Galileo Galilei

"There is no greater feeling than to understand something deeply."

"I have observed that fortune has never granted anything to me greater than my toil has earned."

"What has been found before us will help us look further ahead."

"The mightiest intellect cannot see beyond the boundaries set by nature."

"In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess they have always tasted better than gruel."

"It cannot be denied that there is order and beauty in nature."

"To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, is true knowledge."

"Like a ship entering a harbor in storm, my life has found its shelter in the pursuit of truth."

"There is a powerful technique for learning about the world: careful observation and measurement."

"The divine attributes are: Omniscience, Justice, Mercy—The human mind cannot understand infinite attributes."

"If you could see the earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more splendid than the moon."

"Our journey must begin where we are, and our wisdom must be practical."

"The philosopher must not be afraid of being proved wrong by reality."

"I am not just talking about something in the abstract; I am talking about a reality."

"The understanding of nature, even the smallest aspects, is the most profound pleasure."

"When we are young, we are slaves by nature, in fact. We are dependent on everyone around us."

"Discovery is the privilege of the child: the child who has lost none of his aptitude for wondering, for marveling."

"The universe is a great book which cannot be read until one first learns to comprehend the language and to read the alphabet in which it is composed."

"If there were a world where nothing ever happened, there would be nothing to perceive."

"Those who labor on the night shift are fighting against the rhythm of nature itself."

"The evidence of my own eyes is my strongest proof."

"I myself have never been particularly impressed by the judgments of men in such matters."

"Truth is always the strongest argument."

"Precision and exactness in thought and language are the very foundation of science."

"The contemplation of truth is the highest intellectual activity of which man is capable."

"Men have sometimes stumbled upon truth and picked themselves up and hurried along as if nothing had happened."

"One cannot love without risking pain."

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication in understanding nature."

"The heavens declare the glory of mathematics."

"It is human nature to stretch the wings of the mind as far as possible."