11/11/2015 Marie Curie - Wikiquote

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Nothing in life is to be feared, it isonly to be understood. Now is thetime to understand more, so that wemay fear less.

Be less curious about people andmore curious about ideas.

You cannot hope to build a betterworld without improving theindividuals. To that end each of usmust work for his own improvement,and at the same time share a generalresponsibility for all humanity, ourparticular duty being to aid those towhom we think we can be mostuseful.

Marie CurieFrom Wikiquote

Maria Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish-born scientist. The first woman to be awarded a NobelPrize, in 1903, for Physics, she became the first person to win two with the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She founded the CurieInstitute.

Quotes

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.Letter to her brother (1894)

I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practicaland dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory.

Instructions regarding a proposed gift of a wedding dress for her marriage to Pierre in July 1895, as quoted in ''MadameCurie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 137

Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.Response to a reporter seeking an interview during a vacation with her husband in Brittany, who mistaking her for ahousekeeper, asked her if there was anything confidential she could recount, as quoted in Living Adventures in Science(1972), by Henry Thomas and Dana Lee ThomasVariant: In science, we must be interested in things, not in persons.

This is stated to be a declaration she often made to reporters, in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve CurieLabouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 222

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. Wemust believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.

'La vie n’est facile pour aucun de nous. Mais quoi, il faut avoir de la persévérance, et surtout de la confiance en soi. Ilfaut croire que l’on est doué pour quelque chose, et que, cette chose, il faut l'atteindre coûte que coûte.'

As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, Part 2, p. 116

We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was oneof pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulnessof it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery maybecome like the radium a benefit for humanity.

Lecture at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (14 May 1921)

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 162

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for hisown improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being toaid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

Pierre Curie (1923), as translated by Charlotte Kellogg and Vernon Lyman Kellogg, p. 168

I believe international work is a heavy task, but that it is nevertheless indispensable to go through an apprenticeship in it, at thecost of many efforts and also of a real spirit of sacrifice: however imperfect it may be, the work of Geneva has a grandeur thatdeserves our support.

Letter to Eve Curie (July 1929), as quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translatedby Vincent Sheean, p. 341

I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also achild placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that allscientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery also has its beauty.Neither do I believe that the spirit of adventure runs any risk of disappearing in our world. If I see anything vital around me, itis precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.

As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 341Variant translation: A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting naturalphenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.As quoted in Our Precarious Habitat (1973) by Melvin A. Benarde, p. v

Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguardtheir own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is socaptivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without doubt, thesedreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well-organized society should assure to such workersthe efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research.

As quoted in Astrophysics of the Diffuse Universe (2003) by Michael A. Dopita and Ralph S. Sutherland

I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.Java Connector Architecture : Building Custom Connectors and Adapters (2002) by Atul Apte, p. 69

There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth.As quoted in The Commodity Trader's Almanac 2007 (2006) by Scott W. Barrie and Jeffrey A. Hirsch, p. 43

I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.As quoted in White Coat Tales : Medicine's Heroes, Heritage and Misadventures (2007) by Robert B. Taylor, p. 141