John Charles Polanyi
A wise man in China asked his gardener to plant a shrub. The gardener objected that it only flowered once in a hundred years. "In that case," said the wise man, "plant it immediately." [On the importance of fundamental research.]Collection: Wise
Science is an enterprise that can only flourish if it puts the truth ahead of nationality, ethnicity, class and color.Collection: Science
Even in the world of molecules the civilising influence of modest restraints is a cause for rejoicing.Collection: Molecules
In education the appetite does indeed grow with eating. I have never known anyone to abandon study because they knew too much.Collection: Inspirational
At the heart of science lies discovery which involves a change in worldview. Discovery in science is possible only in societies which accord their citizens the freedom to pursue the truth where it may lead and which therefore have respect for different paths to that truth.Collection: Truth
Authority in science exists to be questioned, since heresy is the spring from which new ideas flow.Collection: Spring
[Intellectual courage is] the quality that allows one to believe in one's judgement in the face of disappointment and widespread skepticism. Intellectual courage is even rarer than physical courage.Collection: Courage
When, as we must often do, we fear science, we really fear ourselves. Human dignity is better served by embracing knowledge.Collection: Dignity
Discoveries that are anticipated are seldom the most valuable. ... It's the scientist free to pilot his vessel across hidden shoals into open seas who gives the best value.Collection: Science
Science is a collection of stories, linking characters worthy of notice.Collection: Character
It is folly to use as one's guide in the selection of fundamental science the criterion of utility. Not because (scientists)... despise utility. But because. .. useful outcomes are best identified after the making of discoveries, rather than before.Collection: Science
It takes a trained and discerning researcher to keep the goal in sight, and to detect evidence of the creeping progress toward it.Collection: Science
I knew, however, that it would cost ten times what I had available in order to build a molecular beam machine. I decided to follow a byway, rather than the highway. It is a procedure I have subsequently recommended to beginning scientists in this country, where research strategy is best modelled on that used by Wolfe at the Plains of Abraham.Collection: Country
Idealism is the highest form of reason.Collection: Reason
Nothing is more irredeemably irrelevant than bad science.Collection: Irrelevant