Jean Rostand Quotes about Science

Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men.

Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men.

Jean Rostand

Education, Science, Men

"Thoughts of a Biologist". 1939.

Science had better not free the minds of men too much, before it has tamed their instincts.

Jean Rostand

Freedom, Science, Men

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.

Jean Rostand

Book, Science, Men

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

Nothing leads the scientist so astray as a premature truth.

Jean Rostand

Truth, Science, Scientist

1939 'Pense es d'un Biologiste', collected inThe Substance of Man (translated by Irma Brandeis,1962).

It is sometimes important for science to know how to forget the things she is surest of.

Jean Rostand

Knowledge, Science, Important

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

A body of work such as Pasteur's is inconceivable in our time: no man would be given a chance to create a whole science. Nowadays a path is scarcely opened up when the crowd begins to pour in.

Jean Rostand

Time, Hard Work, Science

1939 'Pense es d'un Biologiste', collected inThe Substance of Man (translated by Irma Brandeis,1962).

One must credit an hypothesis with all that has had to be discovered in order to demolish it.

Jean Rostand

Science, Discovery, Order

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

It is sometimes well for a blatant error to draw attention to overmodest truths.

Jean Rostand

Truth, Mistake, Science

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

It is not easy to imagine how little interested a scientist usually is in the work of any other, with the possible exception of the teacher who backs him or the student who honors him.

Jean Rostand

Teacher, Hard Work, Science

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”

When a scientist is ahead of his times, it is often through misunderstanding of current, rather than intuition of future truth. In science there is never any error so gross that it won't one day, from some perspective, appear prophetic.

Jean Rostand

Truth, Future, Science

Jean Rostand (1962). “The substance of man”