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.
What I want to do is demonstrate that biology can learn how to make a vast array of molecules that people thought were outside the realm of biology.
The Planck satellite may detect the imprint of the gravitational waves predicted by inflation. This would be quantum gravity written across the sky.
A wonderful area for speculative academic work is the unknowable. These days religious subjects are in disfavor, but there are still plenty of good topics. The nature of consciousness, the workings of the brain, the origin of aggression, the origin of language, the origin of life on earth, SETI and life on other worlds...this is all great stuff. Wonderful stuff. You can argue it interminably. But it can't be contradicted, because nobody knows the answer to any of these topics.
Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it.
What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the moon but that they set eye on the earth.
History employs evolution to structure biological events in time.
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