“Once I have gotten into a problem, I find it extremely helpful to get a complete perspective, to learn what earlier scientists thought about it. I want to see not only what lines of thought proved to be productive, but also where and why certain other directions proved to be unproductive.”

In Search of Memory (2006)

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Eric R. Kandel 81
American neuropsychiatrist 1929

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“The problem of induction is, roughly speaking, the problem of finding a way to prove that certain empirical generalizations which are derived from past experience will hold good also in the future.”

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“I am far from convinced that energy spent doing damage to life, limb and property is likely to prove more productive than properly thought-out and planned non-violent direct action.
More likely the opposite.”

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“We prove what we want to prove, and the real difficulty is to know what we want to prove.”

Alain (1868–1951) French philosopher

On prouve tout ce qu'on veut, et la vraie difficulté est de savoir ce qu'on veut prouver.
Système des Beaux-Arts (1920), as quoted in The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time (In Two Lines or Less) by John M. Shanahan, p. 34
Variant translation: We prove anything we want to prove, and the real difficulty is to know what we want to prove.

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