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

Experimentation is an active science.
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

It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.
Claude Bernard

Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.
Claude Bernard

Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge.
Claude Bernard

Observation is a passive science, experimentation an active science.
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

Science does not permit exceptions.
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