--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Those who have learned to walk on the…" description: "\"Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds, by means of what are commonly termed par excellence the exact sciences, may then..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png" --- # Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the… ![“Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds, by means of what are commonly termed par excellence the exact sciences, may then, with the fair white wings of imagination, hope to soar further into the unexplored amidst which we live.” quote by Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png) > “Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds, by means of what are commonly termed par excellence the exact sciences, may then, with the fair white wings of imagination, hope to soar further into the unexplored amidst which we live.” [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Imagination, when paired with scientific rigor, can expand beyond known boundaries and enable exploration of uncharted realms. **In simple terms:** Science plus imagination leads to new discoveries. Key Takeaway Blend imagination with scientific study. Themes innovation imagination science exploration creativity Mood inspirational optimistic Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - research labs - space missions - creative problem solving - education curricula Key Concepts philosophy of science future studies interdisciplinary Questions to Reflect On - What role does imagination play in scientific breakthroughs? - How can we nurture creative thinking in STEM? A Different Perspective Imagination alone cannot replace empirical validation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exact sciences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exact-sciences/) [Excellence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excellence/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Unknown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unknown/) [Unknown worlds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unknown-worlds/) ## Related quotes > [“Your imagination can take you anywhere. I hope you have many magic carpet adventures.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-clarizio/your-imagination-can-take-you-anywhere-i-hope-you-have-many-magic/) Laura Clarizio > [Recent results from astronomers who study the occasional gravitational lensing of unknown worlds by intervening stars suggest that orphan planets could be at least…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/recent-results-from-astronomers-who-study-the-occasional/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) > [Move from the known to the unknown.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/move-from-the-known-to-the-unknown/) [B.K.S. Iyengar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-k-s-iyengar/) > [“If it is to give wings to the imagination, count on me”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mbarreto-condado/if-it-is-to-give-wings-to-the-imagination-count-on-me/) MBarreto Condado > [So rapid is the flight of dreams upon the wings of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandre-dumas/so-rapid-is-the-flight-of-dreams-upon-the-wings-of-imagination/) [Alexandre Dumas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandre-dumas/) > [So rapid is the flight of our dreams upon the wings of imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandre-dumas/so-rapid-is-the-flight-of-our-dreams-upon-the-wings-of-imagination/) [Alexandre Dumas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandre-dumas/) > [“My thoughts are birds without wings. My imagination and actions let them fly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debasish-mridha/my-thoughts-are-birds-without-wings-my-imagination-and-actions-let/) [Debasish Mridha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debasish-mridha/) > [I can say that the happiest period of my life has been since I emerged from the shadows and superstitions of the old theologies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-cady-stanton/i-can-say-that-the-happiest-period-of-my-life-has-been-since-i/) [Elizabeth Cady Stanton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-cady-stanton/) > [Uncertainty and danger are always closely allied, thus making any kind of an unknown world a world of peril and evil possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/uncertainty-and-danger-are-always-closely-allied-thus-making-any-kind/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [We ever long for visions of beauty, We ever dream of unknown worlds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxim-gorky/we-ever-long-for-visions-of-beauty-we-ever-dream-of-unknown-worlds/) [Maxim Gorky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxim-gorky/) > [You have 2 choices in life. Cave into pressure, stay stuck and allow life to continually overwhelm you. Or step out into the big…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allison-maslan/you-have-2-choices-in-life-cave-into-pressure-stay-stuck-and-allow/) Allison Maslan > [“I find myself wondering how many other memories are hidden from me in the recesses of my own brain; indeed my own brain will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/i-find-myself-wondering-how-many-other-memories-are-hidden-from-me-in/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Kate Boo's reporting is a form of kinship. Abdul and Manju and Kalu of Annawadi will not be forgotten. She leads us through their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrian-nicole-leblanc/kate-boo-s-reporting-is-a-form-of-kinship-abdul-and-manju-and-kalu-of/) Adrian Nicole LeBlanc > [To me art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risk.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/to-me-art-is-an-adventure-into-an-unknown-world-which-can-be-explored/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-whitall-smith/the-mother-eagle-teaches-her-little-ones-to-fly-by-making-their-nest/) [Hannah Whitall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-whitall-smith/) ## More by Ada Lovelace > [If you can't give me poetry, can't you give me poetical science?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/if-you-can-t-give-me-poetry-can-t-you-give-me-poetical-science/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [The ideas which led to the Analytical Engine occurred in a manner wholly independent of any that were connected with the Difference Engine. These…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/the-ideas-which-led-to-the-analytical-engine-occurred-in-a-manner/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [Those who incline to very strictly utilitarian views may perhaps feel that the peculiar powers of the Analytical Engine bear upon questions of abstract…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/those-who-incline-to-very-strictly-utilitarian-views-may-perhaps-feel/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [We may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/we-may-say-most-aptly-that-the-analytical-engine-weaves-algebraical/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [Indeed we may consider the engine as the material and mechanical representative of analysis, and that our actual working powers in this department of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/indeed-we-may-consider-the-engine-as-the-material-and-mechanical/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [This one fact implies everything; and it is scarcely necessary to point out, for instance, that while the Difference Engine can merely tabulate, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/this-one-fact-implies-everything-and-it-is-scarcely-necessary-to/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform... But it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/the-analytical-engine-has-no-pretensions-whatever-to-originate/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [In enabling mechanism to combine together general symbols in successions of unlimited variety and extent, a uniting link is established between the operations of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/in-enabling-mechanism-to-combine-together-general-symbols-in/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [The object of the engine is in fact to give the utmost practical efficiency to the resources of numerical interpretations of the higher science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/the-object-of-the-engine-is-in-fact-to-give-the-utmost-practical/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [Secondly, figures, the symbols of numerical magnitude, are frequently also the symbols of operations, as when they are the indices of powers. Wherever terms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/secondly-figures-the-symbols-of-numerical-magnitude-are-frequently/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns, just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/the-analytical-engine-weaves-algebraic-patterns-just-as-the-jacquard/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [In considering any new subject, there is frequently a tendency, first, to overrate what we find to be already interesting or remarkable; and, secondly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/in-considering-any-new-subject-there-is-frequently-a-tendency-first/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [ Many persons who are not conversant with mathematical studies imagine that because the business of \[Babbage’s Analytical Engine\] is to give its results in… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/many-persons-who-are-not-conversant-with-mathematical-studies-imagine/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [I have my hopes, & very distinct ones, too, of one day getting cerebral phenomena such that I can put them into mathematical equations:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/i-have-my-hopes-very-distinct-ones-too-of-one-day-getting-cerebral/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) > [It is however pretty evident, on general principles, that in devising for mathematical truths a new form in which to record and throw themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/it-is-however-pretty-evident-on-general-principles-that-in-devising/) [Ada Lovelace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) [Explore all 63 Ada Lovelace quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/) ## More Exact sciences quotes > [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [If you ask ... the man in the street ... the human significance of mathematics, the answer of the world will be, that mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassius-jackson-keyser/if-you-ask-the-man-in-the-street-the-human-significance-of/) [Cassius Jackson Keyser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassius-jackson-keyser/) > [ \[Dr. Constain James\] refuted so well the aberrations of Darwinism… \[A system\] which is repugnant at once to history, to the tradition of all… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-pius-ix/dr-constain-james-refuted-so-well-the-aberrations-of-darwinism-a/) [Pope Pius IX](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-pius-ix/) > [An exact science is one that admits loss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/genesis-p-orridge/an-exact-science-is-one-that-admits-loss/) [Genesis P-Orridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/genesis-p-orridge/) > [Engineering training deals with the exact sciences. That sort of exactness makes for truth and conscience. It might be good for the world if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-hoover/engineering-training-deals-with-the-exact-sciences-that-sort-of/) [Herbert Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-hoover/) > [For how shall we fill people with blind faith in the correctness of a doctrine, if we ourselves spread uncertainty and doubt by constant…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/for-how-shall-we-fill-people-with-blind-faith-in-the-correctness-of-a/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [Politics is no exact science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-von-bismarck/politics-is-no-exact-science/) [Otto von Bismarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-von-bismarck/) > [Economics is not an exact science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/economics-is-not-an-exact-science/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [All the mathematical sciences are founded on relations between physical laws and laws of numbers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-clerk-maxwell/all-the-mathematical-sciences-are-founded-on-relations-between/) [James Clerk Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-clerk-maxwell/) > [Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is based on the idea of approximation. If a man tells you he knows a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/although-this-may-seem-a-paradox-all-exact-science-is-based-on-the/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. When a man tells you that he knows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/although-this-may-seem-a-paradox-all-exact-science-is-dominated-by/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Macroeconomics, even with all of our computers and with all of our information - is not an exact science and is incapable of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-samuelson/macroeconomics-even-with-all-of-our-computers-and-with-all-of-our/) [Paul Samuelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-samuelson/) > [ This splendid subject \[mathematics\], queen of all exact sciences, and the ideal and norm of all careful thinking... ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-stanley-hall/this-splendid-subject-mathematics-queen-of-all-exact-sciences-and-the/) [G. Stanley Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-stanley-hall/) > [Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/detection-is-or-ought-to-be-an-exact-science-and-should-be-treated-in-2/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [Exact science and its practical movements are no checks on the greatest poet, but always his encouragement and support ... The sailor and traveller,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/exact-science-and-its-practical-movements-are-no-checks-on-the/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) [Browse all 45 Exact sciences quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exact-sciences/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds, by means of what are commonly termed par excellence the exact sciences, may then, with the fair white wings of imagination, hope to soar further into the unexplored amidst which we live.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ada Lovelace" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-threshold-of-the-unknown-worlds/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Exact sciences" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-threshold-of-the-unknown-worlds/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4cb/ada-lovelace-10853_exact-sciences_those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-th_3131578.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Those who have learned to walk on the threshold of the unknown worlds, by means of what are commonly termed…” — Ada Lovelace", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ada Lovelace", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ada-lovelace/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Those who have learned to walk...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-threshold-of-the-unknown-worlds/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ada-lovelace/those-who-have-learned-to-walk-on-the-threshold-of-the-unknown-worlds/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```