Standing on the shoulders of giants

From Freepedia

The metaphor of dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants can be traced back to Lucan.

"Pigmies placed on the shoulders of giants see more than the giants themselves.", from The Civil War (2.10) [Lucan did write a book often called "The Civil War", but this book has nothing in it about pigymies, shoulders and giants"]

Didacus Stella took up the Lucan quote in the 16th century, and it became commonplace in the 17th century. Robert Burton (1577-1640) in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621-51) quotes Lucan Didacus Stella,

"I say with Didacus Stella, a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than a giant himself."

Isaac Newton famously remarked in a letter to Robert Hooke, dated 5 February 1676:

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

Newton was perhaps making a more personal point than the mere expression of modesty seeing that Hooke was a man of remarkably short stature. The British Two Pound coin has the edge inscription STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS in commemoration of Newton.

Coleridge, The Friend (1828):

"The dwarf sees farther than the giant, when he has the giant's shoulder to mount on"

The 13th century stained glass of the south transept of the Chartres Cathedral may also be influenced by the metaphor. The tall windows under the Rose Window show the four major prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) as gigantic figures, and the four New Testament evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) as sitting on their shoulders. The evangelists, though smaller, "see more" than the huge prophets (they saw the Messiah about whom the prophets spoke).

Google Scholar has adopted "stand on the shoulders of giants" as its motto.