“The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of the two foci.”

“Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.”

“Nature uses as little as possible of anything.”

“The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.”

“Planets move in ellipses with the Sun at one focus.”

“The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the sun at one of the two foci.”

“…   not my own opinion, but my wife’s: Yesterday, when weary with writing, I was called to supper, and a salad I had asked for was set before me. ‘It seems then,’ I said, ‘if pewter dishes, leaves of lettuce, grains of salt, drops of water, vinegar, oil and slices of eggs had been flying about in the air for all eternity, it might at last happen by chance that there would come a salad.’ ‘Yes,’ responded my lovely, ‘but not so nice as this one of mine.”

“If there is anything that can bind the mind of man to this dreary exile of our earthly home and can reconcile us with our fate so that one can enjoy living,—then it is verily the enjoyment of the mathematical sciences and astronomy.”

“Sky-bound was the mind, Earth-bound the body rests”

“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.”

“We ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the universe. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great, and the treasures hidden in the skies so rich, precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh nourishment.”