Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.
I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the conflict and harmony between science and spirituality, urging the acknowledgment of both rationality and faith.
Wernher Von Braun highlights the importance of integrating scientific knowledge with a sense of deeper meaning or higher intelligence governing the universe. He suggests that rejecting either the insights of science or the presence of a superior rationality leads to an incomplete understanding of existence, urging both scientists and theologians to respect the other’s perspective and work towards a more holistic comprehension of reality.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate about science and religion, this quote can illustrate the necessity of balance between both perspectives.
More from Wernher Von Braun
All quotes →Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.
I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.
It will free man from the remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet.
We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.
Development of the space station is as inevitable as the rising of the sun; man has already poked his nose into space and he is not likely to pull it back . . . . There can be no thought of finishing, for aiming at the stars-both literally and figuratively-is the work of generations, and no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.
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It is man's unique privilege, among all other organisms. By pursuing falsehood you will arrive at the truth!
God makes me play well. That is why I always make the sign of a cross when I walk out on to the pitch. I feel I would be betraying him if I didn't.
While football embarrassingly exposes the excesses of capitalism, the Olympic sports have been used to propagate the neoliberal mantra that success is simply a matter of hard work.
That is what deconstruction is made of: not the mixture but the tension between memory, fidelity, the preservation of something that has been given to us, and, at the same time, heterogeneity, something absolutely new, and a break.