'Nature, that fram'd us of four elements
Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds:
Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world,
And measure every wandering planet's course,
Still climbing after knowledge infinite
And always moving as the restless spheres,
Will us to wear ourselves, and never rest...'

Marlowe, The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great
Act II, SceneVII, lines 18-29

'In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies;
All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.
Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes,
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.'

Pope, Essay on Man, Epistle I, lines 123-126