The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads.
Scientists
Ibn al-Haytham
Arab mathematician and physicist born in 965 in Basra who founded modern optics by proving that vision results from light entering the eye, not rays emanating from it. A pioneer of the scientific method.
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Ibn al-Haytham's Other Quotes
Truth is sought for its own sake. And those who are engaged upon the quest for anything for its own sake are not interested in other things.
The seeker after truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them.
Related Quotes
To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing.
-- Hypatia
Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies.
-- Hypatia
Once in one's life, everything should be called into doubt.
-- René Descartes
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
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Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.
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I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.
-- Johannes Kepler