The true method of discovery is like the flight of an aeroplane. It starts from the ground of particular observation; it makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization; and it again lands for renewed observation rendered acute by rational interpretation.
Inventive genius requires pleasurable mental activity as a condition for its vigorous exercise
It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.
Education with inert ideas is not only useless; it is above all things harmful.
Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of insignificance.
Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought.
It is more important that a proposition be interesting than that it be true. This statement is almost a tautology. For the energy of operation of a proposition in an occasion of experience is its interest and is its importance. But of course a true proposition is more apt to be interesting than a false one.
Above all things we must be aware of what I will call 'inert ideas' - that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.
Style, in its finest sense, is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also the most useful. It pervades the whole being.
Learning is often spoken of as if we are watching the open pages of all the books which we have ever read, and then, when occasion arises, we select the right page to read aloud to the universe.
Common sense is genius in homespun.
There is no nature in an instant.
It does not matter what men say in words, so long as their activities are controlled by settled instincts. The words may ultimately destroy the instincts; but until this has occurred, words do not count.
Spoken language is merely a series of squeaks.
The science of pure mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit.
Governments are best classified by considering who are the 'somebodies' they are in fact endeavouring to satisfy.
...the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity.
There is no more common error than to assume that, because prolonged and accurate mathematical calculations have been made, the application of the result to some fact of nature is absolutely certain.
War can protect; it cannot create.
With the sense of sight, the idea communicates the emotion, whereas, with sound, the emotion communicates the idea, which is more direct and therefore more powerful.
A great society is a society in which its men of business think greatly of their functions.
Education which is not modern share the fate of all organic things which are kept too long.
A clash of doctrine is not a disaster, it is an opportunity.
Speak out in acts; the time for words has passed, and only deeds will suffice.
A man of science doesn't discover in order to know, he wants to know in order to discover.
Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends
or simply: