James Clerk Maxwell

"We have strong reason to believe that light itself, including radiant heat and other radiations, is an electromagnetic disturbance."

"The essential features of the theory have been found to be correct, though many details require refinement."

"My great aim in writing has been to make difficult subjects plain."

"I have devoted myself to the service of truth and the advancement of human knowledge."

"The character of the investigator must be one of absolute devotion to truth."

"Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority."

"The pursuit of knowledge should be a lifelong endeavor."

"We are to admit no laws to natural philosophy other than those based on experiment."

"The mind can go where we cannot send the body; thus knowledge liberates us."

"Mathematics is knowledge; and knowledge is truth."

"The more I study the subject, the more convinced I become of the universality of the laws."

"In the present age, the cultivation of the physical sciences is a matter of great national importance."

"I have tried to establish a clear understanding of the nature of electromagnetic phenomena."

"The power of geometrical demonstration is often more convincing than verbal argument."

"I cannot conceive of a more complete unity than that which exists in the physical universe."

"The study of nature is the highest pursuit of the human intellect."

"Whatever exists must exist either in the form of matter or of force."

"The investigator who wishes to make real progress must be willing to abandon cherished beliefs."

"Light, electricity, and magnetism are not separate phenomena but manifestations of one underlying reality."

"In scientific work, precision and accuracy are paramount virtues."

"The imagination of the natural philosopher must be disciplined by mathematics."

"To understand nature, we must become nature."

"The laws of physics are the voice of nature speaking to us."

"I have endeavored to think of electricity not as a fluid but as a state of mechanical strain."

"The true mission of the natural philosopher is to read the book of nature."

"In all sciences the first step is observation, but observation alone is not sufficient."

"The unity of nature is not a supposition, but an established fact."

"We must learn to see the invisible connections between visible phenomena."

"The greatest truths are often the simplest, yet the most profound."

"Mathematics is the language in which the universe has written itself."