Charles Sanders Peirce Quotes

Some men covet knowledge out of a natural curiosity and inquisitive temper; some to entertain the mind with variety and delight; some for ornament and reputation; some for victory and contention; many for lucre and a livelihood; and but few for employing the Divine gift of reason to the use and benefit of mankind.

Curiosity is what separates us from the cabbages. It's accelerative. The more we know, the more we want to know.

If one has curiosity, then one stands the chance of attain a high level of scientific inquiry.

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child.

The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.

Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.

Pursue science because it is knowledge, because it broadens our horizons. There is so much more to be discovered.

there is no reason why anyone should understand how it works… and of course no reason why anyone should care … unless you are curious, in which case I love you, for curiosity about the world and all its corners is a beautiful thing.

This attitude of mind - this attitude of uncertainty - is vital to the scientist, and it is this attitude of mind which the student must first acquire. It becomes a habit of thought. Once acquired, we cannot retreat from it anymore.

We're in a world now where it's not enough to be smart. You have to be curious.

To be fond of learning is near to wisdom.

I suppose without curiosity a man would be a tortoise. Very comfortable life, a tortoise has.

You have to have curiosity in life. The moment you don't have any more curiosity, then don't do anything. Retire and stay in your house.

I mean, how would anyone learn anything if they weren't curious? How would scientists make discoveries? -- We all have the right to be different, don't we?

Ardent desire for knowledge, in fact, is the one motive attracting and supporting investigators in their efforts; and just this knowledge, really grasped and yet always flying before them, becomes at once their sole torment and their sole happiness. Those who do not know the torment of the unknown cannot have the joy of discovery which is certainly the liveliest that the mind of man can ever feel.

Curiosity, or the love of knowledge, has a very limited influence, and requires youth, leisure education, genius and example to make it govern any person

Ignorance is the mother of research.

Upon this first, and in one sense this sole, rule of reason, that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to think, there follows one corollary which itself deserves to be inscribed upon every wall of the city of philosophy: Do not block the way of inquiry.

We know next to nothing about virtually everything. It is not necessary to know the origin of the universe; it is necessary to want to know. Civilization depends not on any particular knowledge, but on the disposition to crave knowledge

I longed to read everything I possibly could, and the things I read in turn produced new yearnings.

Knowledge is praised and desired by multitudes whom her charms could never rouse from the couch of sloth; whom the faintest invitation of pleasure draws away from their studies; to whom any other method of wearing the day is more eligible than the use of books, and who are more easily engaged by any conversation than such as may rectify their notions or enlarge their comprehension.

I think a part of evolution is the desire to know yourself, and know the world you live in, and discover everything you can about the world you live in. That world can be the microcosm of your own emotions, or a society, or the cosmos. There's this constant desire for knowledge.

Itch to read, scratch to understand.

The important thing is to never stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity.

Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists.