Day/astronomy

Famous quotes containing the words day and/or astronomy:

    When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d
    with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me
    that follow’d,
    And else when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d,
    still I was not happy,
    But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health,
    refresh’d, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
    Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

    Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.
    Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)