First Causes Are Outside The Realm Of

We Must Alter Theory To Adapt It To Nature, But Not Nature To Adapt It To Theory.‎

When Entering On New Ground We Must Not Be Afraid To Express Even Risky Ideas So As To Stimulate Research In All Directions. As Priestley Put It, We Must Not Remain Inactive Through False Modesty Based On Fear Of Being Mistaken.

We Must Never Make Experiments To Confirm Our Ideas, But Simply To Control Them.

It Has Often Been Said That, To Make Discoveries, One Must Be Ignorant. This Opinion, Mistaken In Itself, Nevertheless Conceals A Truth. It Means That It Is Better To Know Nothing Than To Keep In Mind Fixed Ideas Based On Theories Whose Confirmation We Constantly Seek, Neglecting Meanwhile Everything That Fails To Agree With Them.

Even Mistaken Hypotheses And Theories Are Of Use In Leading To Discoveries. This Remark Is True In All The Sciences. The Alchemists Founded Chemistry By Pursuing Chimerical Problems And Theories Which Are False. In Physical Science, Which Is More Advanced Than Biology, We Might Still Cite Men Of Science Who Make Great Discoveries By Relying On False Theories.