quotations about stars
I who was lost, and crushed, and driven,
Reached till it seemed I must reach to heaven
And snatch the stars from the hands of the Lord!
CHARLES HANSON TOWNE
"Aere Perennius", Beyond the Stars and Other Poems
And made the stars,
And set them in the firmament of heav'n,
T' illuminate the earth, and rule the day
In their vicissitude, and rule the night.
JOHN MILTON
Paradise Lost
Small stars are like small dogs -- they tend to be very energetic.
SETH SHOSTAK
"If it's not aliens, what are those 'peculiar signals' from red dwarf star Ross 128?", Deutsche Welle, July 19, 2017
Imagine playing your favorite spinning game with your friend, where you hold hands and spin around and around. If you pull each other as you spin you might crash into each other and fall. Stars are like balls flying around in the universe and when they get very old they turn black, and they become black holes. But even if they're old they might still like to play the spinning game -- and, like you and your friend, they might also crash into each other. If they do crash into each other, it's like you and your friend jumping into the lake. It makes a huge splash and then ripples spread out all across the lake, right to the edge.
VICKY KALOGERA
"Explain it to me like I'm a kid: scientists try to make sense of gravitational waves", The Guardian, February 12, 2017
A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains
All that man is,
All mere complexities,
The fury and the mire of human veins.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
"Byzantium", The Winding Stair and Other Poems
The spacious firmament on nigh,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Forever singing, as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine.
JOSEPH ADDISON
Ode: The Spacious Firmament on High
The stars that roll in glory far above us, and that have stood out so long upon the firmament, like figures on the dial of eternity, shall fade and disappear. But we, who tremble at their greatness and thirst for their secrets, shall pass and live beyond them. Time has no mortgage on the human soul.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
The stars blazed like the love of God, cold and distant.
ROGER ZELAZNY
Isle of the Dead
Every mortal, at his birth, has a particular star, that presideth over his life and destiny.
MANETHO
attributed, Day's Collacon