---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All great discoveries were like this. It…"
description: "\"“All great discoveries were like this. It was the rare souls full of hope who showed the world what could be done; and then came the thundering herds, ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/031/hugh-howey-841_hope_all-great-discoveries-were-like-this-it_2614783.jpg"
---

#  All great discoveries were like this. It was the rare…

![“All great discoveries were like this. It was the rare souls full of hope who showed the world what could be done; and then came the thundering herds, those doubters and naysayers who had once put up barriers, now shoving everyone out of their way.” quote by Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/031/hugh-howey-841_hope_all-great-discoveries-were-like-this-it_2614783.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/031/hugh-howey-841_hope_all-great-discoveries-were-like-this-it_2614783.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/031/hugh-howey-841_hope_all-great-discoveries-were-like-this-it_2614783.jpg)

> ““All great discoveries were like this. It was the rare souls full of hope who showed the world what could be done; and then came the thundering herds, those doubters and naysayers who had once put up barriers, now shoving everyone out of their way.””

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Hopeful innovators spark breakthroughs, then skeptics try to suppress them.

**In simple terms:** Hope leads to discovery, skeptics resist

Key Takeaway

Support visionary ideas despite opposition

Themes

innovation hope skepticism

Mood

determined reflective

Type

motivational philosophical

When to use this quote

- startup launches
- scientific research
- social movements

Key Concepts

social dynamics progress resistance

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you handle naysayers?
- When is skepticism constructive?

A Different Perspective

Skeptics may also provide necessary critique

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/)

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[Alva Myrdal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alva-myrdal/)

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> [If we think about it, all great discoveries and paradigm shifts are always stimulated by an external event.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-esposito/if-we-think-about-it-all-great-discoveries-and-paradigm-shifts-are/)

[Roberto Esposito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-esposito/)

> [Great discoveries are made accidentally less often than the populace likes to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-rontgen/great-discoveries-are-made-accidentally-less-often-than-the-populace/)

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> [Great discoveries were once great miseries...Don't forsake your destiny too soon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-mosaic/great-discoveries-were-once-great-miseries-don-t-forsake-your-destiny/)

Keith Mosaic

> [“Great discoveries, whether of silk or gravity, are always windfalls. They happen to people loafing under trees.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/great-discoveries-whether-of-silk-or-gravity-are-always-windfalls/)

[Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/)

> [People who have read a good deal rarely make great discoveries. I do not say this in excuse of laziness, but because invention presupposes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-c-lichtenberg/people-who-have-read-a-good-deal-rarely-make-great-discoveries-i-do/)

[Georg C. Lichtenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-c-lichtenberg/)

> [When I was finishing my PhD, I could just see people who were a bit quicker and brighter and smarter than me and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-singh/when-i-was-finishing-my-phd-i-could-just-see-people-who-were-a-bit/)

[Simon Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-singh/)

> [By mutual confidence and mutual aid - great deeds are done, and great discoveries made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer/by-mutual-confidence-and-mutual-aid-great-deeds-are-done-and-great/)

[Homer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer/)

> [All great discoveries are made by men whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-henry-parkhurst/all-great-discoveries-are-made-by-men-whose-feelings-run-ahead-of/)

[Charles Henry Parkhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-henry-parkhurst/)

> [None of the great discoveries was made by a 'specialist' or a 'researcher'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-h-fischer/none-of-the-great-discoveries-was-made-by-a-specialist-or-a-researcher/)

[Martin H. Fischer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-h-fischer/)

## More by Hugh Howey

> [“the mind-numbing routine. It was the castration of thought,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/the-mind-numbing-routine-it-was-the-castration-of-thought/)

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> [“a crime to fell a tree and light it on fire, where coals of hardened shit warmed and stunk up homes,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/a-crime-to-fell-a-tree-and-light-it-on-fire-where-coals-of-hardened/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [Even in the darkness, his smile threw shadows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/even-in-the-darkness-his-smile-threw-shadows/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“The Loud came before the quiet. That was a Rule of the World, for the bangs and shouts need somewhere to echo, just as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/the-loud-came-before-the-quiet-that-was-a-rule-of-the-world-for-the/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“People from IT sent to replace those they’d killed. Juliette’s”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/people-from-it-sent-to-replace-those-they-d-killed-juliette-s/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“a heap of words designed to hinder communication rather than facilitate it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/a-heap-of-words-designed-to-hinder-communication-rather-than/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“That leaves Bravo Company, the expendables who know what they’re doing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/that-leaves-bravo-company-the-expendables-who-know-what-they-re-doing/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“Sleep was a vehicle for passing the time, for avoiding the present. It was a trolley for the depressed, the impatient, and the dying.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/sleep-was-a-vehicle-for-passing-the-time-for-avoiding-the-present-it/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“Overhead, tangles of wires knotted together in a grand display of unplanned infrastructure.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/overhead-tangles-of-wires-knotted-together-in-a-grand-display-of/)

[Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

> [“Montana wants to scream, but the thing she is angry at is in the past. The past can’t hear her. This is the thing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/montana-wants-to-scream-but-the-thing-she-is-angry-at-is-in-the-past/)

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[Explore all 351 Hugh Howey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/)

## More Hope quotes

> [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/)

[Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/)

> [“Cine a ucis stelele? Cine a surpat drumul spre viitor al celor din morminte?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ionel-teodoreanu/cine-a-ucis-stelele-cine-a-surpat-drumul-spre-viitor-al-celor-din/)

[Ionel Teodoreanu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ionel-teodoreanu/)

> [“What can we do in any hardship? We can hope with prayerful praise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/what-can-we-do-in-any-hardship-we-can-hope-with-prayerful-praise/)

[Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/)

> [I hope I continue to evolve.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-flair/i-hope-i-continue-to-evolve/)

[Charlotte Flair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-flair/)

> [If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bentley/if-one-truly-has-lost-hope-one-would-not-be-on-hand-to-say-so/)

[Eric Bentley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-bentley/)

> [“too—I realized that my only hope was to give up the life that had been, in order to make room for the life that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-lesser/too-i-realized-that-my-only-hope-was-to-give-up-the-life-that-had/)

[Elizabeth Lesser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-lesser/)

> [You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-practice-mindfulness-on-the-one-hand-to-be-calm-and-peaceful-on/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Stop trying to give me hope ... I have no room left for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenn-f/stop-trying-to-give-me-hope-i-have-no-room-left-for-it/)

[Jenn F](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenn-f/)

> [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/)

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[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Pray, hope, don't worry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pio-of-pietrelcina/pray-hope-don-t-worry/)

[Pio of Pietrelcina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pio-of-pietrelcina/)

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Simone Abou Samra

> [Im really happy that I met you I hope you know that](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/im-nothing/im-really-happy-that-i-met-you-i-hope-you-know-that/)

Im Nothing

> [All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/all-that-i-am-or-ever-hope-to-be-i-owe-to-my-angel-mother/)

[Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/)

[Browse all 24,868 Hope quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/)

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