I roamed the countryside ...

I roamed the countryside searching for the answers to things I did not understand. Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with the imprints of coral and plant and seaweed usually found in the sea. Why the thunder lasts a longer time than that which causes it and why immediately on its creation the lightening becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life.
I roamed the countryside searching for the answers to things I did not understand. Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with the imprints of coral and plant and seaweed usually found in the sea. Why the thunder lasts a longer time than that which causes it and why immediately on its creation the lightening becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life.

Quotes from the same author

All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.