Willard Van Orman Quine Quotes

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself.

It is not his possession of knowledge, of irrefutable truth, that makes the man of science, but his persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth.

The doubter is a true man of science: he doubts only himself and his interpretations, but he believes in science.

When scientifically investigating the natural world, the only thing worse than a blind believer is a seeing denier.

Science is not a body of facts. Science is a state of mind. It is a way of viewing the world, of facing reality square on but taking nothing on its face. It is about attacking a problem with the most manicured of claws and tearing it down into sensible, edible pieces.

Science is the tool of the Western mind and with it more doors can be opened than with bare hands.

It is in the best interests of civilization and our economy and our nation to understand what objective truths are as revealed by the methods and tools of science.

Skepticism is not an end in itself; it is a tool for the discovery of truths.

Science ... looks skeptically at all claims to knowledge, old and new. It teaches not blind obedience to those in authority but to vigorous debate, and in many respects that's the secret of its success.

I learned quickly, as I tell my graduate students now, there are no answers in the back of the book when the equipment doesn't work or the measurements look strange.

The scientist is a lover of truth for the very love of truth itself, wherever it may lead.

Science is not a thing. It's a verb. It's a way of thinking about things. It's a way of looking for natural explanations for all phenomena.

Science is nothing, but trained and organized common sense.

True science is never speculative; it employs hypotheses as suggesting points for inquiry, but it never adopts the hypotheses as though they were demonstrated propositions.

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.

The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.

We must revisit the idea that science is a methodology and not an ontology.

I like solving problems, and science provides a logical way of solving real-life problems.

The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, seek simplicity and distrust it.

My colleagues have learned to respect nothing but evidence, and to believe that their highest duty lies in submitting to it, however it may jar against their inclinations.

Something my father dearly loved is the scientific method, and it's founded in this element of humility. The idea is that you pursue the truth wherever it goes; you need to evidence, and you can - you see if it's repeatable.

Educated guesswork' is what science is. You form hypotheses, test them against the evidence, and if they fit the evidence, you can assume you've got close to the truth.

The scientist is indistinguishable from the common man in his sense of evidence, except that the scientist is more careful.

If there is any consistent enemy of science, it is not religion, but irrationalism.