We find, therefore, under this orderly arrangement, a wonderful symmetry in the universe, and a definite relation of harmony in the motion and magnitude of the orbs, of a kind that is not possible to obtain in any other way.
Interpretation
Kepler highlights the structured beauty and harmony of the universe's celestial bodies.
In this quote, Johannes Kepler expresses the profound order and symmetry found in the universe, emphasizing that celestial bodies, such as planets, exist in a harmonious relationship defined by their motion and size. He suggests that this meticulous arrangement evidences a greater design and structure within the cosmos, a beauty that can only be appreciated through careful observation and understanding of their interactions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a lecture about astronomy to illustrate the beauty of the cosmos.
...Those laws are within the grasp of the human mind. God wanted us to recognize them by creating us after his own image so that we could share in his own thoughts... and if piety allow us to say so, our understanding is in this respect of the same kind as the divine, at least as far as we are able to grasp something of it in our mortal life.
A most unfailing experience... of the excitement of sublunary (that is, human) natures by the conjunctions and aspects of the planets has instructed and compelled my unwilling belief.
I am stealing the golden vessels of the Egyptians to build a tabernacle to my God from them, far far away from the boundaries of Egypt. If you forgive me, I shall rejoice; if you are enraged with me, I shall bear it. See, I cast the die, and I write the book. Whether it is to be read by the people of the present or of the future makes no difference: let it await its reader for a hundred years, if God himself has stood ready for six thousand years for one to study him.
Eyesight should learn from reason.
I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure, Sky-bound was the mind, earth-bound the body rests. [Kepler's epitaph]
It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.
Science operates in the natural, not the supernatural. In fact, I go so far as to state that there is no such thing as the supernatural or the paranormal.
At the core of 'Star Trek' is Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future. So much of science-fiction is about a dystopian society with human civilization having crumbled. He had an affirmative, shining, positive view of the future.
The gravest threat faced by the world is of an extremist group getting hold of nuclear weapons or materials.
A theory should not attempt to explain all the facts, because some of the facts are wrong
Radio has no future." "X-rays are clearly a hoax". "The aeroplane is scientifically impossible.
If you're going to go into space, you have to have an objective, a mission. Where do you want to go? Earth orbit? The moon? Mars? What's the technology to get there? You develop the technology for the mission.
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