He did not rebuild the Holy Sepulchre; he did not lead a new crusade; he did not find his Kublai Khan, or his Prester John; but he brought into relation the New World and the Old.
It is impossible to read without the deepest interest the account from day to day of his voyages.

It has always been a favourite speculation with historians, and, indeed, with all thinking men, to consider what would have happened from a slight change of circumstances in the course of things which led to great events.

This may be an idle and a useless speculation, but it is an inevitable one.

Never was there such a field for this kind of speculation as in the voyages, especially the first one, of Columbus.

The first point of land that he saw, and landed at, is as nearly as possible the central point of what must once have been the United Continent of North and South America.