9 quotes
Astronomy is the daughter of idleness, geometry is the daughter of interest.
We can never add more truth to what is true already, nor make that true which is false.
The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)
It is more reasonable to remove error from truth, than to venerate error because it is mix'd with truth.
The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)
If I held all of truth in my hand I would beware of opening it to men.
Behold a universe so immense that I am lost in it. I no longer know where I am. I am just nothing at all. Our world is terrifying in its insignificance.
The Epicureans especially made sport with the paltry Poetry that came from Delphos.
The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)
Poetry had a much more serious beginning than is usually imagin'd, and... the Muses have of late days mightily deviated from their original Gravity.
Men could not be contented to take the Oracle just as it came piping hot from the Mouth of their God. But perhaps, when they had come a great way for it, they thought it would look silly to carry home an Oracle in Prose.
The History of Oracles, and the Cheats of the Pagan Priests (1688)
Above all, astronomy and anatomy are the two sciences which present to our minds most significantly the two grand characteristics of the Creator; the one, His immensity, by the distances, size, and number of the heavenly bodies; the other, His infinite intelligence, by the mechanism of animate beings.