--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What struck me most in England was the…" description: "\"What struck me most in England was the perception that only those works which have a practical tendency awake attention and command respect, while the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/493/justus-von-liebig-21659_accounts_what-struck-me-most-in-england-was-the-p_960562.jpg" --- # What struck me most in England was the perception that… ![“What struck me most in England was the perception that only those works which have a practical tendency awake attention and command respect, while the purely scientific, which possess far greater merit are almost unknown. And yet the latter are the proper source from which the others flow…” quote by Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/493/justus-von-liebig-21659_accounts_what-struck-me-most-in-england-was-the-p_960562.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/493/justus-von-liebig-21659_accounts_what-struck-me-most-in-england-was-the-p_960562.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/493/justus-von-liebig-21659_accounts_what-struck-me-most-in-england-was-the-p_960562.jpg) > “What struck me most in England was the perception that only those works which have a practical tendency awake attention and command respect, while the purely scientific, which possess far greater merit are almost unknown. And yet the latter are the proper source from which the others flow. Practice alone can never lead to the discovery of a truth or a principle. In Germany it is quite the contrary. Here in the eyes of scientific men no value, or at least but a trifling one, is placed upon the practical results. The enrichment of science is alone considered worthy attention.” [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Practical work is valued over pure science in England, but true progress comes from scientific insight that underpins practice. **In simple terms:** England values practice, Germany values science; true progress needs both. Key Takeaway Balance practical application with scientific research. Themes science practice valuation progress culture Mood reflective analytical Type observational critical When to use this quote - academic research - industrial development - policy making - education reform Key Concepts epistemology knowledge transfer innovation Questions to Reflect On - How can societies better integrate scientific research with practical application? - What incentives encourage valuing pure science? A Different Perspective Practical results may be praised without underlying scientific understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accounts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accounts/) [Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) [Awake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awake/) [Command](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/command/) [Contrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contrary/) [Discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery/) [England](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/england/) [Enrichment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enrichment/) [Eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye/) [Flow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flow/) [Germany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/germany/) [Greater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greater/) [Latter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/latter/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Merit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/merit/) [Perception](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perception/) [Practicals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practicals/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Principle Germany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principle-germany-1773884/) [Principles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principles/) [Purely Scientific](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purely-scientific-1370843/) [Respect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/respect/) [Results](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/results/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science Considered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-considered-1773883/) [Scientific Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientific-men-415003/) [Scientific Possess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientific-possess-1773885/) [Source](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/source/) [Tendencies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tendencies/) [Trifling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trifling/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) [Worthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worthy/) ## Related quotes > [“The best way to avoid abuses is for the populace in general to be scientifically literate, to understand the implications of such investigations. 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Man does not live by bread alone, but by science he attempts to do so. Hence the deadliness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-gill/science-is-analytical-descriptive-informative-man-does-not-live-by/) [Eric Gill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-gill/) > [In praising science, it does not follow that we must adopt the very poor philosophies which scientific men have constructed. In philosophy they have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-praising-science-it-does-not-follow-that-we-must-adopt-the-very/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [True science is distinctively the study of useless things. For the useful things will get studied without the aid of scientific men. To employ…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-sanders-peirce/true-science-is-distinctively-the-study-of-useless-things-for-the/) [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-sanders-peirce/) > [ \[For\] men to whom nothing seems great but reason ... nature ... is a cosmos, so admirable, that to penetrate to its ways seems… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-sanders-peirce/for-men-to-whom-nothing-seems-great-but-reason-nature-is-a-cosmos-so/) [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-sanders-peirce/) > [All scientific men will be delighted to extend their warmest congratulations to Tesla and to express their appreciation of his great contributions to science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-rutherford/all-scientific-men-will-be-delighted-to-extend-their-warmest/) [Ernest Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-rutherford/) > [Only to often on meeting scientific men, even those of genuine distiction, one finds that they are dull fellows and very stupid. They know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/only-to-often-on-meeting-scientific-men-even-those-of-genuine/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [We can distinguish three groups of scientific men. In the first and very small group we have the men who discover fundamental relations. Among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilder-dwight-bancroft/we-can-distinguish-three-groups-of-scientific-men-in-the-first-and/) [Wilder Dwight Bancroft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilder-dwight-bancroft/) > [Of course it must, and our scientific men must be criticized boldly. They will not feel comfortable when you and I are through with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luther-burbank/of-course-it-must-and-our-scientific-men-must-be-criticized-boldly/) [Luther Burbank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luther-burbank/) > [“Now against the specialist, against the man who studies only art or electricity, or the violin, or the thumbscrew or what not, there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton-3/now-against-the-specialist-against-the-man-who-studies-only-art-or/) [G K Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton-3/) > [ \[A\]ll the ingenious men, and all the scientific men, and all the fanciful men, in the world,... could never invent, if all their wits… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-kingsley/a-ll-the-ingenious-men-and-all-the-scientific-men-and-all-the/) [Charles Kingsley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-kingsley/) > [This passion, so unordered and yet so potent, explains the capacity for teaching that one frequently observes in scientific men of high attainments in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/this-passion-so-unordered-and-yet-so-potent-explains-the-capacity-for/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ## More by Justus von Liebig > [Receiving a new truth is like adding a new sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/receiving-a-new-truth-is-like-adding-a-new-sense/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [By the deficiency or absence of one necessary constituent, all the others being present, the soil is rendered barren for all those crops to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/by-the-deficiency-or-absence-of-one-necessary-constituent-all-the/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [I will now direct the attention of scientists to a previously unnoticed cause which brings about the metamorphosis and decomposition phenomena which are usually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/i-will-now-direct-the-attention-of-scientists-to-a-previously/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [The loveliest theories are being overthrown by these damned experiments; it's no fun being a chemist anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/the-loveliest-theories-are-being-overthrown-by-these-damned/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [The secret of all those who make discoveries is that they regard nothing as impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/the-secret-of-all-those-who-make-discoveries-is-that-they-regard/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [If it is impossible to judge merit and guilt in the field of natural science, then it is not possible in any field, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/if-it-is-impossible-to-judge-merit-and-guilt-in-the-field-of-natural/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [There is in the chemist a form of thought by which all ideas become visible in the mind as strains of an imagined piece…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/there-is-in-the-chemist-a-form-of-thought-by-which-all-ideas-become/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [Chemistry, in its application to animals and vegetables. Endeavours jointly with physiology to enlighten us respecting the mysterious processes and sources of organic life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/chemistry-in-its-application-to-animals-and-vegetables-endeavours/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [The more fodder, the more flesh; the more flesh, the more manure; the more manure, the more grain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/the-more-fodder-the-more-flesh-the-more-flesh-the-more-manure-the/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [But it must not be forgotten that ... glass and porcelain were manufactured, stuffs dyed and metals separated from their ores by mere empirical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/but-it-must-not-be-forgotten-that-glass-and-porcelain-were/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [A time will come, when fields will be manured with a solution of glass (silicate of potash), with the ashes of burnt straw, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/a-time-will-come-when-fields-will-be-manured-with-a-solution-of-glass/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [A manure containing several ingredients acts in this wise: The effect of all of them in the soil accommodates itself to that one among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/a-manure-containing-several-ingredients-acts-in-this-wise-the-effect/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power...it is the best friend of those engaged…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/chocolate-is-a-perfect-food-as-wholesome-as-it-is-delicious-a/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [Since the discovery of oxygen the civilised world has undergone a revolution in manners and customs. The knowledge of the composition of the atmosphere,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/since-the-discovery-of-oxygen-the-civilised-world-has-undergone-a/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) > [I have spent some months in England, have seen an awful lot and learned little. England is not a land of science, there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justus-von-liebig/i-have-spent-some-months-in-england-have-seen-an-awful-lot-and/) [Justus von Liebig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) [Explore all 27 Justus von Liebig quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justus-von-liebig/) ## More Accounts quotes > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [Think of these things, whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/think-of-these-things-whence-you-came-where-you-are-going-and-to-whom/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [There is nothing that we can properly call our own but our time, and yet everybody fools us out of it who has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seneca-the-younger/there-is-nothing-that-we-can-properly-call-our-own-but-our-time-and/) [Seneca the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seneca-the-younger/) > [The Hindus have a peculiar slovenliness in business matters, not being sufficiently methodical and strict in keeping accounts etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-hindus-have-a-peculiar-slovenliness-in-business-matters-not-being/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [With the Truman book, I wrote the entire account of his experiences in World War I before going over to Europe to follow his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccullough/with-the-truman-book-i-wrote-the-entire-account-of-his-experiences-in/) [David McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccullough/) > [A great read; an exciting, frightening account of organized crime today. 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The more you put in, the more you can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-lalanne/you-ve-got-to-exercise-your-health-account-your-bank-account-they-re/) [Jack LaLanne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-lalanne/) > [No physiologist who calmly considers the question in connection with the general truths of his science, can long resist the conviction that different parts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/no-physiologist-who-calmly-considers-the-question-in-connection-with/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [God puts you where God needs you. You are where you are supposed to be. The job you are doing may not be any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-kushner/god-puts-you-where-god-needs-you-you-are-where-you-are-supposed-to-be/) [Lawrence Kushner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-kushner/) > [Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-tweedy/stop-trying-to-treat-music-like-it-s-a-tennis-shoe-something-to-be/) [Jeff Tweedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-tweedy/) > [Anyone who thinks science is trying to make human life easier or more pleasant is utterly mistaken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/anyone-who-thinks-science-is-trying-to-make-human-life-easier-or-more/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [That surely must be a concern to anyone who decides this drug must be given to stop transmissions, again from mother to child, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thabo-mbeki/that-surely-must-be-a-concern-to-anyone-who-decides-this-drug-must-be/) [Thabo Mbeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thabo-mbeki/) [Browse all 2,677 Accounts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accounts/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What struck me most in England was the perception that only those works which have a practical tendency awake attention and command respect, while the purely scientific, which possess far greater merit are almost unknown. 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