Great problems are now being handled, keeping every thinking man in suspense; the unity or multiplicity of human races; the creation of man 1,000 years or 1,000 centuries ago; the fixity of species, or the slow and progressive transformation of one species into another; the eternity of matter; the idea of a God unnecessary: such are some of the questions that humanity discusses nowadays." - Meaning and context.">
Translation from The Life of Pasteur, p. 140

Great problems are now being handled, keeping every thinking man in suspense; the unity or multiplicity of human races; the creation of man 1,000 years or 1,000 centuries ago; the fixity of species, or the slow and progressive transformation of one species into another; the eternity of matter; the idea of a God unnecessary: such are some of the questions that humanity discusses nowadays.

— Louis Pasteur

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Great problems are now being handled, keeping every thinking man in suspense; the unity or multiplicity of human races; the creation of man 1,000 years or 1,000 centuries ago; the fixity of species, or the slow and progressive transformation of one species into another; the eternity of matter; the idea of a God unnecessary: such are some of the questions that humanity discusses nowadays." in the context of "Translation from The Life of Pasteur, p. 140" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Louis Pasteur" (Quotes, Soirées scientifiques de la Sorbonne (1864): Address delivered by Pasteur at the "Sorbonne Scientific Soirée" [Soirées scientifiques de la Sorbonne] (7 April 1864), in which he reported the results of his experiments regarding "spontaneous generation". The original excerpt in French is found in Oeuvres de Pasteur Volume 2, (1922), Vallery-Radot, Pasteur. Paris: Masson, pp. 328-346, and is available at Gloubik Sciences.org) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Louis Pasteur

About Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur (27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) French microbiologist, chemist, pioneer of the "Germ theory of disease", discoverer of molecular asymmetry and stereo-chemistry, and inventor of the process of Pasteurization.