Robert Boyle

I am not so much a friend to any of my own opinions, as to be unwilling to exchange them for better.

I shall not here stay to examine, whether or no the principles of the Chymists be more than the elements of the Peripateticks, or whether the one be not as much a fiction as the other.

I confess I am not satisfied with the vulgar doctrines of the four elements, nor with the three principles of the Chymists.

I shall not scruple to acknowledge, that I have been much assisted in my enquiries by the writings of the Chymists, though I have not always found them to be so clear and intelligible as I could have wished.

It is not the business of a Chymist to make gold, but to understand the nature of things.

I confess I am not so much a friend to any of my own opinions, as to be unwilling to exchange them for better, when I shall be convinced that they are so.

The grand design of this treatise is to make it appear, that the received doctrines of the elements are not so well grounded as is commonly imagined.

I am not ashamed to confess that I have learned more from the unlearned than from the learned.

The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the wisdom and power of God.

I am so much a lover of truth, that I would not for all the world conceal it.

It is not enough to know, but to know how to apply what we know.

I confess I am not much for the multiplying of words, where things may be better expressed by deeds.

The true way of improving natural philosophy is to begin with experiments.

I am not one of those who think that the knowledge of nature is to be acquired by speculation alone.

I find that the more I know, the more I am sensible of my ignorance.

I am resolved to make it my business to promote the knowledge of God in his works.

I have often observed that the greatest discoveries have been made by accident.

I am persuaded that the study of nature is one of the most effectual means to lead us to the knowledge of God.

I am not ashamed to own that I have learned much from the meanest of men.

I have always been a great admirer of experiments, and have spent a good part of my life in making them.