Nicolaus Copernicus

"Although all the good arts serve to draw man's mind away from vices and lead it toward better things, this function can be more fully performed by this art, which also provides extraordinary intellectual pleasure."

"Therefore, when I considered this carefully, the contempt which I had to fear because of the novelty and apparent absurdity of my view, nearly induced me to abandon utterly the work I had begun."

"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."

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

"So, influenced by these advisors and this hope, I have at length allowed my friends to publish the work, as they had long besought me to do."

"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."