No scientist is admired for failing in the attempt to solve problems that lie beyond his competence. . … - Peter Medawar

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It beareth the name of Vanity Fair, because the town where 't is kept is lighter than vanity.

Peter Medawar

No scientist is admired for failing in the attempt to solve problems that lie beyond his competence. . . . Good scientists study the most important problems they think they can solve. It is, after all, their professional business to solve problems, not merely to grapple with them.

Lying, Science, Thinking, Solve, Admired, Competence

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The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.

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A scientist is no more a collector and classifier of facts than a historian is a man who complies and classifies a chronology of the dates of great battles and major discoveries.

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Deductivism in mathematical literature and inductivism in scientific papers are simply the postures we choose to be seen in when the curtain goes up and the public sees us. The theatrical illusion is shattered if we ask what goes on behind the scenes. In real life discovery and justification are almost always different processes.

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To deride the hope of progress is the ultimate fatuity, the last word in poverty of spirit and meanness of mind.

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Scientists who think science consists of unprejudiced data-gathering without speculation are merely cows grazing on the pasture of knowledge.

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