No one seriously doubts Socrates' maxim: The unexamined life isn't worth living. Self-assessment and attempts at self-improvement are essential aspec…

- Robert A. Burton

Every schoolboy hath that famous testament of Grunnius Corocotta Porcellus at his fingers end.

- Robert A. Burton

Certainty is not biologically possible. We must learn (and teach our children) to tolerate the unpleasantness of uncertainty. Science has given us th…

- Robert A. Burton

Hope and patience are two sovereign remedies for all, the surest reposals, the softest cushions to lean on in adversity.

- Robert A. Burton

Certainty and similar states of ‘knowing what we know’ arise out of involuntary brain mechanisms that, like love or anger, function independently of …

- Robert A. Burton

Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent tobacco, which goes far beyond all the panaceas, potable gold, and philosophers stones, a sovereign remedy to a…

- Robert A. Burton

Out of too much learning become mad.

- Robert A. Burton

Good science is more than the mechanics of research and experimentation. Good science requires that scientists look inward-to contemplate the origin …

- Robert A. Burton

Good science requires distinguishing between "felt knowledge" and knowledge arising out of testable observations. "I am sure" is a mental sensation, …

- Robert A. Burton