Charles Richet

"Understand this clearly; that the right method, even for obtaining a useful practical result, is not to worry about the practice, but to concentrate intensely on pure investigation, without being hampered by any parasitic considerations other than whatever conduces to greater facility for research."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"The future and the happiness of humanity depend on science."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"A chemist cannot find, already in his mind, the laws and the phenomena which govern matter."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"If you would discover a new truth, do not seek to know what use will be made of it."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"The aim of science is knowledge about phenomena."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"No one has the right to encumber science with premature assertions."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"Scientific doubt is a first-class quality, but rather eliminates piquancy from controversy."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"Probably, what characterizes all scientists, whatever they may be, archivists, mathematicians, chemists, astronomists, physicists, is that they do not seek to reach a practical conclusion by their work."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"Be as bold in the conception of hypotheses as rigorous in their demonstration."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"Phylaxis, a word seldom used, stands in the Greek for protection. Anaphylaxis will thus stand for the opposite. Anaphylaxis, from its Greek etymological source, therefore means that state of an organism in which it is rendered hypersensitive, instead of being protected."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"I never said it was possible. I only said it was true."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)

"One can only progress in the sciences — with the exception of Mathematics — at the price of great pecuniary sacrifice."

—Charles Richet (1850-1935)