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Who really said it

I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries

Not Marie Curie — actually Pierre Curie Pierre Curie 1859–1906 · French physicist, 1903 Nobel laureate in Physics
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

The thought is the closing sentence of Pierre Curie’s Nobel Lecture, “Radioactive Substances, Especially Radium,” given on 6 June 1905. The Nobel Foundation’s English text reads “I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.” The popular “think like Nobel… draw more good than evil” wording does not match either published English translation we checked.

Last verified 2 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries” Pierre Curie (not Marie Curie), Nobel Lecture, "Radioactive Substances, Especially Radium," June 6, 1905. The popular "think like Nobel… draw more good than evil" wording is a loose rendering. · Verbatim: “I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.”

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Marie Curie. Use the credit shown above instead.

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We couldn’t establish where this was first published, so there’s no rights status to give. Credit it as shown above — just don’t present it as public domain, and get permission for commercial or published reuse.

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In context

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Provenance

Where the line really comes from

Speaker
Pierre Curie (not Marie Curie)
Work
Radioactive Substances, Especially Radium (Nobel Lecture)
Delivered
6 June 1905, for the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics
Translation
Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921 (Elsevier, 1967); earlier rendering by Charlotte and Vernon Kellogg in Marie Curie’s Pierre Curie (Macmillan, 1923)

It can even be thought that radium could become very dangerous in criminal hands, and here the question can be raised whether mankind benefits from knowing the secrets of Nature, whether it is ready to profit from it or whether this knowledge will not be harmful for it. The example of the discoveries of Nobel is characteristic, as powerful explosives have enabled man to do wonderful work. They are also a terrible means of destruction in the hands of great criminals who are leading the peoples towards war. I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries. Closing paragraph

This is the Nobel Foundation’s English text, from Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921 (1967). The 1923 Kellogg translation ends “I am among those who believe with Nobel that humanity will obtain more good than evil from future discoveries.” The popular “think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries” matches neither.

Lecture text (PDF), Nobel Foundation
Pierre Curie, Nobel Lecture, June 6, 1905
Pierre Curie – Nobel Lecture, NobelPrize.org

How we traced it

  • Wikiquote’s Marie Curie page lists the line under Misattributed and notes that it is the last sentence of her husband Pierre Curie’s Nobel lecture. Wikiquote: Marie Curie ↗
  • The Nobel Foundation’s text of Pierre Curie’s lecture, “Radioactive substances, especially radium” (Nobel Lecture, June 6, 1905), ends with “I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.” Nobel Lecture PDF ↗
  • Marie Curie’s own biography Pierre Curie (Macmillan, 1923, translated by Charlotte and Vernon Kellogg) opens with this passage as an epigraph, credited to “PIERRE CURIE, Nobel Conference, 1903”: “I am among those who believe with Nobel that humanity will obtain more good than evil from future discoveries.” Project Gutenberg #69617 ↗
  • The American Institute of Physics’ Curie exhibit quotes the same sentence and credits it to “Pierre Curie, Award Address for 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics.” AIP: Recognition and Disappointment ↗

The popular wording (“think like Nobel… draw more good than evil from new discoveries”) matches no published translation we could identify, so we assert no rights status for it. The 1923 Kellogg translation was published before 1931 and is public domain in the US. For the 1967 Elsevier text, NobelPrize.org ↗ states that “The Nobel Foundation’s copyright has expired.”

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Why it gets pinned on Marie

Quote sites list this line under Marie Curie, usually in a loose wording that does not match any published translation. The sentence is her husband’s. Pierre spoke it at the end of the Nobel lecture the couple owed for their shared 1903 prize.

Marie Curie Misattributed

Quotepark lists the “think like Nobel” wording under Marie Curie, citing a 2007 medical-history book, but labels it Misattributed itself and points to Pierre’s lecture. Quotepark ↗. Wikiquote’s Marie Curie page also lists it as Misattributed. Wikiquote ↗

Marie Curie’s book Pierre Curie (1923) Our observation

In the English edition of Marie Curie’s biography of her husband, the passage is the opening epigraph, credited to “PIERRE CURIE, Nobel Conference, 1903.” A reader skimming a book with Marie Curie’s name on the cover could easily credit it to her. This is our inference, not a documented chain. Project Gutenberg ↗

“1903” vs. 1905

The 1903 date belongs to the prize, which was awarded in December 1903. The lecture itself is dated June 6, 1905, after the Curies traveled to Stockholm. AIP ↗ · Nobel Lecture ↗

Pierre Curie said it, at the close of his Nobel Lecture of 6 June 1905: “I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.” NobelPrize.org ↗

Context

Why it mattered

Pierre Curie did not end his Nobel lecture on triumph. He ended on a warning. He had just described radium burns and said radium could become “very dangerous in criminal hands.” He then pointed to Alfred Nobel’s own explosives, which had “enabled man to do wonderful work” but were also “a terrible means of destruction in the hands of great criminals who are leading the peoples towards war.”

His closing sentence was a cautious bet on knowledge despite those risks. It was spoken in the city where Nobel’s prizes are awarded, and it named the man whose fortune paid for them.

I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.

Three English versions of one sentence

1923 (Kellogg translation): “I am among those who believe with Nobel that humanity will obtain more good than evil from future discoveries.” Gutenberg ↗

1967 (Nobel Lectures, Elsevier): “I am one of those who believe with Nobel that mankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries.” Nobel PDF ↗

Popular internet version: “I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.” We found no published translation with this exact wording. Its translator and origin are unknown.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Pierre Curie – Nobel Lecturenobelprize.org

The Nobel Foundation’s page for the 6 June 1905 lecture, with its source (Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921, Elsevier, 1967)
Nobel Lecture full text (PDF)nobelprize.org

The full English text of the lecture; the line is its closing sentence
Wikiquote: Marie Curieen.wikiquote.org

Lists the “think like Nobel” line under Misattributed and credits it to Pierre Curie’s lecture
Wikiquote: Pierre Curieen.wikiquote.org

Gives the sentence with its correct source, the 1905 Nobel lecture
Pierre Curie by Marie Curie (1923)gutenberg.org

Free full text of the Kellogg translation, whose epigraph gives the earlier English rendering of Pierre’s line
AIP: Marie Curie – Recognition and Disappointmenthistory.aip.org

The American Institute of Physics exhibit, which quotes the line as Pierre Curie’s Nobel address

The real speaker

About Pierre Curie

Pierre Curie

1859–1906 · French physicist, pioneer of radioactivity, 1903 Nobel laureate

Pierre Curie was born in Paris on 15 May 1859. He shared one half of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, for their research on radioactivity; Henri Becquerel received the other half. Pierre gave the couple’s required Nobel lecture on 6 June 1905, and he was killed in a Paris street accident with a horse-drawn cart on 19 April 1906.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Pierre Curie, “Radioactive Substances, Especially Radium,” Nobel Lecture, June 6, 1905, in Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921 (Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company, 1967), p. 78. Earlier English rendering: Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, trans. Charlotte and Vernon Kellogg (New York: Macmillan, 1923), epigraph.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-am-one-of-those-who-think-like-nobel-that-humanity-will/

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