--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In fact, we will have to give up taking…" description: "\"In fact, we will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things. We have to learn to understand nature and not merely to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/john-desmond-bernal-14871_amiable_in-fact-we-will-have-to-give-up-taking-t_2673355.jpg" --- # In fact, we will have to give up taking things for… ![“In fact, we will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things. We have to learn to understand nature and not merely to observe it and endure what it imposes on us. Stupidity, from being an amiable individual defect, has become a social crime.” quote by John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/john-desmond-bernal-14871_amiable_in-fact-we-will-have-to-give-up-taking-t_2673355.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/john-desmond-bernal-14871_amiable_in-fact-we-will-have-to-give-up-taking-t_2673355.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/john-desmond-bernal-14871_amiable_in-fact-we-will-have-to-give-up-taking-t_2673355.jpg) > “In fact, we will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things. We have to learn to understand nature and not merely to observe it and endure what it imposes on us. Stupidity, from being an amiable individual defect, has become a social crime.” [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We must move beyond passive observation of nature, recognizing that ignorance can become a societal flaw. **In simple terms:** Understanding nature is essential; ignorance is harmful. Key Takeaway Seek knowledge, avoid complacency. Themes knowledge nature society Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - education - policy making Key Concepts scientific literacy social responsibility Questions to Reflect On - How can we promote scientific literacy? - What responsibilities do we have toward nature? A Different Perspective It may underestimate practical constraints of scientific progress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amiable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amiable/) [Crime](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crime/) [Defects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Giving up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving-up/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Observation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observation/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Simple things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simple-things/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Stupidity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stupidity/) [Taking things for granted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taking-things-for-granted/) ## Related quotes > [We will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/we-will-have-to-give-up-taking-things-for-granted-even-the-apparently/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [We understand nature by resisting it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gaston-bachelard/we-understand-nature-by-resisting-it/) [Gaston Bachelard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gaston-bachelard/) > [For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-druyan/for-most-of-the-history-of-our-species-we-were-helpless-to-understand/) [Ann Druyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-druyan/) > [“To live in harmony with nature, we must know how to sing the same song as nature. To do that, we must understand nature.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/to-live-in-harmony-with-nature-we-must-know-how-to-sing-the-same-song/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Natural phenomena undisturbed by man point the way to the realization of a new technique. One needs a keen sense of observation. We must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-schauberger/natural-phenomena-undisturbed-by-man-point-the-way-to-the-realization/) [Viktor Schauberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-schauberger/) > [To understand the nature of love — that is to be a Christian!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-steiner/to-understand-the-nature-of-love-that-is-to-be-a-christian/) [Rudolf Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-steiner/) > [What interests me is to understand the nature of the modern.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/what-interests-me-is-to-understand-the-nature-of-the-modern/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The last thing that man will understand in nature is the performance of his brain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-eccles/the-last-thing-that-man-will-understand-in-nature-is-the-performance/) [John Eccles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-eccles/) > [I have to understand the nature of change. And I cannot just work with stone or the more permanent materials. I need to work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andy-goldsworthy/i-have-to-understand-the-nature-of-change-and-i-cannot-just-work-with/) [Andy Goldsworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andy-goldsworthy/) > [Nature is made in such a way as to be able to be understood. Or perhaps I should put it-more correctly-the other way around,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-heisenberg/nature-is-made-in-such-a-way-as-to-be-able-to-be-understood-or/) [Werner Heisenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-heisenberg/) > [“The thing that you have to understand about nature and natural law is, there’s no mercy…. There’s only law. And if you don’t understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-christina-wood/the-thing-that-you-have-to-understand-about-nature-and-natural-law-is/) [Mary Christina Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-christina-wood/) > [“Science embodies the human desire to understand nature; technology couples that desire with the ambition to control nature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/siddhartha-muker/science-embodies-the-human-desire-to-understand-nature-technology/) Siddhartha Muker > [“How many understand that Nature is the essencial character of whatever is. It's something you'll find by looking not at, but in, always in.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-lloyd-wright/how-many-understand-that-nature-is-the-essencial-character-of/) [Frank Lloyd Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-lloyd-wright/) > [“You don't really understand nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will at his parents each time around - and why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-don-t-really-understand-nature-unless-you-know-why-a-child-on-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You have to understand the nature of light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-hall/you-have-to-understand-the-nature-of-light/) [Conrad Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-hall/) ## More by John Desmond Bernal > [Naturalism aimed at giving the primitive wishes full play but failed because these wishes are too primitive, too infantile, too inconsistent with themselves to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/naturalism-aimed-at-giving-the-primitive-wishes-full-play-but-failed/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [A part of sexuality may go to research, and a much larger part must lead to aesthetic creation. The art of the future will,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/a-part-of-sexuality-may-go-to-research-and-a-much-larger-part-must/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [But if capitalism had built up science as a productive force, the very character of the new mode of production was serving to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/but-if-capitalism-had-built-up-science-as-a-productive-force-the-very/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [We shall be forced to attempt planned and directed research employing hundreds of workers for many years, and this cannot be done without risking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/we-shall-be-forced-to-attempt-planned-and-directed-research-employing/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [We are still too close to the birth of the universe to be certain about its death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/we-are-still-too-close-to-the-birth-of-the-universe-to-be-certain/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [If science were communism, was it also not possible that communism could itself become a science?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/if-science-were-communism-was-it-also-not-possible-that-communism/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [ The problem \[of specialization\] is essentially that of communications to an army in action. After a rapid advance communications become disorganized, and there is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/the-problem-of-specialization-is-essentially-that-of-communications/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [Life is a partial, continuous, progressive, multiform and conditionally interactive self-realization of the potentialities of atomic electron states.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/life-is-a-partial-continuous-progressive-multiform-and-conditionally/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [The region of the mysterious is rapidly shrinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/the-region-of-the-mysterious-is-rapidly-shrinking/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [Published papers may omit important steps and the memory of men of science, even the greatest, is sadly fallible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/published-papers-may-omit-important-steps-and-the-memory-of-men-of/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [ \[In eighteenth-century Britain\] engineers for the most began as simple workmen, skilful and ambitious but usually illiterate and self-taught. They were either millwrights like… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/in-eighteenth-century-britain-engineers-for-the-most-began-as-simple/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [Religious suffering is at once the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/religious-suffering-is-at-once-the-expression-of-real-suffering-and-a/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [Men will not be content to manufacture life: they will want to improve on it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/men-will-not-be-content-to-manufacture-life-they-will-want-to-improve/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [The present aristocracy of western culture, at the moment when it most clearly dominates the world, is being imitated rapidly and successfully in every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/the-present-aristocracy-of-western-culture-at-the-moment-when-it-most/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) > [As experimentation becomes more complex, the need for the co-operation in it of technical elements from outside becomes greater and the modern laboratory tends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-desmond-bernal/as-experimentation-becomes-more-complex-the-need-for-the-co-operation/) [John Desmond Bernal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) [Explore all 45 John Desmond Bernal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-desmond-bernal/) ## More Amiable quotes > [We must hold fast to the austere but true doctrine as to what really governs politics and saves or destroys states. Having in mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/we-must-hold-fast-to-the-austere-but-true-doctrine-as-to-what-really/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Drivers in a traffic jam, frustrated by each others presence, are not the most amiable of men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-riesman/drivers-in-a-traffic-jam-frustrated-by-each-others-presence-are-not/) [David Riesman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-riesman/) > [“However amiable her temper, her heart was not likely to be easily touched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/however-amiable-her-temper-her-heart-was-not-likely-to-be-easily/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [In the taverns all was amiable and easy, but the coffeehouses were cauldrons of edgy malcontents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-holland/in-the-taverns-all-was-amiable-and-easy-but-the-coffeehouses-were/) [Barbara Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-holland/) > [If you'd be beloved, make yourself amiable. A true friend is the best possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/if-you-d-be-beloved-make-yourself-amiable-a-true-friend-is-the-best/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Our respect for the dead, when they are just dead, is something wonderful, and the way we show it more wonderful still. We show…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/our-respect-for-the-dead-when-they-are-just-dead-is-something/) [John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/) > [There are only two kinds of people in the modern world who know what they are after. One, quite frankly, is the Communist. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-fisher/there-are-only-two-kinds-of-people-in-the-modern-world-who-know-what/) [Geoffrey Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-fisher/) > [He could not forgive her, but he could not be unfeeling. Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-could-not-forgive-her-but-he-could-not-be-unfeeling-though/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Aamir and Kiran Rao are a very nice, gentle and amiable couple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shatrughan-sinha/aamir-and-kiran-rao-are-a-very-nice-gentle-and-amiable-couple/) [Shatrughan Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shatrughan-sinha/) > [The beauty of the person of Christ, as represented in the Scripture, consists in things invisible unto the eyes of flesh. They are such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-owen/the-beauty-of-the-person-of-christ-as-represented-in-the-scripture/) [John Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-owen/) > [Failure on the other hand is infectious. The world is full of charming failures (for all charming people have something to conceal, usually their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyril-connolly/failure-on-the-other-hand-is-infectious-the-world-is-full-of-charming/) [Cyril Connolly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyril-connolly/) > [Of all the Beauties, it is that which attracts the most lasting Admiration, gives the greatest Charm to every thing we say or do,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliza-haywood/of-all-the-beauties-it-is-that-which-attracts-the-most-lasting/) [Eliza Haywood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliza-haywood/) > [Admonition never sinks so deeply on the heart as in the hour of trial; young, amiable as you are, life teems, I doubt not,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/regina-maria-roche/admonition-never-sinks-so-deeply-on-the-heart-as-in-the-hour-of-trial/) [Regina Maria Roche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/regina-maria-roche/) > [Paul Ryan, who teamed up with Akin in the House to sponsor harsh anti-abortion bills, may look young and hip and new generation, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-dowd/paul-ryan-who-teamed-up-with-akin-in-the-house-to-sponsor-harsh-anti/) [Maureen Dowd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-dowd/) > [It is an amiable part of human nature, that we should love our animals; it is even better to love them to the point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stevie-smith/it-is-an-amiable-part-of-human-nature-that-we-should-love-our-animals/) [Stevie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stevie-smith/) [Browse all 121 Amiable quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amiable/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In fact, we will have to give up taking things for granted, even the apparently simple things. 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