Robert Hofstadter Quotes

Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men.

If we go back to the moon, we're guaranteed second, maybe third place because while we are spending all that money, Russia has its eye on Mars. Landing people on the moon will be terribly consuming of resources we don't have. It sounds great - 'Let's go back. This time we're going to stay.' I don't know why you would want to stay on the moon.

The service of philosophy, of speculative culture, towards the human spirit, is to rouse, to startle it to a life of constant and eager observation.

My reading of philosophy and history is desultory; I know so much and yet so little.

Priorities have to be allocated by the government because they have a complete picture of the country's requirements. If priority is allocated to a manned space programme, I'm confident we can swing it. But it's going to be tremendously expensive - the infrastructure and so on.

To decide to become a philosopher seemed as foolish to me as to decide to become a poet.

Young children are naturally so philosophical. They ask: 'What is real? What is truth?' They have to learn it; they don't automatically know it. To them, it's a game. You can study this for years in college, and yet you probably asked it when you were four or five years old.

The true function of philosophy is to educate us in the principles of reasoning and not to put an end to further reasoning by the introduction of fixed conclusions.

How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.

Scientists learn about the world in three ways: They analyze statistical patterns in the data, they do experiments, and they learn from the data and ideas of other scientists. The recent studies show that children also learn in these ways.

Human education is concerned with certain changes in the intellects, characters and behavior of men, its problems being roughly included under these four topics: Aims, materials, means and methods.

The history of thought may be summed up in these words: it is absurd by what it seeks and great by what it finds.

Economists who have studied the relationship between education and economic growth confirm what common sense suggests: The number of college degrees is not nearly as important as how well students develop cognitive skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving ability.

Businesses must invest in products and people in order to create new wealth.

Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.

Scientific research is one of the most exciting and rewarding of occupations.

To me, part of the magic of this era is that the very same innovations, discoveries, and technologies that are allowing us to live longer, healthier lives are also creating a healthier economy.

We shall never get people whose time is money to take much interest in atoms.

Ideas emerge when a part of the real or imagined world is studied for its own sake.

For the progress of scientific knowledge will lead to a constant increase of expenditure.

Mere population size has been no indicator of economic or military clout.

And seek for truth in the groves of Academy

There is no question but … science is the weakest in the lands of Islam. The dangers of this weakness cannot be overemphasized since honorable survival of a society depends directly on strength in science and technology …

Education is the foundation of social progress and economic development.

I can get billions of dollars with comparative ease, but when I get down to the practical proposition about personnel … all of those billions are futile unless you provide the highly trained personnel.