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Quotes from Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale — Claude Bernard

1813–1878 France

← All quotes by Claude Bernard

9 quotes

Men who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for making discoveries; they also make very poor observations.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

Considered in itself, the experimental method is nothing but reasoning by whose help we methodically submit our ideas to experience,—the experience of facts.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

A contemporary poet has characterized this sense of the personality of art and of the impersonality of science in these words,—"Art is myself, science is ourselves."

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

When we meet a fact which contradicts a prevailing theory, we must accept the fact and abandon the theory, even when the theory is supported by great names and generally accepted.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

[P]articular facts are never scientific; only generalization can establish science.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

[A] living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

[T]heories 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.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

[T]he science of life […] is a superb and dazzlingly lighted hall which may be reached only by passing through a long and ghastly kitchen.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

Indeed, 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 phenomenon will no longer appear.

Introduction à l'Étude de la Médecine Expérimentale (1865)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Claude Bernard (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.