Pierre Curie Quotes

Radium, discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, was especially popular: the 'it' element of its day. Radium glows an eerie blue-green in the dark, giving off light for years without any apparent power source. People had never seen anything like it. ~ Sam Kean

Is it right to probe so deeply into Nature's secrets? The question must here be raised whether it will benefit mankind, or whether the knowledge will be harmful. ~ Pierre Curie

I have to keep going, as there are always people on my track. I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race. The best sprinters in this road of investigation are Becquerel and the Curies ... ~ Ernest Rutherford

Pierre Curie came to see me and showed a simple and sincere sympathy with my student life. Soon he caught the habit of speaking to me of his dream of an existence consecrated entirely to scientific research, and he asked me to share that life. ~ Marie Curie

Radium could be very dangerous in criminal hands. ~ Pierre Curie

I met Pierre Curie for the first time in the spring of the year 1894 ... A Polish physicist whom I knew, and who was a great admirer of Pierre Curie, one day invited us together to spend the evening with himself and his wife. ~ Marie Curie

It can even be thought that radium could become very dangerous in criminal hands, and here the question can be raised whether mankind benefits from knowing the secrets of Nature, whether it is ready to profit from it or whether this knowledge will not be harmful for it. The example of the discoveries of Nobel is characteristic, as powerful explosives have enabled man to do wonderful work. They are also a terrible means of destruction in the hands of great criminals who lead the peoples towards war. I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries. ~ Pierre Curie

Pierre Curie voluntarily exposed his arm to the action of radium for several hours. This resulted in damage resembling a burn that developed progressively and required several months to heal. Henri Becquerel had by accident a similar burn as a result of carrying in his vest pocket a glass tube containing radium salt. He came to tell us of this evil effect of radium, exclaiming in a manner at once delighted and annoyed: "I love it, but I owe it a grudge." ~ Marie Curie

Pierre and Marie (then Maria Sklodowska, a penniless Polish immigrant living in a garret in Paris) had met at the Sorbonne and been drawn to each other because of a common interest in magnetism. ~ Siddhartha Mukherjee

Alfred Nobel's discoveries are characteristic; powerful explosives can help men perform admirable tasks. They are also a means to terrible destruction in the hands of the great criminals who lead peoples to war. ~ Pierre Curie

My sister and my brother, of whom I have not spoken before, were considerably older than I; it seemed almost as if we belonged to different generations. ~ Pierre Loti

Believe me, as one who has seen a number of international crises firsthand, they cannot be handled without an understanding of history. ~ Pierre Salinger

In a society like ours, to seek for literary glory seems to me an anachronism. Of what use is it to invoke an ancient sibyl when a muse is on the eve of birth? Pitiable actors in a tragedy nearing its end, that which it behooves us to do is to precipitate the catastrophe. The most deserving among us is he who plays best this part. Well, I no longer aspire to this sad success! ~ Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

I think that we must come together progressively, with the British, the Germans, the Spanish, the Italians and with the new members of the European Union, we must make an effort to forge closer links. ~ Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Plays, gentlemen, are to their authors what children are to women: they cost more pain than they give pleasure. ~ Pierre Beaumarchais

In the case of sociology however, we are always walking on hot coals, and the things we discuss are alive, they're not dead and buried ~ Pierre Bourdieu

Obedience is a hard profession. ~ Pierre Corneille

Ambition becomes displeasing when it is once satiated; there is a reaction; and as our spirit, till our last sigh, is always aiming toward some object, it falls back on itself, having nothing else on which to rest; and having reached the summit, it longs to descend. ~ Pierre Corneille

A thing too silly to be said can be sung. ~ Pierre-Augustine Caron De Beaumarchais

He who is hated by all can not expect to live long. ~ Pierre Corneille

Only in imaginary experience (in the folk tale, for example), which neutralizes the sense of social realities, does the social world take the form of a universe of possibles equally possible for any possible subject. ~ Pierre Bourdieu

Criticism demands infinitely more culture than artistic creation. ~ Pierre Bayard

It's true that humanity has seen a succession of crises, wars and atrocities, but this negative side is offset by advances in technology and cultural exchanges. ~ Abbe Pierre

Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

It seemed to me that it was possible to translate light, forms, and character using nothing but color, without recourse to values. ~ Pierre Bonnard

I understand, gentlemen," John Kennedy said. "If you find that life it's not easy, let me tell you, death is worse. ~ Pierre Marshesso

Male domination is so rooted in our collective unconscious that we no longer even see it. ~ Pierre Bourdieu

Where, where ... " M'sieur Pierre mimicked him. "You know where. Off to do chop-chop. ~ Vladimir Nabokov

A painter who has the feel of breasts and buttocks is saved. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Force is legitimate where gentleness avails not. ~ Pierre Corneille

It is the crime not the scaffold which is the disgrace. ~ Pierre Corneille

It is in order that France may find her place in the new Europe that you will respond to my appeal. ~ Pierre Laval

For centuries, dreams have been used to communicate instruction and direction to people of purpose - great men and women. God used dreams to prepare Joseph for his future as a leader of nations. He gave battle plans to Gideon in a dream. Joan of Arc, Jacob, George Washington, Marie Curie, and the apostle Paul were all guided by their dreams. ~ Andy Andrews

My old vintage designs are so popular now. I must have been on to something. ~ Pierre Cardin

What we know here is very little, but what we are ignorant of is immense. ~ Pierre Laplace

Usually a fiber, after being dipped in a liquid, shows a string of droplets, and thus, for some time, people thought that most common fibers were non-wettable. ~ Pierre-Gilles De Gennes

He who has resolved to conquer or die is seldom conquered; such noble despair perishes with difficulty. ~ Pierre Corneille

Since once again, Lord - though this time not in the forests of the Aisne but in the steppes of Asia - I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the Real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labours and sufferings of the world.

Over there, on the horizon, the sun has just touched with light the outermost fringe of the eastern sky. Once again, beneath this moving sheet of fire, the living surface of the earth wakes and trembles, and once again begins its fearful travail. I will place on my paten, O God, the harvest to be won by this renewal of labour. Into my chalice I shall pour all the sap which is to be pressed out this day from the earth's fruits.

My paten and my chalice are the depths of a soul laid widely open to all the forces which in a moment will rise up from every corner of the earth and converge upon the Spirit. Grant me the remembrance and the mystic presence of all those whom the light is now awakening to the new day . . .

Over every living thing which is to spring up, to grow, to flower, to ripen during this day say again the words: 'This is my Body'. And over every death-force which waits in readiness to corrode, to wither, to cut down, speak again your commanding words which express the supreme mystery of faith: 'This is my Blood'. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Haven't you realized that pleasure, which is indeed certainly the one and only reason for the two sexes to come together, is nevertheless not enough to establish a relationship between them? And that though this pleasure is preceded by desire which draws people together, it is however followed by aversion which pushes them apart? It's a law of nature which only love can change. Can we feel love whenever we want? Yet love is always needed, which would be a dreadfully tiresome thing if it hadn't fortunately been realized that it's enough for just one of the partners to feel it, thereby halving the problem, and without even incurring any great loss; in fact, one party is happy to love, the other to please, which is actually a bit less exciting but which can be combined with the pleasure of deceiving and that evens things out, so everyone's happy. ~ Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos

I would simply ask why so many critics, so many writers, so many philosophers take such satisfaction in professing that the experience of a work of art is ineffable, that it escapes by definition all rational understanding; why are they so eager to concede without a struggle the defeat of knowledge; and where does their irrepressible need to belittle rational understanding come from, this rage to affirm the irreducibility of the work of art, or, to use a more suitable word, its transcendence. ~ Pierre Bourdieu

Apre' s le rare bonheur de trouver une compagne qui nous soit bien assortie, l'e tat le moins malheureux de la vie est sans doute de vivre seul. After the rare happiness of finding a companion with whom we are well matched, the least unpleasant state of life is without doubt to live alone. ~ Jacques-Henri Bernardin De Saint-Pierre

On the whole, the modern palette is the same as the one used by the artists of Pompeii ... I mean it has not been enriched. The ancients used earths, ochres, and ivory-black - you can do anything with that palette. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

We feel an enormous sense of gratitude towards the American people. ~ Jean-Pierre Raffarin

When I started eBay, it was a hobby, an experiment to see if people could use the Internet to be empowered through access to an efficient market. I actually wasn't thinking about it in terms of a social impact. ~ Pierre Omidyar

I've never let one day go by without painting, or at least without drawing. ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I have the best husband one could dream of; I could never have imagined finding one like him. He is a true gift of heaven, and the more we live together the more we love each other. ~ Marie Curie

Each emission of an alpha or beta ray accompanies the transmutation of an atom; the energy communicated to these rays comes from inside the atom. ~ Irene Joliot-Curie

Love is an adventure and a conquest. It survives and develops, like the universe itself, only by perpetual discovery. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin