--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But although we have noticed the ark as…" description: "\"But although we have noticed the ark as being the first ship, we cannot with propriety place it in the front of the history of navigation. After the fl..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c50/r-m-ballantyne-2-81482_ark_but-although-we-have-noticed-the-ark-as_3089058.jpg" --- # But although we have noticed the ark as being the first… ![“But although we have noticed the ark as being the first ship, we cannot with propriety place it in the front of the history of navigation. After the flood the ark seems to have been soon forgotten, or at least imperfectly remembered, and men reverted to their little canoes and clumsy boats, which…” quote by R. M. Ballantyne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c50/r-m-ballantyne-2-81482_ark_but-although-we-have-noticed-the-ark-as_3089058.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c50/r-m-ballantyne-2-81482_ark_but-although-we-have-noticed-the-ark-as_3089058.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c50/r-m-ballantyne-2-81482_ark_but-although-we-have-noticed-the-ark-as_3089058.jpg) > “But although we have noticed the ark as being the first ship, we cannot with propriety place it in the front of the history of navigation. After the flood the ark seems to have been soon forgotten, or at least imperfectly remembered, and men reverted to their little canoes and clumsy boats, which sufficed for all their limited wants. It was not until about a thousand years later in the world” R. M. Ballantyne ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The Ark, though historically significant, was eclipsed by later, more practical vessels, showing how narratives shift over time. **In simple terms:** The Ark’s story faded as people used simpler boats. Key Takeaway Recognize how history favors practicality over myth. Themes history myth navigation technology memory Mood analytical thoughtful Type historical educational When to use this quote - teaching maritime history - writing historical fiction - analyzing cultural myths - designing museum exhibits - creating educational videos Key Concepts Cultural memory Technological progress Narrative focus Questions to Reflect On - Why do societies forget grand stories? - How can we preserve valuable myths? A Different Perspective Myths may still influence modern values despite being forgotten. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ark/) [Flood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flood/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Navigation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/navigation/) [Propriety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propriety/) [Sailing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sailing/) [Thousand years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thousand-years/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“Anytime I see a rainbow, what comes into my mind is how skillful and talented someone was to create an ark that didn't leak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/anytime-i-see-a-rainbow-what-comes-into-my-mind-is-how-skillful-and/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [It's natural to be skeptical of a story like Noah. However, the greatest miracle in the Bible is not Noah and the flood. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-turek/it-s-natural-to-be-skeptical-of-a-story-like-noah-however-the/) [Frank Turek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-turek/) > [By perseverance the snail reached the ark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/by-perseverance-the-snail-reached-the-ark/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/people-cited-violation-of-the-first-amendment-when-a-new-jersey/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [My Sunday school teachers had turned Bible narrative into children's fables. They talked about Noah and the ark because the story had animals in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/my-sunday-school-teachers-had-turned-bible-narrative-into-children-s/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [Noah heeded God’s command to build an ark…that they might be saved from the floodwaters. Yet there was no evidence of rain and flood.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-s-monson/noah-heeded-god-s-command-to-build-an-ark-that-they-might-be-saved/) [Thomas S. Monson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-s-monson/) > [When books come out on religion today, what are they about, well, Noah's Ark or when we go to heaven, does our body or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-bugliosi/when-books-come-out-on-religion-today-what-are-they-about-well-noah-s/) [Vincent Bugliosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-bugliosi/) > [An excellent monument might be erected to the Unknown Stockholder. It might take the form of a solid stone ark of faith apparently floating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-riesenberg/an-excellent-monument-might-be-erected-to-the-unknown-stockholder-it/) [Felix Riesenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-riesenberg/) > [We live in the age of Noah (a.s.) in the sense that a flood of distraction accosts us. It is a slow and subtle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamza-yusuf/we-live-in-the-age-of-noah-a-s-in-the-sense-that-a-flood-of/) [Hamza Yusuf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamza-yusuf/) > [I never looked at Noah as an animal collector. I always thought of him as an apocalyptic character. I read everything I found about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-crowe/i-never-looked-at-noah-as-an-animal-collector-i-always-thought-of-him/) [Russell Crowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-crowe/) > [It would not be possible for Noah to do in our day what he was permitted to do in his own ... The inspector…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-would-not-be-possible-for-noah-to-do-in-our-day-what-he-was/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Unless he is rich enough to hire his own choir, a capitalist is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-h-lapham/the-genius-of-capitalism-consists-precisely-in-its-lack-of-morality/) [Lewis H. Lapham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-h-lapham/) > [White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/white-and-shining-virgin-of-all-human-virtues-ark-of-the-covenant/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [I hope to soon be in contact with the man who is searching for Noah's ark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-hope-to-soon-be-in-contact-with-the-man-who-is-searching-for-noah-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [In the Great Deluge in the days of Noah, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonsus-liguori/in-the-great-deluge-in-the-days-of-noah-nearly-all-mankind-perished/) [Alphonsus Liguori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonsus-liguori/) ## More by R. M. Ballantyne > [To part is the lot of all mankind. The world is a scene of constant leave-taking, and the hands that grasp in cordial greeting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-m-ballantyne-2/to-part-is-the-lot-of-all-mankind-the-world-is-a-scene-of-constant/) R. M. Ballantyne > [ “Boys \[should be\] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-m-ballantyne-2/boys-should-be-inured-from-childhood-to-trifling-risks-and-slight/) R. M. Ballantyne Explore all 3 R. M. Ballantyne quotes ## More Ark quotes > [“Anytime I see a rainbow, what comes into my mind is how skillful and talented someone was to create an ark that didn't leak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/anytime-i-see-a-rainbow-what-comes-into-my-mind-is-how-skillful-and/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [I hope to soon be in contact with the man who is searching for Noah's ark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-hope-to-soon-be-in-contact-with-the-man-who-is-searching-for-noah-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/white-and-shining-virgin-of-all-human-virtues-ark-of-the-covenant/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [The genius of capitalism consists precisely in its lack of morality. Unless he is rich enough to hire his own choir, a capitalist is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-h-lapham/the-genius-of-capitalism-consists-precisely-in-its-lack-of-morality/) [Lewis H. Lapham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-h-lapham/) > [It would not be possible for Noah to do in our day what he was permitted to do in his own ... The inspector…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/it-would-not-be-possible-for-noah-to-do-in-our-day-what-he-was/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I never looked at Noah as an animal collector. I always thought of him as an apocalyptic character. I read everything I found about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-crowe/i-never-looked-at-noah-as-an-animal-collector-i-always-thought-of-him/) [Russell Crowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-crowe/) > [We live in the age of Noah (a.s.) in the sense that a flood of distraction accosts us. It is a slow and subtle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamza-yusuf/we-live-in-the-age-of-noah-a-s-in-the-sense-that-a-flood-of/) [Hamza Yusuf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamza-yusuf/) > [An excellent monument might be erected to the Unknown Stockholder. It might take the form of a solid stone ark of faith apparently floating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-riesenberg/an-excellent-monument-might-be-erected-to-the-unknown-stockholder-it/) [Felix Riesenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-riesenberg/) > [When books come out on religion today, what are they about, well, Noah's Ark or when we go to heaven, does our body or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vincent-bugliosi/when-books-come-out-on-religion-today-what-are-they-about-well-noah-s/) [Vincent Bugliosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vincent-bugliosi/) > [Noah heeded God’s command to build an ark…that they might be saved from the floodwaters. Yet there was no evidence of rain and flood.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-s-monson/noah-heeded-god-s-command-to-build-an-ark-that-they-might-be-saved/) [Thomas S. Monson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-s-monson/) > [My Sunday school teachers had turned Bible narrative into children's fables. They talked about Noah and the ark because the story had animals in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/my-sunday-school-teachers-had-turned-bible-narrative-into-children-s/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/people-cited-violation-of-the-first-amendment-when-a-new-jersey/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [By perseverance the snail reached the ark.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/by-perseverance-the-snail-reached-the-ark/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [It's natural to be skeptical of a story like Noah. However, the greatest miracle in the Bible is not Noah and the flood. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-turek/it-s-natural-to-be-skeptical-of-a-story-like-noah-however-the/) [Frank Turek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-turek/) > [In the Great Deluge in the days of Noah, nearly all mankind perished, eight persons alone being saved in the Ark. In our days…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonsus-liguori/in-the-great-deluge-in-the-days-of-noah-nearly-all-mankind-perished/) [Alphonsus Liguori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonsus-liguori/) [Browse all 133 Ark quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ark/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But although we have noticed the ark as being the first ship, we cannot with propriety place it in the front of the history of navigation. After the flood the ark seems to have been soon forgotten, or at least imperfectly remembered, and men reverted to their little canoes and clumsy boats, which sufficed for all their limited wants. 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