“For it is the chief characteristic of the religion of science, that it works, and that such curses as that of Aporat’s are really deadly.”

—  Isaac Asimov

Part III, The Mayors, section 7
The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation (1951)

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Isaac Asimov photo
Isaac Asimov 303
American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston Uni… 1920–1992

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“It is the chief characteristic of the religion of science that it works.”

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“Who questions with a snake if the snake sting?
Who reasons of the lightning if it burn?
While these things are, deadly will these things be;
And so the curse that comes of cursed faith.”

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Context: Sins are sin-begotten, and their seed
Bred of itself and singly procreative;
Nor is God served with setting this to this
For evil evidence of several shame,
That one may say, Lo now! so many are they;
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His will we call good service. For myself,
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I bid you set your hearts against one thing
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Not seeking here a sign and there a sign,
Nor curious of all casual sufferances,
But steadfast to the undoing of that thing done
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Stephen Hawking photo

“There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works.”

Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author

Interview with Diane Sawyer, as quoted in "Stephen Hawking on Religion: 'Science Will Win'" on ABC World News (7 June 2010) http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Technology/stephen-hawking-religion-science-win/story?id=10830164

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“Oh for a tongue to curse the slave
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“That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology.”

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“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

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Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 94
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“Religion has no more place in science than science has in religion.”

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Disputed

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