“The search for the truth is the noblest of occupations, and its publication a duty.”
La recherche de la vérité est la plus noble des occupations, et sa publication un devoir.
Pt. 4, ch. 2
De l’Allemagne [Germany] (1813)
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La recherche de la vérité est la plus noble des occupations, et sa publication un devoir.
De l’Allemagne [Germany] (1813)
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Anne Louise Germaine de Staël 42
Swiss author 1766–1817Related quotes
“The noblest motive is the public good.”
Vincit amor patriae.
Virgil
(-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet
Richard Steele, in The Spectator. Compare Aeneid 6.823: Vincet amor patriae ("Love of country shall prevail").
"In The City of God Augustine quoted the line but changed the verb from the future to the present tense (vincet › vincit). That form became a traditional quotation, often reprinted and reproduced on medals, monuments, and family crests. [...] "Vincit amor patriae" appeared at the head of Spectator no. 200 (October 19, 1711) without translation. The essays from the Spectator were published and republished as books as early as 1713. To assist readers who lacked Latin or Greek, the editors of the 1744 edition provided English translations for its epigraphs; to "Vincit amor patriae" was added "The noblest Motive is the Publick Good." It stuck. The translation was modernized and made its way into innumerable texts and onto public buildings. It is inscribed on the ceiling of the south corridor of the Library of Congress and attributed to Virgil. A mistranslation became a quotation." —Willis Goth Regier, Quotology (2010), pp. 40–41.
Misattributed
“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.”
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
(1729–1781) writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic
Misattributed
“The search for truth is more precious than its possession.”
Albert Einstein
(1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
This quote does appear in Einstein's 1940 essay "The Fundaments of Physics" which can be found in his book Out of My Later Years (1950), but Einstein does not claim credit for it, instead calling it "Lessing's fine saying".
Misattributed
“Hell is truth seen too late — duty neglected in its season.”
Tryon Edwards
(1809–1894) American theologian
Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 225.
“It is the duty to carry on, under stress, the search for understanding.”
Vannevar Bush
(1890–1974) American electrical engineer and science administrator
Source: Science is Not Enough (1967), Ch. X : The Search for Understanding, p. 192
Context: That the threat is now intense is not a reason to abandon our quest for knowledge. It is a reason to hold it more tightly, in spite of the need for action to preserve our freedom, in spite of the distractions of living in turmoil, that it may not be lost or brushed aside by the demands of the hour. We would not neglect our duty to our country and our fellows to strive mightily to preserve our ways and our lives. There is an added duty, not inconsistent, not less. It is the duty to so live that there may be a reason for living, beyond the mere mechanisms of life. It is the duty to carry on, under stress, the search for understanding.
Alan M. Dershowitz
(1938) American lawyer, author
[Alan, Dershowitz, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576429783247016492.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop, Casey Anthony: The System Worked, The Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2011, July 7, 2011] published 2011-07-07
“The search for truth…It's not for the faint-hearted.”
Rene Balcer
(1954) screenwriter, producer and director
Det. Robert Goren in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent