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All I had was my head and my books, and I thought a lot. I learned, because there was no interruption. I had access to myself, to my thinking.

— Abraham Pais To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue (2000)

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Books

More quotes by Abraham Pais

Deliberately or not, every author is of course present in every book he or she writes — even in a scientific text.

A Tale of Two Continents (1997)

Progress leads to confusion leads to progress and on and on without respite.

Inward Bound : Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World (1988)

The rule of the game was never assume that anybody, however honorable, would be able to stand up under torture.

To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue (2000)

One of the absolute rules I learned in the war was, don't know anything you don't need to know, because if you ever get caught they will get it out of you.

To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust Rescue (2000)

Of course, relative citation frequencies are no measure of relative importance. Who has not aspired to write a paper so fundamental that very soon it is known to everyone and cited by no one?

Subtle is the Lord (1982)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.

Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.

Logan Pearsall Smith Afterthoughts (1931)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Abraham Pais (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.