Rebecca Solnit Quotes

Let's just say I was testing the bounds of reality. I was curious to see what would happen. That's all it was curiosity.

There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment.

Uncertainty is intrinsic to the process of finding out what you don't know, not a weakness to avoid.

In order to find, you must first search.

I shall be obliged to wander to the right and to the left, that I may investigate and discover the truth.

Exploration is what you do when you don't know what you're doing. That's what scientists do every day. If a scientist already knew what they were doing, they wouldn't be discovering anything, because they already knew what they were doing.

If I had the choice of knowing the truth or searching for the truth, I'd take the search.

Children and scientists share an outlook on life. If I do this, what will happen? is both the motto of the child at play and the defining refrain of the physical scientist. ... The unfamiliar and the strange - these are the domain of all children and scientists.

I was curious what would happen.

A true scientist is bored by knowledge; it is the assault on ignorance that motivates him - the mysteries that previous discoveries have revealed.

Research means that you don't know, but are willing to find out.

We're out there somewhere between the known and the unknown, trying to reel in both for a closer look.

Science is about applying what we know and asking what we don't know.

One of the greatest joys known to man is to take a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge.

Science is exploration. The fundamental nature of exploration is that we don't know what's there. We can guess and hope and aim to find out certain things, but we have to expect surprises.

Uncertainty is a very good thing: it's the beginning of an investigation, and the investigation should never end.

Science is always inquiring.

And what I wanted to do was, I wanted to explore problems and areas where we didn't have answers. In fact, where we didn't even know the right questions to ask.

I enjoy science, and I'm a very curious person. I always want to know the reason behind everything, big or small.

Curiosity is the essence of human existence. 'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'... I don't know. I don't have any answers to those questions. I don't know what's over there around the corner. But I want to find out.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?

I don't think you want to give all the answers, but I think every answer you do give should bring up another question, and not all questions should be answered.

I was always interested in figuring things out. I'd do experiments, like combining things I found around the house to see what would happen if I put them together.

Science is curiosity, testing and experimenting.

The fundamental essence of science, which I think we've lost in our education system, is poking something with a stick and seeing what happens. Embrace that process of inquiry.