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About this quote

What does it mean?
Microbes are invisible to the naked eye, yet people hope to see them clearly through a microscope.
In plain terms
You cannot see microbes with bare eyes, but microscopes let you see them.
What can you take from it?
Tools like microscopes help us see what is otherwise invisible.

Where it applies

  • scientific discovery
  • learning about nature
  • using tools to see small things

Putting it to work

  • use tools to verify claims
  • study the microscopic world
  • remain hopeful about discovery

Questions to consider

  • What can you only see with tools?
  • How does technology change what we believe?

Another view

The rhyme oversimplifies the scientific process of discovery.

More from Hilaire Belloc

  1. The moment a man talks to his fellows he begins to lie.

    Permalink to quote #14
  2. Oh! let us never, never doubt What nobody is sure about!

    Permalink to quote #16
  3. Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.

    Permalink to quote #13

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