Nicolaus Copernicus — "Those things which I am saying now may be obscure, yet they will be made clearer…"
Those things which I am saying now may be obscure, yet they will be made clearer in their proper place.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Nicolaus Copernicus
"The sphere of the fixed stars is immovable and embraces all things."
"There are three kinds of motion of the earth, as I shall demonstrate below."
"For it is not necessary that hypotheses should be true, or even probable; it is enough if they provide a calculus which agrees with the observations."
"The earth, too, has other motions than that of the daily rotation."
"For the universe, wrought for us by the best and most orderly Workman of all, is a wonderful work."
Details
A statement within his writings, possibly addressing the initial complexity of his heliocentric model.
Date: Approximate, likely from 'De revolutionibus'
WisdomVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
Complexity introduced early in an argument doesn't have to be immediately understood — clarity comes when the full case is assembled. This expresses patient confidence in the unfolding of ideas: stay with the reasoning, and what seems obscure now will resolve into something obvious once each piece is properly in place. It reflects intellectual humility paired with quiet certainty — the author knows the destination even when the path is still being walked.
Relevance to Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus spent roughly thirty years quietly developing his heliocentric theory before publishing De Revolutionibus in the final year of his life. As a cathedral canon and trained mathematician, he built his argument incrementally across dense geometric proofs, knowing each early claim — Earth moves, the Sun is central — would sound absurd without the full mathematical framework behind it. This quote mirrors exactly that methodical strategy: introduce the strange premise, then prove it completely.
The era
The early 16th century was dominated by Ptolemaic astronomy, endorsed by the Catholic Church for over a millennium. Asserting that Earth moved was not merely counterintuitive — it risked accusations of contradicting Scripture. Copernicus wrote primarily for trained mathematicians, knowing general readers would find his premises baffling without the complete geometric scaffolding. This restraint reflects real stakes: a revolutionary idea introduced without full proof could be dismissed or condemned before it was ever properly understood.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].