"There is no doubt about what is not great, no race of men have such obvious littlenesses. They live so far as their human intercourse goes; in a narrow world; their researches involve infinite attention and an almost monastic seclusion; and what is left over is not very much. To witness some queer, shy, misshapen, grey-headed, self-important little discoverer of great discoveries, ridiculously adorned with the wide ribbon of an order of chivalry and holding a reception of his fellow men, or to read the anguish of Nature at the "neglect of science" when the angel of the birthday honours passes the Royal Society by, or to listen to one indefatigable lichenologist commenting on the work of another indefatigable lichenologist, such things force one to realise the unfaltering littleness of men. And withal the reef of science that these little "scientists" built and are yet building is so wonderful, so portentous, so full of mysterious half-shapen promises for the mighty future of man! They do not seem to realise the things they are doing."
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Ch. I : The Discovery of the Food.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Food_of_the_Gods_and_How_It_Came_to_Earth
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The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth
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