"If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of...

"If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness."
-- Carl Sagan (astronomer & astrophysicist, 1934-1996)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_sagan

"An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer."

"An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer."
-- Max Planck (theoretical physicist, 1858-1947)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck

"Science replaces private prejudice with public, verifiable evidence."

"Science replaces private prejudice with public, verifiable evidence."
-- Richard Dawkins (evolutionary biologist, 1941- )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."
-- Stephen Hawking (theoretical physicist, 1942- )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_hawking

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
-- Marie Curie (physicist & chemist, 1867-1934)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong."

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong."
-- Albert Einstein (theoretical physicist, 1879-1955)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

"A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because...

"A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
-- Max Planck (theoretical physicist, 1858-1947)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck