“The European talks of progress because by the aid of a few scientific discoveries he has established a society which has mistaken comfort for civilisation.”
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Benjamin Disraeli306
British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Pri… 1804–1881Related quotes
“An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.”
Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist
As quoted in Einstein: The Man and His Achievement (1973) by G. J. Whitrow, p. 42
Variants:
If you can't explain your physics to a barmaid it is probably not very good physics.
As quoted in Journal of Advertising Research (March-April 1998)
A theory that you can't explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.
As quoted in The Language of God (2006) by Francis Collins, p. 60
“The world has not been hindered in its progress, but immensely aided in it, by England.”
Friedrich List (1789–1846) German economist with dual American citizenship
Source: The National System of Political Economy (1841), p. 365
Tzvetan Todorov (1939–2017) Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist
The New World Disorder: Reflections of a European (2005)
José Ortega Y Gasset book The Revolt of the Masses
Chap.IX: The Primitive and the Technical
The Revolt of the Masses (1929)
John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American author
Society http://books.google.com/books?id=O0hAAAAAYAAJ&q=%22When+a+man+talks+with+absolute+sincerity+and+freedom+he+goes+on+a+voyage+of+discovery+The+whole+company+has+shares+in+the+enterprise%22&pg=PA64#v=onepage, Causes and Consequences (1898)
Ali Shariati (1933–1977) Iranian academic and activist
Source: Reflections of Humanity, (1984), p. 17: Second paragraph.
Kenneth Arrow (1921–2017) American economist
Source: 1970s-1980s, The Economics of Information (1984), p. 55 as cited in: Demetri Kantarelis (2008) " Book Review: Title: Theories Of The Firm 2nd Edition http://www.inderscience.com/books/TOF_american_econ_review.pdf". In: The American economist. Vol 52, Nr 1. p. 117