“If history and science have taught us anything, it is that passion and desire are not the same as truth.”
Source: Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998), p. 262.
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Edward O. Wilson83
American biologist 1929Related quotes
“Philosophy cannot be taught; it is the application of the sciences to truth.”
Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo
Bernard Williams (1929–2003) English moral philosopher
Source: Truth and Truthfulness (2002), p. 2
Alice Miller (1923–2010) Swiss psychologist
Source: The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
Bill Nye (1955) American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, writer, scientist and former mechanical engineer
[NewsBank, 35, Associated Press, TV host decries U.S. failure to value science, math education, The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, December 10, 2000]
“To know the history of science is to recognize the mortality of any claim to universal truth.”
Evelyn Fox Keller (1936) American physicist, author and feminist
Source: Reflections on Gender and Science
Jay Lemke (1946) American academic
Source: Talking Science: Language, Learning, and Values. 1990, p. 149
“We have not been taught to kill our bodies, but to kill our passions.”
Poemen (340–450) Egyptian monk and desert father
Saying 184
Context: Abba Isaac came to see Abba Poemen and found him washing his feet. As he enjoyed freedom of speech with him he said, "How is it that others practice austerity and treat their bodies hardly?" Abba Poemen said to him, "We have not been taught to kill our bodies, but to kill our passions."