Giordano Bruno Quotes
Giordano Bruno was an Italian philosopher, cosmologist, and former Dominican friar. Drawing on the new heliocentric astronomy of Copernicus and on Hermetic and Neoplatonic sources, he taught that the universe is infinite, that the sun is one star among many, and that other worlds may host intelligent life. The quotes below are attributed to Giordano Bruno, organized by topic.
Browse Giordano Bruno by topic
Giordano Bruno on Death
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“That I shall sink in death , I know must be; But with that death of mine what life will die? Across the air , I hear my heart 's voice cry: Where dost thou bear me reckless one? Descend! Such rashness seldom ends but bitterly' "Fear not the lofty fall" I answer "rend With might the clouds, and be content to die, If God such a glorious death for us intend.”
As quoted in "Giordano Bruno" by Thomas Davidson, in The Index Vol. VI. No. 36 (4 March 1886), p. 429
Giordano Bruno on Freedom
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“Since I have spread my wings to purpose high, The more beneath my feet the clouds I see, The more I give the winds my pinions free, Spurning the earth and soaring to the sky .”
As quoted in "Giordano Bruno" by Thomas Davidson , in The Index Vol. VI. No. 36 (4 March 1886), p. 429
Giordano Bruno on God
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“Divinity reveals itself in all things; everything has divinity latent within itself.”
As translated by Arthur Imerti (1964)
Giordano Bruno on Knowledge
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“Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato.”
If it is not true it is very well invented. | De gli heroici furori (1585) [ The Heroic Furies ; also translated as On Heroic Frenzies ], as quoted in A Book of Quotations, Proverbs and Household Words (1907) edited by Sir William Gurney Benham | Variant translations: If it is not true, it is well conceived. If it is not true, it is a good story. -
“Maiori forsan cum timore sententiam in me fertis quam ego accipiam.”
Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it. His famous response to his judges upon his conviction as a heretic, prior to his transfer to the civil authorities for execution. (16 February 1600); as quoted by Gaspar Schopp of Breslau in a letter to Conrad Rittershausen; as translated in Giordano Bruno : His Life and Thought (1950) by Dorothea Waley Singer | Var -
“Variant translations: Perhaps your fear in passing judgment on me is greater than mine in receiving it. It may be you fear more to deliver judgment upon me than I fear judgment. You pronounce sentence upon me with greater fear than I receive it.”
Maiori forsan cum timore sententiam in me fertis quam ego accipiam.
Giordano Bruno on Life
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“Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it. His famous response to his judges upon his conviction as a heretic, prior to his transfer to the civil authorities for execution. (16 February 1600); as quoted by Gaspar Schopp of Breslau in a letter to Conrad Rittershausen; as translated in Giordano Bruno : His Life and Thought (1950) by Dorothea Waley Singer”
Maiori forsan cum timore sententiam in me fertis quam ego accipiam.
Giordano Bruno on Nature
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“The universe is, then, one, infinite, immobile.”
As translated by Paul Harrison -
Attributed to Giordano Bruno:
“There are countless suns and countless earths all rotating around their suns in exactly the same way as the seven planets of our system.”
Giordano Bruno on Truth
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Attributed to Giordano Bruno:
“Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
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Attributed to Giordano Bruno:
“Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it.”
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Attributed to Giordano Bruno:
“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority.”
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“If it is not true it is very well invented.”
Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato. -
“Variant translations: If it is not true, it is well conceived. If it is not true, it is a good story.”
Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato.
Things actually not said by Giordano Bruno
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Giordano Bruno but are in fact from someone else. Did Giordano Bruno say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Giordano Bruno say this? No.
“Heroic love is the property of those superior natures who are called insane ( insano ) not because they do not know ( no sanno ), but because they over-know ( soprasanno ).”
As quoted in The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), by Miguel de Unamuno , as translated by J. E. Crawford Flitch; Conclusion: Don Quixote in the Contemporary European Tragi-Comedy The Italian original is from Francesco de Sanctis , Storia della letteratura italiana , 1871/1890, p. 255 : " L'amore eroico è proprio delle nature superiori, dette insane, non perché non sanno, ma perché soprasanno..." (Disputed.)