http://www.gravett.org/bizarrescience/archives/003967.html
Letter to the Wall Street Journal
“The great tragedy of Science — the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”
Presidential Address at the British Association, "Biogenesis and abiogenesis" (1870) http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE8/B-Ab.html; later published in Collected Essays, Vol. 8, p. 229
1870s
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Thomas Henry Huxley 127
English biologist and comparative anatomist 1825–1895Related quotes
“God give me strength to face a fact though it slay me.”
Thomas Henry Huxley
(1825–1895) English biologist and comparative anatomist
As quoted in Nature Vol. 149 (Jan-Jun) 1942 p. 291, and A Philosophy for Our Time (1954) by Bernard Mannes Baruch, p. 13
1890s
“I am among those who think that science has great beauty.”
Marie Curie
(1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist
As quoted in Madame Curie : A Biography (1937) by Eve Curie Labouisse, as translated by Vincent Sheean, p. 341
Variant translation: A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.
Context: I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery also has its beauty.
Neither do I believe that the spirit of adventure runs any risk of disappearing in our world. If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.
“A woman who cannot be ugly is not beautiful.”
Karl Kraus
(1874–1936) Czech playwright and publicist
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)
“To find beauty in ugliness is the province of the poet.”
Thomas Hardy
(1840–1928) English novelist and poet
Statement (5 August 1888), as quoted in The life of Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 (1962) by Florence Emily Hardy
“The beautiful are shyer than the ugly, for they move in a world that does not ask for beauty.”
Ned Rorem
(1923–2022) American composer
[Who's Who in Contemporary Gay & Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day, ISBN 041522974X, 2001, Aldrich, Robert and Wotherspoon, Gary (eds)]