Hendrik Poinar Quotes

I have always focused on basic research, motivated by a desire to understand the world.

No one undertakes research in physics with the intention of winning a prize. It is the joy of discovering something no one knew before.

In science, every question answered leads to 10 more. I love that science can never, ever be finished. From a young age, people think, 'Science is hard and boring.' We don't tell children, 'Yes, you have to learn these formulae and theorems, but then you go on to learn about nuclear reactions and stars.'

Science is to do research because of the target's fascinating and interesting characteristics.

I love researching. That's one of my favorite parts about school.

I got into science because I thought that, with inspiration and hard work, I could figure out how life works.

The feeling of being interested can act as a kind of neurological signal, directing us to fruitful areas of inquiry.

I love learning new things that will never be put to practical use.

Creatures whose mainspring is curiosity enjoy the accumulating of facts far more than the pausing at times to reflect on those facts.

I have always gotten a thrill, a kick, from learning new things.

People go into science out of curiosity, not to win awards. But scientists are human and have ambitions.

That men have an interest in knowing the world which surrounds them, and consequently that their reflection should have been applied to it at an early date, is something that everyone will readily admit.

We are driven by the usual insatiable curiosity of the scientist, and our work is a delightful game.

Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.

To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.

We didn't set out to be educators or even scientists, and we don't purport that what we do is real science but we're demonstrating a methodology by which one can engage and satisfy your curiosity.

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

I really love research. It's one of the things I love most about my job. I feel like it's me in the lab cooking up the character.

There is nothing so captivating as new knowledge.

People who look for the first time through a microscope say, 'Now I see this, and then I see that,' and even a skilled observer can be fooled. On these observations I have spent more time than many will believe, but I have done them with joy, and I have taken no notice of those who have said, 'Why take so much trouble,' and, 'What good is it?'

Kids come out of the chute liking science. They ask, 'How come? Why? What's this?' They pick up stuff to examine it. We might not call that science, but it's discovering the world around us.

It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they were found because it was possible to find them.

That's sort of my mindset, more than anything else, whenever I get into anything new. I'm in this constant pursuit for new knowledge. I think I sometimes focus more on all the things that I don't know and what I'm trying to figure out.

Those people have no real interest in a science who only begin to get excited about it when they themselves have made discoveries in it.

When curiosity turns to serious matters, it's called research.