If our philosophy of the history of man would in any measure deserve that name, it must begin from Heaven.

 

For as our place of abode, the Earth, is of itself nothing, but derives it's figure and constitution, it's faculty of forming organized beings, and preserving them when formed, from those heavenly powers, that pervade the whole universe; we must first consider it not singly by itself, but as a member of that system of worlds, in which it is placed. 
 

 

Our Earth is a Star among Stars [1784–1791] text by Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher