To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.
In plain words
He felt like a kid picking up shells with a whole ocean still unexplored.
Where these words come from
- 58% sureLots of sources credit Isaac Newton with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
- Paraphrase of Newton's sourced 'boy playing on the sea-shore' remark (Brewster, Memoirs, 1855, via Spence's Anecdotes)
More from Isaac Newton
See allPlato is my friend — Aristotle is my friend — but my greatest friend is truth.
Isaac NewtonIf I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.Isaac NewtonI keep the subject constantly before me, and wait 'till the first dawnings open slowly, by little and little, into a full and clear light.Isaac Newton
Isaac NewtonIf I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.Isaac NewtonI keep the subject constantly before me, and wait 'till the first dawnings open slowly, by little and little, into a full and clear light.Isaac NewtonMore on curiosity
Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.
PlatoSlow and steady wins the race.
AesopI don't study to know more, but to ignore less.
Sor Juana Inés de la CruzThere are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
William ShakespeareWe live in a beautiful and wonderful world, and the more you know about it the wiser and the better you will be.
Louisa May AlcottThese are times in which a genius would wish to live.
Abigail Adams
PlatoSlow and steady wins the race.AesopI don't study to know more, but to ignore less.Sor Juana Inés de la CruzThere are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.William ShakespeareWe live in a beautiful and wonderful world, and the more you know about it the wiser and the better you will be.Louisa May AlcottThese are times in which a genius would wish to live.Abigail Adams