I shall endeavour still further to prosecute this inquiry, an inquiry I trust not merely speculative, but of sufficient moment to inspire the pleasing hope of its becoming essentially beneficial to mankind.
Edward JennerRead
I hope that some day the practice of producing cowpox in human beings will spread over the world - when that day comes, there will be no more smallpox.
Interpretation
The quote expresses hope for widespread vaccination to eradicate smallpox.
Edward Jenner, the pioneer of vaccination, envisions a future where the method of producing cowpox in humans will become universal. This practice, he believes, will lead to the eventual eradication of smallpox, a disease that has caused immense suffering throughout history. His optimism reflects the power of scientific advancement in public health.
In practice
During a health conference emphasizing vaccinations, this quote could underscore the need for global health initiatives.
I shall endeavour still further to prosecute this inquiry, an inquiry I trust not merely speculative, but of sufficient moment to inspire the pleasing hope of its becoming essentially beneficial to mankind.
Facts are the air of scientists. Without them you can never fly.
Still, it is an error to argue in front of your data. You find yourself insensibly twisting them round to fit your theories.
It is not a simple matter to differentiate unsuccessful from successful experiments. . . .[Most] work that is finally successful is the result of a series of unsuccessful tests in which difficulties are gradually eliminated.
The faster you go, the shorter you are.
Lest we forget, the birth of modern physics and cosmology was achieved by Galileo, Kepler and Newton breaking free not from the close confining prison of faith (all three were believing Christians, of one sort or another) but from the enormous burden of the millennial authority of Aristotelian science. The scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was not a revival of Hellenistic science but its final defeat.
I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.