George Iles Quotes

• Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.

  George Iles

  Wisdom, Science, Doubt

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  46 Copy quote

• A superstition is a premature explanation that overstays its time.

  George Iles

  Science, Statistics, Superstitions

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  17 Copy quote

• To render aid to the worthless is sheer waste. Rain does not freshen the Dead Sea, but only enables it to dissolve more salt.

  George Iles

  Rain, Science, Sea

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  5 Copy quote

• Let truth be a banner big enough to hide the man who holds it up.

  George Iles

  Truth, Men, Enough

  5 Copy quote

• They will listen with both ears to what is said by the men just a step or two ahead of them, who stand nearest to them, and within arm's reach. A guide ceases to be of any use when he strides so far ahead as to be hidden by the curvature of the earth.

  George Iles

  Teacher, Men, Two

  George Iles (1917). “Choosing Books”

  6 Copy quote

• Ten builders rear an arch, each in turn lifting it higher; but it is the tenth man, who drops in the keystone, who hears our huzzas.

  George Iles

  Science, Men, Research

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• Discovery begins by finding the discoverer.

  George Iles

  Science, Discovery, Findings

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• Some young folks have wind-fall minds, prematurely detached from the tree of knowledge for a life-long sourness and pettiness.

  George Iles

  Fall, Science, Wind

  8 Copy quote

• Ignorance may find a truth on its doorstep that erudition vainly seeks in the stars.

  George Iles

  Stars, Truth, Ignorance

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• Truth is better disengaged from error than torn from it.

  George Iles

  Truth, Science, Errors

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• Dumbness and silence are two different things.

  George Iles

  Two, Silence, Different

  7 Copy quote

• Boundaries which mark off one field of science from another are purely artificial, are set up only for temporary convenience. Let chemists and physicists dig deep enough, and they reach common ground.

  George Iles

  Science, Fields, Common

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  53 Copy quote

• Degree is much: the whole Atlantic might be lukewarm and never boil us a potato.

  George Iles

  Degrees, Might, Potatoes

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• A calculating engine is one of the most intricate forms of mechanism, a telegraph key one of the simplest. But compare their value.

  George Iles

  Science, Keys, Form

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• Educated folk keep to one another's company too much, leaving other people much like milk skimmed of its cream.

  George Iles

  Education, Science, People

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  8 Copy quote

• A man's own addition to what he learns is cement to bind an otherwise loose heap of stones into a structure of unity, strength, and use.

  George Iles

  Men, Unity, Use

  5 Copy quote

• Nothing cools so fast as undue enthusiasm. Water that has boiled freezes sooner than any other.

  George Iles

  Science, Water, Enthusiasm

  7 Copy quote

• Is any knowledge worthless? Try to think of an example.

  George Iles

  Knowledge, Science, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• Nature is full of by-ends. A moth feeds on a petal, in a moment the pollen caught on its breast will be wedding this blossom to another in the next county.

  George Iles

  Nature, Science, Next

  7 Copy quote

• Error held as truth has much the effect of truth. In politics and religion this fact upsets many confident predictions.

  George Iles

  Science, Errors, Upset

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

• Form may be of more account than substance. A lens of ice will focus a solar beam to a blaze.

  George Iles

  Science, Ice, Focus

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  7 Copy quote

• When we try to imagine a chaos we fail. ... In its very fiber the mind is an order and refuses to build a chaos.

  George Iles

  Science, Order, Mind

  4 Copy quote

• No gun is perfectly true. So the marksman, that he may hit the bull's-eye, points elsewhere.

  George Iles

  Eye, Science, Gun

  39 Copy quote

• When a learner, in the fullness of his powers, comes to great truths unstaled by premature familiarity, he rejoices in the lateness of his lessons.

  George Iles

  Education, Truth, Science

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  7 Copy quote

• We despair of changing the habits of men, still we would alter institutions, the habits of millions of men.

  George Iles

  Men, Despair, Habit

  George Iles (1918). “Canadian Stories”

  4 Copy quote

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