Man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak nor walk nor eat, and in short he can do nothing at the prompting of nature only, but weep.

The most valuable discoveries have found their origin in the most trivial accidents.

Nulla dies sine linea - Not a day without a line.

....shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle.

The javelin-snake amphiptere hurls itself from the branches of trees.

There is no book so bad that some good can not be got out of it.

The ancients had little doubt about the true shape of the earth: "It's [the world's] shape has the rounded appearance of a perfect sphere. This is shown first of all by the name of 'orb' which is bestowed upon it by the general consent of mankind. ...Our eyesight also confirms this belief, because the firmament presents the aspect of a concave hemisphere equidistant in every direction, which would be impossible in the case of any other figure."