'How extremely stupid [of me] not to have thought of that' said in particular of the idea of natural selection.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker expresses regret for not independently arriving at a major scientific idea already proposed by someone else.
- In plain terms
- I wish I had thought of that idea myself.
- What can you take from it?
- Regret over missed opportunities for independent discovery is common.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What ideas have you missed that seemed obvious later?
- How do you handle being preempted?
Another view
Sometimes others simply saw the pattern first due to their focus.
More from Thomas Henry Huxley
Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules.
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