Christiaan Huygens

The true scientist is one who is never satisfied with superficial explanations.

My investigations into the properties of light have led me to a new theory.

The precision of my instruments has allowed me to make unprecedented observations.

I have always sought to combine theoretical reasoning with experimental verification.

The universe is a grand design, and we are privileged to unravel its secrets.

The study of mechanics is essential for understanding the physical world.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

The world is my country, all mankind my brethren, and to do good is my religion.

The more I study, the more I am convinced that I know nothing.

I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom.

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues.

Common sense is the most widely distributed thing in the world, for everyone thinks he is so well endowed with it that even those who are most difficult to please in all other matters are not accustomed to desire more of it than they already have.

I confess that I have often found myself in the position of having to choose between two evils, and I have always chosen the one I have not yet tried.

The only thing I know is that I know nothing; and I am not even sure of that.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.