My greatest desire is that I may perceive the God whom I find everywhere in the external world, in like manner also within and inside myself.

I believe only and alone in the service of Jesus Christ. In him is all refuge and solace.

Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.

O telescope, instrument of much knowledge, more precious than any sceptre!

It may be well to wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an observer.

The moon... is a mass, akin to the mass of the earth, attracts the waters by a magnetic force, not because they are liquid, but because they possess earthy substance, and so share in the movements of a heavy body.

I used to measure the Heavens, now I measure the shadows of Earth. The mind belonged to Heaven, the body's shadow lies here.