Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Truth is my only aim; and if I have sometimes erred, it has been through want of better means of observation.

The seeds of plants, which seem so small and dry, are furnished with all the apparatus necessary for the production of a new plant.

In the parts of a flea, I have seen such complexity as would put the finest watch to shame.

I have been led to these inquiries not by a desire for fame, but by a natural inclination to investigate the wonders of God's creation.

The more we magnify objects, the more we see of their imperfections and the limits of our own understanding.

I have found in all my observations that nature never works in vain, and that the smallest creature has its purpose.

The vessels in the tail of a tadpole are so small that the blood globules have to pass through them in single file.

It is a great pleasure to observe the structure of things that are hidden from the naked eye.

I have often been astonished when considering the immense number of living creatures that exist in a single drop of water.

The human body is a world of its own, full of inhabitants that we are only beginning to know.

I have seen animalcules that are so small that a million of them would not equal the size of a grain of sand.

The microscope reveals to us that the smallest and most despised creatures are among the most wonderful works of nature.

My method for seeing the very smallest animalcules... is not to be attained by a single glance, but requires a long and attentive observation.

I have endeavored to correct the errors of my observations by repeated examinations.

The fabric of the wings of a butterfly, when viewed through a good microscope, is one of the most beautiful sights in nature.

We must not be too hasty in our judgments, for what seems impossible today may be proven true tomorrow.

In the study of nature, we must be content to proceed step by step, and not expect to understand everything at once.

The discovery of these tiny creatures has convinced me that there is more to the world than meets the eye.

I have often thought that if the great men of the past had had microscopes, they would have made many more discoveries.

The instruments I make use of are simple, but they have shown me things that no man had seen before.