Close Approaches

Famous quotes containing the words close and/or approaches:

    I remember, I remember
    The fir trees dark and high;
    I used to think their slender tops
    Were close against the sky;
    It was a childish ignorance,
    But now ‘tis little joy
    To know I’m further off from Heaven
    Than when I was a boy.
    Thomas Hood (1799–1845)

    I should say that the most prominent scientific men of our country, and perhaps of this age, are either serving the arts and not pure science, or are performing faithful but quite subordinate labors in particular departments. They make no steady and systematic approaches to the central fact.... There is wanting constant and accurate observation with enough of theory to direct and discipline it. But, above all, there is wanting genius.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)