Writing well is at one and the same time good thinking, good feeling, and good expression; it is having wit, soul, and taste, all together.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonLet us investigate more closely this property common to animal and plant, this power of producing its likeness, this chain of successive existences of individuals, which constitutes the real existence of the species.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonLet us suppose, that the Old and New worlds were formerly but one continent, and that, by a violent earthquake, the ancient Atalantis [sic] of Plato was sunk ... The sea would necessarily rush in from all quarters, and form what is now called the Atlantic ocean.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon