Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Accidents can lead to significant inventions and breakthroughs.
Mark Twain's quote suggests that many of the greatest inventions in history were not the result of deliberate planning but rather occurred by chance. This highlights the importance of serendipity in innovation, showing that unexpected occurrences can ignite creativity and lead to profound advancements.
Themes
InventionAccidentInnovationCreativitySerendipity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about innovation, one might use this quote to emphasize that not all great discoveries are planned.
More from Mark Twain
All quotes →The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
Mark TwainRead
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
Mark TwainRead
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Mark TwainRead
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
Mark TwainRead
Some things you can't find out; but you will never know you can't by guessing and supposing: no, you have to be patient and go on experimenting until you find out that you can't find out.
Mark TwainRead
Similar quotes
The science of systematics has long been affected by profound philosophical preconceptions, which have been all the more influential for being usually covert, even subconscious.
George Gaylord SimpsonRead
If we estimate dignity by immediate usefulness, agriculture is undoubtedly the first and noblest science.
Samuel JohnsonRead
C'este donc par l'étude des mathématiques, et seulement par elle, que l'on peut se faire une idée juste et approfondie de ce que c'est qu'une science.
Auguste ComteRead
Every carbon atom in every living thing on the planet was produced in the heart of a dying star.
Brian CoxRead
Facts are not science - as the dictionary is not literature.
Martin H. FischerRead
Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We may have a little more to eat next winter but what will we plant so we and our children will have enough to get through the winters to come?
Carl SaganRead