What one man can invent another can discover.

They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.

Nature has planted in our minds an insatiable desire to seek the truth.

The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

Most new discoveries are suddenly-seen things that were always there.

When they shout “Long live progress,” always ask, “Progress of what?”

I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts.

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. 

How gloriously legible are the constellations of the heavens!

One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.