--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The scientist who yields anything to…" description: "\"The scientist who yields anything to theology, however slight, is yielding to ignorance and false pretenses, and as certainly as if he granted that a h..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e58/h-l-mencken-245_bottles_the-scientist-who-yields-anything-to-the_51420.png" --- # The scientist who yields anything to theology, however… ![“The scientist who yields anything to theology, however slight, is yielding to ignorance and false pretenses, and as certainly as if he granted that a horse-hair put into a bottle of water will turn into a snake.” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e58/h-l-mencken-245_bottles_the-scientist-who-yields-anything-to-the_51420.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e58/h-l-mencken-245_bottles_the-scientist-who-yields-anything-to-the_51420.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e58/h-l-mencken-245_bottles_the-scientist-who-yields-anything-to-the_51420.png) > “The scientist who yields anything to theology, however slight, is yielding to ignorance and false pretenses, and as certainly as if he granted that a horse-hair put into a bottle of water will turn into a snake.” [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science must remain independent of religious doctrine; compromising it for any theological claim undermines rational inquiry and invites absurd conclusions. **In simple terms:** Science vs. faith Key Takeaway Preserve scientific integrity Themes skepticism rism intellectual integrity rationalism Mood defiant critical cynical Type aphorism skeptical quote When to use this quote - academic research - public policy debates - education curricula - media commentary Key Concepts science theology knowledge ignorance Practical Applications - critical thinking training - science communication Questions to Reflect On - How does conflating science with belief affect public trust? - What safeguards keep scientific inquiry free from doctrinal bias? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hair/) [Horse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horse/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Pretense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pretense/) [Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science and religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-and-religion/) [Scientist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientist/) [Snakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/snakes/) [Theology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theology/) [Water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/water/) ## Related quotes > [I don't want to inhabit the human world under false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-frame/i-don-t-want-to-inhabit-the-human-world-under-false-pretenses/) [Janet Frame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-frame/) > [We assume that others are receiving the kind of appreciation we want for ourselves, and we proceed on the assumption that since we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-assume-that-others-are-receiving-the-kind-of-appreciation-we-want/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Music is the one thing in which there is no use trying to deceive others or make false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/music-is-the-one-thing-in-which-there-is-no-use-trying-to-deceive/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Man was entering under false pretenses the sphere of incredible facilities, acquired too cheaply, below cost price, almost for nothing, and the disproportion between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruno-schulz/man-was-entering-under-false-pretenses-the-sphere-of-incredible/) [Bruno Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruno-schulz/) > [If there is not Hell, a good many preachers are obtaining money under false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-sunday/if-there-is-not-hell-a-good-many-preachers-are-obtaining-money-under/) [Billy Sunday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-sunday/) > [The criminal misuse of time was pointing out the mistakes. Catching them―noticing them―that was essential. If you did not in your own mind distinguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/the-criminal-misuse-of-time-was-pointing-out-the-mistakes-catching/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [It is an unfortunate fact that every man who seeks to disseminate knowledge must contend not only against ignorance itself, but against false instruction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/it-is-an-unfortunate-fact-that-every-man-who-seeks-to-disseminate/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [If you did not in your own mind distinguish between useful and erroneous information, then you were not learning at all, you were merely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/if-you-did-not-in-your-own-mind-distinguish-between-useful-and/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [You caught me under false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muse/you-caught-me-under-false-pretenses/) [Muse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muse/) > [I don't do interviews under false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/i-don-t-do-interviews-under-false-pretenses/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [If there is no hell, a good many preachers are obtaining money under false pretenses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-there-is-no-hell-a-good-many-preachers-are-obtaining-money-under/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/whenever-a-annoys-or-injures-b-on-the-pretense-of-saving-or-improving/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The effort to reconcile science and religion is almost always made, not by theologians, but by scientists unable to shake off altogether the piety…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-effort-to-reconcile-science-and-religion-is-almost-always-made/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The only way to reconcile science and religion is to set up something which is not science and something that is not religion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-only-way-to-reconcile-science-and-religion-is-to-set-up-something/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The chief difference between free capitalism and State socialism seems to be this: that under the former a man pursues his own advantage openly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-chief-difference-between-free-capitalism-and-state-socialism/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ## More by H. L. Mencken > [Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/alimony-the-ransom-that-the-happy-pay-to-the-devil/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-bad-artist-almost-always-tries-to-conceal-his-incompetence-by/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [ 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. 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Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/there-is-in-fact-nothing-about-religious-opinions-that-entitles-them/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/don-t-overestimate-the-decency-of-the-human-race/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/liberty-was-a-two-headed-boon-there-was-first-the-liberty-of-the/) [H. L. 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Mencken quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ## More Bottles quotes > [I knew exactly what I was doing. You can't accidentally take a whole bottle of pills.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fantasia-barrino/i-knew-exactly-what-i-was-doing-you-can-t-accidentally-take-a-whole/) [Fantasia Barrino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fantasia-barrino/) > [This is not really currency that circulates. It's like the old joke about expensive vintage wine. Wine prices will go up and once in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hudson/this-is-not-really-currency-that-circulates-it-s-like-the-old-joke/) [Michael Hudson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hudson/) > [There's nothing better than having a bottle of beer in your hand in the waves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-grohl/there-s-nothing-better-than-having-a-bottle-of-beer-in-your-hand-in/) [Dave Grohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-grohl/) > [Rita folded her arms around herself and peered up at me. “If you’d asked me three months ago I’d have said you were hitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-e-murphy/rita-folded-her-arms-around-herself-and-peered-up-at-me-if-you-d/) [C.E. Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-e-murphy/) > [The Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in ... Guys would drink and fight one another like circle saws.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-armstrong/the-brick-house-was-one-of-the-toughest-joints-i-ever-played-in-guys/) [Louis Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-armstrong/) > [I got some bottles in the caddy that we can open up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brokencyde/i-got-some-bottles-in-the-caddy-that-we-can-open-up/) [Brokencyde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brokencyde/) > [To meet Roosevelt with all his buoyant sparkle, his iridescence, was like opening a bottle of champagne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/to-meet-roosevelt-with-all-his-buoyant-sparkle-his-iridescence-was/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The general public have a warped view of the speed at which an investigation proceeds. They like to imagine tense conversations going on behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-aaronovitch/the-general-public-have-a-warped-view-of-the-speed-at-which-an/) [Ben Aaronovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-aaronovitch/) > [My primary school teacher once poured a bottle of curdled school milk forcefully down my throat. Then I threw it up all over her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-o-grady/my-primary-school-teacher-once-poured-a-bottle-of-curdled-school-milk/) [Paul O'Grady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-o-grady/) > [The fun, joy, and humor dry up in a relationship when one of the partners is swimming in gin. To my way of thinking,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ginger-rogers/the-fun-joy-and-humor-dry-up-in-a-relationship-when-one-of-the/) [Ginger Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ginger-rogers/) > [There is no need to put your heart in a bottle, then you will die. - Ty from Stolen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-christopher/there-is-no-need-to-put-your-heart-in-a-bottle-then-you-will-die-ty/) [Lucy Christopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-christopher/) > [I revere the memory of Mr. F. as an estimable man and most indulgent husband, only necessary to mention Asparagus and it appeared or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-revere-the-memory-of-mr-f-as-an-estimable-man-and-most-indulgent/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [The decision to let go of that which has completed its course in your experience is even more important than the decision to welcome…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-charles-barker/the-decision-to-let-go-of-that-which-has-completed-its-course-in-your/) [Raymond Charles Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-charles-barker/) > [For Father's Day, my kids always give me a bottle of cologne called English Leather. It's appropriate! To them I always smell like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-orben/for-father-s-day-my-kids-always-give-me-a-bottle-of-cologne-called/) [Robert Orben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-orben/) Browse all 978 Bottles quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The scientist who yields anything to theology, however slight, is yielding to ignorance and false pretenses, and as certainly as if he granted that a horse-hair put into a bottle of water will turn into a snake.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. 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