Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the
shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a
greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness on sight on our part,
or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised
up by their giant size.
-- Bernard of Chartres (d. c.1130)
-- John of Salisbury Metalogicon (1159) bk. 3, ch. 4