Salomon saith, There is no new thing upon the earth. So that as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge was but remembrance; so Salomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion.
Francis BaconRead
It is idle to expect any great advancement in science from the superinducing and engrafting of new things upon old. We must begin anew from the very foundations, unless we would revolve for ever in a circle with mean and contemptible progress.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True progress in science requires starting from foundational principles rather than merely adding new ideas to old ones.
In this quote, Francis Bacon emphasizes that significant advancements in science cannot be achieved by simply layering new concepts onto outdated frameworks. He argues that to avoid stagnant and trivial progression, it is essential to return to the basics and build knowledge anew, thereby fostering genuine development and innovation in scientific understanding.
Themes
ScienceProgressInnovationFoundationKnowledge
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture about scientific methodology, this quote could illustrate the need for foundational understanding.
More from Francis Bacon
All quotes →Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.
Francis BaconRead
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
Francis BaconRead
Great art is always a way of concentrating, reinventing what is called fact, what we know of our existence- a reconcentration… tearing away the veils, the attitudes people acquire of their time and earlier time. Really good artists tear down those veils
Francis BaconRead
Wise men make more opportunities than they find.
Francis BaconRead
Knowledge and human power are synonymous.
Francis BaconRead
Similar quotes
The scientific value of truth is not, however, ultimate or absolute. It rests partly on practical, partly on aesthetic interests. As our ideas are gradually brought into conformity with the facts by the painful process of selection,-for intuition runs equally into truth and into error, and can settle nothing if not controlled by experience,-we gain vastly in our command over our environment. This is the fundamental value of natural science
George SantayanaRead
I'm not trying to copy Nature, I'm trying to find the principles she's using.
R. Buckminster FullerRead
The true scientific understanding of the nature of existence is so utterly fascinating; how could you not want people to share it? Carl Sagan, I think, said 'when you're in love, you want to tell the world.' And who, on understanding a scientific view of reality, would not, as it were, fall in love and want to tell the world.
Richard DawkinsRead
I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner.
Louis PasteurRead
In big industry new ideas are invited to rear their heads so they can be clobbered at once. The idea department of a big firm is a sort of lab for isolating dangerous viruses.
Marshall McluhanRead
If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Arthur C. ClarkeRead