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“For when a ship is floating calmly along, the sailors see its motion mirrored in everything outside, while on the other hand they suppose that they are stationary, together with everything on board. In the same way, the motion of the earth can unquestionably produce the impression that the entire universe is rotating.”

— Nicolaus Copernicus

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Live wording check · 2026-10-22

For when a ship is floating calmly along, the sailors see its motion mirrored in everything outside, while on the other hand they suppose that they are stationary, together with everything on board. In the same way, the motion of the earth can unquestionably produce the impression that the entire universe is rotating. Citation: Book 1, Ch. 8 Listed on https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus (CC BY-SA)
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Wikiquote: Nicolaus Copernicus
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Wikiquote (CC BY-SA) · Secondary source
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Copernicus, Nicolaus. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Nicolaus Copernicus. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

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Provenance: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus