The central difficulty lies in the fact that all of the sciences have made such great progress during the last century that they have got quite beyond the reach of man
Interpretation
The progress of science has advanced to a level that feels unattainable for humanity.
H. L. Mencken's quote reflects on the rapid advancement of scientific knowledge and technology over the past century, suggesting that while this progress is remarkable, it has also led to a situation where much of this knowledge feels inaccessible or overwhelming for the average person. This raises questions about how humanity can keep pace with its own achievements and the implications of such advanced knowledge on society.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the challenges of scientific education to the general public.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
Part of knowing how to think is knowing how the laws of nature shape the world around us. Without that knowledge, without that capacity to think, you can easily become a victim of people who seek to take advantage of you.
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
So far as physics is concerned, time's arrow is a property of entropy alone.
I would give absolutely nothing for the theory of Natural Selection, if it requires miraculous additions at any one stage of descent.
LSD is a catalyst or amplifier of mental processes. If properly used it could become something like the microscope or telescope of psychiatry.
During my time in orbit, I lost bone mass, my muscles atrophied, and my blood redistributed itself in my body, which strained my heart. Every day, I was exposed to ten times the radiation of a person on Earth, which will increase my risk of a fatal cancer for the rest of my life.
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