In Newton’s second year [at Cambridge], having filled the beginning and end of his notebook with Aristotle, he started a new section deep inside: Questiones quædam philosophicæ — some philosophical questions. He set authority aside. Later he came back to this page and inscribed an epigraph borrowed from Aristotle’s justification for dissenting from his teacher. Aristotle had said, “Plato is my friend, but truth my greater friend.” Newton inserted Aristotle’s name in sequence: Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica veritas. He made a new beginning. He set down his knowledge of the world, organized under elemental headings, expressed as questions, based sometimes on his reading, sometimes on speculation. It showed how little was known, altogether. The choice of topics — forty-five in all — suggested a foundation for a new natural philosophy.
James GLeick, Isaac Newton