“I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.”
Marie Curie (verified, secondary source)
Madame Curie: A Biography (Secondary source)
Eve Curie crafted an intimate yet scientifically rigorous portrait of her mother’s extraordinary journey from Polish exile to Nobel laureate. This luminous biography captures both Marie Curie’s groundbreaking discoveries and her profound human struggles with remarkable literary grace.
More about “Madame Curie: A Biography” →
“I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery also has its own beauty.
Marie Curie (verified, secondary source)
Neither do I believe that the spirit of adventure runs any risk of disappearing in our world. If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.”
“But we must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.”
— Marie Curie (verified)“I have no dress except the one I wear. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one [a wedding dress], please let it be practical and dark, so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory.”
— Marie Curie (verified, secondary source)“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.”
— Marie Curie (verified, secondary source)“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
— Marie Curie (verified, secondary source)“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt (unverified)“Work could cure almost anything.”
— Ernest Hemingway (verified)“There never has been security. No man has ever known what he would meet around the next corner; if life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt (verified)“If anything, I now believe even more strongly that reliability is essential for progress in life and while quantum mechanics is unlearnable for a vast majority, reliability can be learned to great advantage by almost anyone.”
— Charlie Munger (verified)