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explanation quotes

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“that is very interesting history . . . and I understand it perfectly all but the explanation.” L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz
“Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough—as most wrong theories are!” H. G. Wells, The Time Machine
“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
“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.” Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
“Just because you can explain it doesn’t mean it’s not still a miracle.” Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
“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'
“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
“And beauty is a form of genius—is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“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
“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
“Instinct is a marvellous thing . . . It can neither be explained nor ignored.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“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
“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
“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
“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
“She didn't want to know how a thing was done, but why. That can be embarrassing.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“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
“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

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

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

Related sources

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