On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

...the stupidity of their intellect among philosophers, just as drones move among bees. When, therefore, I pondered these things within myself, the contempt which I had to fear on account of the novelty and absurdity of my opinion had almost impelled me to abandon completely the work I had begun.

But my friends drew me back as I hesitated for a long time and even resisted, among whom the first was Nicolaus Schönberg, Cardinal of Capua, a man celebrated in every branch of learning. Next to him was that man most dear to me, Tidemann Giese, Bishop of Culm, a man most studious of sacred matters, as he is, and of all good literature. Indeed, he frequently exhorted me, and sometimes added reproaches, urging me to publish this book and finally allow it to come into the light, which had been pressed upon me and had lain hidden not merely for nine years, but already for four times nine years. Many other most eminent and learned men urged me to do the same, exhorting me not to refuse any longer to contribute my work to the common utility of students of mathematics, on account of the fear I had conceived. They argued that the more absurd this doctrine of mine concerning the motion of the earth seemed to most people at present, the more admiration and gratitude it would command after they saw, through the publication of my Commentaries, the fog of absurdity lifted by most clear demonstrations. Led by these persuaders and by that hope, I finally permitted my friends to make the edition of the work which they had long sought from me.

But perhaps Your Holiness will not wonder so much that I have dared to bring my night-work into the light after I have taken so much effort in elaborating it that I have not hesitated to commit my thoughts concerning the motion of the earth even to writing: but rather, what is more expected to be heard from me, how it came into my mind that I should dare to imagine some motion of the earth, contrary to the received opinion of mathematicians and almost contrary to common sense. Therefore, I do not wish it to be hidden from Your Holiness that nothing else moved me to think of another way of calculating the motions of the spheres of the world than the fact that I understood that mathematicians do not agree among themselves in their investigations of these. For in the first place, they are so uncertain about the motion of the Sun and Moon that they cannot even demonstrate and observe the duration of the turning year.