The materials of science are the materials of life itself. — Rachel Carson · Smartyfair

Leave without saving?

You have a change that hasn’t been saved yet. Clicking out of the box saves it — closing now throws that change away.

The materials of science are the materials of life itself. — Rachel Carson · Smartyfair

The materials of science are the materials of life itself.

Rachel Carson1907–1964 · scientist · 1900s USARachel Carson was a marine biologist and writer whose book Silent Spring warned the world about the dangers of harmful chemicals to nature.11 quotes

Source not found yetScience

In plain words

Science is built from the very same stuff as life itself.

Look up a word

materials
science
life

Where these words come from

How sure this is: 58% sureLots of sources credit Rachel Carson with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Same 1952 National Book Award acceptance speech as above. Quoted verbatim by the same literary source; not independently confirmed on Wikiquote.
Work: National Book Award acceptance speech
Occasion: 1952 · New York City · National Book Award for Nonfiction acceptance speech, for The Sea Around Us
Sources checked: themarginalian.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026quotes the 1952 NBA acceptance speech verbatim

Nothing made from these words yet — is where they get made.

More from Rachel Carson

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

More on science

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Learning

1900s

Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.

Rachel Carson

The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth.

Every mystery solved brings us to the threshold of a greater one.

I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel.

Science is part of the reality of living; it is the what, the how, and the why of everything in our experience.

A single conversation with a wise man is worth a month's study of books.Chinese proverb

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

Study the past if you would define the future.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection; second, by imitation; third, by experience.

Do not be guilty of possessing a library of learned books while lacking learning yourself.