Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

It is a great pleasure to share my discoveries with the learned world.

I have always been driven by a thirst for knowledge, and that thirst has never been quenched.

The invisible world is far more vast and complex than we can imagine.

I have often worked late into the night, driven by the desire to see more.

My eyes have been opened to a new world, and I wish to open the eyes of others.

I have never been afraid to challenge established beliefs, if my observations contradict them.

The beauty of the microscopic world is beyond description.

My work is not for the faint of heart, nor for those who prefer their world neatly packaged and sanitized. Nature, you see, is gloriously messy.

They call them 'animalcules,' as if they were mere trifles. I assure you, these 'trifles' are more numerous and active than most of the gentry I encounter.

Some gentlemen prefer to debate the number of angels on a pinhead. I, however, prefer to count the creatures dancing on a drop of water.

To those who doubt my observations, I say: make your own lenses, and then tell me what you see. Or, better yet, try to make a lens half as good as mine.

I am told my methods are 'unorthodox.' Perhaps, but they reveal a world that the 'orthodox' have entirely missed.

They say cleanliness is next to godliness. I say, look closer at your 'clean' water, and you might find a whole new pantheon.

My microscope reveals more life in a single drop of pond water than some philosophers find in an entire library.

The world is full of wonders, if only one bothers to look beyond the obvious. And sometimes, even the obvious is not what it seems.

I have shown them the invisible, and still, some prefer to remain blind. Such is the nature of man, I suppose.

To those who accuse me of seeing things that are not there, I reply: perhaps you are not looking hard enough at what *is* there.

It is a curious thing, how much effort men will expend to deny what is plainly before their eyes, simply because it is new.

My lenses are not magic, merely tools. The magic, if you must call it that, is in the world itself.

I have seen more dancing in a single drop of pepper water than at any royal ball.