--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is not enough to discover and prove a…" description: "\"It is not enough to discover and prove a useful truth previously unknown, but that it is necessary also to be able to propagate it and get it recognize..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d3/jean-baptiste-lamarck-27412_able_it-is-not-enough-to-discover-and-prove-a_3025119.jpg" --- # It is not enough to discover and prove a useful truth… ![“It is not enough to discover and prove a useful truth previously unknown, but that it is necessary also to be able to propagate it and get it recognized.” quote by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d3/jean-baptiste-lamarck-27412_able_it-is-not-enough-to-discover-and-prove-a_3025119.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d3/jean-baptiste-lamarck-27412_able_it-is-not-enough-to-discover-and-prove-a_3025119.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d3/jean-baptiste-lamarck-27412_able_it-is-not-enough-to-discover-and-prove-a_3025119.jpg) > “It is not enough to discover and prove a useful truth previously unknown, but that it is necessary also to be able to propagate it and get it recognized.” [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Discovering truth is insufficient; one must also share it so it gains recognition and impact. **In simple terms:** Truth must be spread to matter. Key Takeaway Share and promote valuable ideas. Themes knowledge communication impact Mood determined optimistic Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - academic publishing - public speaking - media outreach - education - policy advocacy Key Concepts epistemology diffusion recognition Questions to Reflect On - How can you ensure your insight reaches the right audience? - What barriers might prevent its acceptance? A Different Perspective Even if shared, ideas can be ignored or misinterpreted. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Able Propagate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able-propagate-4915105/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Propagate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propagate-676861/) [Propagate Recognized](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propagate-recognized-4915103/) [Prove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prove/) [Prove Useful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prove-useful-2514211/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Unknown Necessary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unknown-necessary-4915104/) ## Related quotes > [“I hope my life will prove a useful & good one, to many people." - Vivien Leigh”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kendra-bean/i-hope-my-life-will-prove-a-useful-good-one-to-many-people-vivien/) [Kendra Bean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kendra-bean/) > [The drive to propagate our race has also propagated a lot of other things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-drive-to-propagate-our-race-has-also-propagated-a-lot-of-other/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don't talk about it. The rose doesn't have to propagate its perfume. It just gives it forth, and people are drawn to it. Live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/don-t-talk-about-it-the-rose-doesn-t-have-to-propagate-its-perfume-it/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Open source can propagate to fill all the nooks and crannies that people want it to fill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kapor/open-source-can-propagate-to-fill-all-the-nooks-and-crannies-that/) [Mitch Kapor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kapor/) > [Religion is like a virus that affects the behaviour of its host in such a way as to propagate itself further.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-pritchard/religion-is-like-a-virus-that-affects-the-behaviour-of-its-host-in/) [Jack Pritchard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-pritchard/) > [We should propagate the values of vegetarianism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morarji-desai/we-should-propagate-the-values-of-vegetarianism/) [Morarji Desai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morarji-desai/) > [Contemplation is necessary to generate an object, but action must propagate it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/owen-feltham/contemplation-is-necessary-to-generate-an-object-but-action-must/) [Owen Feltham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/owen-feltham/) > [Knowledge always desires increase, it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/knowledge-always-desires-increase-it-is-like-fire-which-must-first-be/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [I wanted to build something that was a system - that was mechanical and would propagate itself like a virus. I needed a way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-birch/i-wanted-to-build-something-that-was-a-system-that-was-mechanical-and/) [Michael Birch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-birch/) > [“Chaos doesn't need permission to propagate!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-mercer/chaos-doesn-t-need-permission-to-propagate/) [Aldous Mercer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-mercer/) > [“Quite simply, plants don’t want to be eaten—and who can blame them? Like any living thing, their instinct is to propagate the next generation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-r-gundry/quite-simply-plants-don-t-want-to-be-eaten-and-who-can-blame-them/) [Steven R. Gundry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-r-gundry/) > [... the unnatural ways we substitute for the natural prove not enough and soon there must be more and more unnaturalness, more and more violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-freeman/the-unnatural-ways-we-substitute-for-the-natural-prove-not-enough-and/) [Lucy Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-freeman/) > [Kenny G, I have to be grateful to him for proving that the instrument can be played all different kinds of ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-lacy/kenny-g-i-have-to-be-grateful-to-him-for-proving-that-the-instrument/) [Steve Lacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-lacy/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [It is said that history turns on small hinges. A human career, too, results from an accumulating series of decisions about large and small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-vincent-peale/it-is-said-that-history-turns-on-small-hinges-a-human-career-too/) [Norman Vincent Peale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-vincent-peale/) ## More by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck > [One must believe that every living thing whatsoever must change insensibly in its organization and in its form... One must therefore never expect to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/one-must-believe-that-every-living-thing-whatsoever-must-change/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [All known living bodies are sharply divided into two special kingdoms, based upon the essential differences which distinguish animals from plants, and in spite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/all-known-living-bodies-are-sharply-divided-into-two-special-kingdoms/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [After having produced aquatic animals of all ranks and having caused extensive variations in them by the different environments provided by the waters, nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/after-having-produced-aquatic-animals-of-all-ranks-and-having-caused/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [What nature does in the course of long periods we do every day when we suddenly change the environment in which some species of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/what-nature-does-in-the-course-of-long-periods-we-do-every-day-when/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [Habits form a second nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/habits-form-a-second-nature/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [In every animal which has not passed the limit of its development, a more frequent and continuous use of any organ gradually strengthens, develops…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/in-every-animal-which-has-not-passed-the-limit-of-its-development-a/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [The form follows the function.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/the-form-follows-the-function/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [A sound Physics of the Earth should include all the primary considerations of the earth's atmosphere, of the characteristics and continual changes of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/a-sound-physics-of-the-earth-should-include-all-the-primary/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [On our planet, all objects are subject to continual and inevitable changes which arise from the essential order of things. These changes take place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/on-our-planet-all-objects-are-subject-to-continual-and-inevitable/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [All knowledge that is not the real product of observation, or of consequences deduced from observation, is entirely groundless and illusory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/all-knowledge-that-is-not-the-real-product-of-observation-or-of/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [“First Law In every animal which has not passed the limit of its development, a more frequent and continuous use of any organ gradually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/first-law-in-every-animal-which-has-not-passed-the-limit-of-its/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [All the acquisitions or losses wrought by nature on individuals, through the influence of the environment in which their race has long been placed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/all-the-acquisitions-or-losses-wrought-by-nature-on-individuals/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [Now this circumscribed power, which we have scarcely examined, scarcely studied, this power to whose actions we nearly always attribute an intention and a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/now-this-circumscribed-power-which-we-have-scarcely-examined-scarcely/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [It is not always the magnitude of the differences observed between species that must determine specific distinctions, but the constant preservation of those differences…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/it-is-not-always-the-magnitude-of-the-differences-observed-between/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) > [However, if we consider that all the characteristics which have been cited are only differences in degree of structure, may we not suppose that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-lamarck/however-if-we-consider-that-all-the-characteristics-which-have-been/) [Jean-Baptiste Lamarck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) [Explore all 20 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-lamarck/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) [Greg Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-perry/) > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. 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