O powers illimitable! it is but the outer hem of God’s great mantle, our poor stars do gem.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
—Ralph Vaull Starr
Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars.
—Ennius (c.239–169 BCE) Roman Poet
The gems of heaven, that gild night’s sable throne.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Maybe that’s what life is… a wink of the eye and winking stars.
—Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American Novelist, Poet
There they stand, the innumerable stars, shining in order like a living hymn, written in light.
—Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–67) American Poet, Playwright, Essayist
More look up and admire the stars. A champion climbs a mountain and grabs one.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.
—Les Brown
For a moment I lost myself, actually lost my life. I was set free! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life . . . to life itself. I caught a glimpse of something greater than myself.
—Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) American Playwright
Look up, and behold the eternal fields of light that lie round about the throne of God. Had no star ever appeared in the heavens, to man there would have been no heavens; and he would have laid himself down to his last sleep, in a spirit of anguish, as upon a gloomy earth vaulted over by a material arch—solid and impervious.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Ye stars, that are the poetry of heaven!
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
When John Doe tries to convince me of something, I first think not about the issue but about J Doe’s biases, baggage, and potential agenda.
—Ben Casnocha (b.1988) American Entrepreneur
The stars, Which stand as thick as dewdrops on the fields Of heaven.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British Philosopher, Economist
I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
The stars hang bright above, silent, as if they watched the sleeping earth.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Be glad of life because it gives you to chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
One sun by day; by night ten thousand shine, and light us deep into the deity.—How boundless in magnificence and might!—Stars teach as well as shine, and every student of the night inspire; the elder scripture writ by God’s own hand, authentic, uncorrupt by man.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Those who build beneath the stars build too low.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
I ask you to look both ways. For the road to a knowledge of the stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom has been reached through the stars.
—Arthur Eddington (1882–1944) English Astronomer
Silent, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of angels.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The evening star, love’s harbinger, appeared.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it’s OK. But you’ve got to shoot for something. A lot of people don’t even shoot.
—Robert C. Townsend (1920–98) American Businessman
I’ve loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
—Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian Astronomer, Physicist, Mathematician
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some area of native land where it may get the love of tender kinship from the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge. The best introduction to astronomy is to think of the nightly heavens as a little lot of stars belonging to one’s own homestead.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
A star is beautiful; it affords pleasure, not from what it is to do, or to give, but simply by being what it is. It befits the heavens; it has congruity with the mighty space in which it dwells. It has repose; no force disturbs its eternal peace. It has freedom; no obstruction lies between it and infinity.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Don’t keep reaching for the stars because you’ll just look like an idiot stretching that way for no reason
—Jimmy Fallon (b.1974) American Comedian, TV Personality, Actor, Musician
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
God makes stars. I just produce them.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
These preachers of beauty, which light the world with their admonishing smile.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When I gaze into the stars, they look down upon me with pity from their serene and silent spaces, like eyes glistening with tears over the little lot of man. Thousands of generations, all as noisy as our own, have been swallowed up by time, and there remains no record of them any more. Yet Arcturus and Orion, Sirius and Pleiades, are still shining in their courses, clear and young, as when the shepherd first noted them in the plain of Shinar!
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
—Martin Luther (1483–1546) German Protestant Theologian
It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
One summer night, out on a flat headland, all but surrounded by the waters of the bay, the horizons were remote and distant rims on the edge of space. Millions of stars blazed in darkness, and on the far shore a few lights burned in cottages. Otherwise there was no reminder of human life. My companion and I were alone with the stars: the misty river of the Milky Way flowing across the sky, the patterns of the constellations standing out bright and clear, a blazing planet low on the horizon. It occurred to me that if this were a sight that could be seen only once in a century, this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they never will.
—Rachel Carson (1907–64) American Naturalist, Science Writer
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Jump into the middle of things, get your hands dirty, fall flat on your face, and then reach for the stars.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
What are ye orbs? The words of God? the Scriptures of the skies?
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
Surely the stars are images of love.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
We are dancing in the hollow of nothingness. We are one flesh, but separated like stars.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
The stars are mansions built by nature’s hand, and, haply, there the spirits of the blest dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal rest.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet