Experiment is fundamentally only induced observation.
CLAUDE BERNARDExperiment is fundamentally only induced observation.
CLAUDE BERNARDIn teaching man, experimental science results in lessening his pride more and more by proving to him every day that primary causes, like the objective reality of things, will be hidden from him forever and that he can only know relations.
CLAUDE BERNARDTheories 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 BERNARDThe fact that knowledge endlessly recedes as the investigator is about to grasp it is what constitutes at the same time his torment and happiness.
CLAUDE BERNARDMen who believe too firmly in their theories, do not believe enough in the theories of others. So these despisers of their fellows make experiments only to destroy a theory, instead of to seek the truth.
CLAUDE BERNARDWe must never make experiments to confirm our ideas, but simply to control them.
CLAUDE BERNARDThe minds that rise and become really great are never self-satisfied, but still continue to strive.
CLAUDE BERNARDWe must remain, in a word, in an intellectual disposition which seems paradoxical, but which, in my opinion, represents the true mind of the investigator. We must have a robust faith and yet not believe.
CLAUDE BERNARDIn science, the best precept is to alter and exchange our ideas as fast as science moves ahead.
CLAUDE BERNARDThe terrain is everything; the germ is nothing.
CLAUDE BERNARDThe science of life is a superb and dazzlingly lighted hall which may be reached only by passing through a long and ghastly kitchen.
CLAUDE BERNARDWhen we meet a fact which contradicts a prevailing theory, we must accept the fact and abandon the theory, even when the theory is supported by great names and generally accepted.
CLAUDE BERNARDWhen 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 BERNARDScience rejects the indeterminate.
CLAUDE BERNARDIt is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.
CLAUDE BERNARDScience increases our power in proportion as it lowers our pride.
CLAUDE BERNARD