Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
A prominent naturalist who authored the monumental 'Histoire Naturelle', a 36-volume encyclopedia that influenced generations of naturalists.
Most quoted
"The first truth that results from this examination is that the Earth is a planet, a star, which has its own movement, which turns around the Sun, and which, consequently, is subject to the same laws as all the other planets."
— from Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, 1749
"Man is the only animal that can laugh and weep; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be."
— from Attributed
"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be."
— from Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, 1749
All quotes by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (406)
The most beautiful of all things is a good book.
The most powerful of all forces is habit.
The most beautiful of all virtues is patience.
The most useful of all qualities is common sense.
The true glory of man is not to be found in his power over nature, but in his understanding of it.
Nature, in her grand operations, never proceeds by leaps; she always moves by insensible gradations.
Style is the man himself.
The most beautiful works are those which are born of reason and taste, and which are not the result of chance or caprice.
To write well, one must think well, feel well, and render well; that is, one must have at the same time spirit, soul, and taste.
The human mind is a mirror that reflects the universe, and in reflecting it, it creates it.
Man is the only animal that knows he must die.
The universe is a vast machine, of which we are but small parts, yet each part is essential to the whole.
Our existence is but a point in the immensity of time and space.
The greatest truths are often the simplest.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there are universal principles of beauty that transcend individual taste.
The more we know, the more we realize how much we don't know.
Life is a perpetual struggle against death.
The human heart is a labyrinth of contradictions.
To understand nature, we must observe it with patience and without prejudice.
The greatest pleasure in life is to discover new truths.
Contemporaries of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Other Biologys born within 50 years of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788).