Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of read more

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.

The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so.

The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so.

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a read more

Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. ('What else could it be?') I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and I am told some of the ancient Greeks thought the brain functions like a catapult. At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.

You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'

You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'

Who so regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind. •Ecclesiasticus 34:2

Who so regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind. •Ecclesiasticus 34:2

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.

An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn't take his education too seriously.

Don't be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small read more

Don't be afraid to take a big step when one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps.

The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts read more

The history of science knows scores of instances where an investigator was in the possession of all the important facts for a new theory but simply failed to ask the right questions.

Every once in a while someone without a single bad habit gets caught.

Every once in a while someone without a single bad habit gets caught.