Named source · 1895

The Time Machine Quotes by H. G. Wells: Context & Meanings

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It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble.

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“It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble.”

H. G. Wells

Meaning & context

The Time Traveller proposes that changing and difficult conditions reward mental flexibility, while perfectly stable conditions reduce the need to adapt.

Source details

The Time Machine, Project Gutenberg #35. The Time Traveller states this while speculating about the evolution of the Eloi and Morlocks; it is fictional evolutionary reasoning in a nineteenth-century scientific romance, not a current biological law.

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