50 Chemistry Quotes: From Science to Invisible Connection

By Clifton Sankofa | Published September 30, 2023

Fall in love with science again with our chemistry quotes.

Ok, maybe you never were in love with science, but perhaps you have wondered what chemistry is and where it comes from.

Well, look no further.

Check out our chemistry quotes below and learn more about this ancient practice.

What is chemistry?

There are different ways to define chemistry.

Below are the most common:

In terms of relations, chemistry is the complex emotional or psychological interaction between two people.
In the world of science, chemistry is the branch that deals with identifying the substances of which matter is composed.
Chemists investigate the properties of various materials and study how they react, combine, or change into new substances.

Did students in ancient times dislike chemistry?

When people hear or read the word chemistry, they sometimes get uncomfortable.

Memories of boring high school classes with teachers talking about the periodic table and big scientific words may pop into your mind.

But chemistry is a fun and very approachable branch of science we use daily.

The world of early chemistry is somewhat of a mystery.

Many ancient cultures explored chemical changes and found ways to identify the composition of different forms of matter.

The earliest written records we have of chemistry go back to Greece.

The Greeks believed the physical world was composed of four elements: earth, fire, air, and water.

In the fourth century, Greek philosophers Democritus and Leucippus suggested that matter was not infinitely divisible into smaller particles but was made of indivisible particles called atoms.

Over the years, chemists in places such as China, England, and the Arabian Kingdoms made strides and advances in the field.

Most of their motivation came from trying to learn how to change lead into gold.

Still, they learned several important things, such as quicksilver and how to produce powerful acids.

The world of modern chemistry

By the 16th and 17th centuries, modern chemistry began to take form.

By 1803, John Dalton came up with the atomic theory of matter.

Most of his theory was correct, and his revelations changed the course of chemistry.

For more fun and interesting content, check out our chemistry quotes below.

Short chemistry quotes about staying connected

We begin with these short quotes about chemistry.

1. “If you’re in love and there’s that chemistry, that’s what it’s all about.” — Sanaa Lathan

2. “In any team sport, the best teams have consistency and chemistry.” — Roger Staubach

3. “All that glitters may not be gold, but at least it contains free electrons.” — John Desmond Bernal

4. “There is no need to argue if an experiment can be made.” — Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville

5. “Chemistry is all about getting lucky.” — Robert Curl

6. “There’s nothing colder than chemistry.” — Anita Loos

7. “To think is to practice brain chemistry.” — Deepak Chopra

8. “One thing that you can’t fake is chemistry.” — Blake Shelton

9. “Chemistry ought to be not for chemists alone.” — Miguel de Unamuno

10. “The chemistry involved made everything Factory did quite special.” — Peter Hook

The top chemistry quotes from scientists and laypeople

At some point, everything thinks they are a chemist.

These quotes remind us why leaving the chemistry to the professionals is best.

11. “You know it’s right when you feel this undeniable connection and chemistry.” — Ali Larter

12. “The chemistry of dissatisfaction is as the chemistry of some marvelously potent tar.” — Eric Hoffer

13. “When you work with somebody you have chemistry with, it’s easy and it’s fun. You hardly call it work.” — Joe Lando

14. “Chemistry is not anything an executive producer or writer can orchestrate or plan; you just hope for it.” — David E. Kelley

15. “If you have some magical chemistry that actually finds the music you make compelling, that is a big bonus.” — Geddy Lee

16. “Chemistry is a class you take in high school or college, where you figure out two plus two is 10, or something.” — Dennis Rodman

17. “Chemistry itself knows altogether too well that.” — Kenichi Fukui

18. “Men are not allowed to think freely about chemistry and biology: why should they be allowed to think freely about political philosophy?” — Auguste Comte

19. “The first serious applications were in triterpenoid chemistry.” — Derek Barton

20. “I abandoned chemistry to concentrate on mathematics and physics.” — John Pople

The best chemistry quotes for science lovers

Below are some quotes for curious chemistry minds.

21.“We define organic chemistry as the chemistry of carbon compounds.” — August Kekule

22. “Nothing can be more incorrect than the assumption one sometimes meets with, that physics has one method, chemistry another, and biology a third.” — Thomas Huxley

23. “Mathematics is the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment. All one needs for mathematics is a pencil and paper.” — George Polya

24. “Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes, biology is about microscopes, or chemistry is about beakers and test tubes.” — Edsger Dijkstra

25. “My interest in the sciences started with mathematics in the very beginning, and later with chemistry in early high school and the proverbial home chemistry set.” — Rudolph A. Marcus

Quotes About Science and Chemistry

Here are some additional quotes for those of you who love science.

26. “I was invited to join the newly established Central Chemical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1954 and was able to establish a small research group in organic chemistry.” — George Andrew Olah

27. “I really enjoyed hanging out with some of the teachers. I liked making explosives. We would stay after school and blow things up.” — Maya Lin

28. “Industrial opportunities are going to stem more from the biological sciences than from chemistry and physics. I see biology as being the greatest area of scientific breakthroughs in the next generation.” — George Brown, Jr.

29. “I think the hairsplitting of the organic chemists is frittering away chemistry; we have new compounds discovered, which scarcely differ from the known ones and when discovered are valueless-very illustrations perhaps of their refinements in analysis, but very little aiding the progress of true science.” — Michael Faraday

30. “Just as the science and art of agriculture depend upon chemistry and botany, so the art of education depends upon physiology and psychology.” — Edward Thorndike

Famous chemistry quotes from Einstein and others

Let’s check in and see what some of the world’s most recognized scientists have to say about chemistry.

31. “Hatred preserves: in it, in its chemistry, resides the mystery of life.” — Emile M. Cioran

32. “No, this trick won’t work. How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?” — Albert Einstein

33. “Together [cholrine & sodium] make a placid and unpoisonous material, table salt. Why each of these substances has the properties it does is a subject called chemistry.” — Carl Sagan

34. “However, I survived and started to read all chemistry books that I could get a hand on.” — Richard Ernst

35. “Chemistry is in a position to make a contribution towards securing a true peace on earth.” — Kenichi Fukui

36. “I did help to set up an undergraduate course in medicinal chemistry and made progress in modeling and analyzing pharmacological activity at the tissue level, my new passion.” — James Black

37. “For me, chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai.” — Primo Levi

38. “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” — Carl Jung

39. “Chemistry can be a good and bad thing. Chemistry is good when you make love with it; chemistry is bad when you make crack with it.” — Adam Sandler

40. “Chemistry begins in the stars. The stars are the source of the chemical elements, which are the building blocks of matter and the core of our subject.” — Peter Atkins

Chemistry quotes and sayings about togetherness and performing arts

Scientists are not the only ones who appreciate chemistry; Actors and entertainers also rely on it.

41. “Rehearsals and screening rooms are often unreliable because they can’t provide the chemistry between an audience and what appears on the stage or screen.” — Gene Tierney

42. “Nina really fell in love with Jack; there’s a lot of chemistry between them!” — Delta Goodrem

43. “Every actor is different, and the chemistry between actors is different.” — Tom Hiddleston

44. “There was chemistry there that took years and years to build, and now that’s gone.” — Jerry Lawler

45. “Chemistry is a trade for people without enough imagination to be physicists.” — Arthur C. Clarke

46. “I grew up wanting to be a musician, but my parents were sure I would starve to death. So, they put me in physics and chemistry. That eventually blew up, and I got into radio.” — John Tesh

47. “In a chemistry class, there was a guy sitting in front of me doing what looked like a jigsaw puzzle or some really weird kind of thing. He told me he was writing a computer program.” — Jon Postel

48. “In my schooling through high school, I excelled mainly in chemistry, physics, and mathematics.” — James Rainwater

49. “Good actors can sort of see into people, and immediately you have a chemistry with them or not. It’s like an affair with no mess.” — John Cusack

50. “Do they give a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry?” — Matt Groening