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.
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
Related Quotes
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.
-- Ibn al-Haytham
Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies.
-- Hypatia
To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing.
-- Hypatia
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
-- William James
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.
-- Galileo Galilei
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman