Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said.
Jean RostandRead
If a given scientist had not made a given discovery, someone else would have done so a little later. Johann Mendel dies unknown after having discovered the laws of heredity: thirty-five years later, three men rediscover them. But the book that is not written will never be written. The premature death of a great scientist delays humanity; that of a great writer deprives it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Scientific discoveries are often re-discovered, but unwritten literature is lost forever.
This quote emphasizes the idea that scientific ideas, while significant, can eventually be uncovered by others, thereby ensuring the continuation of knowledge. In contrast, the death of a writer who has potential insights or stories to share results in a permanent loss to humanity, as their unique contributions will remain unwritten and unshared, highlighting the importance of creative expression alongside scientific advancement.
Themes
ScienceDiscoveryHumanityWritingLossKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar on the importance of scientific research, one might use this quote to illustrate the impact of individual contributions to collective knowledge.
More from Jean Rostand
All quotes →My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of other pessimists.
Jean RostandRead
We spend our time envying people whom we wouldn't wish to be.
Jean RostandRead
Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood - we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.
Jean RostandRead
When a scientist is ahead of his times, it is often through misunderstanding of current, rather than intuition of future truth. In science there is never any error so gross that it won't one day, from some perspective, appear prophetic.
Jean RostandRead
A few great minds are enough to endow humanity with monstrous power, but a few great hearts are not enough to make us worthy of using it.
Jean RostandRead
Similar quotes
Space exploration is a force of nature unto itself that no other force in society can rival.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
Science now finds itself in paradoxical strife with society: admired but mistrusted; offering hope for the future but creating ambiguous choice; richly supported yet unable to fulfill all its promise; boasting remarkable advances but criticized for not serving more directly the goals of society.
J. Michael BishopRead
Science demands from a man all his life. If you had two lives that would not be enough for you. Be passionate in your work and in your searching.
Ivan PavlovRead
See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.
Douglas AdamsRead
Whether or not LSD research and therapy will return to society, the discoveries that psychedelics made possible have revolutionary implications for our understanding of the psyche, human nature, and the nature of reality.
Stanislav GrofRead
It is the first duty of a hypothesis to be intelligible.
Thomas HuxleyRead