The people said,

The people said, "The earth rests on the back of an elephant which rests on the back of a giant tortoise which rests on the face of a limitless sea." Yajnavalkya said, "The earth rests on nothing." The people said, "Your answer is so absurd as to be unintelligible, O Yajnavalkya, while ours is so obvious as to be inescapable." And Yajnavalkya answered, "Your posterity will use your words in agreeing with me."

-Upanishadic Apocrypha