subject-to the relation between the combustion of a candle and that living kind of combustion which goes on within us. In every one of us there is a living process of combustion going on very similar to that of a candle, and I must try to make that plain to you. For it is not merely true in a poetical sense-the relation of the life of man to a taper; and if you will follow, I think I can make this clear.

The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.

Nature is our kindest friend and best critic in experimental science if we only allow her intimations to fall unbiased on our minds.