Quotes by James D. Watson

“Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles”

“Biology has at least 50 more interesting years.”

“One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.”

“Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.”

“Its necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant.”

“Science moves with the spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and by the belief that the truth, once found, would be simple as well as pretty.”

“Science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward (and sometimes backward) are often very human events in which personalities and cultural traditions play major roles.”

“I think the reason people are dealing with science less well now than 50 years ago is that it has become so complicated.”

“Our goal is to preserve the past using 21st century technology.”

Every time you understand something, religion becomes less likely. Only with the discovery of the double helix and the ensuing genetic revolution have we had grounds for thinking that the powers held traditionally to be the exclusive property of the gods might one day be ours. . . .

Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.

[As a young man ] I came to the conclusion that the church was just a bunch of fascists that supported Franco. I stopped going on Sunday mornings and watched the birds with my father instead.

My wife and I have a schizophrenic son. We didnt want to accept this for 30 years, so we put him under great pressure when we shouldnt have. He just wanted to be looked after, and we didnt respect that. We tried to make him independent.

It is no coincidence that so many religious beliefs date back to times when no science could possibly have accounted satisfactorily for many of the natural phenomena inspiring scripture and myths.

Were not all equal, its simply not true. That isnt science.

Science moves with the spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and by the belief that the truth, once found, would be simple as well as pretty.

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.

Science has always been my preoccupation and when you think a breakthrough is possible, it is terribly exciting.

If you go into science, I think you better go in with a dream that maybe you, too, will get a Nobel Prize. Its not that I went in and I thought I was very bright and I was going to get one, but Ill confess, you know, I knew what it was.

My whole life has been basically trying to find intelligent students or, you know, highly motivated students and giving them an opportunity to do good science.