--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is the very strangeness of nature that…" description: "\"It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science engrossing. That ought to be at the center of science teaching. There are more than seven-times..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c74/lewis-thomas-2299_accounts_it-is-the-very-strangeness-of-nature-tha_1496984.jpg" --- # It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science… ![“It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science engrossing. That ought to be at the center of science teaching. There are more than seven-times-seven types of ambiguity in science, awaiting analysis. The poetry of Wallace Stevens is crystal-clear alongside the genetic code.” quote by Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c74/lewis-thomas-2299_accounts_it-is-the-very-strangeness-of-nature-tha_1496984.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c74/lewis-thomas-2299_accounts_it-is-the-very-strangeness-of-nature-tha_1496984.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c74/lewis-thomas-2299_accounts_it-is-the-very-strangeness-of-nature-tha_1496984.jpg) > “It is the very strangeness of nature that makes science engrossing. That ought to be at the center of science teaching. There are more than seven-times-seven types of ambiguity in science, awaiting analysis. The poetry of Wallace Stevens is crystal-clear alongside the genetic code.” [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science should highlight nature’s strangeness to engage curiosity and explore ambiguities. **In simple terms:** Embrace weirdness in science learning. Key Takeaway Teach science through wonder and mystery. Themes education curiosity science ambiguity Mood inspirational thought‑provoking Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - classroom lessons - science museums - public lectures - curriculum design Key Concepts philosophy of science pedagogy Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance wonder with factual accuracy? - What role does ambiguity play in scientific progress? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on strangeness may neglect rigor. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambiguity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) [Analysis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/analysis/) [Code](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/code/) [Crystals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crystals/) [Genetics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genetics/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Strangeness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strangeness/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) ## Related quotes > [Not till we are completely lost, or turned round, do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/not-till-we-are-completely-lost-or-turned-round-do-we-appreciate-the/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [In our most trivial walks, we are constantly, though unconsciously, steering like pilots by certain well-known beacons and headlands, and if we go beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/in-our-most-trivial-walks-we-are-constantly-though-unconsciously/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“It is a surprising and memorable, as well as valuable experience, to be lost in the woods any time. Often in a snow storm,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/it-is-a-surprising-and-memorable-as-well-as-valuable-experience-to-be-2/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“There is this strangeness of a life story having no shape—or more accurately, nothing but its present—until it has its ending; and then suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wood/there-is-this-strangeness-of-a-life-story-having-no-shape-or-more/) [James Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wood/) > [We love women in proportion to their degree of strangeness to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/we-love-women-in-proportion-to-their-degree-of-strangeness-to-us/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“He was pale as only one state on Bhast dictated—not lacking color necessarily or vitality, certainly. Fey white was more comparable to a pearl;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-a-miles-2/he-was-pale-as-only-one-state-on-bhast-dictated-not-lacking-color/) T.A. Miles > [We also maintain - again with perfect truth - that mystery is more than half of beauty, the element of strangeness that stirs the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-le-gallienne/we-also-maintain-again-with-perfect-truth-that-mystery-is-more-than/) [Richard Le Gallienne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-le-gallienne/) > [“...only think a moment that we are here now, and that that was then, and it has come to this, and how odd, odd,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-crowley/only-think-a-moment-that-we-are-here-now-and-that-that-was-then-and/) [John Crowley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-crowley/) > […he is unlike the other customers. 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Stop looking for links and meaning and explanations. What did De Chirico say? The world is a museum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsty-eagar/oh-stop-it-i-tell-myself-stop-looking-for-links-and-meaning-and/) [Kirsty Eagar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsty-eagar/) > [“much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/much-of-the-bible-is-not-systematically-evil-but-just-plain-weird-as/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) ## More by Lewis Thomas > [“We are endowed with genes which code out our reaction to beavers and otters, maybe our reaction to each other as well. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-endowed-with-genes-which-code-out-our-reaction-to-beavers-and/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We are a spectacular, splendid manifestation of life. We have language. . . . We have affection. We have genes for usefulness, and usefulness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-are-a-spectacular-splendid-manifestation-of-life-we-have-language/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“It is not a simple thing to decide where we fit, for at one time or another in our lives we manage to organize…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-not-a-simple-thing-to-decide-where-we-fit-for-at-one-time-or/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-in-our-genes-to-understand-the-universe-if-we-can-to-keep/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [If an idea cannot move on its own, pushing it doesn't help; best to let it lie there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/if-an-idea-cannot-move-on-its-own-pushing-it-doesn-t-help-best-to-let/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Left to ourselves, mechanistic and autonomic, we hanker for friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/left-to-ourselves-mechanistic-and-autonomic-we-hanker-for-friends/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I do not agree with this century's fashion of running down the human species as a failed try, a doomed sport. At our worst,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-do-not-agree-with-this-century-s-fashion-of-running-down-the-human/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [It would seem to me... an offense against nature, for us to come on the same scene endowed as we are with the curiosity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-would-seem-to-me-an-offense-against-nature-for-us-to-come-on-the/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [The drive to be useful is encoded in our genes. But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern nation-state, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-drive-to-be-useful-is-encoded-in-our-genes-but-when-we-gather-in/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft. But that would be boasting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/i-would-send-the-complete-works-of-johann-sebastian-bach-into-outer/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Nature abhors a long silence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/nature-abhors-a-long-silence/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The future is too interesting and dangerous to be entrusted to any predictable, reliable agency. We need all the fallibility we can get. Most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-future-is-too-interesting-and-dangerous-to-be-entrusted-to-any/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [We pass the word around; we ponder how the case is put by different people, we read the poetry; we meditate over the literature;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/we-pass-the-word-around-we-ponder-how-the-case-is-put-by-different/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/the-uniformity-of-the-earth-s-life-more-astonishing-than-its/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [Having long suspected that there was something alive in there, running the place, separate from everything else, absolutely individual and independent, we've celebrated by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/having-long-suspected-that-there-was-something-alive-in-there-running/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) [Explore all 173 Lewis Thomas quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) ## 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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