O time, swift robber of all created things, how many kings, how many nations hast thou undone, and how many changes of states and of various events have happened since the wondrous forms of this fish perished here in this cavernous and winding recess. Now destroyed by time thou liest patiently in this confined space with bones stripped and bare; serving as a support and prop for the superimposed mountain.

Knowledge ... shall always bear witness like a clarion to its creator.

Wisdom is the daughter of experience

The mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened.

Medicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.

The knowledge of all things is possible

An artist who lacks the power of self-criticism accomplishes but little. It is good if your work stands higher than your own opinion of it; bad if it is on the same level. But it is a great disaster if your work stands lower than your judgment of it.