The universe, eternity, the infinite are typified by the sphere…On a sphere every point is a center, and every point is the highest point, and this explains the puzzle of time and space. There never was a beginning of time, and there never will be an end. Time always is. Any number of trillions of years hence, and any number…past, and you are just as near the end, or the beginning, of Time as now, and no nearer. This moment is the center of Time; this instant is the highest point in the revolving sphere. The same with that other form of Time, Space. There is no end to Space, and no beginning. This point where you now stand, this chair, this tree, is the center of Space; it all balances from this point. Go to the farthest fixed star and…you have only arrived at Here. Your own doorstep is just as near the limit, and no nearer. This is the puzzle of puzzles, but it is so.
—JOHN BURROUGHS, Journals, January 13, 1882