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We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.‎

Claude Bernard

We must keep our freedom of mind, and must believe that in nature what is absurd, according to our theories, is not always impossible.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Absurd Believe Freedom Impossible Mindset Nature
Experiment is fundamentally only induced observation.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Experiment Fundamental Observation
Science rejects the indeterminate.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Determination Rejection Science
The experimenter who does not know what he is looking for will not understand what he finds.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Experiment Himself Philosophy Research Understand
Effects vary with the conditions which bring them to pass, but laws do not vary. Physiological and pathological states are ruled by the same forces; they differ only because of the special conditions under which the vital laws manifest themselves.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Condition Force Law Manifestation State
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.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Afraid Direction Fear Ground Ideas Mistake Modesty Risk
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Doubt Ignorance Science Teaching True
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Delicate Live Mechanism Organism Property Wonderful
Priestley said that each discovery we make shows us many others that should be made.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Discover Science Show
All the vital mechanisms, varied as they are, have only one object, that of preserving constant the conditions of life in the internal environment.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Condition Environment Object Oneself Preserve
The terrain is everything; the germ is nothing.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Germs Insect Land Terrain
The first requirement in using statistics is that the facts treated shall be reduced to comparable units.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Compare Requirement Statistics Treat
Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Climb Horizon Necessary Proportion Science Theory
Art is ‘I’; science is ‘we’.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Art Science
Science does not permit exceptions.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Exception One Liner Science
Well-observed facts, though brought to light by passing theories, will never die; they are the material on which alone the house of science will at last be built.
CLAUDE BERNARD

Built Death Fact Material Observation Science

We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.‎

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We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.‎

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