Category: quotes
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“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars”

― Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 AD) usually known as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. The quote is translated from Seneca’s tragedy Hercules furens (The Mad Hercules): “non est ad astra mollis e terris…
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“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

― Carl Sagan. Spoken during the first episode of the 1980 landmark science series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” titled “The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean” An earlier version of the “we are made of star-stuff” quote, was made in the 1973 Carl Sagan publication “The Cosmic Connection: An Extra-terrestrial Perspective”: “All of the rocky and…
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“Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.”

– J.R.R. Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) An interesting quote, apparently from the Lord of the Rings, but it doesn’t stand up to a Google search! Even if its in one of the movies, this is a misattributed quote. Even more interesting (in my opinion), it isn’t true – moonlight doesn’t technically…
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“The stars are the land-marks of the universe.”

— Sir John Frederick William Herschel (7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) According to Wikipedia, Herschel, was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus – the seventh…
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“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, But the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

– Vincent Van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) One of the greatest artists of all times. Painter of The Starry Night (amongst many others) and tormented and tortured soul. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/49703113/stock-photo-starry-night-sky.html His letters give a deep insight into his nature, his thoughts and his dreams. This quote is taken from a letter…
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“Keep your eyes on the stars, but don’t forget that your feet are necessarily on the earth.”

– Theodore Roosevelt (27 October 1858 – 6 January 1919) Theodore Roosevelt Jr, often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as the 25th…
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“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”

– Professor Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) Dr. Stephen Hawking, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, delivers a speech entitled “Why we should go into space” during a lecture that is part of a series honoring NASA’s 50th Anniversary, Monday, April 21, 2008, at George Washington University’s Morton…
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“I’ve loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) (Sarah Williams, Poet – December 1837 – 25 April 1868) This quote is often attributed to Galileo, incorrectly. The full poem, with that line, is quoted and fully credited below. Galileo was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer who studied speed and velocity, gravity and free…
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“The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens.”
— Anaxagoras (499 BC – 428 BC) Anaxagoras was a Greek mathematician, and he was imprisoned for proposing that the moon shines by reflected light from the “red-hot stone” which was the sun, the first such recorded claim. He went on to take the next step and become the first to correctly explain the reason…
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“Look at the stars. It won’t fix the economy. It won’t stop wars. It won’t give you flat abs, or even help you figure out your relationship. But it’s important. It helps you to remember that you and your problems are both infinitesimally small and conversely, that you are a piece of an amazing and vast universe.”
― Kate Bartolotta Apparently, Kate is a wellness cheerleader, yogini storyteller, and self-care maven, whatever that means. She also writes, books and for various publications. The stars can make us feel small and unimportant but, as Kate so rightly says, we are part of the whole, connected and separate, as important and as necessary as…