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Well-observed facts, though brought to light by passing theories, will never die they are the material on which alone the house of science will at last be built.

Claude Bernard

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Claude Bernard
Age: 64 †
Born: 1813
Born: July 12
Died: 1878
Died: February 10
Physician Writer
Physiologist
Politician
Professor
Psychologist
Never
Last
Brought
Science
Materials
Death
Built
Observed
House
Theory
Theories
Facts
Alone
Passings
Light
Dies
Accounts
Wells
Though
Passing
Well
Lasts
Material

More quotes by Claude Bernard

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The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate.
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The doubter is a true man of science: he doubts only himself and his interpretations, but he believes in science.
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A great discovery is a fact whose appearance in science gives rise to shining ideas, whose light dispels many obscurities and shows us new paths.
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It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.
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Science rejects the indeterminate.
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We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.
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Science does not permit exceptions.
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If I had to define life in a single phrase, I should clearly express my thought of throwing into relief one characteristic which, in my opinion, sharply differentiates biological science. I should say: life is creation.
Claude Bernard
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A discovery is generally an unforeseen relation not included in theory.
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Those who do not know the torment of the unknown cannot have the joy of discovery.
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Put off your imagination, as you put off your overcoat, when you enter the laboratory. Put it on again, as you put on your overcoat, when you leave.
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Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge
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True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
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Science increases our power in proportion as it lowers our pride.
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Proof that a given condition always precedes or accompanies a phenomenon does not warrant concluding with certainty that a given condition is the immediate cause of that phenomenon. It must still be established that when this condition is removed, the phenomen will no longer appear.
Claude Bernard
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Progress is achieved by exchanging our theories for new ones which go further than the old, until we find one based on a larger number of facts. ... Theories are only hypotheses, verified by more or less numerous facts. Those verified by the most facts are the best, but even then they are never final, never to be absolutely believed.
Claude Bernard
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Our ideas are only intellectual instruments which we use to break into phenomena we must change them when they have served their purpose, as we change a blunt lancet that we have used long enough.
Claude Bernard
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The terrain is everything the germ is nothing.
Claude Bernard
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Theories are like a stairway by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
Claude Bernard
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First causes are outside the realm of science.
Claude Bernard