Being raised nonreligious made you free. You could look at the evidence. Whether being nonreligious or a Democrat was more important, I can't tell you.
--James D. Watson
Biology has at least fifty more interesting years.
--James D. Watson
Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind.
--James D. Watson
I don't think we're for anything, we're just products of evolution. You can say 'Gee, your life must be pretty bleak if you don't think there's a purpose' but I'm anticipating a good lunch.
--James D. Watson
If we don't play God, who will?
--James D. Watson
If you can't be criticized, that's very dangerous.
--James D. Watson
If you could make people with ten-point-higher IQs, we'd probably have fewer wars.
--James D. Watson
It's necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant.
--James D. Watson
Knowing 'why' (an idea) is more important than learning 'what' (the fact).
--James D. Watson
Never be the brightest person in the room.
--James D. Watson
Never do anything that bores you.
--James D. Watson
Never postpone experiments that have clearly defined future benefits for fear of dangers that can't be quantified. Though it may sound at first uncaring, we can react rationally only to real (as opposed to hypothetical) risks.
--James D. Watson
Never retire. Your brain needs exercise or it will atrophy
--James D. Watson
New ideas require new facts.
--James D. Watson
No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn't we?
--James D. Watson
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.
--James D. Watson
People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.
--James D. Watson
Science is no stranger to controversy. The pursuit of discovery, of knowledge, is often uncomfortable and disconcerting.
--James D. Watson
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.
--James D. Watson
Some people do busywork because they think it's better than doing nothing. I would rather do nothing than do something that need not be done.
--James D. Watson
The brain boggles the mind.
--James D. Watson
The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier, the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe.
--James D. Watson
The nations of the world must see that the human genome belongs to the world's people, as opposed to its nations.
--James D. Watson
The thought that some people are innately wicked disturbs me. But science is not here to make us feel good. It is to answer questions in the service of knowledge and greater understanding.
--James D. Watson
There is only one science, physics: everything else is social work.
--James D. Watson
To have success in science, you need some luck. But to succeed in science, you need a lot more than luck.
--James D. Watson
To make a huge success, a scientist must be prepared to get into deep trouble.
--James D. Watson
To succeed in science, you have to avoid dumb people.
--James D. Watson
Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them.
--James D. Watson
Found 29 occurence(s) in 52,059 quotation(s).