John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
2106 Robert Burton 1577-1640 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 2106 |
| AUTHOR: | Robert Burton (1577–1640) |
| QUOTATION: | I say with Didacus Stella, a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than a giant himself. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Anatomy of Melancholy. Democritus to the Reader. |
| Note 1. A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees farther of the two.—George Herbert: Jacula Prudentum. A dwarf sees farther than the giant when he has the giant’s shoulders to mount on.—Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Friend, sect. i. essay viii. Pigmæi gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident (Pigmies placed on the shoulders of giants see more than the giants themselves).—Didacus Stella in Lucan, 10, tom. ii. [back] |