The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.

Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.

Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth.

On the earth, even in the darkest night, the light never wholly abandons his rule. It is diffused and subtle, but little as may remain, the retina of the eye is sensible of it.

Look with all your eyes, look.

Everything is possible for an eccentric, especially when he is English.

We now know most things that can be measured in this world, except the bounds of human ambition!