August Kekulé

The only way to do great work is to love what you do, even if it means dreaming about snakes.

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

The atoms are not things, they are ideas.

I was sitting, writing at my textbook; but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were juggling before my eyes.

The ring of the benzene molecule, that was a dream. But it was a dream that led to a great awakening.

Science is not merely a collection of facts, but a way of thinking.

The chemist must be an artist, not merely a craftsman.

To understand nature, one must first understand oneself.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.

Every discovery is a new question.

The true scientist is not afraid to stand alone.

We are but children playing on the seashore, while the immense ocean of truth lies undiscovered before us.

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

The greatest joy in life is to discover something new.

Our knowledge is a drop, our ignorance a sea.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

The true value of a discovery is not in its immediate application, but in its potential to open new avenues of thought.

To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour.

The pursuit of knowledge is a journey, not a destination.

We are all connected, like the atoms in a molecule.