Konrad Lorenz Quotes

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

Scepticism is as important for a good journalist as it is for a good scientist.

If anyone offers conjectures about the truth of things from the mere possibility of hypotheses, I do not see by what stipulation anything certain can be determined in any science, since one or another set of hypotheses may always be devised which will appear to supply new difficulties.

Research has been called good business, a necessity, a gamble, a game. It is none of these - it's a state of mind.

What they can expect always is that they're going to be made to think.

True science teaches, above all, to doubt

Give me rampant intellectualism as a coping mechanism.

Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

We don't regard any scientific theory as the absolute truth.

One of the secrets of life is to keep our intellectual curiosity acute.

Science by itself is about numbers, and it's about measuring things. It's very important but it's very dry.

It is crucial for scientists to be willing to be wrong; otherwise, you might not do the most important experiments, or you may ignore your most important findings.

Science isn't about authority or white coats; it's about following a method. That method is built on core principles: precision and transparency; being clear about your methods; being honest about your results; and drawing a clear line between the results, on the one hand, and your judgment calls about how those results support a hypothesis.

You can't be a creative thinker if you're not stimulating your mind, just as you can't be an Olympic athlete if you don't train regularly.

My emotional investment is in finding truth. If string theory is wrong, I'd like to have known that yesterday. But if we can show it today or tomorrow, fantastic.

I like to make people think a little bit.

In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons.

The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.

Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism.

Large skepticism leads to large understanding. Small skepticism leads to small understanding. No skepticism leads to no understanding.

A scientist... must accept the results of experiment, and nothing but the results of experiment.

I was not surprised by the results of the Horizon experiments, but I remain willing to observe and consider any and all other tests that are done under similarly precise conditions.

Think until it hurts.

Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.