Nicolaus Copernicus quotes - page 2

Therefore, having obtained the opportunity from these sources, I too began to consider the mobility of the earth. (Nicolaus Copernicus)
Therefore I would not have it unknown to Your Holiness, the the only thing which induced me to look for another way of reckoning the movements of the heavenly bodies was that I knew that mathematicians by no means agree in their investigation thereof. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
First of all, we must note that the universe is spherical. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
We regard it as a certainty that the earth, enclosed between poles, is bounded by a spherical surface. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Pouring forth its seas everywhere, then, the ocean envelops the earth and fills its deeper chasms. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heavens as its center, would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Therefore, when I considered this carefully, the contempt which I had to fear because of the novelty and apparent absurdity of my view, nearly induced me to abandon utterly the work I had begun. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavour to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Although all the good arts serve to draw man's mind away from vices and lead it toward better things, this function can be more fully performed by this art, which also provides extraordinary intellectual pleasure. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
So vast, without any question, is the divine handiwork of the most excellent Almighty. (Nicolaus Copernicus)
Thus, supposing these motions which I attribute to the earth. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
If perchance there should be foolish speakers who. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nor could they elicit or deduce from the eccentrics the principal consideration, that is, the structure of the universe and the true symmetry of its parts. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
All these phenomena proceed from the same cause, which is the earth's motion. Yet none of these phenomena appears in the fixed stars. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I despise their judgment as rash. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
The forward and backward arcs appear greater in Jupiter than in Saturn and smaller than in Mars, and on the other hand greater in Venus than in Mercury. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Therefore alongside the ancient hypotheses, which are no more probable, let us permit these new hypotheses also to become known, especially since they are admirable as well as simple and bring with them a huge treasure of very skillful observations. So far as hypotheses are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he entered it. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Near the sun is the center of the universe. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
In so many and such important ways, then, do the planets bear witness to the earth's mobility. (Nicolaus Copernicus)
The earth also is spherical, since it presses upon its center from every direction. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Yet if anyone believes that the earth rotates, surely he will hold that its motion is natural, not violent. View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, "with both eyes open." View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus
If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I despise their judgment as rash. For it is not unknown that Lactantius, the writer celebrated in other ways but very little in mathematics, spoke somewhat childishly of the shape of the earth when he derided those who declared the earth had the shape of a ball. So it ought not to surprise students if such should laugh at us also. Mathematics is written for mathematicians to whom these our labors, if I am not mistaken, will appear to contribute something even to the ecclesiastical state the headship of which your Holiness now occupies.(Author's preface to de revolutionibus) View quote
Nicolaus Copernicus