"One of the strongest passions in a man of genius, is the love of truth. Full of the enthusiasm which a great discovery inspires, he burns with ardor to disseminate it, and the obstacles which ignorance and superstition, armed with power, oppose to it, only stimulate and increase his energy [...]" (Pierre Simon Laplace, "System of the World" Vol. 2, 1809)
"Discoveries are not generally made in the order of their scientific arrangement: their connexions and relations are made out gradually; and it is only when the fermentation of invention has subsided that the whole clears into simplicity and order. " (William Whewell, "An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics" Vol. I, 1819)
"It is remarkable that when great discoveries are effected, their simplicity always seems to detract from their originality: on these occasions we are reminded of the egg of Columbus!" (Benjamin Disraeli, "Curiosities of Literature" Vol. 3, 1824)
"The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind." (Charles Babbage, "Reflections on the Decline of Science in England", 1830)
"The secrets of nature are concealed; her agency is perpetual, but we do not always discover its effects; time reveals them from age to age; and although she is always the same in herself, she is not always equally well known." (Blaise Pascal, "Thoughts on Religion and Philosophy", 1838)
"[…] there do exist among us doctrines of solid and acknowledged certainty, and truths of which the discovery has been received with universal applause. These constitute what we commonly term Sciences; and of these bodies of exact and enduring knowledge, we have within our reach so large and varied a collection, that we may examine them, and the history of their formation, with good prospect of deriving from the study such instruction as we seek." (William Whewell, "The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences Founded upon Their History" Vol. 1, 1847)
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