Why seek to scale Mount Everest,
Queen of the Air,
Why strive to crown that cruel crest
And deathward dare?
Said Mallory of dauntless quest
‘Because it’s there.’
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
We must build a new world, a far better world—one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Theologian
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
—James Bryant Conant (1893–1978) American Chemist, Educator
I do not seek. I find.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Look into the depths of your own soul and learn first to know yourself, then you will understand why this illness was bound to come upon you and perhaps you will thenceforth avoid falling ill.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.
—A. A. Milne (1882–1956) British Humorist, Playwright, Children’s Writer
Being is. Being is in-itself. Being is what it is.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do so you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before. Follow it up, explore all around it, and before you know it, you will have something worth thinking about to occupy your mind. All really big discoveries are the results of thought.
—Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) Scottish-born American Inventor, Engineer, Academic
In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.
—Ansel Adams (1902–84) American Photographer
The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
As person abandons worn-out clothes and acquires new ones, so when the body is worn out a new one is acquired by the Self, who lives within.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.
—Walker Percy (1916–90) American Novelist
It is the modest, not the presumptuous inquirer, who makes a real and safe progress in the discovery of divine truths.—He follows God in his works and in his word.
—Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English Politician, Philosopher
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before… to test your limits… to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
The world is not to be put in order, the world is order incarnate. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
I invent nothing, I rediscover.
—Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French Sculptor
There comes a time in the seeker’s life when he discovers that he is at once the lover and the beloved. The aspiring soul which he embodies is the lover in him. And the transcendental Self which he reveals from within is his Beloved.
—Sri Chinmoy (1931–2007) Indian Yoga Teacher
If I have made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.
—Isaac Newton (1643–1727) English Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer, Theologian
The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.
—Frank Herbert (1920–86) American Science Fiction Writer
When it’s time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight from wonder.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
—Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian Astronomer, Physicist, Mathematician
It’s better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.
—Whitney Young (1921–71) American Civil Rights Leader
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer