There is, in nature, perhaps nothing older than motion. — Galileo Galilei · Smartyfair

There is, in nature, perhaps nothing older than motion.

Galileo Galilei1564–1642 · scientist · 1500s-1600s ItalyGalileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer and physicist, born in 1564 — the same year Michelangelo died — who built one of the first powerful telescopes and used it to discover moons orbiting Jupiter.5 quotes

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In plain words

Nothing in nature is older than things moving.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 85% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up: Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences (1638), opening line of the Third Day, on the study of motion; Wikiquote-sourced.
Work: Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences
Occasion: 1638 · opening of the Third Day, introducing the study of motion
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Sourced section, cited to Two New Sciences (1638), Third Day

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More from Galileo Galilei

In the sciences the authority of thousands of opinions is not worth as much as one tiny spark of reason in an individual man.

Galileo Galilei I have never met a man so ignorant that I could not learn something from him.

Galileo Galilei All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

Galileo Galilei If you could see the earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more splendid than the moon.

Galileo Galilei

More on nature

The glittering stars fill us with joy and inspiration, yet in the canopy of heaven all bodies revolve in mathematical figures.

Alexander von Humboldt Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu Clouds come floating into my life from other days no longer to shed rain or usher storm but to give colour to my sunset sky.

Rabindranath Tagore Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Archimedes The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.

Ralph Waldo Emerson All art is but imitation of nature.