“Few men, whatever their creed, would now seek their geology in the books of their religion, or, on the other hand, would fancy that the laboratory or the microscope could help them to penetrate the mysteries which hang over the nature and the destiny of the soul of man. ... We live in a small, bright oasis of knowledge, surrounded on all sides by a vast, unexplored region of impenetrable mystery.”
Speech to the British Association (6 August 1894), quoted in The Times (9 August 1894), p. 6
1890s
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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury 112
British politician 1830–1903Related quotes

“The highest knowledge is to know that we are surrounded by mystery.”
Source: The Spiritual Life (1947), p. 102
Context: When Christianity becomes conscious of its innermost nature, it realizes that it is godliness rising our of inward constraint. The highest knowledge is to know that we are surrounded by mystery. Neither knowledge nor hope for the future can be the pivot of our life or determine its direction. It is intended to be solely determined by our allowing ourselves to be gripped by the ethical God, who reveals Himself in us, and by our yielding our will to His.

Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis (1969).
Source: Contingencies Of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis

Source: Saturn and its System (2nd ed 1882), Chapter 1, p. 2

"The Larger College".
In Classic Shades, and Other Poems (1890)
Context: p>Behold this sea, that sapphire sky!
Where nature does so much for man,
Shall man not set his standard high,
And hold some higher, holier plan?
Some loftier plan than ever planned
By outworn book of outworn land?Where God has done so much for man,
Shall man for God do aught at all?
The soul that feeds on books alone —
I count that soul exceeding small
That lives alone by book and creed,—
A soul that has not learned to read.</p

“Wave Mechanics,” p. 75
On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (1968)