stand on the shoulders of giants

Extracted from dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants. Often attributed to Isaac Newton (see quotations), but in other forms already in use earlier.

• "If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants."
• "In this 200th anniversary year of our Constitution, you and I stand on the shoulders of giants—men whose words and deeds put wind in the sails of freedom."
• ""In the western scientific tradition we stand on the shoulders of giants," says Young, echoing both Torvalds and Sir Isaac Newton before him."
• "It is useful, though, to remember the conclusion of the maxim: we stand on the shoulders of giants to see better and farther than they."