Alexander von Humboldt

Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben. (The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those…

— Alexander von Humboldt

The most powerful influence exercised by the Arabs on general natural physics was that directed to the advances of chemistry ; a…

— 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…

— 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…

— 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,…

— 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.…

— 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…

— Alexander von Humboldt

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

— 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…

— Alexander von Humboldt

Before being free, it is necessary to be just

— Alexander von Humboldt

“What speaks to the soul, escapes our measurements.”

— 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…

— Alexander von Humboldt

True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are united.

— 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.

— Alexander von Humboldt

“While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior…

— 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…

— 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…

— 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

It is a proverbial expression that every man is the maker of his own fortune, and we usually regard it as implying…

— 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

Time is the most important thing in human life, for what is pleasure after the departure of time? and the most consolatory,…

— Alexander von Humboldt