There are three stages in scientific discovery. First, people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important; finally they credit the wrong person.
Bill BrysonRead
It is a curious feature of our existance that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our planet supports life, yet it also has the capacity to destroy it.
This quote by Bill Bryson highlights the paradox of life on Earth. While our planet is exceptionally conducive to the emergence and flourishing of life, it simultaneously possesses the potential for catastrophic events that can lead to the extinction of species, including our own. This duality prompts reflection on the fragility of existence and the responsibilities we have to protect and sustain life.
Themes
LifePlanetExistenceParadoxFragilitySustainability
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental awareness, one might say, 'As Bill Bryson pointed out, our planet sustains life but can also lead to its extinction.'
More from Bill Bryson
All quotes →For most of us the rules of English grammar are at best a dimly remembered thing. But even for those who make the rules, grammatical correctitude sometimes proves easier to urge than to achieve. Among the errors cited in this book are a number committed by some of the leading authorities of this century. If men such as Fowler and Bernstein and Quirk and Howard cannot always get their English right, is it reasonable to expect the rest of us to?
Bill BrysonRead
I became quietly seized with that nostalgia that overcomes you when you have reached the middle of your life and your father has recently died and it dawns on you that when he went he took some of you with him.
Bill BrysonRead
Open your refrigerator door, and you summon forth more light than the total amount enjoyed by most households in the 18th century. The world at night, for much of history, was a very dark place indeed.
Bill BrysonRead
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose
Bill BrysonRead
Those who sniff decay in every shift of sense or alteration of usage do the language no service. Too often for such people the notion of good English has less to do with expressing ideas clearly than with making words conform to some arbitrary pattern.
Bill BrysonRead
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