What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

Lubbock’s aphorism stresses the selectivity of perception: observation is not a neutral recording of “what is there,” but is guided by attention, expectation, and purpose. What we notice in a landscape, a conversation, or a scientific problem often reflects the questions we bring to it and the categories we have learned to use. The line also carries an ethical and practical implication: by changing what we “look for”—cultivating curiosity, sympathy, or rigor—we can change what we “see,” widening experience and improving judgment. It is a compact statement of the idea that mindset and intention shape reality as it is apprehended.