Widely credited to Curie, and the jab fits the scientific feuds of her day. But no letter, book, lecture or interview of hers containing this wording has been located. Wikiquote’s only citation is The Commodity Trader’s Almanac 2007 (2006), and the line does not appear in her own memoir Pierre Curie (1923).
“There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth” attributed to Marie Curie (no primary source located; Wikiquote cites The Commodity Trader’s Almanac 2007, 2006, p. 44)
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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
Evoking the world of Marie Curie — Polish-born French physicist & chemist. Theme: "There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
Where the line can be traced
Primary source
Not located
Citation given by Wikiquote
The Commodity Trader’s Almanac 2007 (2006), p. 44
Checked and absent
Pierre Curie (1923, Kellogg trans.); Eve Curie, Madame Curie (1938 English ed., Sheean trans.)
There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth.
This is the popular wording. Curie wrote mainly in French and Polish, and no original-language text for this line has been found, so it is unknown whether the English is a translation or a modern paraphrase.
Wikiquote ↗ lists the line in its Quotes section, but its only citation is a secondary one: “As quoted in The Commodity Trader’s Almanac 2007 (2006) by Scott W. Barrie and Jeffrey A. Hirsch, p. 44.”
We also searched the full text of the 1938 English edition of Eve Curie’s biography of her mother, Madame Curie, translated by Vincent Sheean ↗. The word “sadistic” does not appear in it.
By 2011 it was circulating unsourced in popular science media: a Gizmodo listicle of 6 May 2011 ↗ presented it as Curie “verbally slapping” other scientists, citing only general quote sites.
Because no work by Curie containing this wording has been found, its first publication and translator are unknown, so no copyright status is asserted. Curie’s own Pierre Curie (1923) is public domain in the US, but the line is not in it.
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
How the line travels
The line usually reaches readers with Curie’s name and no source attached. The places it is easiest to find all repeat it rather than document it.
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Quote aggregatorsQuotewise, Quotefancy and similar sites Unsourced
They print the exact popular wording under Curie’s name. Quotewise ↗ shows no book, letter or date for it.
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Popular mediaGizmodo, “10 great zingers from scientists” (2011) Unsourced
The listicle ↗ frames the line as Curie getting the last word in a scientific feud, but its only sources are general quotation websites.
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Reference wikiWikiquote Secondary citation only
Wikiquote ↗ places it among Curie’s quotes but cites a 2006 commodity-trading almanac, not anything Curie wrote or said.
✓No text by Marie Curie containing this sentence has been located. It is not in her memoir Pierre Curie ↗, so treat it as an attribution, not a documented quotation.
Context
Why the attribution is hard to settle
The sentence reads like a complaint about critics who look for flaws instead of doing their own work, and Curie did face harsh public and scientific attacks. But a line that fits someone’s life is not evidence that she said it. Curie wrote mainly in French and Polish, and no original-language version of this sentence has been traced.
Without that original, nobody can say whether the English wording is a translation of something she wrote, a paraphrase, or a line attached to her later.
Fits her life, but no document of hers has turned up.
What we checked, and what we could not
We searched the full texts of Curie’s own Pierre Curie (1923) ↗ and of the 1938 English edition of Eve Curie’s Madame Curie ↗. Neither contains the line.
A slightly different wording, “hasten to hunt down error,” has been reported in Alan L. Mackay’s 1977 anthology The Harvest of a Quiet Eye: A Selection of Scientific Quotations ↗. That book is available only as a lending copy and we could not open it, so we have not confirmed the entry, its wording, or any source it gives. Quote Investigator has not published an investigation of this quote.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
1867–1934 · Polish-born French physicist & chemist
Born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw, Curie did her life’s work in Paris, where she pioneered the study of radioactivity and discovered polonium and radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is still the only person to have won Nobels in two sciences: physics (1903) and chemistry (1911).
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Best available citation
Attributed to Marie Curie; no primary source located. As quoted in Scott W. Barrie and Jeffrey A. Hirsch, The Commodity Trader’s Almanac 2007 (2006), 44, per Wikiquote, “Marie Curie.”
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/there-are-sadistic-scientists-who-hurry-to-hunt-down-errors/