QuoteProject
Some things you can't find out; but you will never know you can't by guessing and supposing: no, you have to be patient and go on experimenting until you find out that you can't find out.
Mark Twain
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Understanding comes through patience and experimentation rather than speculation.

Mark Twain's quote emphasizes the importance of patience and a scientific approach to discovering truths. He argues that instead of merely guessing or making assumptions about what we cannot know, we must be willing to engage in a process of experimentation to reach realistic conclusions, acknowledging that some things may be beyond our understanding.

Themes

PatienceExperimentationKnowledgeUnderstandingTruth

In practice

Example use cases

In a scientific research presentation to emphasize the importance of patience in experimentation.

More from Mark Twain

Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
The 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

I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: 'Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.' I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have - When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do.
Harry S. TrumanRead
It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older, one climbs with surprising strides.
George SandRead
I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit. "No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way.
A. A. MilneRead
The Master views the parts with compassion, because he understands the whole. His constant practice is humility. He doesn't glitter like a jewel but lets himself be shaped by the Tao, as rugged and common as a stone.
LaoziRead
May we do good everywhere as we have opportunity, and results will not be wanting!
Charles SpurgeonRead
Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.
E. M. ForsterRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.