Skip to content

Honest investigation is but the application of common sense to the solution of the unknown. Science does not wait on Genius, but is the companion of Industry.

— John Wesley Powell The Larger Import of Scientific Education (1885)

Another quote →

Topics

More quotes by John Wesley Powell

The verb is relatively of much greater importance in an Indian tongue than in a civilized language.

Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages (1880)

Years of drought and famine come and years of flood and famine come, and the climate is not changed with dance, libation or prayer.

In my supposed death I had attained to a glory which I fear my continued life has not fully vindicated.

Canyons of the Colorada (1895)

Indian nouns are extremely connotive; that is, the name does more than simply denote the thing to which it belongs; in denoting the object, it also assigns to it some quality or characteristic.

Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages (1880)

The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.

Canyons of the Colorada (1895)

All John Wesley Powell quotes →

You may also like

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Henri Poincaré Science and Hypothesis (1901)

Attribution

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