Everyone knows Newton as the great scientist. Few remember that he spent half his life muddling with alchemy , looking for the philosopher's stone. That was the pebble by the seashore he really wanted to find.

What do you care? You always liked loneliness better than you liked people. No offence liking yourself's the beginning of all love.

Nations are as equal as so many madmen or drunkards.

A scientist ought to have a healthy disregard for coincidences.

There was an omnipresent sense of crisis.

There was always something new to be seen in the unchanging night sky.

Better freedom and a chilly road than a warm hearth and servitude.