Quotes from Michael Faraday

A centre of excellence is, by definition, a place where second class people may perform first class work.

With respect to Committees as you would perceive I am very jealous of their formation. I mean working committees. I think business is always better done by few than by many.

Nothing is too wonderful to be true.

The lecturer should give the audience full reason to believe that all his powers have been exerted for their pleasure and instruction.

There's nothing quite as frightening as someone who knows they are right.

It is right that we should stand by and act on our principles; but not right to hold them in obstinate blindness, or retain them when proved to be erroneous.

A man who is certain he is right is almost sure to be wrong.

Shall we educate ourselves in what is known, and then casting away all we have acquired, turn to ignorance for aid to guide us among the unknown?

I will simply express my strong belief, that that point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all, not only in things of natural philosophy, but in every department of daily life.

In place of practising wholesome self-abnegation, we ever make the wish the father to the thought: we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense.

Who would not have been laughed at if he had said in 1800 that metals could be extracted from their ores by electricity or that portraits could be drawn by chemistry. { Commenting on Henri Becquerel 's process for extracting metals by voltaic means .}

Nature is our kindest friend and best critic in experimental science if we only allow her intimations to fall unbiased on our minds.

we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense.

Do not refer to your toy-books, and say you have seen that before. Answer me rather, if I ask you, have you understood it before?

The five essential entrepreneurial skills for success are concentration, discrimination, organization, innovation, and communication

Studiando, noi diventiamo tutti filosofi; dovrete dunque avvezzarvi, ogni volta che un risultato vi sorprende, specialmente quando questo risultato vi par nuovo, dovrete avvezzarvi, dico, a chiedere a voi stessi o ad altri: «Quale è la causa di ciò? Perché le cose succedono a questo modo?» E presto o tardi finirete sempre col trovare la risposta.

Non saprei meglio terminare le nostre conversazioni che esprimendo il desiderio che possiate nella vostra esistenza meritare d'essere comparati ad una candela; che possiate com'essa brillare qual fiamma per coloro che vi circondano, che possiate in tutte le vostre azioni emulare la bellezza del lucignolo, adempiendo con onore ed efficacia i vostri doveri verso i vostri simili.

See how beautifully these are coloured: you see here mauve, magenta, and all the chemical colours recently introduced, applied to candles.

I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.

I was at first almost frightened when I saw such mathematical force made to bear upon the subject, and then wondered to see that the subject stood it so well. [Letter to James Clerk Maxwell, 25 March 1857, commenting on Maxwell's paper titled "On Faraday's Lines of Force"]