Michael Polanyi

“We know more than we can tell.”

“Into every act of knowing there enters a passionate contribution of the person knowing what is being known.”

“Objectivity has been wrongly identified with the ideal of a knowledge that is impersonal and detached.”

“All knowledge is either tacit or rooted in tacit knowledge.”

“The process of formalizing all knowledge to the exclusion of any tacit knowing is self-defeating.”

“The freedom of the scientist to choose his own problems and to pursue them in his own way is an essential condition of scientific progress.”

“To see a problem is to see something that is hidden.”

“We can see now that the glory of the scientist is not in a passionless objectivity but in a passion that is fully dedicated to the pursuit of reality.”

“An art which cannot be specified in detail cannot be transmitted by prescription, since no prescription for it exists. It can be passed on only by example from master to apprentice.”

“The articulate contents of science are successfully taught, but the art of scientific inquiry can be passed on only by example.”

“Scientific discovery is not a completely logical process.”

“The premises of science are not axioms, but beliefs.”

“The affirmation of a great scientific theory is in part an expression of delight.”

“The beauty of a scientific theory is a token of its truth.”

“The ideal of a completely detached, completely objective science is a delusion.”

“Tacit knowing is the fundamental power of the mind, which creates explicit knowing, lends meaning to it and controls its uses.”

“This is my vision of the scientist. He is not a person who applies his intelligence to given problems, he is a person who searches for problems.”

“A great discovery is a work of art.”