Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Astronomy
It does at first appear that an astronomer rapt in abstraction, while he gazes on a star, must feel more exquisite delight than a farmer who is conducting his team.
Isaac D’Israeli—Literary Character of Men of Genius. On Habituating Ourselves to an Individual Pursuit.
And God made two great lights, great for their use
To man, the greater to have rule by day,
The less by night, altern.
Milton—Paradise Lost. Bk. VII. L. 346.
At night astronomers agree.
Prior—Phillis’s Age. St. 3.
My lord, they say five moons were seen tonight:
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
The other four in wondrous motion.
King John. Act IV. Sc. 2. L. 182.
These earthly godfathers of heaven’s lights
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.
Love’s Labour’s Lost. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 88.
And teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night.
Tempest. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 334.
There’s some ill planet reigns;
I must be patient till the heavens look
With an aspect more favorable.
Winter’s Tale. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 105.
O how loud
It calls devotion! genuine growth of night!
Devotion! daughter of Astronomy!
An undevout Astronomer is mad.
Young—Night Thoughts. Night IX. L. 774.