Happy Birthday Alexander von Humboldt!

Das Resultat der Erziehung hängt ganz und gar von der Kraft ab, mit der der Mensch sich auf Veranlassung oder durch Einfluß derselben selbst bearbeitet.

I shall collect plants and fossils, and with the best of instruments make astronomic observations. Yet this is not the main purpose of my journey. I shall endeavor to find out how nature's forces act upon one another, and in what manner the geographic environment exerts its influence on animals and plants. In short, I must find out about the harmony in nature. 

Überall geht ein früheres Ahnen dem späteren Wissen voraus.

While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men. There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more ennobled by mental cultivation than others—but none in themselves nobler than others.

Erkenntnis der Wahrheit und Ausbildung der Pflicht sind die höchsten Gebote der Sittlichkeit.

Man cannot have an effect on nature, cannot adopt any of her forces, if he does not know the natural laws in terms of measurement and numerical relations. Here also lies the strength of the national intelligence, which increases and decreases according to such knowledge. Knowledge and comprehension are the joy and justification of humanity; they are parts of the national wealth, often a replacement for the materials that nature has too sparcely dispensed. Those very people who are behind us in general industrial activity, in application and technical chemistry, in careful selection and processing of natural materials, such that regard for such enterprise does not permeate all classes, will inevitably decline in prosperity; all the more so were neighbouring states, in which science and the industrial arts have an active interrelationship, progress with youthful vigour. 

Die Mathematik kann nichts von ihrer Würde einbüßen, wenn sie als bloßes Objekt der Spekulation, als unanwendbar zur Auflösung praktischer Aufgaben betrachtet wird.

The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world.

Wo ein Jäger lebt, können zehn Hirten leben, hundert Ackerbauern und tausend Gärtner.

That which we call the Atlantic Ocean is only a valley excavated by the forte of the waters; the form of the seacoast, the salient and re-entrant angles of America, of Africa, and of Europe proclaim this catastrophe. 

Wissen und Erkennen sind die Freude und die Berechtigung der Menschheit.

With most animals, as with man, the alertness of the senses diminishes after years of work, after domestic habits and progress of culture.

Alle Freuden an dem Wechsel der Naturerscheinungen haben das, daß sie zugleich moralische sind für das sie dankbar empfindende Herz.

The application of botanical and zoological evidence to determine the relative age of rocks—this chronometry of the earth's surface which was already present to the lofty mind of Hooke—indicates one of the most glorious epochs of modern geognosy, which has finally, on the Continent at least, been emancipated from the way of Semitic doctrines. Palaeontological investigations have imparted a vivifying breath of grace and diversity to the science of the solid structure of the earth. 

Der gemeine Eigennutz, der mit den Pflichten der Menschlichkeit, Nationalehre und den Gesetzen des Vaterlandes im Streite liegt, läßt sich durch nichts in seinen Spekulationen stören.

There are three stages of scientific discovery: first people deny it is true; then they deny it is important; finally they credit the wrong person.

Der Kummer, der nach Hilfe und Trost verlangt, ist nicht der höchste und kommt nicht aus dem tiefsten des Herzens.

This view of a living nature where man is nothing is both odd and sad. Here, in a fertile land, in an eternal greenness, you search in vain for traces of man; you feel you are carried into a different world from the one you were born into.

Sache des Reisenden, welcher in der Nähe gesehen, was die menschliche Natur quält und herabsetzt, ist es, des Unglücks Klagen zur Kenntnis jener zu bringen, welche zu helfen vermögen.

While we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men. There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more ennobled by mental cultivation than others—but none in themselves nobler than others. All are in like degree designed for freedom. 

Auch in der Wissenschaft ist eine der stärksten Triebkräfte der Neid.

The philosophical study of nature rises above the requirements of mere delineation, and does not consist in the sterile accumulation of isolated facts. The active and inquiring spirit of man may therefore be occasionally permitted to escape from the present into the domain of the past, to conjecture that which cannot yet be clearly determined, and thus to revel amid the ancient and ever-recurring myths of geology. 

In einem Zeitalter, wo man Früchte oft vor der Blüte erwartet und vieles darum zu verachten scheint, weil es nicht unmittelbar Wunden heilt, den Acker düngt, oder Mühlräder treibt, […] vergißt man, daß Wissenschaften einen inneren Zweck haben und verliert das eigentlich literarische Interesse, das Streben nach Erkenntnis, als Erkenntnis, aus dem Auge.

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

Jeder muß den Mut zu seiner Meinung haben.

By felling the trees which cover the tops and sides of mountains, men in all climates seem to bring upon future generations two calamities at once; want of fuel and a scarcity of water. 

Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die Weltanschauung derer, die die Welt nie angeschaut haben.

People often say that I'm curious about too many things at once... But can you really forbid a man from harbouring a desire to know and embrace everything that surrounds him?

Eine Eigentümlichkeit des Chamäleons ist sein Vermögen, zur gleichen Zeit nach verschiedenen Richtungen sehen zu können, mit dem einen Auge gen Himmel, mit dem anderen zur Erde. Es gleicht darin manchem Kirchendiener, der dasselbe ebensogut kann.