There is a quote that I read of his but cannot find the source I read
it from.  Paraphrased, it goes some like this:

That the reason he accomplished the great feats of navigational math
was to provide safety to seamen (or it could have been mariners).

The actual quote was wonderfully written.

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Request for Question Clarification by googleexpert-ga on 25 Oct 2004 17:32 PDT

Hi praxtex-ga,
Is it possible you were thinking of the following quote?

"I know not what I appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have
been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in
now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell, whilest
the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Quoted in D Brewster, Memoirs of Newton

Hope to hear from you soon.

-googleexpert

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Clarification of Question by praxtex-ga on 26 Oct 2004 05:56 PDT

That it not it.

Key words as I recall are: 

safety
upon the sea(s)
mariners or seamen - I believe mariners as to be correct
navigation

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Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 26 Oct 2004 08:29 PDT

praxtex --

Do you recall if you read the quotation online, or was it in a book,
magazine or newspaper?

markj-ga

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Clarification of Question by praxtex-ga on 26 Oct 2004 09:12 PDT

It was seen only in a book