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The process was new to me. I felt like I’d discovered something no-one else had ever discovered, and I was in a certain arena artistically that no-one else had ever been in before. Ever. Although, I might have been wrong about that. Bob Dylan, No Direction Home I, 2005
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. Professor Carl Sagan
There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made. Richard Feynman, letter to Armando Garcia 1985
Scientific discovery is a private event, and the delight that accompanies it, or the despair of finding it illusory, does not travel. One scientist may get great satisfaction from another’s work and admire it deeply; it may give him great intellectual pleasure; but it gives him no sense of participation in the discovery, it does not carry him away, and his appreciation of it does not depend on his being carried away. If it were otherwise the inspirational origin of scientific discovery would never have been in doubt. Peter Medawar, Hypothesis and Imagination, Art of the Soluble, 1967
In one sense everything we discover is already there. Jacob Bronowski, The Ascent of Man 3/13: The Grain In The Stone, BBC 1973
The reason why these discoveries were put aside was simply because they contradicted the theory of evolution. Michael Cremo, author Forbidden Archaeology, radio interview Hidden History of the Human Race
Development of Western science is based on two great achievements: the invention of the formal logical system (in Euclidean geometry) by the Greek philosophers, and the discovery of the possibility to find out causal relationships by systematic experiment (during the Renaissance). In my opinion, one has not to be astonished that the Chinese sages have not made these steps. The astonishing thing is that these discoveries were made at all. Albert Einstein
I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. Albert Einstein
Finders keepers. Early 19th century proverb
A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery. James Joyce
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain
Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition. Alexander Smith
Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge. Stephen Hawking
There is no better high than discovery. E O Wilson
So the history of discovery, particularly cosmic discovery, but discovery in general, scientific discovery, is one where at any given moment, there’s a frontier. And there tends to be an urge for people, especially religious people, to assert that across that boundary, into the unknown, lays the handiwork of God. This shows up a lot. Neil deGrasse Tyson
No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. Isaac Newton
We are all humiliated by the sudden discovery of a fact which has existed very comfortably and perhaps been staring at us in private while we have been making up our world entirely without it. George Eliot, Middlemarch
The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by my failures. Humphry Davy
One afternoon in the Spring of 1804 nearly four dozen men crossed the Mississippi and started up the Missouri river. They were beginning the most important expedition in American history. The United States’ first official exploration into unknown spaces. Ken Burns, Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery I, PBS 1997
I have been looking for God for fifty years and I think if He had existed I should have discovered Him. Thomas Hardy
I don’t think we’ll discover anything myself. Donald Rumsfeld, re hunt for weapons of mass distruction
For centuries explorers have travelled to the ends of the Earth in the name of discovery. And on the way they’ve created our maps, captured our imagination and became rooted in our history. Exploration has given us some of our greatest heroes and most memorable tales. But discovery is not all romance and glory. Timewatch: Explorer: Conquest and Calamity, BBC 2017
Our attitudes towards the heroic navigators of old have shifted … The story of the people already living in the places being discovered. ibid.
Livingstone is still famous for his discovery of the Victoria Falls but by the 1960s he was starting to feel an old-fashioned hero. ibid.
‘Hillary is arguably the last great imperial hero.’ ibid. Dr Max Jones
Incredibly, Shackleton and his 27 men would all survive. ibid.
From Wally Herbert’s epic journey in the 1960s to the most intimate moments of the video diary television has steadily brought exploration into our lives. ibid.
Summer 1939: A golden age of exploration and archaeology is coming to an end. It was an era that saw adventurers set out to explore the remotest corners of the globe in search of clues to unlock our ancient past. And it was during that last summer of peace as the world stood on the precipice of a war that threatened to end civilisation itself, that three extraordinary treasures were discovered, treasures that would radically change our understanding of the origins and diversity of human culture. And bring us closer to our distant past. Janina Ramirez, Raiders of the Lost Past I, BBC 2019
The discovery of an incredible Anglo-Saxon ship burial in Suffolk, dating from the early seventh century A.D. The final resting place of a supremely wealthy warrior king. ibid.
The single greatest archaeological discovery ever made in England: the Sutton-Hoo hoard. ibid.
Ship burials are incredibly rare in Britain: there are only two others ever discovered at this time. ibid.
Oserberg ship, Norway, excavated 1904-1905. ibid.
Treasures of unimaginable quality emerged thick and fast. ibid.
These Saxons and Angles came together and gave us the basis of the English language. ibid.
A pair of spectacular shoulder clasps. ibid.
The miraculous story of the hoard’s survival. ibid.
This was Page One of England’s history. ibid.
I’ll be on the trail of a cast of remarkable archaeologists each a product of their era: from a self-taught amateur to a pair of charismatic adventurers. And an academic driven by a dark political agenda. They are fascinating tales of intuition, eccentricity and luck. Janina Ramirez, Raiders of the Lost Past II
I come to the caves of southern Germany where just a week before hostilities began, an ice-age treasure from our distant past emerged from the gloom … Carved from a single piece of mammoth ivory, this half-human half-animal is a modest work of art by modern standards, but it makes a revolution in the human story. ibid.
Numerous chance discoveries across eight decades, discoveries that at times seem to defy belief … The oldest known representational work of art in human history. ibid.
Volgelherd Cave 1931 excavation: It seems we were brilliant artists from the very beginning … There are exquisitely carved mammoths, and powerful muscular lions, an array of tiny masterpieces. ibid.
In the late 1950s as Germany rebuilt after the War, Robert Wetzel was back at the Stadal cave … He completely ignored the exciting find made by his team in the summer of 1939. ibid.
What would become known as the Lion-Man … It caused a sensation … It required a high degree of technical skill. ibid.
In the caves of the Swabian Jura archaeologists have uncovered not only the earliest examples of representational art but the first evidence we have of music. ibid.