Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we this way and not some other? What does it read more

Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we this way and not some other? What does it mean to be human? Are we capable, if need be, of fundamental change, or do the dead hands of forgotten ancestors impel us in some direction, indiscriminately for good or ill, and beyond our control? Can we alter our character? Can we improve our societies? Can we leave our children a world better than the one that was left to us? Can we free them from the demons that torment us and haunt our civilization? In the long run, are we wise enough to know what changes to make? Can we be trusted with our own future?

These earthly godfathers of heaven's light,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more read more

These earthly godfathers of heaven's light,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more profit of their shining nights
Than those that walk and wot not what they are.

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another

There's some ill planet reigns.
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more read more

There's some ill planet reigns.
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more favorable.

At night astronomers agree.

At night astronomers agree.

It does at first appear that an astronomer rapt in abstraction,
while he gazes on a star, must feel read more

It does at first appear that an astronomer rapt in abstraction,
while he gazes on a star, must feel more exquisite than a farmer
who in conducting his team.
- Isaac D'Israeli,

Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world being round, but to me it means that only one-third read more

Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.

O how loud
It calls devotion! genuine growth of night!
Devotion! daughter of Astronomy!
read more

O how loud
It calls devotion! genuine growth of night!
Devotion! daughter of Astronomy!
As undevout Astronomer is mad.

My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night--
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
read more

My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night--
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
The other four in wondrous motion.