The great use of science is by investigating the nature of the effects produced by any process or contrivance, and of the causes by which they are brought about, to explain the operation and determine the precise value of every new invention.

Benjamin Thompson

Perception shapes priorities, priorities shape people.

Benjamin Thompson

So great is the effect of cleanliness upon man, that it extends even to his moral character. Virtue never dwelt long with filth; nor do I believe there ever was a person scrupulously: attentive to cleanliness, who was a consummate villain.

Benjamin Thompson

This fixes as it were the latitude and longitude of each discovery, and enables us to place it in that part of the map of human knowledge which it ought to occupy.

Benjamin Thompson

It likewise enables us to use it in taking bearings and distances, and in shaping our course when we go in search of new discoveries.

Benjamin Thompson

Nothing surely is so disgraceful to society and to individuals as unmeaning wastefulness.

Benjamin Thompson

To engage in experiments on heat was always one of my most agreeable employments.

Benjamin Thompson

Discoveries are always accidental.

Benjamin Thompson