--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The medieval doctors of divinity who did…" description: "\"The medieval doctors of divinity who did not pretend to settle how many angels could dance on the point of a needle cut a very poor figure as far as ro..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/george-bernard-shaw-68_accuracy_the-medieval-doctors-of-divinity-who-did_1303278.jpg" --- # The medieval doctors of divinity who did not pretend to… ![“The medieval doctors of divinity who did not pretend to settle how many angels could dance on the point of a needle cut a very poor figure as far as romantic credulity is concerned beside the modern physicists who have settled to the billionth of a millimetre every movement and position in the…” quote by George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/george-bernard-shaw-68_accuracy_the-medieval-doctors-of-divinity-who-did_1303278.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/george-bernard-shaw-68_accuracy_the-medieval-doctors-of-divinity-who-did_1303278.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/088/george-bernard-shaw-68_accuracy_the-medieval-doctors-of-divinity-who-did_1303278.jpg) > “The medieval doctors of divinity who did not pretend to settle how many angels could dance on the point of a needle cut a very poor figure as far as romantic credulity is concerned beside the modern physicists who have settled to the billionth of a millimetre every movement and position in the dance of the electrons. Not for worlds would I question the precise accuracy of these calculations or the existence of electrons (whatever they may be). The fate of Joan is a warning to me against such heresy.” [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote satirizes futile debates over minutiae, contrasting medieval theological speculation with modern scientific precision, and warns against over‑confidence in any discipline. **In simple terms:** Avoid getting lost in trivial details that distract from deeper truths. Key Takeaway Question assumptions, stay humble. Themes humor skepticism science theology history Mood irry thoughtful Type satirical philosophical When to use this quote - academic discussions - policy making - personal belief systems - scientific research Key Concepts Epistemology relativism critique Questions to Reflect On - What trivial detail might be clouding your judgment? - How can humility improve discourse? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on precision can obscure larger ethical implications. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accuracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accuracy/) [Angel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/angel/) [Annoying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/annoying/) [Calculations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/calculations/) [Concerned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concerned/) [Credulity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credulity/) [Credulity Concerned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credulity-concerned-4287191/) [Cutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cutting/) [Dance Electrons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance-electrons-4287194/) [Divinity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divinity/) [Doctors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctors/) [Electrons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/electrons/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Fate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fate/) [Figures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/figures/) [Heresy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heresy/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Medieval](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medieval/) [Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern/) [Modern Physicists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-physicists-1136842/) [Movement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/movement/) [Needles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needles/) [Physicist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physicist/) [Poor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poor/) [Position](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/position/) [Precise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/precise/) [Romantic Credulity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/romantic-credulity-4287193/) [Settling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/settling/) [Warning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/warning/) [Warning Heresy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/warning-heresy-4287192/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Modern physics had shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fritjof-capra/modern-physics-had-shown-that-the-rhythm-of-creation-and-destruction/) [Fritjof Capra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fritjof-capra/) > [At the peak of his scientific triumphs, Newton became a 'head,' a student of the inner spiritual world - or in modern terms, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-leary/at-the-peak-of-his-scientific-triumphs-newton-became-a-head-a-student/) [Timothy Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-leary/) > [Even a vortex is a vortex in something. You can't have a whirlpool without water; and you can't have a vortex without gas, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/even-a-vortex-is-a-vortex-in-something-you-can-t-have-a-whirlpool/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [An electron is real; a probability is not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/an-electron-is-real-a-probability-is-not/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [Words can have no single fixed meaning. Like wayward electrons, they can spin away from their initial orbit and enter a wider magnetic field.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lehman/words-can-have-no-single-fixed-meaning-like-wayward-electrons-they/) [David Lehman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lehman/) > [I always imagined myself somehow as an electron around some atom, and you're just, like, bouncing around and spinning. There was a never-ending supply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-freston/i-always-imagined-myself-somehow-as-an-electron-around-some-atom-and/) [Tom Freston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-freston/) > [Not sense data or atoms or electrons or packets of energy, but purposes, interests, and meanings, constitute the underlying facts of human experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-mumford/not-sense-data-or-atoms-or-electrons-or-packets-of-energy-but/) [Lewis Mumford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-mumford/) > [Whether we electrons, light quanta, benzol molecules, or stones, we shall always come up against these two characteristics, the corpuscular and the undular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-heisenberg/whether-we-electrons-light-quanta-benzol-molecules-or-stones-we-shall/) [Werner Heisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-heisenberg/) > [It seems to be a natural consequence of our points of view to assume that the whole of space is filled with electrons and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristian-birkeland/it-seems-to-be-a-natural-consequence-of-our-points-of-view-to-assume/) [Kristian Birkeland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristian-birkeland/) > [Mathematics is not only real, but it is the only reality. That is that entire universe is made of matter, obviously. And matter is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-gardner/mathematics-is-not-only-real-but-it-is-the-only-reality-that-is-that/) [Martin Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-gardner/) > [ My wife and I have long discussions about \[George\] Carlin, and we refuse to accept that he died an atheist. It's just, confounding. When… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-mohr/my-wife-and-i-have-long-discussions-about-george-carlin-and-we-refuse/) [Jay Mohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-mohr/) > [“When you ask what are electrons and protons I ought to answer that this question is not a profitable one to ask and does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-a-m-dirac/when-you-ask-what-are-electrons-and-protons-i-ought-to-answer-that/) [Paul A.M. Dirac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-a-m-dirac/) > [Can a physicist visualize an electron? The electron is materially inconceivable and yet, it is so perfectly known through its effects that we use…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wernher-von-braun/can-a-physicist-visualize-an-electron-the-electron-is-materially/) [Wernher von Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wernher-von-braun/) > [Yes, Jenna, I love you with all my heart. And with my atoms and molecules and electrons and whatever further breakdown you require.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-shinn/yes-jenna-i-love-you-with-all-my-heart-and-with-my-atoms-and/) [Sharon Shinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-shinn/) > [“Electrons and photons are still worse. In graduate school I roomed for a time with a particle physicist. He ended one attempt to explain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-vogel/electrons-and-photons-are-still-worse-in-graduate-school-i-roomed-for/) [Steven Vogel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-vogel/) ## More by George Bernard Shaw > [I love little children too but I don't cut off their heads and stick them in vases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/i-love-little-children-too-but-i-don-t-cut-off-their-heads-and-stick/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Blasphemy and sedition (meaning the truth about Church and State).](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/blasphemy-and-sedition-meaning-the-truth-about-church-and-state/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of life, man invents nothing; but in the arts of death he outdoes Nature herself, and produces by chemistry and machinery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-life-man-invents-nothing-but-in-the-arts-of-death-he/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [“My religious convictions and scientific views cannot at present be more specifically defined than as those of a believer in creative evolution. I desire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/my-religious-convictions-and-scientific-views-cannot-at-present-be/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/what-a-man-believes-may-be-ascertained-not-from-his-creed-but-from/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Men have to do some awfully mean things to keep up their respectability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/men-have-to-do-some-awfully-mean-things-to-keep-up-their/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The schoolmaster is the person who takes the children off the parents' hands for a consideration. That is to say, he establishes a child…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-schoolmaster-is-the-person-who-takes-the-children-off-the-parents/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/as-long-as-i-have-a-want-i-have-a-reason-for-living-satisfaction-is/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The camera can represent flesh so superbly that, if I dared, I would never photograph a figure without asking that figure to take its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-camera-can-represent-flesh-so-superbly-that-if-i-dared-i-would/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [A man who is not a communist at the age of twenty is a fool. Any man who is still communist at the age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/a-man-who-is-not-a-communist-at-the-age-of-twenty-is-a-fool-any-man/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [But to admire a strong person and to live under that strong person’s thumb are two different things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/but-to-admire-a-strong-person-and-to-live-under-that-strong-person-s/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Socialism is the same as Communism, only better English.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/socialism-is-the-same-as-communism-only-better-english/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The person who is ignorant enough to believe that his nourishment depends on meat is in a horrible dilemma.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/the-person-who-is-ignorant-enough-to-believe-that-his-nourishment/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [In the arts of peace Man is a bungler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/in-the-arts-of-peace-man-is-a-bungler/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) [Explore all 1,640 George Bernard Shaw quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) ## More Accuracy quotes > [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. 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