Discoverers Quotes

“What are you thinking of discovering?"
Moomintroll cleared his throat and felt very proud. "Oh, everything," he said. "Stars, for example!"
Snufkin was deeply impressed.
"Stars!" he exclaimed. "Then I must come with you. Stars are my favorite things. I always lie and look at them before I go to sleep, and wonder who is on them and how one could get there. The sky looks so friendly with all those little eyes twinkling in it.”
― Tove Jansson, Comet in Moominland

“They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.”
― Francis Bacon, The Oxford Francis Bacon IV: The Advancement of Learning

“The star we're looking for isn't so very friendly," said Moomintroll. "Quite the contrary, in fact."
"What did you say?" said Sniff.
Moomintroll went a bit red. "I mean -- stars in general," he said, "big and small, friendly and unfriendly, and so on."
"Can they be unfriendly?" asked Snufkin.
"Yes -- ones with tails," answered Moomintroll. "Comets."
At last it dawned on Sniff. "You're hiding something from me!" he said accusingly. "That pattern we saw everywhere, and you said it didn't mean anything!"
"You're too small to be told everything," answered Moomintroll.
"Too small!" screamed Sniff. "I must say it's a fine thing to take me on an expedition of discovery and not tell me what I'm supposed to be discovering!”
― Tove Jansson, Comet in Moominland

“Most discoverers became famous because they traveled the routes that few had before and published their findings first.”
― Steven Magee

“Prolific discoverers watch the crowd but do not follow them.”
― Steven Magee