Although we are mere sojourners on the surface of the planet, chained to a mere point in space, enduring but for a moment of time, the human mind is not only enabled to number worlds beyond the unassisted ken of mortal eye, but to trace the events of indefinite ages before the creation of our race, and is not even withheld from penetrating into the dark secrets of the ocean, or the interior of the solid globe.

Charles Lyell

Principles of Geology

More information about this quote

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lyell, Charles, Sir. Principles of Geology. Volume 1. John Murray, 1830, ch. 13.

Current Citation

Lyell, Charles, Sir. Principles of Geology. Penguin Classics, 1998, ch. 9.