Nicolaus Copernicus

There may be babblers, wholly ignorant of mathematics, who dare to condemn my hypothesis, upon the authority of some part of the Bible twisted to suit their purpose. I value them not, and scorn their unfounded judgment.

There may be babblers, wholly ignorant of mathematics, who dare to condemn my hypothesis, upon the authority of some part of the Bible twisted to suit their purpose. I value them not, and scorn their unfounded judgment.

Those things which I am saying now may be obscure, yet they will be made clearer in their proper place.

Those things which I am saying now may be obscure, yet they will be made clearer in their proper place.

The scorn which I had reason to fear on account of the novelty and unconventionality of my opinion almost induced me to abandon completely the work which I had undertaken....

The scorn which I had reason to fear on account of the novelty and unconventionality of my opinion almost induced me to abandon completely the work which I had undertaken....

Nations are not ruined by one act of violence, but gradually and in an almost imperceptible manner by the depreciation of their circulating currency, through its excessive quantity.

Nations are not ruined by one act of violence, but gradually and in an almost imperceptible manner by the depreciation of their circulating currency, through its excessive quantity.

Astronomy is written for astronomers.

Astronomy is written for astronomers.

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

The Universe has been wrought for us by a supremely good and orderly Creator.

For I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I would disregard what others may think of them.

I am not ignorant that there are some who, having heard that in my treatises on the ordering of the spheres of the universe, I attribute certain motions to the terrestrial globe, will immediately shout that I and my opinion should be cast out.

For, when a ship is floating calmly on a smooth sea, and the mariners are thinking of nothing but the voyage, if a sudden storm should strike it, and the ship should be driven by the wind, it is not the ship which is moving, but the sea.

To attribute the motion of the earth to the sun is as absurd as to attribute the motion of the sun to the earth.

Thus, the Sun, remaining in one place, illuminates all the planets equally, as if it were a candle placed in the middle of a room.

Therefore, if the Earth moved, it would necessarily move with a triple motion: one, the diurnal rotation on its own axis; another, the annual revolution around the Sun; and a third, the motion of its axis.

The universe is a spherical whole, and of all possible forms, the sphere is the most perfect.

Mathematics is written for mathematicians.