The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by failures.

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the heart and secure comfort.

I have learned more from my mistakes than from my successes.

Experimental science hardly ever affords us more than approximations to the truth; and whenever many agents are concerned we are in great danger of being mistaken.

Nothing tends so much to the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument.

We must reason in natural philosophy not from what we hope, or even expect, but from what we perceive.

Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.

By science calmed, over the peaceful soul, Bright with eternal Wisdom's lucid ray, Peace, meek of eye, extends her soft control, And drives the puny Passions far away.

Consistency in opinion is the slow poison of intellectual life, the destroyer of its vividness and energy.

When two elements combine and form more than one compound, the masses of one element that react with a fixed mass of the other are in the ratio of small whole numbers.

Profound minds are the most likely to think lightly of the resources of human reason, and it is the superficial thinker who is generally strongest in every kind of unbelief.

No harm in listening. Alexei's a child, not a wizard. We don't lose control of our brains by listening.

ALL words are made-up: Do you think we find them fully formed on the ocean floor, or mine from them in some remote part of Wales?

It's his duty. A good healer can't pick and choose. If he can help, then he must.

I don't understand it and haven't understood in this world of technology: where every building has a camera, every ATM has a camera, why don't we have cameras on police officers?

Going back and forth between wanting to be respected artistically and wanting to move people is its own challenge.

My husband used to shout at my mother, 'What is wrong with your daughter? I'm married to a man.'

People realise that his promise [Tony Blair's] to 'save the NHS' was just talk.

Beckham in Paris will certainly be good for shopping. I love this player but he is not the footballer he was. And if he comes to Paris now it will be to do something other than football.

God, deliver me from sullen saints.

If you're playing around with a film, you're just playing around with it. But if it has to go into theaters, you get yourself into gear and finish it.