Letter to Robert Hooke Quotes

Context

This line was written by Sir Isaac Newton in a letter to Robert Hooke (1676, that's 1675 by the Julian calendar).

Sir Isaac Newton (the genius who gave us Principia Mathematica and gravity), wasn't the first person to use a line like this. Around 1159, a man named John of Salisbury (the city near Stonehenge, not the steak), wrote something similar in Latin in a paper called Metalogicon. Try wading through that and you'll be grateful for Shmoop!

But someone probably said it even before then. It's a great quote that simply means we make progress by building on the discoveries of those who have gone before us. Without the Wright brothers, Curiosity and Opportunity wouldn't be roving around Mars looking for their ancestors, and without Wilhelm Röntgen there would be no superheroes with X-ray vision.

We're just hoping that someday we can write letters as eloquently as Newton did.

Where you've heard it

We hear this all the time at concerts, sports events, and parades. And obviously, the best way to see over those crowds is by standing on the shoulders of a giant—preferably one you know.

Additional Notable References:

• This line seems to be the title for many YouTube videos, ranging from a video about astrophysics to a clip about Health Care reform.
• It is also used as the title for a book by Robert K. Merton about creativity, plagiarism, and progress.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

To humbly give credit to those who have paved the way for you is never pretentious. It's admirable. That's why we're following behind the linebacker as he pushes his way through the crowded party to the punch bowl.