Quotes from Maria Mitchell

A young sailor boy came to see me today. It pleases me to have these lads seek me on their return from their first voyage, and tell me how much they have learned about navigation.

I am just through with a summer, and a summer is to me always a trying ordeal.

How strange that some people cannot believe in both the Book of Nature and the Book of God.

The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited in power! We reach forth and strain every nerve, but we seize only a bit of the curtain that hides the infinite from us.

Why can a man not act himself, be himself, and think for himself? It seems to me that naturalness alone is power; that a borrowed word is weaker than our own weakness, however small we may be.

It is sad to see a woman sacrificing the ties of the affections even to do good.

The world of learning is so broad, and the human soul is so limited in power!

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.

That knowledge which is popular is not scientific.

The phrase 'popular science' has in itself a touch of absurdity. That knowledge which is popular is not scientific.

For women there are undoubtedly great difficulties in the path but so much the more to overcome. First no woman would say "I am but a woman!" But a woman! What more can you ask to be?

Besides learning to see, there is another art to be learned - not to see what is not.

I am just learning to notice the different colors of the stars, and already begin to have a new enjoyment.

Altogether, St. Louis is a growing place, and the West has a large hand and a strong grasp.

Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.

We especially need imagination in science. Question everything.

We especially need imagination in science.

I would as soon put a girl alone into a closet to meditate as give her only the society of her needle.

The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.

I am always the better for open-air breathing, and was certainly meant for the wandering life of the Indian.

As a general rule, people disappoint you as you know them.

I made observations for three hours last night, and am almost ill today from fatigue; still I have worked all day, trying to reduce the places, and mean to work hard again tonight.

I have worn myself thin trying to find out about this comet, and I know very little now in the matter.

People have to learn sometimes not only how much the heart, but how much the head, can bear.