Richard Owen

"The work of science is never finished; each answer births new questions."

"In fossil beds lies written the epic of earthly creation."

"The anatomist sees what others merely look at."

"Life's diversity is nature's way of expressing infinite possibility."

"To study nature is to study the mind of the Creator."

"Patience in research yields truths that hurried conclusions never can."

"The architecture of life reveals a wisdom transcending human design."

"What we call progress is simply the deepening of our understanding."

"Nature's forms follow functions we are only beginning to comprehend."

"In every creature lives a testament to life's boundless creativity."

"The museum of natural history is the greatest library ever written."

"To be wrong in the pursuit of truth is to be right in spirit."

"The scientist's greatest tool is not the eye, but the questioning mind."

"Each species is a sentence in nature's grand narrative."

"Understanding the past gives us power over the future."

"In nature, there are no mistakes—only purposes we have yet to understand."

"The work of paleontology is to give voice to the voiceless ages."

"Life's complexity is the surest sign of its purposeful design."

"To examine a bone is to read a page from creation's book."

"Nature's secrets are told not to the impatient, but to the devoted."

"In the study of life, humility is the beginning of wisdom."

"The fossil record is time's own autobiography."

"Every creature that ever lived left its mark on the world."

"To understand one animal is to glimpse the mind of nature itself."

"Progress demands that we never stop questioning our predecessors."

"The past speaks more eloquently through bone than through any monument."

"In nature's designs we see evidence of a mind far greater than our own."

"The work of science is the work of creation, continued and clarified."

"What nature creates in millions of years, we can understand in moments of insight."

"To be a naturalist is to be a reader of the world's unwritten language."