Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The Church has opposed every innovation and discovery from the day of Galileo down to our own time, when the use of anesthetics in childbirth was regarded as a sin because it avoided the biblical curse pronounced against Eve.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Church has historically resisted advancements that challenge traditional beliefs or interpretations of scripture.
Mark Twain's quote highlights the tendency of religious institutions, particularly the Church, to resist scientific progress and innovation, often labeling them as sinful if they conflict with established doctrine. This resistance is illustrated through historical examples, such as the opposition to Galileo's heliocentric theories and the condemnation of anesthetics in childbirth, which were viewed as evading divine punishment. Twain critiques this mentality, suggesting that it can hinder human understanding and progress.
Themes
ChurchInnovationScienceReligionHistoricalResistance
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of progress, one might reference Twain's quote to emphasize the need to embrace change.
More from Mark Twain
All quotes βThe easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead
Similar quotes
But I know what darkness is, it accumulates, thickens, then suddenly bursts and drowns everything.
Samuel BeckettRead
"This - is now my way - where is yours"? Thus did I answer those who asked me "the way". For the way - it does not exist!
Friedrich NietzscheRead
We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.
George MasonRead
Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T true is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it.
David Foster WallaceRead
Religion is for people who fear hell, spirituality is for people who have been there.
David BowieRead