Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Old religious ideas often die when new sciences emerge.
- In plain terms
- Theology gets replaced by science.
- What can you take from it?
- Expect old ideas to fall as new knowledge grows.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What old ideas are being replaced today?
- How do you view tradition in science?
Another view
This implies theology must yield to science, which some contest.
More from Thomas Henry Huxley
To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which…
Permalink to quote #2 'How extremely stupid [of me] not to have thought of that' said in particular of the idea of natural selection.
Permalink to quote #4 I cannot but think that he who finds a certain proportion of pain and evil inseparably woven up in the life of the very worms, will bear his own share with mor…
Permalink to quote #1
Related quotes
Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a th…
Thomas PaineThomas Paine quote #4 [A]s a graduate student at Columbia University, I remember the a priori derision of my distinguished stratigraphy professor toward a visiting Australian drifte…
Stephen Jay GouldStephen Jay Gould quote #9 Science evolves from funeral to funeral.
Nassim Nicholas TalebNassim Nicholas Taleb quote #10