Our sight makes us consider thirty or forty yards a dizzy height.

At this moment we think we are very high because we are near the roof of the Cathedral, but compared to the infinite this height is as small as when an ant balances on the top of a pebble not knowing how to come down.

Our sight is short, and we who can only measure by yards, and apprehend short distances, must make an immense effort of imagination to realise infinity.

Even then it escapes us and we speak of it very often as of a thing that has no meaning.

How shall I make you understand the immensity of the world?
You must not believe, as our ancestors did, that the earth is flat and stationary and that the heaven is a crystal dome on which God has fastened the stars like golden nails, and in which the sun and moon move to give us light, you must understand that the earth is round, and whirls round in space." "Yes, we do know a little about that," said the bell-ringer doubtfully, "for we were taught so at school.