Quick answer“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but …” is a famous quote by Isaac Newton. It comes from Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (David Brewster, 1855). It is widely quoted on wisdom and science.
Shortly before his death in 1727, Isaac Newton is reported to have compared himself to a boy playing on the sea-shore, gathering pebbles while the great ocean of truth lay undiscovered before him. The words reach us second-hand, through the recollections of others.
Origin: Reported speech, not Newton's own writing. The remark is said to have been made by Newton 'a little before he died' (1727), as told by Andrew Michael Ramsay and recorded by Joseph Spence in his Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men (first published 1820). David Brewster reprinted it in his Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (1855), Vol. II, Ch. 27, which is the form in which the sentence is usually quoted. The chain of transmission is thin — Brewster was born in 1781, more than fifty years after Newton died — and Ramsay was in France at the time of Newton's death, so the wording cannot be treated as verbatim.
Key facts
| Quote | “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” |
|---|---|
| Author | Isaac Newton |
| Source | Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton (David Brewster, 1855) |
| Themes | wisdom, science |
| Language | English |
Related quotes
- “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” — Isaac Newton
- “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” — William Shakespeare
- “An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.” — Niels Bohr
- “Brevity is the soul of wit.” — William Shakespeare
- “Give me a place to stand, and I shall move the Earth.” — Archimedes
Quick quiz
Three questions from the facts on this page. No sign-up, no score is saved.
Keep exploring
- All quotes — the full list
- More quotes on wisdom
- More quotes on science
- Isaac Newton — the author's life and facts
Sources & last updated
Last updated: . Figures are shown with their year; where sources disagree, the value is left out rather than estimated.