"According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes's first attempt to bridge the Hellespont ended in failure when a storm destroyed the flax and papyrus cables of the bridges. In retaliation, Xerxes ordered the Hellespont (the strait itself) whipped three hundred times, and had fetters thrown into the water."

Not so sure one should take stories about who said something in ancient times at face value ;)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerxes_I

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. [0]

Virgil.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix,_qui_potuit_rerum_cogn...

Or is less of a hassle.

perhaps in a similar way that it is impossible to directly "observe" a wavefunction without collapsing it into an observale "effect".