"The story of a theory's failure often strikes readers as sad and unsatisfying. Since science thrives on self-correction, we who practice this most challenging of human arts do not share such a feeling. We may be unhappy if a favored hypothesis loses or chagrined if theories that we proposed prove inadequate. But refutation almost always contains positive lessons that overwhelm disappointment, even when […] no new and comprehensive theory has yet filled the void."
Stephen Jay Gould

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

Sources

"The Face of Miranda", p. 496

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould