It seems just about everyone of any importance (and of no importance) has had something to say about the universe. The comments range from the inspiring to the thoughtful to the puzzling to the amusing.
The amusing
The four building blocks of the universe are fire, water, gravel and vinyl. – Dave Barry
There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. – Frank Zappa
I’m astounded by people who want to ‘know’ the universe when it’s hard enough to find your way around Chinatown. – Woody Allen
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract. – Robert A. Heinlein
Anonymous: Astronomers see no end to the expansion of the universe. My doctor says much the same about my midriff.
The puzzling
Today we no longer regard the universe as the cause of our own undeserved troubles but perhaps, on the contrary, as the last refuge from the mismanagement of our earthly affairs. – Rudolf Arnheim
We are now living in a post-Roosevelt, post-Reagan universe. What comes next will not be post-partisan, because faction is an intrinsic human impulse. – Jon Meacham
Words, words, words! They shut one off from the universe. Three quarters of the time one’s never in contact with things, only with the beastly words that stand for them. – Aldous Huxley
The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers. – Scott Adams
Anonymous: The universe has no beginning and no end that anyone has proven. What about the middle?
The thoughtful
Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of the shadow’s speed. – Howard Nemerov
Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles; he can only discover them. – Thomas Paine
Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we’re not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. – Arthur C. Clarke
I don’t think there is a hidden purpose to the universe that you have to puzzle out. – Robert Fulghum
The universe is like a safe to which there is a combination. But the combination is locked up in the safe. – Peter De Vries
Anonymous: Are we not a part of the universe? Are we not a part of the world? Are we not a part of each other?
The inspiring
Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations. – Alan Watts
Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls. – Joseph Campbell
We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own. – George W. Bush
Traditional science assumes, for the most part, that to an objective observer independent reality exists; the universe, stars, galaxies, sun, moon and earth would still be there if no one was looking. – Deepak Chopra
We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the universe. – Jerome K. Jerome
Anonymous: One day the human mind will enjoy an expansion not unlike that of the universe.
