Jacob Bronowski

“Man masters nature not by force, but by understanding”

“Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast over nature.”

“The creative personality is always one that looks on the world as fit for change and on himself as an instrument for change. Otherwise, what are you creating for? If the world is perfectly all right the way it is, you have no place in it. The creative personality thinks of the world as a canvas for change and of himself as a divine agent of change.”

“The most wonderful discovery made by scientists is science itself.”

“Science, like art, is not a copy of nature but a re-creation of her.”

“Has there ever been a society which has died of dissent? Several have died of conformity in our lifetime.”

“It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”

“Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.”

“Dissent is the native activity of the scientist, and it has got him into a good deal of trouble in the last years. But if that is cut off, what is left will not be a scientist. And I doubt whether it will be a man.”

“The wish to hurt, the momentary intoxication with pain, is the loophole through which the pervert climbs into the minds of ordinary men.”

“That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.”

“The world is full of people who never quite get into the first team and who just miss the prizes at the flower show.”