In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.
Stephen Jay GouldScience is not a heartless pursuit of objective information. It is a creative human activity, its geniuses acting more as artists than as information processors.
Stephen Jay GouldThe most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.
Stephen Jay GouldThe most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question.
Stephen Jay Gould