Curiosity Quotes - Page 17

• The slaving Poor are incapable of any Principles: Gentlemen may be converted to true Principles, by Time and Experience. The middling Rank of Men have Curiosity and Knowledge enough to form Principles, but not enough to form true ones, or correct any Prejudices that they may have imbib'd: And 'tis among the middling Rank, that Tory Principles do at present prevail most in England.

  David Hume

  Men, Gentleman, Principles

  David Hume (1826). “The philosophical works of David Hume”, p.80

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Poetry operates by raising our curiosity, engaging the mind by degrees to take an interest in the event, keeping that event suspended, and surprising at last with an unexpected catastrophe. The painter's art is more confined, and has nothing that corresponds with, or perhaps is equivalent to, this power and advantage of leading the mind on, till attention is totally engaged. What is done by Painting, must be done at one blow; curiosity has received at once all the satisfaction it can ever have.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Blow, Mind

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1842). “The Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.142

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• Science is an intellectual journey, and to me, it's not the destination, it's the journeyto get there. It's a way of thinking and it's an intellectual curiosity, a desire to know how the world works, and to know what the fundamental principles of the world are, and to know our place in it. I think once we stop asking questions like "what is the age of the universe," or "how are the instructions of DNA carried out on a microscopic level," once we stop asking questions like that, we're dead.

  Alan Lightman

  Journey, Thinking, Asking Questions

  5 Copy quote

• People die when curiosity goes.People have to find out, people have to know. How can there be any true revolution till we know what we're made of? 830

  Graham Swift

  People, Revolution, Made

  1983 Waterland, ch.27.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Science surrounds you. It's not something that you can step aside, step over or push out of your way because you were never good at science in school. Science is around you. Once you know and embrace that fact, it might stimulate curiosity within you to learn more about the natural world.

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  School, World, Might

  Source: collider.com

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• In any case it is not normal to put into the satisfaction of mere curiosity the amount of time and effort that scientists put into their work.

  Theodore Kaczynski

  Effort, Satisfaction, Normal

  The Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski (2005). “The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and Its Future”, p.39, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.

  14 Copy quote

  Show source

• I was born to be an explorer. There never was any decision to make. I coudn't be anything else and be happy,the desire to see new places, to discover new facts- the curiosity of life always has been a resistless driving force to me.

  Roy Chapman Andrews

  Decision, Desire, Facts

  "This Business Of Exploring". Book by Roy Chapman Andrews, 1935.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• What is it that is done to our children that their puberty should deform them? They have the joy of movement; they have an enterprising curiosity; they are ready for sensible self-denial; they dream ahead, and they have a faithful memory, and, above all, great compassion... The well-meaning educator who flatters and humours the young not only does a disservice to the community, but also damages the individual by depriving him of the opportunities of self-discovery.

  Kurt Hahn

  Dream, Children, Memories

  "Kurt Hahn: A Life Span in Education and Politics". Book by Robert Birley, §1, p. 8, 1966.

  61 Copy quote

  Show source

• Natural Magick therefore is that, which considering well the strength and force of Natural and Celestial beings, and with great curiosity labouring to discover their affections, produces into open Act the hidden and concealed powers of Nature.

  Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

  Magic, Affection, Natural

  10 Copy quote

• When I was little I knew my father had been an orphan and had lived in an orphanage. I was curious, but my father wouldn't satisfy my curiosity. He told only one story about the orphanage, and that was of sneaking out and buying candy, which he sold to other orphans. He said he had a pretty good business going - till he was busted! I guess he told that anecdote because he was the hero of it and I suspect he was rarely the hero as a child, more often the victim. There's a photo of the actual orphanage on my website, and you can see it's a forbidding looking place.

  Gail Carson Levine

  Children, Father, Hero

  Interview with Jessica Day George, www.bookshoptalk.com. September 22, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The old man has been long at the fair. He is acquainted with the jugglers at the booths. His curiosity has been satisfied. He no longer cares for the exceptional, the monstrous, the marvelous and deformed. He looks through and beyond the gilding, the glitter and gloss, not only of things, but of conduct, of manners, theories, religions and philosophies. He sees clearer. The light no longer shines in his eyes.

  Robert Green Ingersoll

  Philosophy, Eye, Men

  Robert Green Ingersoll (1909). “Miscellany”

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Brethren, the Deity was not revealed to gratify our curiosity, or to increase our pride of intellect, but to bring us into relations of affection, submission, and communion with Him.

  Edward Norris Kirk

  Pride, Deities, Affection

  Edward Norris Kirk (1857). “Discourses: Doctrinal and Practical”, p.25

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Am I the only one who secretly hopes that the Curiosity rover will be swallowed up by a giant alien worm living just below Mars's surface?

  Victoria Laurie

  Giants, Mars, Aliens

  4 Copy quote

• My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence are provided by such a god. We would be unappreciative of those gifts (as well as unable to take such a course of action) if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves. On the other hand, if such a traditional god does not exist, our curiosity and our intelligence are the essential tools for managing our survival. In either case, the enterprise of knowledge is consistent with both science and religion, and is essential for the welfare of the human species.

  Carl Sagan

  Passion, Hands, Survival

  Carl Sagan, Jerald F. TerHorst, Allan J. Mayer, Sharon S. McKern, Laurence J. Peter (1980). “Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science”

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Among the many inconsistencies which folly produces or infirmity suffers in the human mind, there has often been observed a manifest and striking contrariety between the life of an author and his writings... Those whom the appearance of virtue or the evidence of genius has tempted to a nearer knowledge of the writer, in whose performances they may be found, have indeed had frequent reason to repent their curiosity.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Mind, Suffering

  Samuel Johnson (1977). “Selected Poetry and Prose”, p.163, Univ of California Press

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• There are some works which the authors must consign unpublished to posterity, however uncertain be the event, however hopeless be the trust. He that writes the history of his own times, if he adhere steadily to truth, will write that which his own times will not easily endure. He must be content to reposite his book till all private passions shall cease, and love and hatred give way to curiosity.

  Samuel Johnson

  Book, Passion, Writing

  Alexander Pope, William Lisle Bowles, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Chalmers, Gilbert Wakefield (1806). “The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. in Verse and Prose: Containing the Principal Notes of Drs. Warburton and Warton: Illustrations, and Critical and Explanatory Remarks, by Johnson, Wakefield, A. Chalmers ... and Others; to which are Added, Now First Published, Some Original Letters, with Additional Observations, and Memoirs of the Life of the Author”, p.261

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• The authors that in any nation last from age to age are very few, because there are very few that have any other claim to notice than that they catch hold on present curiosity, and gratify some accidental desire, or produce some temporary conveniency.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Age, Desire

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is a curiosity of human nature that lack of self-assurance seems to breed an exaggerated sense of power and mission.

  J. William Fulbright

  Self, Atheism, Human Nature

  J. William Fulbright (2011). “The Arrogance of Power”, p.36, Random House

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• Curiosity draws a man from consideration of the effect, to seek the cause.

  Thomas Hobbes

  Men, Atheism, Causes

  Thomas Hobbes (2015). “Leviathan”, p.122, Xist Publishing

  22 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am a journalist and have no earthly motives except curiosity and personal vanity.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Vanity, Motive, Journalist

  4 Copy quote

• There is no better catalyst to success than curiosity.

  Michael Dell

  Catalyst

  11 Copy quote

• Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.

  Danny Gokey

  Travel, Fear Of The Unknown, Unknown Motivational

  15 Copy quote

• Curiosity is a great antidote to fear.

  Meredith Monk

  Antidote

  "Meredith Monk's Voice". "On Being" with Krista Tippett, onbeing.org. February 16, 2012.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Being a scientist is like being an explorer. You have this immense curiosity, this stubbornness, this resolute will that you will go forward no matter what other people say.

  Sara Seager

  People, Matter, Scientist

  24 Copy quote

• Curiosity is the mother of science, wonder is the mother of spirituality.

  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

  Mother, Spirituality, Wonder

  8 Copy quote