“How inscrutable and incomprehensible are the hidden works of Nature!”

Whenever I found something remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people be informed thereof.

Man has always to be busy with his thoughts if anything is to be accomplished.

In the year 1657 I discovered very small living creatures in rain water.

And I judge that some of these little creatures were above a thousand times smaller than the smallest ones I have ever yet seen, upon the rind of cheese, in wheaten flour, mould, and the like.

I’ve spent more time than many will believe [making microscopic observations], but I’ve done them with joy, and I’ve taken no notice those who have said why take so much trouble and what good is it?

The 31th of May, I perceived in the same water more of those Animals, as also some that were somewhat bigger.

And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.

This particle I concluded to be the heart.

For, the circumference of one of these little Animals in water, is not so big as the thickness of a hair in a Cheese-mite.

And I imagine, that [ten hundred thousand] of these little Creatures do not equal an ordinary grain of Sand in bigness: And comparing them with a Cheese-mite (which may be seen to move with the naked eye)

Ten hundred thousand of them could not equal the dimensions of a grain of such course Sand.

I observed certain animalcules, within whole bodies I saw so quick a motion as to exceed belief; they were about the size of a large grain of sand, and their bodies being transparent, that the internal motion could plainly be seen.

I have divers times endeavoured to see and to know, what parts the Blood consists of; and at length I have observ’d, taking some Blood out of my own hand, that it consists of small round globuls driven through a Crystalline humidity or water.

The whole circumference of each of these streaks was about the thickness of a hair of one’s head. … all consisted of very small green globules joined together: and there were very many small green globules as well. [The earliest recorded observation of the common green alga Spyrogyra.]

I saw this vast number of animalcules not all through the semen, but only in the liquid matter adhering to the thicker part.

Examining this water…I found floating therein divers earthy particles, and some green streaks, spirally wound serpent-wise.

She is a guardian of earth, which has bloomed with her sacrifices.

Fishes live in the sea, as men do on land: the great ones eat up the little ones.

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

Once more I am the silent one who came out of the distance wrapped in cold rain and bells: I owe to earth’s pure death the will to sprout.

The life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth.

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.

I thank the earth and the sky every day for the opportunities I’ve had.

If we are not committed to saving this earth we will be buying designer air filters and gas masks.