Charles Darwin in response to a critique he received that The Origin of Species was too theoretical and that he should have just let the facts speak for themselves:

“About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorize; and I well remember someone saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service!”

As quoted in F. Darwin, The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, vol. II (John Murray, London, 1887), p. 121:

This goes out to anyone who thinks the scientific method is dead just because we can database a lot of stuff.