Humphry Davy Quote

Time... which purifies, and as it were sanctifies the mind, destroys and brings into utter decay the body; and, even in nature, its influence seems always degrading. She is represented by the poets as eternal in her youth, but amongst these ruins she appears to me eternal in her age, and here no traces of renovation appear in the ancient of days.

Consolations in Travel: Or, The Last Days of a Philosopher, Dialogue the First (p. 25), Cassell & Co., Ltd. 1889