Truth is sought for its own sake. — Ibn al-Haytham

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Truth is sought for its own sake. — Ibn al-Haytham · Smartyfair

Truth is sought for its own sake.

Ibn al-Haytham965–1040 · scientist · 900s-1000s IraqIbn al-Haytham was a scientist in the medieval Islamic world whose careful experiments with light and lenses laid the foundation for the modern science of optics.2 quotes

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Finding out what's true is the prize itself.

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truth
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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 40% sureLots of sources credit Ibn al-Haytham 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: Ibn al-Haytham's authorship is carried by two independent scholarly relays, but the TRANSLATION relay is disputed: credited to A.I. Sabra (Doubts Concerning Ptolemy) by one source and to S. Pines in Sambursky's Physical Thought (1974) p.139 by another. Neither confirmed at page level
Work: Doubts Concerning Ptolemy
Occasion: c. 1028
Sources checked: muslimheritage.comChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 20 August 2026quotes the line in context but does not name the specific treatise
en.wikipedia.org

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Checked using claude-fable-5, 21 August 2026

Wikipedia's sourced version of the fuller passage cites Sambursky's Physical Thought anthology (1974/75) p.139, trans. S. PINES — not our source_note's Sabra credit; anthology scan is lending-restricted. Source-note correction PREPARED for review, not applied.

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A wonder of such nature I experienced as a child of 4 or 5 years, when my father showed me a compass.