Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist
"Quotes", Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957), Polemical Introduction
“Religion is not an exact science. Sometimes, of course, neither is science.”
— Terry Pratchett, book Nation
Source: Nation
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Terry Pratchett796
English author 1948–2015Related quotes
William Stanley Jevons (1835–1882) English economist and logician
Preface.
Elementary Lessons on Logic (1870)
“Politics is not an exact science.”
Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898) German statesman, Chancellor of Germany
Die Politik ist keine exakte Wissenschaft.
Speech to Prussian upper house (18 December 1863)
Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art.
Expression in the Reichstag (1884), as quoted in The Quote Verifier : Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes
1860s
Variant: Die Politik ist keine Wissenschaft, wie viele der Herren Proffessoren sich einbilden, sondern eine Kunst.
“Economics is not an exact science.”
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) American economist and diplomat
Source: The Age of Uncertainty (1977), Chapter 1, p. 36
“Who science has and art
He has religion too
Who neither of them owns
Religion is his due.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
Wer Wissenschaft und Kunst besitzt, / Hat auch Religion / Wer jene beiden nicht besitzt / Der habe Religion
As quoted in Jost Lemmerich's "Science and Conscience: The Life of James Franck" (2011), p. 261.
Variant translation: "The man who science has and art, He also has religion. But he who is devoid of both, He surely needs religion." (as quoted in "Homilies of science" by Paul Carus (1892) and The Open Court, Weekly Journal, Vol. II (1887).
Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre (Apprenticeship) (1786–1830)
Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944) British astrophysicist
Science and the Unseen World (1929), IX, p.88
“but, in reality, there is no such thing as an exact science.”
William Stanley Jevons The Theory of Political Economy
Source: The Theory of Political Economy (1871), Chapter I, Introduction, p. 40.
H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer
The American Mercury (May 1926)
1920s
Context: It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false. To admit that the false has any standing in court, that it ought to be handled gently because millions of morons cherish it and thousands of quacks make their livings propagating it—to admit this, as the more fatuous of the reconcilers of science and religion inevitably do, is to abandon a just cause to its enemies, cravenly and without excuse. It is, of course, quite true that there is a region in which science and religion do not conflict. That is the region of the unknowable.
“An exact science is one that admits loss.”
Genesis P-Orridge (1950) British musician and writer
The German Order
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 94
Context: Religion and science go together. As I've said before, science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind. They are interdependent and have a common goal—the search for truth. Hence it is absurd for religion to proscribe Galileo or Darwin or other scientists. And it is equally absurd when scientists say that there is no God. The real scientist has faith, which does not mean that he must subscribe to a creed. Without religion there is no charity. The soul given to each of us is moved by the same living spirit that moves the universe.