“It will not be an activity in which all people can participate.”

In reality, the professor benefits equally by his association with gifted students working under him.

From Calcutta has gone forth a living stream of knowledge in many branches of study. It is inspiring to think of the long succession of scholars, both Indian and European, who have lived in this city, made it their own, and given it of their best.

The sunlit face of the earth would appear to shine by the light diffused back into space from the land and water-covered areas.

I feel it is unnatural and immoral to try to teach science to children in a foreign language They will know facts, but they will miss the spirit.

It is not often that idealism of student days finds adequate opportunity for expression in the later life of manhood.

It will soon be 25 years from the date of publication of my first research work. That the scientific aspirations kindled by that early work did not suffer extinction has been due entirely to the opportunities provided for me by the great city of Calcutta.

It has been invariably my experience that I could count on his cooperation and sympathy in every matter concerning my scientific work.

We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit which can recognize that we, as inheritors of a proud civilization, are entitled to our rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny.

We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex.

The essence of science is independent thinking, hard work, and not equipment.

A voyage to Europe in the summer of 1921 gave me the first opportunity of observing the wonderful blue opalescence of the Mediterranean Sea.

I strongly believe that fundamental science cannot be driven by instructional, industrial, governmental or military pressures.

The fundamental importance of the subject of molecular diffraction came first to be recognized through the theoretical work of the late Lord Rayleigh on the blue light of the sky, which he showed to be the result of the scattering of sunlight by the gases of the atmosphere.

It seemed not unlikely that the phenomenon owed its origin to the scattering of sunlight by the molecules of the water.

The whole edifice of modern physics is built up on the fundamental hypothesis of the atomic or molecular constitution of matter.

I have always thought it a great privilege to have as my colleague in the Palit Chair of Chemistry such a distinguished pioneer in scientific research and education in Bengal as Sir Prafulla Ray.

If you can’t be yourself, what’s the point of being anyone else?

I owe a debt to America that I will never be able to repay.

You don’t have to be Magic to be special. You’re already special, you’re you.

With everything I do, I just try to be myself.

Rich people believe ‘I create my life.’ Poor people believe ‘Life happens to me.’

Try to be better than yourself.

I don’t have to be anybody I’m not.

The best players will play. That’s the way it will always be.