Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow.
It is remarkable that when great discoveries are effected, their simplicity always seems to detract from their originality: on these occasions we are reminded of the egg of Columbus!
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great discoveries often appear simple in retrospect, which can make their originality seem less significant.
The quote reflects on the nature of great discoveries and insights, suggesting that once a breakthrough is achieved, it may seem straightforward and uncomplicated. This apparent simplicity can lead people to underestimate the creativity and innovation that led to such advancements, drawing a parallel to the story of Christopher Columbus, who famously made the egg stand upright, highlighting how simple solutions can often disguise their ingenious origins.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about groundbreaking inventions, one might use this quote to emphasize how innovation can often appear simple in hindsight.
More from Benjamin Disraeli
All quotes βBut what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.
Grief is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief the blunder of a life.
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honorable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon.
The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation.
Similar quotes
The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time.
Even though I am nearly deaf, I seem to be gifted with a kind of inner hearing which enables me to detect sounds and noises which the ordinary person does not hear.
Suppose, my dear Chadd, suppose it is we who are the idiots because we are not afraid of devils in the dark?
He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
Abuse if you slight it, will gradually die away; but if you show yourself irritated, you will be thought to have deserved it.
Being in humaneness is good. If we select other goodness and thus are far apart from humaneness, how can we be the wise?