Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can … create [its] replacement. If you believe too much you’ll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won’t get started. It requires a lovely balance.

— Richard Hamming, You and Your Research

The Marxist calls himself scientific and to this claim the Fascist adds another: he is the poet—the scientific poet—of a new mythology.

— Aldous Huxley, Ape and Essence

We do not see intellectual life clearly, because of our devotion to lifestyles rich in material comfort and social superiority. We want the splendor of Socratic thinking without his poverty. We want the thrill of his speaking truth to power without the full absorption in the life of the mind that made it possible. We want the profits of Thales’ stargazing without the ridicule. We want Einstein’s brilliant insights without the humiliation of joblessness followed by years of obscurity working in a patent office. Instead of facing reality head on and making a choice to accept the costs of a certain pursuit as they are, we pretend that there is no need to make a choice.

— Zena Hitz, Lost in Thought

When we examine any particular belief or particular line of reasoning, we need to compare it with some accepted standard to test whether or not it is sound. But herein lies a problem, for this accepted standard must itself be examined for its validity; and the standard used to examine that standard also examined, and so on, and so on.

— Anja Publications, Philosophy Now

“Normal,” as Carl Jung said, “is the ideal aspiration of the unsuccessful.”

— Grayson Perry, The Descent of Man