help me... please...

[Superglucose]

Who said "Discovery of a thing does not make it any less wondrous"? I... really want to know. It's burning a hole in my brain and NO ONE can find it!

[reorith]

it wasn't ayn rand. hope that helps.

[Doc Leech]

could it possibly have been derived from: “In symbols one observes an advantage in discovery which is greatest when they express the exact nature of a thing briefly and, as it were, picture it; then indeed the labor of thought is wonderfully diminished.” (Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz)

kinda loses the plot at the end there but it's the closest i could find.

[Mauve Shirt]

Wow, type that exact quote into Google and all you get is this thread. :smallamused:

[Telonius]

Couldn't find the exact quote anywhere. This is the best I came up with:


Nor is the Discovery less wonderful than edifying, and no humane Art
on our side the World ever found out such a Sympathetick Influence,
between the Extreams of Wit and Folly, till this great Lunarian
Naturalist furnisht us with such unheard-of Demonstrations.
- Daniel Defoe (http://www.arcamax.com/fiction/b-1658-2)


Thus, spears are just one more example of the kinds of tools we've seen chimps use and transmit before, such as nut-cracking and termite-fishing technology. We shouldn't even be surprised that we didn't know about this behavior previously, because it's clear that some behaviors are exhibited by some populations of chimps and not others, depending on the habitat they find themselves in and the inventiveness of the members of their population. (One wonders if the original inventor of the spearing technique qualifies as some kind of chimpanzee Thomas Edison.)

Of course, that doesn't make this discovery any less wonderful or astonishing. It's just one more powerful reminder of our kinship with our closest living relative, the study of which continues to help define just what is and isn't unique about humans. - christopher.mims (http://science-community.sciam.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300004345&rw=true&print=true)

[Superglucose]

Ah crap. Well none of those were it, pretty assuredly. If I didn't make it up (which I think is most likely) then I definitley got it from someone talking about how science doesn't remove the beauty of the world. Thanks for the help so far!

[kamikasei]

You might have a look at the book "Unweaving the Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins. It's about more or less that subject (science and understanding enhance, rather than diminish, one's appreciation for the world) and if it's not the source of the quote it's very, very likely to quote it.