Hanson, Norwood Russell

"To be a scientist is to be committed to the eventual overturning of your own beliefs."

"Facts and theories are not opposing forces; they are partners in the dance of understanding."

"The language we inherit shapes the discoveries we can make."

"What seems obvious to us is merely what we have grown accustomed to."

"The observer cannot step outside the world to observe it; we are always part of what we study."

"Scientific understanding grows not by accumulation but by transformation."

"To see clearly, we must first understand our own blindness."

"The concepts we use to understand nature are human constructs, not discoveries."

"Progress requires us to become strangers to our own assumptions."

"Every observation is an answer to a question; the question shapes what we see."

"To understand is to see the necessity of what appeared contingent."

"The history of science teaches that certainty is the enemy of truth."

"What we call reason is often merely the systematic expression of our prejudices."

"The scientist's task is not to discover final truth but to refine provisional understanding."

"To innovate is to see the familiar in an unfamiliar way."

"Facts do not emerge from nature; they are wrested from nature by minds armed with theory."

"The burden of understanding falls upon those who would change how we see."

"What we can know depends partly on what we can imagine."

"The history of thought is the history of changing what seems self-evident."

"To observe is to select; to select is to assume a hierarchy of importance."

"The language of science changes as our understanding deepens."

"What seems to contradict one theory confirms another; the choice lies with us."

"Every explanation is an answer to an implicit question."

"To understand nature, we must first understand the concepts we bring to nature."

"The scientist who has stopped questioning has stopped being a scientist."

"What we see in the world reflects what we are prepared to see."

"The history of discovery is the history of overcoming conceptual obstacles."

"To think clearly, we must first understand how our thinking is structured."

"Facts and values are not separate; what we measure reflects what we value."

"The observer participates in the creation of what is observed."