15 quotes
So vast, without any question, is the divine handiwork of the most excellent Almighty.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
All these phenomena proceed from the same cause, which is the earth's motion.
Yet none of these phenomena appears in the fixed stars.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
What indeed is more beautiful than heaven, which of course contains all things of beauty.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
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.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
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.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge.
Poland : The Knight Among Nations (1907)
Hence I feel no shame in asserting that this whole region engirdled by the moon, and the center of the earth, traverse this grand circle amid the rest of the planets in an annual revolution around the sun. Near the sun is the center of the universe. Moreover, since the sun remains stationary, whatever appears as a motion of the sun is really due rather to the motion of the earth.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. ... Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned.
For when a ship is floating calmly along, the sailors see its motion mirrored in everything outside, while on the other hand they suppose that they are stationary, together with everything on board. In the same way, the motion of the earth can unquestionably produce the impression that the entire universe is rotating.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
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."
The Copernican Revolution : Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought (1957)
We are taught all this [the motion of the earth on its axis and around the sun] by the order of succession, in which those phenomena (various planetary happenings) follow each other, and by the harmony of the world, if we will only, as the saying goes, look at the matter with both eyes.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)
To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.
Misattributed
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.
Misattributed