I like the scientific spirit—the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine—it always keeps the way beyond open—always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake—after a wrong guess.
Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman's Camden Conversations
affection, certainty, doubt, evidence, guess, humble, ideas, life, mistake, science, scientific, skepticism, surrender, thought