We are like a judge confronted by a defendant who declines to answer, and we must determine the truth from the circumstantial evidence.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that understanding truths can be difficult, akin to judging a case without direct evidence.
Alfred Wegener's quote reflects the challenges faced when trying to ascertain the truth in situations where direct answers are not provided. Just as a judge must rely on circumstantial evidence to make informed decisions, we too must interpret the underlying clues and circumstances in our lives to uncover deeper truths.
In practice
Using this quote in a discussion about the nature of truth in philosophy classes.
The little word is has its tragedies: it marries and identifies different things with the greatest innocence; and yet no two are ever identical, and if therein lies the charm of wedding them and calling them one, therein too lies the danger.
The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark.
One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives.
War, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perserverance, by time, and by practice.
If one believed in angels one would feel that they must love us best when we are asleep and cannot hurt each other; and what a mercy it is that once in every twenty-four hours we are too utterly weary to go on being unkind.
From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.
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