A small beginning has led us to a great ending. If I were to put the bit of chalk with which we started into the hot but obscure flame of burning hydrogen, it would presently shine like the sun. It seems to me that this physical metamorphosis is no false image of what has been the result of our subjecting it to a jet of fervent, though nowise brilliant, thought to-night. It has become luminous, and its clear rays, penetrating the abyss of the remote past, have brought within our ken some stages of the evolution of the earth. And in the shifting 'without haste, but without rest' of the land and sea, as in the endless variation of the forms assumed by living beings, we have observed nothing but the natural product of the forces originally possessed by the substance of the universe.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Small beginnings in thought can lead to great insights, like chalk burning bright.
- In plain terms
- Simple ideas can grow into big discoveries.
- What can you take from it?
- Start small and keep thinking to find big answers.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What small question have you been asking?
- How does patience help discovery?
Another view
Not all small efforts lead to luminous results.
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