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The only processes which can be called chemical, known to the civilized nations of antiquity, belonged to certain arts, such as metallurgy, dyeing, and the manufacture of glass or porcelain; but these processes appear to have been independent of each other, pursued in the workshop alone, and unconnected with general knowledge.

— Humphry Davy Historical View of the Progress of Chemistry (1812)

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The true chemical philosopher sees good in all the diversified forms of the external world.

A sacred spark created by his breath,
The immortal mind of man his image bears;
A spirit living 'midst the forms of death,
Oppressed, but not subdued, by mortal cares.

Written After Recovery from a Dangerous Illness (1801)

The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance; the more we feel how much remains unknown; and in philosophy, the sentiment of the Macedonian hero can never apply, — there are always new worlds to conquer.

Every new discovery may be considered as a new species of manufacture, awakening moral industry and sagacity, and employing, as it were, new capital of mind.

Fortunately science, like that nature to which it belongs, is neither limited by time nor by space. It belongs to the world, and is of no country and of no age. The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance; the more we feel how much remains unknown; and in philosophy, the sentiment of the Macedonian hero can never apply, — there are always new worlds to conquer.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Humphry Davy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.