--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The heavenly bodies are nothing but a…" description: "\"The heavenly bodies are nothing but a continuous song for several voices (perceived by the intellect, not by the ear); a music which... sets landmarks ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/johannes-kepler-4278_art_the-heavenly-bodies-are-nothing-but-a-co_1963913.png" --- # The heavenly bodies are nothing but a continuous song for… ![“The heavenly bodies are nothing but a continuous song for several voices (perceived by the intellect, not by the ear); a music which... sets landmarks in the immeasurable flow of time. It is therefore, no longer surprising that man, in imitation of his creator, has at last discovered the art of…” quote by Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/johannes-kepler-4278_art_the-heavenly-bodies-are-nothing-but-a-co_1963913.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/johannes-kepler-4278_art_the-heavenly-bodies-are-nothing-but-a-co_1963913.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98c/johannes-kepler-4278_art_the-heavenly-bodies-are-nothing-but-a-co_1963913.png) > “The heavenly bodies are nothing but a continuous song for several voices (perceived by the intellect, not by the ear); a music which... sets landmarks in the immeasurable flow of time. It is therefore, no longer surprising that man, in imitation of his creator, has at last discovered the art of figured song, which was unknown to the ancients. Man wanted to reproduce the continuity of cosmic time... to obtain a sample test of the delight of the Divine Creator in His works, and to partake of his joy by making music in the imitation of God.” [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Kepler sees music as a metaphor for the orderly, continuous patterns of the cosmos, suggesting that human art can echo divine order. **In simple terms:** Music mirrors cosmic order and divine joy. Key Takeaway Create art that reflects universal harmony. Themes cosmology art divine inspiration order creativity Mood awe inspired reflective Type philosophical inspirational metaphorical When to use this quote - composing music - studying astronomy - teaching physics - philosophical contemplation Key Concepts harmonic resonance mathematical symmetry spiritual imitation Questions to Reflect On - How can art express scientific truths? - What limits exist when mimicking divine creation? A Different Perspective Human attempts may never fully capture the infinite complexity of the universe. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Continuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continuity/) [Creator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creator/) [Delight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delight/) [Divine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divine/) [Flow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flow/) [Heavenly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heavenly/) [Heavenly bodies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heavenly-bodies/) [Intellect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellect/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Landmarks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/landmarks/) [Making Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making-music/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) [Tests](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tests/) [Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/voice/) ## Related quotes > [The theologians have recognized that the ideal is the imitation of God. If we be a part of such an organic thing, this thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-fort/the-theologians-have-recognized-that-the-ideal-is-the-imitation-of/) [Charles Fort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-fort/) > [It is easy today to deny God's creativity as a thing of the benighted past, overcome by science, but man's creativity, a thing much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-bloom/it-is-easy-today-to-deny-god-s-creativity-as-a-thing-of-the-benighted/) [Allan Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-bloom/) > [True art is reverent imitation of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tryon-edwards/true-art-is-reverent-imitation-of-god/) [Tryon Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tryon-edwards/) > [If we think we are usually good, then God is usually irrelevant... Such thinking ignores the depths of sin in my own heart, and,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-t-welch-2/if-we-think-we-are-usually-good-then-god-is-usually-irrelevant-such/) [Edward T Welch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-t-welch-2/) > [The heavenly motions... are nothing but a continuous song for several voices, perceived not by the ear but by the intellect, a figured music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/the-heavenly-motions-are-nothing-but-a-continuous-song-for-several/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [I shall now recall to mind that the motion of the heavenly bodies is circular, since the motion appropriate to a sphere is rotation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolaus-copernicus/i-shall-now-recall-to-mind-that-the-motion-of-the-heavenly-bodies-is/) [Nicolaus Copernicus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolaus-copernicus/) > [The law of attraction which holds good for the heavenly bodies also holds good for the smallest particles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-law-of-attraction-which-holds-good-for-the-heavenly-bodies-also/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [I can even calculate the velocities of heavenly bodies, but can't calculate the hate of a person hidden behind a smiling face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-can-even-calculate-the-velocities-of-heavenly-bodies-but-can-t/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Ask for what end the heavenly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, 'Tis for mine For me kind nature wakes her genial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/ask-for-what-end-the-heavenly-bodies-shine-earth-for-whose-use-pride/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [“I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-shelley/i-am-already-far-north-of-london-and-as-i-walk-in-the-streets-of/) [Mary Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-shelley/) > [Our Heavenly bodies will be able to dematerialise, pass from dimension to dimension, walk right through walls and locked doors as Jesus did, appear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berg/our-heavenly-bodies-will-be-able-to-dematerialise-pass-from-dimension/) [David Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berg/) > [Morality without religion is only a kind of dead reckoning - an endeavor to find our place on a cloudy sea by measuring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/morality-without-religion-is-only-a-kind-of-dead-reckoning-an/) [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) > [Just as the line of astronomical thinkers from Copernicus to Newton had destroyed the old astronomy, in which the earth was the center, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-dickson-white/just-as-the-line-of-astronomical-thinkers-from-copernicus-to-newton/) [Andrew Dickson White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-dickson-white/) > [“The things that the world fills time with are enough to turn the heart to stone, but the goodness of time itself is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-buechner/the-things-that-the-world-fills-time-with-are-enough-to-turn-the/) [Frederick Buechner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-buechner/) > [Princes are like heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times, and which have much veneration, but no rest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/princes-are-like-heavenly-bodies-which-cause-good-or-evil-times-and/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) ## More by Johannes Kepler > [Why are things as they are and not otherwise?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/why-are-things-as-they-are-and-not-otherwise/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [If the moon and earth were not retained in their orbits by their animal force or some other equivalent, the earth would mount to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/if-the-moon-and-earth-were-not-retained-in-their-orbits-by-their/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [If God himself has waited six thousand years for someone to contemplate his works, my book can wait for a hundred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/if-god-himself-has-waited-six-thousand-years-for-someone-to/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [...Those laws are within the grasp of the human mind. God wanted us to recognize them by creating us after his own image so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/those-laws-are-within-the-grasp-of-the-human-mind-god-wanted-us-to/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [Just as the eye was made to see colours, and the ear to hear sounds, so the human mind was made to understand, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/just-as-the-eye-was-made-to-see-colours-and-the-ear-to-hear-sounds-so/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [I had the intention of becoming a theologian...but now I see how God is, by my endeavors, also glorified in astronomy, for 'the heavens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/i-had-the-intention-of-becoming-a-theologian-but-now-i-see-how-god-is/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [ \[Quantity is the fundamental feature of things,\] the 'primarium accidens substantiae,' ...prior to the other categories. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/quantity-is-the-fundamental-feature-of-things-the-primarium-accidens/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [Repudiating the sensible world, which he neither sees himself nor believes from those who have, the Peripatetic joins combat by childish quibbling in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/repudiating-the-sensible-world-which-he-neither-sees-himself-nor/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [If the earth were not round, heavy bodies would not tend from every side in a straight line towards the center of the earth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/if-the-earth-were-not-round-heavy-bodies-would-not-tend-from-every/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [Wherever there are qualities there are likewise quantities, but not always vice versa.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/wherever-there-are-qualities-there-are-likewise-quantities-but-not/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [Where there is matter, there is geometry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/where-there-is-matter-there-is-geometry/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [The soul of the newly born baby is marked for life by the pattern of the stars at the moment it comes into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/the-soul-of-the-newly-born-baby-is-marked-for-life-by-the-pattern-of/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [ So, Fabricius, I already have this: that the most true path of the planet \[Mars\] is an ellipse, which Dürer also calls an oval,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/so-fabricius-i-already-have-this-that-the-most-true-path-of-the/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [Ships and sails proper for the heavenly air should be fashioned. Then there will also be people, who do not shrink from the dreary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/ships-and-sails-proper-for-the-heavenly-air-should-be-fashioned-then/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [Gravity is a mutual affection between cognate bodies towards union or conjunction (similar in kind to the magnetic virtue), so that the earth attracts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/gravity-is-a-mutual-affection-between-cognate-bodies-towards-union-or/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) [Explore all 112 Johannes Kepler quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The heavenly bodies are nothing but a continuous song for several voices (perceived by the intellect, not by the ear); a music which... sets landmarks in the immeasurable flow of time. 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