“In science we must be interested in things, not in persons.”
Marie Curie
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” →
Sometimes translated as: “Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas”
Marie Curie
“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 Secondary source“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.”
— Marie Curie Secondary source“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 Primary source“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 Secondary source“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
— Marie Curie Disputed“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“A man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps through fear of being thought to have but little.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
— William Blake Primary source