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explanation quotes

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“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.” Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
“Please observe, gentlemen, how facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.” Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
“Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough—as most wrong theories are!” H. G. Wells, The Time Machine
“If people only realized what a war goes on in a child’s mind and heart in a situation of this kind, I think they would try to explain more than they do, but nobody told me anything.” Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
“that is very interesting history . . . and I understand it perfectly all but the explanation.” L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz
“Just because you can explain it doesn’t mean it’s not still a miracle.” Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
“You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“She didn't want to know how a thing was done, but why. That can be embarrassing.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“But neither do these come within the compass of our mental powers; and it was the duty of philosophy to destroy the illusions which had their origin in misconceptions, whatever darling hopes and valued expectations may be ruined by its explanations.” Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
“And what would you do, if an uninvited dwarf came and hung his things up in your hall without a word of explanation?” J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
“The captain has said too much or he has said too little, and I'm bound to say that I require an explanation of his words.” Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
“Instinct is a marvellous thing . . . It can neither be explained nor ignored.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life, the interplay of all creatures and the whole of reality.” Pope Francis, Laudato si'
“The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance... or change.” Stephen King, The Stand
“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already,...” Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is Within You
“And beauty is a form of genius—is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Our thought habits are those of the scientist, not those of the worshipper. We are more likely to explain than to adore.” A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Related topics

understanding simplicity beauty science blindness reality imagination religion words war prejudice speech philosophy children genius wrong illusion instinct theory evidence

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Agatha Christie (2)
Ayn Rand (1)
Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Leo Tolstoy (1)
Oscar Wilde (1)
J. R. R. Tolkien (1)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1)
Stephen King (1)
Ray Bradbury (1)
Immanuel Kant (1)
Terry Pratchett (1)
A. W. Tozer (1)
L. Frank Baum (1)
Galileo Galilei (1)
H. G. Wells (1)
Pope Francis (1)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1)

Related sources

The Pursuit of God (1)
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (2)
The Fountainhead (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
The Little Prince (1)
Critique of Pure Reason (1)
The Stand (1)
Fahrenheit 451 (1)
The Hobbit (1)
Small Gods (1)
The Time Machine (1)
The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (1)
Treasure Island (1)
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1)
The Marvelous Land of Oz (1)
The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1)
Laudato si' (1)