James Clerk Maxwell

"The most profound truths are often the simplest when properly understood."

"To generalize is the goal of all science."

"The interconnectedness of electricity and magnetism suggests deeper unities yet to be discovered."

"Clarity of thought requires clarity of language."

"The human mind is the only instrument capable of knowing the mind of nature."

"To advance science, we must sometimes abandon what we thought we understood."

"The fields permeate all of space and connect the farthest reaches of the universe."

"A question well-asked is more valuable than an answer hastily given."

"The unity of nature manifests in the unity of her laws."

"To see the extraordinary in the ordinary is the mark of a true scientist."

"The advancement of human knowledge requires both individual brilliance and collective effort."

"The true science of natural philosophy is to be found in the study of the works of nature, not in the fancies of men."

"I have also a paper afloat, with an electromagnetic theory of light, which, till the equations are firmer, I do not like to speak publicly about."

"The opinion seems to have got abroad that my papers are very difficult to understand, but I do not see why they should be considered more difficult than other papers."

"Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science."

"When you reach the limits of what you know, you must make the leap into what you believe."

"The true logic of the world is the calculus of probabilities."

"Do not imagine that mathematics is hard and crabbed, and repulsive to common sense. It is merely the etherealization of common sense."

"In every physical science there is a quantity which may be called entropy. It measures the degree to which the energy of a system is unavailable."

"Is it a fact or have I dreamt it, that, by means of electricity, the world of this life has become limited to Paris?"

"The electromagnetic field is real."

"To do any real work in science, you must be in earnest about it."

"Our duty is to submit to the unknown, not to attempt to reduce it within the bounds of our knowledge."

"I have not been able to make the next step in my theory of electricity by any means."

"The molecular constitution of bodies is a subject of much speculative inquiry."

"I am endeavoring to show that the electric and magnetic phenomena are produced by the stresses and motions of one continuous medium."

"Heat is a form of motion, but not of translation."

"What is the use of thinking about the future when we have the present to consider?"

"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself."

"In the application of dynamical principles to the electromagnetic field, the results obtained are of the highest importance."