Quotes by Claude Bernard


It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.
– Claude Bernard
A fact in itself is nothing. It is valuable only for the idea attached to it, or for the proof which it furnishes.
– Claude Bernard
Art is I; science is we.
– Claude Bernard
In teaching man, experimental science results in lessening his pride more and more by proving to him every day that primary causes, like the objective reality of things, will be hidden from him forever and that he can only know relations.
– Claude Bernard
Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge.
– Claude Bernard
The experimenter who does not know what he is looking for will not understand what he finds.
– Claude Bernard
The investigator should have a robust faith - and yet not believe.
– Claude Bernard
The true worth of an experimenter consists in his pursuing not only what he seeks in his experiment, but also what he did not seek.
– Claude Bernard
Man can learn nothing unless he proceeds from the known to the unknown.
– Claude Bernard
Science does not permit exceptions.
– Claude Bernard
Put off your imagination, as you put off your overcoat, when you enter the laboratory. Put it on again, as you put on your overcoat, when you leave.
– Claude Bernard
Observation is a passive science, experimentation an active science.
– Claude Bernard