Classic quotes of science

Indulge your passion for science, says Nature, but let your science be
human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society.
Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely
punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce, by the endless
uncertainty in which they involve you, and by the cold reception which
your pretended discoveries shall meet with, when communicated.  Be a
philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
                                              ---David Hume (thanks cstone!)
__________________________________________________________________________
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
 nothing."
                                -- Edmund Burke, 1776
__________________________________________________________________________
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty,
and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life -- so I became a
scientist.  This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
    -- Matt Cartmill
__________________________________________________________________________
Nobody on their deathbed has ever said "I wish I had spent more time
at the office".
    -- Rabbi Harold Kushner
__________________________________________________________________________
"The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge.
But the main thing to recall, is to have no fear at all."     
-- Rabbi Nachman of Breslav
__________________________________________________________________________
Who has not found the Heaven - below -
Will fail of it above -
For Angels rent the House next ours,
Wherever we remove
    -- Emily Dickinson
__________________________________________________________________________
          "When they turn the pages of history,
    When these days have passed long ago,
                  Will they read of us with sadness
                  For the seeds that we let grow?"
    -- Neil Peart
__________________________________________________________________________
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what
the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be
replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another
which states that this has already happened.
    -- Douglas Adams,
    "The restaurant at the end of the universe"
__________________________________________________________________________   
SUCCESS
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the
affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and
endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the
best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy
child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one
life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded.
     -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
__________________________________________________________________________  
If I could live my life again
   in the next one I would try to make more mistakes
   I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more.
   I would be more dumb than I have been, in fact
   I would take very few things seriously.
   I would be less hygienic.
   I would take more risks, more trips,
   I would watch more sunsets,
   I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers.
   I would go to places where I have never been to,
   I would eat more ice-cream and less beans,
   I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.
   I was one of those people who live sensibly and
   prolifically every minute of their life.
   Of course I had happy moments. But if I could
   go back I would try to have only happy moments.
   In case you didn't know life is is made of that, of
   moments only; don't waste this very minute.
   I was one of those people who never went anywhere without
   a thermometer, a bag of hot water, an umbrella and
   a parachute; if I could live again, I would travel light.
   If I could live again I would start to walk barefoot
   at the beginning of the Spring and stay like that until the end
   of the Fall. I would go around more on the calash, I would contemplate more
   dawns and I would play with more children, if I had again life
   ahead.
   But, you see, I am 85 years old and I know I am dying.
    -- J. L. Borges
    (courtesy of Yolanda Gil)
__________________________________________________________________________
Roni Rosenfeld
Department of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~roni