Marie Curie quotes: fascinating feedback from the late physicist.
“It is important to make a dream of life—and of a dream, reality.”
“Stay curious, no matter the cost.”
“We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
“First principle: never to let one’s self be beaten down by persons or by events.”
“Have no fear of perfection; you’ll never reach it.”
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
“You must never be fearful of what you are doing when it is right.”
“We must keep our certainty that after the bad days the good times will come again.”
“You can only analyze the data you have. Be strategic about what to gather and how to store it.”
“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
“Knowledge leaves no regrets.”
“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
“I was taught that the method for advancement and way of progress was neither swift nor easy.”
“Patience is a virtue. My long road to success was neither a given nor was it without its hurdles, both societal and personal. I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.”
“I was faced with discrimination as a woman in science, but I fought back against gender stereotypes and went on.”
“I was motivated by the desire to know more, and to discover what others believed impossible. I didn’t let anyone decide for me the simple fact of being a woman. I took the reins of my destiny, both personal and professional, throughout my life.”
“Sometimes my courage fails me and I think I ought to stop working, live in the country and devote myself to gardening. But I am held by a thousand bonds, and I don’t know when I shall be able to arrange things otherwise. Nor do I know whether, even by writing scientific books, I could live without the laboratory. Never stop working.”
“All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.”
“I am one of those who think that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.”
“Fix yourself first before you tackle the world.”
“Humanity certainly 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. Without the slightest doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well-organized society should assure to such workers the efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research.”
“In science we must be interested in things, not in persons.”
“In high school I was an outstanding student who graduated at the top of my high school class when I was only fifteen. I then spent eight years working as a tutor and a governess to earn enough money to attend the Sorbonne in Paris. I had to go to study in France, because in my country women were not allowed to reach certain levels of education.”
“In 1903, I finished my doctor’s thesis and obtained the degree. At the end of the same year, the Nobel Prize was awarded jointly to Becquerel, my husband and me for the discovery of radioactivity and new radioactive elements.”
“My husband [Pierre] had dedicated his life to his dream of science: he felt the need of a companion who could live his dream with him.”
“Science has a freeing quality. It was like a new world opened to me, the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty.”
“I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician, he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery has its own beauty.”
“I was the first woman who have been awarded with a Nobel Prize, and one of only two persons who have been awarded in two different fields. These where Physics and Chemistry. Later I was also decorated with the French Legion of Honor. It’s a great feeling to receive such considered prizes like these!”
“If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.”
“There is nothing more wonderful than being a scientist, nowhere I would rather be than in my lab, staining up my clothes and getting paid to play.”
“It is my earnest desire that some of you should carry on this scientific work and keep for your ambition the determination to make a permanent contribution to science. We must act.”
“The older one gets, the more one feels that the present moment must be enjoyed, comparable to a state of grace.”
“We cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual. Toward this end, each of us must work for his own highest improvement and development, accepting at the same time his share of responsibility in the general life of humanity—our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.”
“Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted in something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
“Life is an adventure, embrace it.”
“Decide. Have fun and get started! The world is waiting for you to reveal your gift!”
