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The motto of science is not just Pauca but rather Plurima ex paucissimis — the most out of the least.

— Mario Bunge

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Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Mario Bunge, The myth of simplicity, 1963, p, 82; Cited in: C.C. Gaither, ‎Alma E Cavazos-Gaither (2000), Scientifically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations, p. 187
Source quality: Secondhand citation Quoted from another book or article rather than from the original.

More by Mario Bunge

In academia much bogus knowledge is tolerated in the name of academic freedom – which is like allowing for the sale of contaminated food in the name of free enterprise. I submit that such tolerance is suicidal: that the serious students must be protected against the “anything goes” crowd.

Matter and Mind (2010)

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Topics

Science

More quotes by Mario Bunge

At all times pseudoprofound aphorisms have been more popular than rigorous arguments.

Evaluating Philosophies (2012)

If one aims to judge political movements, their deeds are far more important than their speeches, which are often masking rather than revealing.

Emergence and Convergence (2003)

To put it roughly and metaphorically, an approach is a way of looking at things (e.g., people) or ideas (e.g., conjectures), and therefore also of handling problems concerning them.

‎Ruben Ardila (2012)

A conceptual model is neither idle nor faithful: it is, or rather it is supposed to be and so taken until further notice, an approximate representation of a real thing.

The fact that a great many scientists signed Faustian pacts with the war devil throughout the twentieth century has given science a bad name, and has discouraged many able youngsters from pursuing a scientific career.

Matter and Mind (2010)

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Attribution

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