We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that the savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we gained by prying into that matter.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Knowing how rainbows are made robs us of their mystical awe, showing that scientific knowledge can diminish wonder.
- In plain terms
- Science can take the magic out of nature.
- What can you take from it?
- Balance curiosity with appreciation.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does knowledge always reduce awe?
- How can we keep wonder alive?
Another view
Some find deeper wonder in understanding.
More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Among the three or four million cradles now rocking in the land are some which this nation would preserve for ages as sacred things, if we could know which one…
Permalink to quote #17 Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Permalink to quote #19 We haven't all had the good fortune to be ladies; we haven't all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works down to the babies, we stand o…
Permalink to quote #16
Related quotes
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night; God said 'Let Newton be' and all was light.
Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton quote #39 The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.
Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant quote #68 We should therefore, with grace and optimism, embrace NOMA's tough-minded demand: Acknowledge the personal character of these human struggles about morals and …
Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould quote #1