Quotes About Exploration

But man's capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little has been tried.

The book exists for us, perchance, which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones.

I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west. Within a few years we have witnessed the phenomenon of a southeastward migration, in the settlement of Australia; but this affects us as a retrograde movement, and, judging from the moral and physical character of the first generation of Australians, has not yet proved a successful experiment.

When he has obtained those things which are necessary in life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities; and that is, to adventure on life now.

Good writers will, indeed, do well to imitate the ingenious traveller in this instance, who always proportions his stay at any place to the beauties, elegancies, and curiosities which it affords.

Theory is the best guide for experiment—that were it not for theory and the problems and hypotheses that come out of it, we would not know the points we wanted to verify, and hence would experiment aimlessly

All roads lead to Rome, and there were times when it might have struck us that almost every branch of study or subject of conversation skirted forbidden ground.

He surveyed the edifice from the outside, and admired it greatly; he looked in at the windows, and received an impression of proportions equally fair. But he felt that he saw it only by glimpses, and that he had not yet stood under the roof. The door was fastened, and although he had keys in his pocket he had a conviction that none of them would fit. She was intelligent and generous; it was a fine free nature, but what was she going to do with herself?

It was as if, at moments, we were perpetually coming into sight of subjects before which we must stop short, turning suddenly out of alleys that we perceived to be blind, closing with a little bang that made us look at each other—for, like all bangs, it was something louder than we had intended—the doors we had indiscreetly opened.

With all her love of knowledge she had a natural shrinking from raising curtains and looking into unlighted corners.

How can I retrace to-day the strange steps of my obsession?

You've got no excuse for being bored anywhere. When I was your age I had never heard of such a thing.

It was all there, in short - it was what he wanted: it was Tremont Street, it was France, it was Lambinet. Moreover, he was freely walking about in it.

He goes very far, but it's quite possible he doesn't go far enough.

We must see the old king; we must "do" the cathedral,' he said; 'we must know all about it. If we could but take,' he exhaled, 'the full opportunity!' And then while, for all they seemed to give him, he sounded again her eyes: 'I feel the day like a great gold cup that we must somehow drain together.

used to spare no pains, and I fancied her rummaging in some

As she was condemned to know more and more, how could it logically stop before she should know Most?

that's the delightful thing about art, that there's always more to learn and more to do;it grows bigger the more one uses it and meets more questions the more they come up...

He found himself supposing innumerable and wonderful things.

What he'd find there, of course, was up to Pete. But he was sure there were magicians in Tampico and leopard-skins and golden thrones in Juba. Dragons and pirates and white temples where magic dwelt. And best of all, the places he didn't know about yet, the ones that would come as surprises. Oh, not entirely pleasant surprises. There should be a hint of peril, a touch of terror, to emphasize the brightness of adventure... (Before I Wake...)

I believe that today more than ever a book should be sought after even if it has only one great page in it. We must search for fragments, splinters, toenails, anything that has ore in it, anything that is capable of resuscitating the body and the soul.

What I want is to open up. I want to know what's inside me. I want everybody to open up. I'm like an imbecile with a can opener in his hand, wondering where to begin-- to open up the earth. I know that underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I'm sure of it.

For there is only one great adventure and that is inward toward the self, and for that, time nor space nor even deeds matter.

All I ask of life, he says, is a bunch of books, a bunch of dreams, and a bunch of cunt.