Quotes by People on Stamps

René Descartes

 

1596-1650
French philosopher and mathematician

 

René Descartes quotes:

Paul Valéry

1871-1945

French Poet and philosopher

Paul Valéry quotes:

Marie Curie

1867–1934
Polish-born French physicist and chemist

Madam Marie Curie quotes:

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.

Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well-organized society should assure to such workers the efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research.

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and this thing must be attained.

I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.

We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.

A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.

I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.

We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. 

I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.

There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth. 

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.

Please feel free to add to the Marie Curie quotes in a comment.

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André Gide

1869-1951
French Author

André Gide Quotes:

Jeanne-Marie Roland, de la Platière

1754–1793
French Revolutionary

Blaise Pascal

1623 – 1662, French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher

... Among the contemporaries of Descartes none displayed greater natural genius than Pascal, but his mathematical reputation rests more on what he might have done than on what he actually effected, as during a considerable part of his life he deemed it his duty to devote his whole time to religious exercises. (Click here to continue)

Blaise Pascal quotes:

Romain Roland

   

- Romain Rolland, 1866-1944, French novelist, essayist, art historian

A hero is a man who does what he can.