70 Nicolaus Copernicus Quotes From The Renaissance Mathematician

Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer and mathematician.

Nicolaus Copernicus said that the sun was at the center of the universe rather than the Earth, as per history books. Owing to his theories he had to endure backlash from many people.

Copernicus was however correct in his theory which stated that the earth rotated on its own axis. The man revolutionized science and universe as we know it from history books.

Us human beings probably would have kept on believing the Earth to be the center of everything in the old notions if Copernicus didn't do what he did for science. Read up on these true Nicolaus Copernicus quotes to know more about the man.

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Nicolaus Copernicus Famous Quotes

Here's some of the most famous Nicolaus Copernicus quotes that you'll love.

1. "I took upon myself the task of re-reading the books of all the philosophers which I could obtain, to seek out whether any one had ever conjectured that the motions of the spheres of the universe were other than they supposed who taught mathematics in the schools."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

2. "But we should rather follow the wisdom of nature."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

3. "I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

4. "Not a few other very eminent and scholarly men made the same request, urging that I should no longer through fear refuse to give out my work for the common benefit of students of Mathematics."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

5. "I have at length allowed my friends to publish the work, as they had long besought me to do."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

6. "Although all the good arts serve to draw man's mind toward better things, this function can be more fully performed by this art."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

7. "Nations are not ruined by one act of violence."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

8. "For I am not so enamoured of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

9. "Every light has its shadow, and every shadow hath a succeeding morning."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

10. "Of all things visible, the highest is the heaven of the fixed stars."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

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

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

Nicolaus Copernicus Quotes On Astronomy

These are some Nicolaus Copernicus quotes about astronomy.

12.

"If the motions of the other planets were added to the rotation of the earth and calculated as for the revolution of that planet … it so bound together both the order and magnitude of all the planets and the spheres and the heaven itself, that in no single part could one thing be altered without confusion among the other parts and in all the universe."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

13. "Let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose..."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

14. "Moreover, why Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, when they rise in the evening, appear greater than when they disappear and reappear with the sun."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

15. "What appears to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

16. "So if the worth of the arts were measured by the matter with which they deal, this art-which some call astronomy, others astrology."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

17. "Astronomy is written for astronomers. To them my work too will seem, unless I am mistaken, to make some contribution."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

18. "More stars in the north are seen not to set, while in the south certain stars are no longer seen to rise."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

19. "I shall now recall to mind that the motion of the heavenly bodies is circular, since the motion appropriate to a sphere is rotation in a circle."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

20. "In first place we must observe that the universe is spherical."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

21. "The motion of the earth can unquestionably produce the impression that the entire universe is rotating."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

22. "Moreover, since the sun remains stationary, whatever appears as a motion of the sun is really due rather to the motion of the earth."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

23. "Trismegistus calls it a 'visible God'; Sophocles' Electra, 'that which gazes upon all things'. And so the sun governs the family of stars which wheel around."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

24. "At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

25. "The strongest affection, I think, promote the studies concerned with the most beautiful objects … the universe’s divine revolutions, the stars’ motions, sizes, distances..."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

26. "Since nothing stands in the way of the movability of the earth, I believe we must now investigate whether it also has several motions, so that it can be considered one of the planets."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

27. "If then the Earth also performs other motions, they must necessarily be like those which are similarly apparent in many external bodies in which we find an annual orbit."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

28. "Since different hypotheses are sometimes available to explain one and the same motion … an astronomer will prefer to seize on the one which is easiest to grasp."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

29. "It is proper for an astronomer to establish a record of the motions of the heavens with diligent and skilful observations, and then to think out and construct laws for them."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

30. "All the spheres revolve about the sun as their mid-point, and therefore the sun is the center of the universe."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

31. "Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. "

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

32. "In the first book I shall describe all the positions of the spheres, along with the motions which I attribute to the Earth, so that the book will contain as it were the general structure of the universe."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

33. "For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

34. "In the midst of all dwells the Sun. For who could set this luminary in another or better place in this most glorious temple, than whence he can at one and the same time brighten the whole."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

35. "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."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

Nicolaus Copernicus Quotes About Science

Below are a few Nicolaus Copernicus quotes on science and mathematics.

36. "The first and highest of all is the sphere of the fixed stars, which comprehends itself and all things, and is accordingly immovable."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

37. "We find then in this arrangement an admirable harmony of the world."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

38. "The earth also is spherical, since it presses upon its center from every direction."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

39. "Yet the widespread planetary theories seemed likewise to present no small difficulty."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

40. "There is no one center of all the celestial circles or spheres."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

41. "Yet if anyone believes that the earth rotates, surely he will hold that its motion is natural, not violent."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

42. "Pouring forth its seas everywhere, then, the ocean envelops the earth and fills its deeper chasms."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

43. "I knew that mathematicians by no means agree in their investigation thereof."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

44. "We regard it as a certainty that the earth, enclosed between poles, is bounded by a spherical surface."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

45. "For a traveler going from any place toward the north, that pole of the daily rotation gradually climbs higher, while the opposite pole drops down an equal amount."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

46. "In so many and such important ways, then, do the planets bear witness to the earth's mobility."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

47. "The earth together with its surrounding waters must in fact have such a shape as its shadow reveals, for it eclipses the moon with the arc of a perfect circle."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

48. "There may be babblers who dare to condemn my hypothesis. I value them not."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

49. "The massive bulk of the earth does indeed shrink to insignificance in comparison with the size of the heavens."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

50. "Mathematics is written for mathematicians."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

51. "Gravity is merely a certain natural inclination with which parts are imbued by the architect of all things."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

52. "Nor is it necessary that these hypotheses should be true, nor indeed even probable..."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

53. "For every apparent change in respect of position is due to motion of the object observed, or of the observer, or indeed to an unequal change of both."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

54. "The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion..."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

55. "The center of the earth is not the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

Nicolaus Copernicus Quotes On Christianity And God

Here's some Nicolaus Copernicus quotes on God.

56. "The Universe, wrought for us by a supremely good and orderly Creator."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

57. "To know the mighty works of God, all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

58. "Through steady observation, arranged by God’s wisdom, who would not be guided to admire the Builder who creates all!"

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

59. "I can easily conceive, most Holy Father, that as soon as some people learn that in this book which I have written concerning the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, I ascribe certain motions to the Earth, they will cry out at once that I and my theory should be rejected."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

60. "I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons..."

- Nicolaus Copernicus.

Quotes About Nicolaus Copernicus

Lastly we have some quotes spoken about Nicolaus Copernicus by renowned people.

61. "It was Copernicus who by his work showed us how fragile time-honored scientific conceptions can be."

- Owen Gingerich.

62. "The churchmen who felt they had an edict from God to withstand the progress of science, whether in the form of a Copernican revolution, were not mischievous men but misinformed men."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

63. "Copernicus did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly understood."

- Galileo Galilei.

64. "Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler did not solve an old problem, they asked a new question."

- Ken Robinson.

65. "He is the supreme example of a man who revolutionized science by looking at the old facts in a new way."

- Alistair Cameron Crombie.

66. "I am deterred by the fate of our teacher Copernicus who was ridiculed and condemned by countless people."

- Galileo Galilei.

67. "Copernicus had formed a rudimentary conception of scientific hypothesis, accommodated to his new astronomical method."

- Edwin Arthur Burtt.

68. "I have for many years been a partisan of the Copernican view because it reveals to me the causes of many natural phenomena."

- Galileo Galilei.

69. "To follow Copernicus was a far more radical step, it meant rejecting the whole prevailing conception of the universe."

- Edwin Arthur Burtt.

70. "One thinks of the painstaking, cloud-dispelling labor of British scientists from Isaac Newton to Joseph Priestley … and Francis Crick, much of it built upon the shoulders of Galileo and Copernicus."

- Christopher Hitchens.

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