Max Born - Science Quotes

10 Sourced Quotes

View all Max Born Quotes

But in practical affairs, particularly in politics, men are needed who combine human experience and interest in human relations with a knowledge of science and technology. Moreover, they must be men of action and not contemplation.

Max Born

I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed. We do not find signposts at crossroads, but our own scouts erect them, to help the rest.

Max Born

I believe that ideas such as absolute certitude, absolute exactness, final truth, etc. are figments of the imagination which should not be admissible in any field of science... This loosening of thinking seems to me to be the greatest blessing which modern science has given to us. For the belief in a single truth and in being the possessor thereof is the root cause of all evil in the world.

Max Born

The continuity of our science has not been affected by all these turbulent happenings, as the older theories have always been included as limiting cases in the new ones.

Max Born

Science has become an integral and most important part of our civilization, and scientific work means contributing to its development. Science in our technical age has social, economic, and political functions, and however remote one's own work is from technical application it is a link in the chain of actions and decisions which determine the fate of the human race.

Max Born

Faith, imagination and intuition are decisive factors in the progress of science as in any other human activity.

Max Born

The collective enterprise of practical science consists in the end of individuals and cannot thrive without their devotion. But devotion does not suffice; nothing great can be achieved without the elementary curiosity of the philosopher.

Max Born

The satisfaction of the noble curiosity of the scholar is only one aspect of research. Science is also — and many say predominantly — a collective effort to obtain power over the forces of nature in the interest of human life.

Max Born

It is not nature that is economical but science. All our knowledge starts with collecting facts, but proceeds by summarizing numerous facts by simple laws, and these again by more general laws. This process is very obvious in physics.

Max Born

Science has undoubtedly two aspects: it can be regarded from the social standpoint as a practical collective endeavor for the improvement of human conditions, but it can also be regarded from the individualistic standpoint, as a pursuit of mental desires, the hunger for knowledge and understanding, a sister of art, philosophy, and religion.

Max Born