Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
Alexander PopeRead
Trace Science, then, with Modesty thy guide,_x000D_ _x000D_ First strip off all her equipage of Pride,_x000D_ _x000D_ Deduct what is but Vanity or Dress,_x000D_ _x000D_ Or Learning's Luxury or idleness,_x000D_ _x000D_ Or tricks, to show the stretch of the human brain_x000D_ _x000D_ Mere curious pleasure or ingenious pain.
Interpretation
This quote encourages a humble pursuit of knowledge, urging one to avoid pride and vanity in the quest for understanding.
Alexander Pope's quote emphasizes the importance of approaching science with humility. He suggests that one should strip away distractions such as pride, vanity, and superficial learning that do not contribute to genuine knowledge. By keeping modesty as a guiding principle, one can focus on the true essence of scientific inquiry, free from the embellishments and distractions that often accompany the pursuit of knowledge.
In practice
Use this quote to inspire students at a science fair to pursue knowledge with integrity.
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things.
Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare; And beauty draws us with a single hair.
An honest man's the noblest work of God.
One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight;_x000D_ _x000D_ Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight.
Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?
Just by studying mathematics we can hope to make a guess at the kind of mathematics that will come into the physics of the future... If someone can hit on the right lines along which to make this development, it may lead to a future advance in which people will first discover the equations and then, after examining them, gradually learn how to apply them... My own belief is that this is a more likely line of progress than trying to guess at physical pictures.
Testing shows the presence, not the absence of bugs.
An idea can be tested, whereas if you have no idea, nothing can be tested and you don't understand anything. The molecule that you make when you are getting sunburned or when you eat a lot of food is part of the same molecule that contains an endorphin or an opiate. No one has ever had a hypothesis about why the two are together.
You can't even begin to understand biology, you can't understand life, unless you understand what it's all there for, how it arose - and that means evolution.
Some claim evolution is just a theory. As if it were merely an opinion. The theory of evolution, like the theory of gravity, is a scientific fact. Evolution really happened. Accepting our kinship with all life on Earth is not only solid science. In my view, it’s also a soaring spiritual experience.
There's something really beautiful about science, that human beings can ask these questions and can answer them. You can make models of nature and understand how it works.
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