Sean M. Carroll Quotes

When it comes to art and science, people don't like a lot of either. Instead of being open to it, they're closed off about it.

I think it's important to view the issues on the broadest possible reference plane. In fact, if you firmly believe in any issue, I urge you to read the opposite of it. Most of the time, it'll merely reinforce your original beliefs, but on the rare occasion, it might change your mind.

I enjoy being around people who disagree with me; and I enjoy being in non-political contexts and activities.

The intellectually sophisticated person is indifferent to all genuine individuality, because relationships and reactions result from it which cannot be exhausted with logical operations.

Now, that is in a way also what scientists are trying to do they're trying to get people to see that the world can be represented in an alternative way and that it's right.

Beware of the person of one book.

Although born in a prosperous realm, we did not believe that its boundaries should limit our knowledge, and that the lore of the East should alone enlighten us.

Physics is perceived as a lonesome, nerdy kind of enterprise that has very little to do with human feelings and the things that excite people day-to-day about each other. Yet physicists in their own working environment are very social creatures.

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.

I like to think that I have no single view nor any single situation that I think things arrive from. I try to give examples of what I think are interesting questions for me.

I have done one thing that I think is a contribution: I helped Buddhist science and modern science combine. No other Buddhist has done that. Other lamas, I don't think they ever pay attention to modern science. Since my childhood, I have a keen interest.

The best scientists that I've met are those that are humanists and scientists at the same time.

I think intelligence basically can be in a way defined by the possibility of having two opposite ideas living together and at the same time functioning. That's why I think a smart script has two things living in the same place, and they're absolutely contradictory.

Being intellectually hospitable is a virtue that I bring into the interview space.

I think that probably the most important thing about our education was that it taught us to question even those things we thought we knew. To say you've got to inquire, you've got to be testing your knowledge all the time in order to be more effective in what you're doing.

My idea of an educated person is one who can converse on one subject for more than two minutes.

I discovered how science is truly a universal language, one that forges new connections among individuals and opens the mind to ideas that go far beyond the classroom.

The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

Part of the scientific temperament is this tolerance for holding multiple hypotheses in mind at the same time.

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

I'm a huge believer in learning anything from multiple points of view.

The brainy class is made up of individuals who think for themselves and beyond formal education are continuous learners who tend to be self-taught.

Disagreements are one of the fundamental positive aspects of science.

Instead of being able to look at smaller interesting research projects, I am trying to see the links between all the research NASA does. For me, that's extremely fun because I get to go play and learn about areas of science that I know nothing about.

I think the main lesson that I have learned is that a good scientist is a humble scientist who is open-minded to listen to other scientists when they discover something.