Barbarians in Their Palaces

I tell you once for all, nature is like nature, and comparisons are odious.

I am now more than ever convinced that we ought to judge of nothing by its external magnitude. O God! who hast bestowed understanding upon such seemingly contemptible substances, thou canst with…

So, you see, we in a manner begin to die the very moment we are born: our existence is no more than a point, our duration an instant, and our globe an atom. Scarce do we begin to learn a little, when…

Micromegas: Why then do you quote that same Aristotle in Greek? Aristotelian philosopher: Because … it is but reasonable we should quote what we do not comprehend in a language we do not understand.

We anatomize flies, … we measure lines, we make calculations, we agree upon two or three points which we understand, and dispute upon two or three thousand that are beyond our comprehension.