Science Value Quotes

Tolstoi explains somewhere in his writings why, in his opinion, “Science for Science's sake” is an absurd conception. We cannot know all the facts, since they are practically infinite in number. We must make a selection. Is it not better to be guided by utility, by our practical, and more especially our moral, necessities?

Science as an intellectual exercise enriches our culture, and is in itself ennobling.

Moreover, only a strong and united scientific opinion imposing the intrinsic value of scientific progress on society at large can elicit the support of scientific inquiry by the general public.

Physics is the most fundamental, and least significant, of the sciences.

The public hears that we're Number 1 in science and they want to know why that fact isn't making their lives better.

One day we're going to look back, and whatever this era will get called, it's going to put a premium on math and science.

Science is not ... a perfect instrument, but it is a superb and invaluable tool that works harm only when taken as an end in itself.

For science is ... like virtue, its own exceeding great reward.

I would like people to appreciate science in the same way they appreciate the arts.

The real value of science is in the getting, and those who have tasted the pleasure of discovery alone know what science is. A problem solved is dead. A world without problems to be solved would be devoid of science.

Science has been quite embattled. It's the most important thing there is. An arts graduate is not going to fix global warming. They may do other valuable things, but they are not going to fix the planet or cure cancer or get rid of malaria.

The art of science is as important as so-called technical science. You need both. It's this combination that must be recognized and acknowledged and valued.

There cannot be a greater mistake than that of looking superciliously upon practical applications of science. The life and soul of science is its practical application.

If we estimate dignity by immediate usefulness, agriculture is undoubtedly the first and noblest science.

Languages are no more than the keys of Sciences. He who despises one, slights the other.

"Endow scientific research and we shall know the truth, when and where it is possible to ascertain it;" but the counterblast is at hand: "To endow research is merely to encourage the research for endowment; the true man of science will not be held back by poverty, and if science is of use to us, it will pay for itself." Such are but a few samples of the conflict of opinion which we find raging around us.

Instrumental or mechanical science is the noblest and above all others, the most useful.

I do not believe that the present flowering of science is due in the least to a real appreciation of the beauty and intellectual discipline of the subject. It is due simply to the fact that power, wealth and prestige can only be obtained by the correct application of science.

America may say that it values science, but it sure as hell doesn't want to pay for it.

The benefits of science are not to be reckoned only in terms of the physical.

I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn't the thing.