Those who write as they speak, even though they speak well, write badly.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonOnly well-written works will descend to posterity. Fulness of knowledge, interesting facts, even useful inventions, are no pledge of immortality, for they may be employed by more skilful hands; they are outside the man; the style is the man himself.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonIn Ireland, there are the same fossils, the same shells and the same sea bodies, as appear in America, and some of them are found in no other part of Europe.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonMan thinks, and at once becomes the master of the beings that do not think.
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