Astronomers always work in the past; because light takes time to move from one place to another, they see things as they were, not as they are. – Neale E. Howard, The Telescope Handbook and Star Atlas, 1967
Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for weariness… and so frivolous is he that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient enough to amuse him. – Blaise Pascal
We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origins. At last, we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! It is our own. – Sir Arthur Eddington
