It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and read more

It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.

Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating read more

Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity.

There must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe in order to complete a circuit or circle, read more

There must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe in order to complete a circuit or circle, without which there would be no activity, no motion

In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded read more

In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea.

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, read more

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

Anyone informed that the universe is expanding and contracting in pulsations of eighty billion years has a right to ask, read more

Anyone informed that the universe is expanding and contracting in pulsations of eighty billion years has a right to ask, "What's in it for me?"

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a
part limited in time and read more

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a
part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his
thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a
kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is
a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires
and to affection for a few personsnearest us. Our task must be
to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of
compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of
nature in its beauty.

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here and read more

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers and cities; but to know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit - this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.