"The ant is a collectively intelligent and individually stupid animal; man is the opposite."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
“The bee's life is like a magic well: the more you draw from it, the more it fills with water”
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"Nature has unlimited time in which to travel along tortuous paths to an unknown destination. The mind of man is too feeble to discern whence or whither the path runs and has to be content if it can discern only portions of the track, however small."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"Science advances but slowly, with halting steps. But does not therein lie her eternal fascination? And would we not soon tire of her if she were to reveal her ultimate truths too easily?"
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"Science is eternal in its out-gushing stream, bounded by neither time nor space, immeasurable in its activity, endless in its scope, its final goal ever unreached."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"One can see that the colors of the flowers have been developed as an adaptation to the color sense of their visitors. It is evident that they are not designed for the human eye. But this should not prevent us from delighting in their beauty."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"I have been a Professor Emeritus since 1958, and have continued my scientific studies."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"No competent scientist ought to believe these things on first hearing."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)
"I studied at a grammar school and later at the University of Vienna in the Faculty of Medicine."
"After the first exams, I switched to the Faculty of Philosophy and studied Zoology in Munich and Vienna."
—Karl von Frisch (1886–1982)