In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with
a certain alienated majesty.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
From an individual exceptional man alone is any great addition to be expected to a sum of
original conceptions. Who could imagine Faraday as cooperating!?
—Theodore William Richards, 1902
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
—Walter Bagehot, 1884
The human likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein, and it resists it
with a similar energy.
—Wilfred Trotter, 1941
2
Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down
their throats.
—Howard H. Aiken, 1987
We don’t believe anything we don’t want to believe.
—Theodore Sturgeon, 1953
It takes years to drive an idea through a quarter-inch of human skull.
—Charles F. Kettering, 1961
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see
the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up
that is familiar with it.
—Max Planck, 1950
3
Whenever a new and startling fact in brought to the light in science, people first say, ‘it is
not true’, then ‘it is contrary to religion’, and lastly, ‘everybody knew that before’.
—Louis Agassiz
4
***
An ingenious conjecture greatly shortens the road.
—Gottfried Leibniz, 1685
Intuition isn’t the enemy, but the ally, of reason.
—John Kord Lagemann, 1955
2
A later paraphrase of this quote by P. B. Medawar is even more popular.
3
A popular shorter (anonymous?) paraphrase of this aphorism is: “Science advances one funeral at
a time”.
4
As quoted in 1863 by Charles Lyell. This famous maxim, possibly based on an earlier (circa
1819) line by Arthur Schopenhauer, was paraphrased later by William James (in 1907), W. I. B.
Beveridge (in 1955), J. B. S. Haldane (in 1963), Arthur C. Clarke (in 1968), Dorothy Maud
Wrinch, and probably many others.
4
On Discoveries, Problems, and Solutions
a certain alienated majesty.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
From an individual exceptional man alone is any great addition to be expected to a sum of
original conceptions. Who could imagine Faraday as cooperating!?
—Theodore William Richards, 1902
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
—Walter Bagehot, 1884
The human likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein, and it resists it
with a similar energy.
—Wilfred Trotter, 1941
2
Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down
their throats.
—Howard H. Aiken, 1987
We don’t believe anything we don’t want to believe.
—Theodore Sturgeon, 1953
It takes years to drive an idea through a quarter-inch of human skull.
—Charles F. Kettering, 1961
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see
the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up
that is familiar with it.
—Max Planck, 1950
3
Whenever a new and startling fact in brought to the light in science, people first say, ‘it is
not true’, then ‘it is contrary to religion’, and lastly, ‘everybody knew that before’.
—Louis Agassiz
4
***
An ingenious conjecture greatly shortens the road.
—Gottfried Leibniz, 1685
Intuition isn’t the enemy, but the ally, of reason.
—John Kord Lagemann, 1955
2
A later paraphrase of this quote by P. B. Medawar is even more popular.
3
A popular shorter (anonymous?) paraphrase of this aphorism is: “Science advances one funeral at
a time”.
4
As quoted in 1863 by Charles Lyell. This famous maxim, possibly based on an earlier (circa
1819) line by Arthur Schopenhauer, was paraphrased later by William James (in 1907), W. I. B.
Beveridge (in 1955), J. B. S. Haldane (in 1963), Arthur C. Clarke (in 1968), Dorothy Maud
Wrinch, and probably many others.
4
On Discoveries, Problems, and Solutions