Alexander Von Humboldt Quotes & Sayings

While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men. There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more ennobled by mental cultivation than others - but none in themselves nobler than others. — 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

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

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

Petroleum is the product of a distillation from great depth and issues from the primitive rocks beneath which the forces of all volcanic action lie. — Alexander Von Humboldt

It 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

The most powerful influence exercised by the Arabs on general natural physics was that directed to the advances of chemistry ; a science for which this race created a new era.( ... ) Besides making laudatory mention of that which we owe to the natural science of the Arabs in both the terrestrial and celestial spheres, we must likewise allude to their contributions in separate paths of intellectual development to the general mass of mathematical science. — Alexander Von Humboldt

This aspect of animated nature, in which man is nothing, has something in it strange and sad ... Here, in a fertile country, adorned with eternal verdure, we seek in vain the traces of the power of man; we seem to be transported into a world different from that which gave us birth. — Alexander Von Humboldt

In considering the study of physical phenomena, not merely in its bearings on the material wants of life, but in its general influence on the intellectual advancement of mankind, we find its noblest and most important result to be a knowledge of the chain of connection, by which all natural forces are linked together, and made mutually dependent upon each other; and it is the perception of these relations that exalts our views and ennobles our enjoyments. — 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

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

With most animals, as with man, the alertness of the senses diminishes after years of work, after domestic habits and progress of culture. — Alexander Von Humboldt

The expression of vanity and self-love becomes less offensive, when it retains something of simplicity and frankness. — Alexander Von Humboldt

Nature can be so soothing to the tormented mind — Alexander Von Humboldt

I could not possibly have been placed in circumstances more highly favorable for study and exploration than those which I now enjoy. I am free from the distractions constantly arising in civilized life from social claims. Nature offers unceasingly the most novel and fascinating objects for learning. The only drawbacks to this solitude are the want of information on the progress of scientific discovery in Europe and the lack of all the advantages arising from an interchange of ideas. — 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

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

The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those have not viewed the world. — 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

Statistical projections which speak to the senses without fatiguing the mind, possess the advantage of fixing the attention on a great number of important facts. — Alexander Von Humboldt

Time is the most important thing in human life, for what is pleasure after the departure of time? and the most consolatory, since pain, when pain has passed, is nothing. Time is the wheel-track in which we roll on towards eternity, conducting us to the Incomprehensible. In its progress there is a ripening power, and it ripens us the more, and the more powerfully, when we duly estimate it. Listen to its voice, do not waste it, but regard it as the highest finite good, in which all finite things are resolved. — Alexander Von Humboldt

The philosophical study of nature endeavors, in the the vicissitudes of phenomena, to connect the present with the past. — Alexander Von Humboldt

Before being free, it is necessary to be just — Alexander Von Humboldt

The most dangerous worldviews are the worldviews of those who have never viewed the world. — Alexander Von Humboldt

What we glean from travellers' vivid descriptions has a special charm; whatever is far off and suggestive excites our imagination; such pleasures tempt us far more than anything we may daily experience in the narrow circle of sedentary life. — 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

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