I used to measure the heavens, now I measure the shadows of Earth. Although my mind was heaven-bound, the shadow of my body lies here.

More from Johannes Kepler

• Geometry is one and eternal shining in the mind of God. That share in it accorded to humans is one of the reasons that humanity is the image of God.
• I am indeed casting the die and writing the book, either for my contemporaries or for posterity to read, it matters not which: let the book await its reader for a hundred years; God himself has waited six thousand years for his work to be seen.
• I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.
• Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.