Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.
Francis BaconRead
The cause and root of nearly all evils in the sciences is this-that while we falsely admire and extol the powers of the human mind we neglect to seek for its true helps.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that society often overvalues human intellect while neglecting the underlying support systems that enable true understanding.
Francis Bacon critiques the tendency to glorify human intellect and creativity in the sciences, warning that this admiration can overshadow the importance of seeking foundational truths and the tools that genuinely enhance our understanding. He emphasizes that overlooking these fundamental supports leads to a myriad of problems within scientific inquiry and knowledge acquisition.
Themes
Human MindSciencesKnowledgeTruthUnderstandingIntellect
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the importance of foundational research, one might use this quote to emphasize the value of understanding the basics.
More from Francis Bacon
All quotes →Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
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Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
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Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence- a reconcentration… tearing away the veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils
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Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
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Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
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