"There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment"
About this Quote
The sly heresy of “even God” does double duty. It flatters the scientist’s hubris (your work is so consequential it belongs in the same sentence as divinity) while also indicting it (your work is still fallible, still subject to limits, still capable of becoming a moral and practical liability). “Write off” is the killer phrase: it’s accounting language, bureaucratic and unsentimental, implying a spreadsheet view of life where a botched trial, a ruined specimen, or a compromised human subject becomes a sunk cost. In a James novel, that chill matters. Her worlds are filled with institutions - labs, hospitals, police forces, governments - that launder ethical decisions through procedure.
Contextually, James often circles the modern anxiety that expertise doesn’t dissolve tragedy; it systematizes it. The subtext is a warning: persistence is not inherently virtuous. Sometimes the most responsible act is termination, not triumph - and the hardest part is recognizing when your “experiment” has quietly turned into collateral damage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
James, P. D. (2026, January 16). There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-comes-a-time-when-every-scientist-even-god-92831/
Chicago Style
James, P. D. "There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-comes-a-time-when-every-scientist-even-god-92831/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-comes-a-time-when-every-scientist-even-god-92831/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.




