Bridges would not be safer if only people who knew the proper definition of a real number were allowed to design them.
Interpretation
Expertise in one area does not guarantee safety or success in another.
H. L. Mencken's quote suggests that having specialized knowledge, such as understanding mathematical concepts, does not necessarily qualify someone to address practical and safety concerns in unrelated fields, like bridge design. It emphasizes the importance of diverse skills and practical experience over theoretical knowledge alone.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of practical experience in engineering, this quote can highlight the limitations of theoretical knowledge.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.
She learned the intricacy of loneliness: the horror of color, the roar of soundlessness and the menace of familiar objects lying still.
Man only remains hypnotised with the false idea of an ego. When this ghost is off from us, all dreams vanish, and then it is found that the one Self only exists from the highest Being to a blade of grass.
The door to the soul is unlocked; you do not need to please the doorkeeper, the door in front of you is yours, intended for you, and the doorkeeper obeys when spoken to.
Free speech has been used by the Supreme Court to give immense power to the wealthiest members of our society.
β¦So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky
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