“Let me here remind you that the essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappiness. It resides in the solemnity of the remorseless working of things. This inevitableness of destiny can only be illustrated in terms of human life by incidents which in fact involve unhappiness. For it is by them that the futility of escape can be made evident in the drama. This remorseless inevitableness is what pervades scientific thought. The laws of physics are the decrees of fate.”

“The "silly" question is the first intimation of some totally new development”

“The task of a university is the creation of the future, so far as rational thought and civilized modes of appreciation can affect the issue.”

“Knowledge shrinks as wisdom grows.”

“Wisdom alone is true ambition's aim, wisdom is the source of virtue and of fame; obtained with labour, for mankind employed, and then, when most you share it, best enjoyed.”

“Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.”

“Fools act on imagination without knowledge, pedants act on knowledge without imagination.”

“If a dog jumps into your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.”

“In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress toward a victory.”

“No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.”

“No period of history has ever been great or ever can be that does not act on some sort of high, idealistic motives, and idealism in our time has been shoved aside, and we are paying the penalty for it.”