They have referred perhaps to the relative smallness of the earth and indeed of man; or on the contrary they have pointed out the greatness of the mind of this man who is so insignificant the mind that can solve comprehend and even measure the greatness of the universe and so forth. Now all this is very well but to me when I consider the vastness of the world the most important point is this that the thing-in-itself whose manifestation is the world whatever else it may be cannot have its true self spread out and dispersed after this fashion in boundless space but that this endless extension belongs only to its manifestation. The thing-in-itself on the contrary is present entire and undivided in every object of nature and in every living being. Therefore we lose nothing by standing still beside any single individual thing and true wisdom is not to be gained by measuring out the boundless world or what would be more to the purpose by actually traversing endless space. It is rather to be attained by the thorough investigation of any individual thing for thus we seek to arrive at a full knowledge and understanding of its true and peculiar nature...