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.
In my mind, there is no question that they're out there. My Career is well established. My texts books are required reading in all the major capitals on planet earth. If you want to become a physist to learn about the unified feild therory-you read my books. Therefore, I'm in a position to say: Yes- Most likely they're out their, perhaps even visited, perhaps on our moon.
Kidney transplants seem so routine now. But the first one was like Lindbergh's flight across the ocean.
It may be that our cosmic curiosity... is a genetically-encoded force that we illuminate when we look up and wonder.
Scientists must venture outside their comfort zones to show the public how cool - and how important - their work really is.
The Yankees, the first mechanicians in the world, are engineers - just as the Italians are musicians and the Germans metaphysicians - by right of birth. Nothing is more natural, therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to the science of gunnery.
Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character.
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