George Sarton Quotes

49 Sourced Quotes

Science is neither philosophy, nor religion, nor art; it is the totality of positive knowledge, as closely knit as possible; it is as different from its practical applications on the one hand, as it is from idle theorizing and blind faith on the other. It behooves us to make no extravagant claims for it, and to be as humble as we can.

George Sarton
Scientific achievements seem evanescent, because the very progress of science causes their supersedure; yet some of them are of so fundamental a nature that they are immortal in a deeper way.

George Sarton
Hellenic science is a victory of rationalism, which appears greater, not smaller, when one is made to realize that it had been won in spite of the irrational beliefs of the Greek people; all in all, it was a triumph of reason in the face of unreason. Some knowledge of Greek superstitions is needed not only for a proper appreciation of that triumph but also for the justification of occasional failures, such as the many Platonic aberrations.

George Sarton
Our own culture, of Greek and Hebraic origin, is the one that interests us the most... We do not say that it is the best culture, but simply that it is ours. To claim that it of necessity superior would be wrong and evil. That attitude is the main source of international trouble in the world.... Each nation prefers its own usages.

George Sarton
I am obliged to deal with hundreds of men and to make them live without killing the reader.

George Sarton
Men of science have made abundant mistakes of every kind; their knowledge has improved only because of their gradual abandonment of ancient errors, poor approximations, and premature conclusions.

George Sarton
Wisdom is not mathematical, nor astronomical, nor zoological; when it talks too much of any one thing it ceases to be itself. There are wise physicists, but wisdom is not physical; there are wise physicians, but wisdom is not medical.

George Sarton
… science is the most revolutionary force in the world.

George Sarton
The main, as well as the least obvious, achievement of the Middle Ages was the creation of the experimental spirit and this was primarily due to the Muslims down to the 12th century.

George Sarton
Greek culture is pleasant to contemplate because of its great simplicity and naturalness, and because of the absence of gadgets, each of which is sooner or later a cause of servitude.

George Sarton
Mathematics gives to science its innermost unity and cohesion, which can never be entirely replaced with props and buttresses or with roundabout connections, no matter how many of these may be introduced.

George Sarton
When one reads the history of science one has the exhilarating feeling of climbing a big mountain. The history of art gives one an altogether different impression. It is not at all like the ascension of a mountain, always upward whichever the direction of one's path; it is rather like a leisurely journey across a hilly country.

George Sarton
The great intellectual division of mankind is not along geographical or racial lines, but between those who understand and practice the experimental method and those who do not understand and do not practice it.

George Sarton
Ancient portraits are symbolic images without any immediate relation to the individuals represented; they are not portraits as we understand them.... It is remarkable that philologists who are capable of carrying accuracy to the extremes in the case of words are as credulous as babies when it comes to "images," and yet an image is so full of information that ten thousands words would not add up to it.

George Sarton
The concatenations of mathematical ideas are not divorced from life, far from it, but they are less influenced than other scientific ideas by accidents, and it is perhaps more possible, and more permissible, for a mathematician than for any other man to secrete himself in a tower of ivory.

George Sarton
Science, like art and religion - neither more nor less - is a form of man's reaction against nature. It is an attempt to explain nature in its own terms, that is, to evidence its unity, wholeness, and congruency.

George Sarton
The most malicious kind of hatred is that which is built upon a theological foundation.

George Sarton
A mathematical congress of today reminds one of the Tower of Babel, for few men can follow profitably the discussions of sections other than their own, and even there they are sometimes made to feel like strangers.

George Sarton
Without scientists, without saints, without artists, mankind would soon be reduced to a society of animals. Without saints, it would fall into sin; without artists, into ugliness; without scientists it would stop altogether and degenerate.

George Sarton
The more science enters into our lives, the more it must be "humanized," and there is no better way to humanize it than to study its history.

George Sarton
When we say that science is essentially progressive this does not mean that in his quest of truth man follows always the shortest path. Far from it, he beats about the bush, does not find what he is looking for but finds something else, retraces his steps, loses himself in various detours, and finally after many wanderings touches the goal.

George Sarton
I like to think of the constant presence in any sound Republic of two guardian angels: the Statistician and the Historian of Science. The former keeps his finger on the pulse of Humanity.

George Sarton
Science tends to destroy the darkness where evil and injustice breed, but there is also some element of beauty and poetry in that darkness.

George Sarton
Science like religion implies disinterestedness, earnestness, austerity.

George Sarton
Mysteries which we have driven outside of the boundaries of our knowledge and which we have located and encompassed, such mysteries will not harm us; on the contrary they will stimulate and inspire us in many ways; the dangerous mysteries are those which are hopelessly mingled with our knowledge, and of which we are perhaps unaware.

George Sarton
The most ominous conflict of our time is the difference of opinion, of outlook, between men of letters, historians, philosophers, the so-called humanists, on the one side and scientists on the other. The gap cannot but increase because of the intolerance of both and the fact that science is growing by leaps and bounds.

George Sarton
The historical order is very interesting, but accidental and capricious; if we would to understand the growth of knowledge, we cannot be satisfied with accidents, we must explain how knowledge was gradually built up.

George Sarton
The intensity of a national culture should be represented by... the general education level and... the exceptional merit of a small elite of pioneers.

George Sarton
Erudition without pedantry is as a rare as wisdom itself.

George Sarton
The whole iconography of ancient science is simply the fruit of wishful thinking.

George Sarton