Marie Curie

I am one of those who believe that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not merely a technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

There are sadistic scientists who torture animals, but there are also sadistic physicians who torture men. We cannot infer that science or medicine should be abolished because of those aberrations.

One never notices what has been done; one only sees what remains to be done.

A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.

Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit.

I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on to go to the laboratory.

We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.

The history of radium is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.

I have often been asked how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.

There are sadistic scientists who torture animals; why do they applaud when I hurt myself?

It is important to make a dream of life a reality, and a reality of life a dream.

The scientist's task is to extend the boundaries of knowledge, not to predict the future.

The greatest scientists are those who are not afraid to be wrong.

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity.

We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it.

It is important to make a dream of life and of a dream, a reality.

First principle: never to let one's self be beaten down by persons or by events.

We must believe that we are gifted for something.

You must never be fearful of what you are doing when it is right.