The Doctrine That The Earth Is Neither

Nature Is Relentless And Unchangeable, And It Is Indifferent As To Whether Its Hidden Reasons And Actions Are Understandable To Man Or Not.

In Questions Of Science, The Authority Of A Thousand Is Not Worth The Humble Reasoning Of A Single Individual.

Take Note, Theologians, That In Your Desire To Make Matters Of Faith Out Of Propositions Relating To The Fixity Of Sun And Earth You Run The Risk Of Eventually Having To Condemn As Heretics Those Who Would Declare The Earth To Stand Still And The Sun To Change Position-eventually, I Say, At Such A Time As It Might Be Physically Or Logically Proved That The Earth Moves And The Sun Stands Still.

Philosophy [nature] Is Written In That Great Book Which Ever Is Before Our Eyes -- I Mean The Universe -- But We Cannot Understand It If We Do Not First Learn The Language And Grasp The Symbols In Which It Is Written. The Book Is Written In Mathematical Language, And The Symbols Are Triangles, Circles And Other Geometrical Figures, Without Whose Help It Is Impossible To Comprehend A Single Word Of It; Without Which One Wanders In Vain Through A Dark Labyrinth.

It Reveals To Me The Causes Of Many Natural Phenomena That Are Entirely Incomprehensible In The Light Of The Generally Accepted Hypotheses. To Refute The Latter I Collected Many Proofs, But I Do Not Publish Them ... I Would Dare To Publish My Speculations If There Were People Men Like You.