Of All Things Visible, The Highest Is

Those Things Which I Am Saying Now May Be Obscure, Yet They Will Be Made Clearer In Their Proper Place.

Yet The Widespread Planetary Theories, Advanced By Ptolemy And Most Other Astronomers, Although Consistent With The Numerical Data, Seemed Likewise To Present No Small Difficulty. For These Theories Were Not Adequate Unless They Also Conceived Certain Equalizing Circles, Which Made The Planet Appear To Move At All Times With Uniform Velocity Neither On Its Deferent Sphere Nor About Its Own Epicycle's Center.

There May Be Babblers, Wholly Ignorant Of Mathematics, Who Dare To Condemn My Hypothesis, Upon The Authority Of Some Part Of The Bible Twisted To Suit Their Purpose. I Value Them Not, And Scorn Their Unfounded Judgment.

Moreover, Since The Sun Remains Stationary, Whatever Appears As A Motion Of The Sun Is Really Due Rather To The Motion Of The Earth.

I Can Easily Conceive, Most Holy Father, That As Soon As Some People Learn That In This Book Which I Have Written Concerning The Revolutions Of The Heavenly Bodies, I Ascribe Certain Motions To The Earth, They Will Cry Out At Once That I And My Theory Should Be Rejected.