In the end, as in the beginning, it was not spices, gold, or glory that compelled them, but the dream of reaching into the sky and its islands and finding there, if not a road to the orient and unknown riches, then the answer to the riddles posed by the universe itself.Laurence Bergreen
There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.Laurence Bergreen
Magellan looked beyond the horizon and saw not a difficulty but an opportunity.Laurence Bergreen
There are no guarantees in sea voyaging. Time and chance happen to them all.Laurence Bergreen
Magellan's voyage was one more amazing demonstration of human courage, ingenuity, and endurance, in the face of overwhelming natural problems.Laurence Bergreen
The arrow of history points in but one direction, and to stand aside or turn back is to be left behind.Laurence Bergreen
Reality, Magellan was coming to realize, was a fluid concept in a universe where the very stars came and went, shimmering into view and vanishing again in the vast night sky.Laurence Bergreen
They moved in their own world, sailing ships that were as much a home to them as any house of land.Laurence Bergreen
To endure such a voyage required not only a certain kind of man but a certain kind of ship, and above all, a certain state of mind.Laurence Bergreen
His explorations constituted a leap into the unknown, and like all such leaps, it was fraught with danger, both physical and psychological.Laurence Bergreen