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Knowing “why” (an idea) is more important than learning “what” (the fact).

James Watson

The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was that my father didn’t believe in God, and so he had no hang-ups about souls.
JAMES WATSON

Believe Father God Himself Lucky Myself Soul
If I had been married earlier in life, I wouldn’t have seen the double helix. I would have been taking care of the kids on Saturday. On the other hand, I was lonely a lot of the time.
JAMES WATSON

Care Children Early Hands Life Lonely Marriage See Time
Science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward (and sometimes backward) are often very human events in which personalities and cultural traditions play major roles.
JAMES WATSON

Culture Human Imagination Logic Personality Role Science Tradition
Knowing “why” (an idea) is more important than learning “what” (the fact).
JAMES WATSON

Ideas Important Knowledge Learning
I have been much blessed.
JAMES WATSON

Blessing Myself
Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.
JAMES WATSON

Competition Research Togetherness Virtual Young
Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind.
JAMES WATSON

Change Decision Mindset Need Time
If you succeed with your first dream, it helps. You know, people trust you, possibly, for the second one. They give you a chance to play out your second one.
JAMES WATSON

Dreams Help People Play Success Trust
The brain, is the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe.
JAMES WATSON

Brain Discover Universe
Ultimately, we’ll help the people we discriminate against if we try to understand more about them; genetics will lead to a world where there is a sympathy for the underdog.
JAMES WATSON

Direction Discrimination Help Leadership People Sympathy Try Understand
No good model ever accounted for all the facts, since some data was bound to be misleading if not plain wrong.
JAMES WATSON

Goodness Model Responsibility Wrong
I don’t think we are here for anything. We’re just products of evolution. You can say, “Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don’t think there’s a purpose.” But I’m anticipating a good lunch.
JAMES WATSON

Evolution Goodness Myself Production Purpose Thinking
Every time you understand something, religion becomes less likely.
JAMES WATSON

Religion Time Understand
If scientists don’t play God, who will?
JAMES WATSON

God One Liner Play Science
Racists have often used pseudoscience to justify their socially damaging views; watch these films to see how science, by replacing ignorance with knowledge, can undo that damage.
JAMES WATSON

Damage Justice Movie Race Replacement Science
The way to do great science is to stay away from subjects that are overpopulated, and go to the frontiers.
JAMES WATSON

Greatness Population Science Subject Way
A clone of Einstein wouldn’t be stupid, but he wouldn’t necessarily be any genius, either.
JAMES WATSON

Genius Necessary Stupidity
Moving forward will not be for the faint of heart. But if the next century witnesses failure, let it be because our science is not yet up to the job, not because we don’t have the courage to make less random the sometimes most unfair courses of human evolution.
JAMES WATSON

Courage Evolution Failure Heart Human Job Move Science Time
The American public is being sold a very nasty bill of goods about cancer.
JAMES WATSON

Good Price Production Public Sick
Ever since we achieved a breakthrough in the area of recombinant DNA in 1973, left-wing nuts and environmental kooks have been screaming that we will create some kind of Frankenstein bug or Andromeda Strain that will destroy us all.
JAMES WATSON

Achievement Break Destroy Scream
It’s necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant.
JAMES WATSON

Employment Important Necessary Yourself
Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them.
JAMES WATSON

Feeling Interview People Yourself
No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn’t we?
JAMES WATSON

Better Creation Human Improvement Technology
Biology has at least 50 more interesting years.
JAMES WATSON

Age Biology Interest Time
There are many people of color who are very talented.
JAMES WATSON

Color Different People Talent
Science moves with the spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and by the belief that the truth, once found, would be simple as well as pretty.
JAMES WATSON

Adventure Beautiful Character Science Simplicity Spirit Truth
You’ve never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient.
JAMES WATSON

Love Patience Yourself

Knowing “why” (an idea) is more important than learning “what” (the fact).

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Knowing “why” (an idea) is more important than learning “what” (the fact).

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