--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Science, like life, feeds on its own…" description: "\"Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then newly divined conceptions bind old and new together into a reconciling law...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a09/william-james-228_decay_science-like-life-feeds-on-its-own-decay_2123869.png" --- # Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts… ![“Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then newly divined conceptions bind old and new together into a reconciling law.” quote by William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a09/william-james-228_decay_science-like-life-feeds-on-its-own-decay_2123869.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a09/william-james-228_decay_science-like-life-feeds-on-its-own-decay_2123869.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a09/william-james-228_decay_science-like-life-feeds-on-its-own-decay_2123869.png) > “Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then newly divined conceptions bind old and new together into a reconciling law.” [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ideas evolve as old concepts decay and new evidence reshapes understanding, creating unified theories. **In simple terms:** Science and life grow by replacing old ideas with new ones. Key Takeaway Embrace continual learning. Themes science philosophy progress change Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - research - education - policy making - personal growth Key Concepts epistemology paradigm shift integration Questions to Reflect On - How do you adapt when core beliefs are challenged? - What role does decay play in innovation? A Different Perspective Rapid change can cause uncertainty and resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conceptions Bind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conceptions-bind-4346885/) [Decay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decay/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [New Reconciling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-reconciling-4346886/) [Old and new](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-and-new/) [Reconciling Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reconciling-law-4346884/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-like-654403/) [Together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/together/) ## Related quotes > [The founders of that ancient empire were robbers and women stealers, and made laws favoring monogamy in consequence of the scarcity of women among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigham-young/the-founders-of-that-ancient-empire-were-robbers-and-women-stealers/) [Brigham Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigham-young/) > [Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/science-is-like-sex-sometimes-something-useful-comes-out-but-that-is/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) > [Science is like a love affair with nature; an elusive, tantalising mistress. It has all the turbulence, twists and turns of romantic love, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/science-is-like-a-love-affair-with-nature-an-elusive-tantalising/) [Vilayanur S. Ramachandran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vilayanur-s-ramachandran/) > [Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/science-like-art-religion-commerce-warfare-and-even-sleep-is-based-on-2/) [Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/) > [If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/if-you-believe-in-science-like-i-do-you-believe-that-there-are/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/those-who-fall-in-love-with-practice-without-science-are-like-a/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Science, like nature, must also be tamed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush/science-like-nature-must-also-be-tamed/) [Rush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush/) > [People think of science like somehow that's the answer, and that it's all about right answers, but science is a lens that we look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallas-campbell/people-think-of-science-like-somehow-that-s-the-answer-and-that-it-s/) [Dallas Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallas-campbell/) > [Science - or the products of science like technology - is just a way of achieving something real, something that happens, something that works.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/science-or-the-products-of-science-like-technology-is-just-a-way-of/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Science, like art, is not a copy of nature but a re-creation of her.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-bronowski/science-like-art-is-not-a-copy-of-nature-but-a-re-creation-of-her/) [Jacob Bronowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-bronowski/) > [Trying to defend religion by invoking science is like claiming that three plus four equals ice cream.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/decca-aitkenhead/trying-to-defend-religion-by-invoking-science-is-like-claiming-that/) [Decca Aitkenhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/decca-aitkenhead/) > [I actually like how doctors talk. I like the sound of science. I like how words you don't understand explain things you can't understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-actually-like-how-doctors-talk-i-like-the-sound-of-science-i-like/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man armed with science is like a baby with a box of matches.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-b-s-haldane/man-armed-with-science-is-like-a-baby-with-a-box-of-matches/) [John B. S. Haldane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-b-s-haldane/) > [“Do not forget that when the heart petrifies there is no progress. All science must be like a fruit, so ordered that it may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-cendrars/do-not-forget-that-when-the-heart-petrifies-there-is-no-progress-all/) [Blaise Cendrars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-cendrars/) > [There's no greater sign of the failure of the American educational system than the extent to which Americans are distracted by the possibility that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/there-s-no-greater-sign-of-the-failure-of-the-american-educational/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) ## More by William James > [Effort is the one strictly undervalued and original contribution we make to this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/effort-is-the-one-strictly-undervalued-and-original-contribution-we/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We are all potentially such sick men. The sanest and best of us are of one clay with lunatics and prison-inmates. And whenever we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-are-all-potentially-such-sick-men-the-sanest-and-best-of-us-are-of/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [In the dim background of our mind we know meanwhile what we ought to be doing: getting up, dressing ourselves, answering the person who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/in-the-dim-background-of-our-mind-we-know-meanwhile-what-we-ought-to/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“Our minds thus grow in spots; and like grease-spots, the spots spread. But we let them spread as little as possible: we keep unaltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/our-minds-thus-grow-in-spots-and-like-grease-spots-the-spots-spread/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Circumstance does not make me, it reveals me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/circumstance-does-not-make-me-it-reveals-me/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > ['Facts' are the bounds of human knowledge, set for it, not by it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/facts-are-the-bounds-of-human-knowledge-set-for-it-not-by-it/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Woe to him whose beliefs play fast and loose with the order which realities follow in his experience; they will lead him nowhere or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/woe-to-him-whose-beliefs-play-fast-and-loose-with-the-order-which/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [We never fully grasp the import of any true statement until we have a clear notion of what the opposite untrue statement would be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/we-never-fully-grasp-the-import-of-any-true-statement-until-we-have-a/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is your friends who make your world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/it-is-your-friends-who-make-your-world/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/human-beings-can-alter-their-lives-by-altering-their-attitudes-of-mind/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Most people, probably, are in doubt about certain matters ascribed to their past. They may have seen them, may have said them, done them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/most-people-probably-are-in-doubt-about-certain-matters-ascribed-to/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [“How soon, indeed, are human things forgotten! As we meet here this morning, the Southern sun is shining on their place of burial, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/how-soon-indeed-are-human-things-forgotten-as-we-meet-here-this/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/there-can-be-no-difference-anywhere-that-does-not-make-a-difference/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/it-is-wrong-always-everywhere-and-for-everyone-to-believe-anything/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) [Explore all 854 William James quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) ## More Decay quotes > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [One reason why my memory decays is that I have three cats, all so loving and insistent that they play cat's-cradle with every train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-townsend-warner/one-reason-why-my-memory-decays-is-that-i-have-three-cats-all-so/) [Sylvia Townsend Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-townsend-warner/) > [I've always thought that the most extraordinary special effect you could do is to buy a child at the moment of its birth, sit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/i-ve-always-thought-that-the-most-extraordinary-special-effect-you/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [We think literature is immortal, but even that decays and ultimately turns to dust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-farren/we-think-literature-is-immortal-but-even-that-decays-and-ultimately/) [Mick Farren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-farren/) > [Wise people are able to give themselves gracefully to seemingly contradictory experiences, because they know that they belong to different seasons of life, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/wise-people-are-able-to-give-themselves-gracefully-to-seemingly/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-ensouled-is-distinguished-from-the-unsouled-by-its-being-alive/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [It seems that the whole world is beginning to decay, and that its putrefaction has chosen to spread outward from here, from the land…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasmina-khadra/it-seems-that-the-whole-world-is-beginning-to-decay-and-that-its/) [Yasmina Khadra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasmina-khadra/) > [No government can be strong and flourishing while the national character is weak and degraded. A government must flourish and decay with its subjects;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-robbins-curtis/no-government-can-be-strong-and-flourishing-while-the-national/) [Benjamin Robbins Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-robbins-curtis/) > [But the grind has begun. The windows don’t open, and even the availability of near-constant jokes about Jews and Mormons fails to stem the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-eggers/but-the-grind-has-begun-the-windows-don-t-open-and-even-the/) [Dave Eggers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-eggers/) > [Cocaine decisions that you make today, will mean nothing later on when you get nose decay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zappa/cocaine-decisions-that-you-make-today-will-mean-nothing-later-on-when/) [Frank Zappa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zappa/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [Youth should be radical. Youth should demand change in the world. 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Columbus never reached China.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/without-adventure-all-civilization-is-full-of-decay-adventure-rarely/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [“Out of all its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/out-of-all-its-squalor-and-human-decay-its-eruptions-of-butchery/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 744 Decay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decay/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Science, like life, feeds on its own decay. 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