I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
— Isaac Newton Early Modern

Laws of motion and gravity

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Details

Context

Reported deathbed reflection, or shortly before his death

Date / Period

1726 or 1727

Category

Strange & Unusual

Source

https://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/texts/the-south-sea-bubble-and-newton

Verification

Confirmed

Explanation

Found in 3 providers: gemini,grok,deepseek

Method

Cross Reference

Sources Checked

3 sources

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