Maria Mitchell's Quotes

Altogether, St. Louis is a growing place, and the West has a large hand and a strong grasp.

I have worn myself thin trying to find out about this comet, and I know very little now in the matter.

That knowledge which is popular is not scientific.

To read a book, to think it over, and to write out notes is a useful exercise; a book which will not repay some hard thought is not worth publishing.

I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven years ago when I first did this kind of work.

I saw, in looking over Cooper, elements of a comet of 1825 which resemble what I get out for this, from my own observations, but I cannot rely upon my own.

I had, early in life, a love for staging, but it is fast dying out. Nine hours over a rough road are enough to root out the most passionate love of that kind.

I have never been in any country where they did not do something better than we do it, think some thoughts better than we think, catch some inspiration from heights above our own.

I made observations for three hours last night, and am almost ill today from fatigue; still I have worked all day, trying to reduce the places, and mean to work hard again tonight.

Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.

Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe.

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.

The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious, and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.

Question everything.

As a general rule, people disappoint you as you know them.

The greatest object in educating is to give a right habit of study.

I am just learning to notice the different colors of the stars, and already begin to have a new enjoyment.

I am always the better for open-air breathing, and was certainly meant for the wandering life of the Indian.