The unknown is the largest need of the intellect.

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

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

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

There are truths that prove their discoverers witless.

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

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

The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.

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

The atavistic urge toward danger persists and its satisfaction is called adventure.

How gloriously legible are the constellations of the heavens!

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.