is a proverbial expression that every man is the maker of his own fortune, and we usually regard it as implying that every man by his folly or wisdom prepares good or evil for himself. But we may view it in another light, namely, that we may so accommodate ourselves to the dispositions of Providence as to be happy in our lot, whatever may be its privations. - Alexander von Humboldt
At no other time has Nature concentrated such a wealth of valuable nourishment into such a small space as in the cocoa bean. - Alexander von Humboldt
Collaboration operates through a process in which the successful intellectual achievements of one person arouse the intellectual passions and enthusiasms of others. - Alexander von Humboldt
Cruelty to animals is one of the most significant vices of a low and ignoble people. Wherever one notices them, they constitute a sign of ignorance and brutality which cannot be painted over even by all the evidence of wealth and luxury. - Alexander von Humboldt
I regard marriage as a sin and propagation of children as a crime. It is my conviction also that he is a fool, and still more a sinner, who takes upon himself the yoke of marriage - a fool, because he thereby throws away his freedom, without gaining a corresponding recompense; a sinner, because he gives life to children, without being able to give them the certainty of happiness. I despise humanity in all its strata; I foresee that our posterity will be far more unhappy than we are; and should not I be a sinner, if, in spite of this insight, I should take care to leave a posterity of unhappy beings behind me? The whole of life is the greatest insanity. And if for eighty years one strives and inquiries, still one is obliged finally to confess that he has striven for nothing and has found nothing. Did we at least know why we are in this world! But to the thinker, everything is and remains a riddle; and the greatest good luck is that of being born a flathead. - Alexander von Humboldt
I saw with regret, (and all scientific men have shared this feeling) that whilst the number of accurate instruments was daily increasing, we were still ignorant. - Alexander von Humboldt
Insight into universal nature provides an intellectual delight and sense of freedom that no blows of fate and no evil can destroy. - Alexander von Humboldt
Mere communion with nature, mere contact with the free air, exercise a soothing yet comforting and strengthening influence on the wearied mind, calm the storm of passion, and soften the heart when shaken by sorrow to its inmost depths. - Alexander von Humboldt
Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things. - Alexander von Humboldt
People often say that I'm curious about too many things at once... But can you really forbid a man from harbouring a desire to know and embrace everything that surrounds him? - Alexander von Humboldt
The Germans require two hundred years for every stupidity: a hundred to commit it, and a hundred to admit it. - Alexander von Humboldt
The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world. - Alexander von Humboldt
There are some races more cultured and advanced and ennobled by education than others; but there are no races nobler than others. All are equally destined for freedom. - Alexander von Humboldt
There are three stages of scientific discovery: first people deny it is true; then they deny it is important; finally they credit the wrong person. - Alexander von Humboldt
True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united. - Alexander von Humboldt
Wherever the citizen becomes indifferent to his fellows, so will the husband be to his wife, and the father of a family toward the members of his household. - Alexander von Humboldt
I am more and more convinced that our happiness depends more on how we meet the events in our lives, than on those events themselves. - Alexander von Humboldt
This view of a living nature where man is nothing is both odd and sad. Here, in a fertile land, in an eternal greenness, you search in vain for traces of man; you feel you are carried into a different world from the one you were born into. - Alexander von Humboldt