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Universe

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It is clear that there is no classification of the Universe that is not arbitrary and full of conjectures. The reason for this is very simple: we do not know what kind of thing the universe is. ~ Jorge Luis Borges

The universe is often used as a general term for the entirety of existence. This is often conceived of in strictly physical terms, in which it contains all the matter and objects which exist and all the space in which events occur or could occur. There are various multiverse hypotheses, in which some physicists have suggested that the apparent Universe might be one among many universes which exist with little or no direct or discernible interaction.

Quotes

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Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being. ~ Marcus Aurelius
Every notion that any man, dead, living, or unborn, might form as to the universe will necessarily prove wrong. ~ James Branch Cabell
An infinite universe is each moment opened to our view. And this universe is the sign and symbol of Infinite Power, Intelligence, Purity, Bliss, and Love. ~ William Ellery Channing
The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms. ~ Muriel Rukeyser
In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature. Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe. ~ Carl Sagan‎‎
The universe confounds me! I cannot imagine that such a ‘clock’ can exist without there being a Clockmaker. ~ Voltaire

A-E

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  • That the heaven as a whole neither came into being nor admits of destruction, as some assert, but is one and eternal, with no end or beginning of its total duration, containing and embracing in itself the infinity of time.
  • There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened
    • Douglas Adams, in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980)
  • There is no rational reason to doubt that the universe has existed indefinitely, for an infinite time. It is only myth that attempts to say how the universe came to be, either four thousand or twenty billion years ago.
  • Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web.
  • Reason tells me of the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful Universe, including man with his capability of looking far backwards and far into the future, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.
  • [L]'universe […] est une machine à faire des dieux.
    • The universe is a machine for making gods.
      • Henri Bergson, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002, p. 317
  • It is clear that there is no classification of the Universe that is not arbitrary and full of conjectures. The reason for this is very simple: we do not know what kind of thing the universe is.
    • Jorge Luis Borges, in "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" in Other Inquisitions (1952), as translated by Will Fitzgerald
  • We can suspect that there is no universe in the organic, unifying sense, that this ambitious term has. If there is a universe, its aim is not conjectured yet; we have not yet conjectured the words, the definitions, the etymologies, the synonyms, from the secret dictionary of God.
    • Jorge Luis Borges, in "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins" in Other Inquisitions (1952), as translated by Lilia Graciela Vázquez
  • Man's need of self-esteem entails the need for a sense of control over reality – but no control is possible in a universe which, by one's own concession, contains the supernatural, the miraculous and the causeless, a universe in which one is at the mercy of ghosts and demons, in which one must deal, not with the unknown, but with the unknowable; no control is possible if man proposes, but a ghost disposes; no control is possible if the universe is a haunted house.
  • What blessedness it is to dwell amidst this transparent air, which the eye can pierce without limit, amidst these floods of pure, soft, cheering light, under this immeasurable arch of heaven, and in sight of these countless stars! An infinite universe is each moment opened to our view. And this universe is the sign and symbol of Infinite Power, Intelligence, Purity, Bliss, and Love.
    • William Ellery Channing, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 610
  • Even atheistic scientists will wax lyrical about the scale, the majesty, the harmonly, the elegance, the sheer ingenuity of the universe of which they form so small and fragile a part. … Science reveals that there is a coherent scheme of things, but scientists do not necessarily interpret that as evidence for meaning or purpose in the universe.
  • The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation, even I am shittin' myself. During the minute it takes me to compose this damn sentence, thousands of animals are being pissed and shat on alive; others are running for their ex-wives, whimpering with fear out of being rickrolled, others are being slowly devoured from within by rasping memes; thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst and disease. … In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic predispositions to Rick Astley, some people are going to get cucked, other people are going to get cucked, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
  • One could perhaps describe the situation by saying that God is a mathematician of a very high order, and He used very advanced mathematics in constructing the universe.
  • The vastness of the universe-and love, the thing that makes the vastness bearable-is out of reach to the arrogant.
  • I do not feel like an alien in the universe. The more I examine the universe and study the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known that we were coming.
  • Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but they look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect.
    Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious dogma or scientific dogma claims to be infallible.
  • There is an enormous variety of things that we never dreamed of, like... black holes, pulsars, quasars, all these unbelievably active goings-on in the universe... [I]n Aristotle's time the universe... was supposed to be quiescent, it was supposed to be perfect and peaceful, and nothing ever happened in the celestial sphere; and that remained true... throughout all of the revolutions... It remained the general view of astronomers... through Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and everybody else... until just the last 30 years, and now we know it's not like that at all. In fact the universe is full of violent events, and fantastic strong gravitational fields, and collapsed objects, and huge outpourings of energy. ...The things we understand least are the quasars... the most violent and... energetic objects in the universe, and they're totally... mysterious... and... they're rather frequent; and nobody ever dreamed that they existed... [E]ven after they were found it took a long time before people took them seriously. Nature's imagination is always richer than ours.

F-O

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  • I will shred this Universe down to its last atom, and then with the stones you have collected for me, create a new one; teaming with life, that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given... A Grateful Universe.
    • Thanos, Avengers: Endgame (2019)
  • I went to our Theological College lately, Westcott House, and we had a sort of chat. He told me that without him it was impossible to understand the universe, and I came away having forgotten to reply that it did not occur to me to try to understand the universe. I must not run on like this so. Or rather what I mean is I have just finished the biography of my great aunt. Undersanding, or partially understanding, her has been quite a large enough job.
    • E. M. Forster, Selected Letters: Letter 411, to Lionel Trilling, (1 August 1955)
  • Science could predict that the universe must have had a beginning.
  • Cabell and Hitler did not inhabit the same universe.
    • Alfred Kazin, in On Native Grounds : An Interpretation of Modern American Prose Literature (1941), p. 231
  • The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them — our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
  • All things are connected with all things throughout the universe, from the insect to the archangel; from the sand-grain to the mountain and the globe; from the dew-drop to the ocean; from the rain-drop to the rainbow; from the pebble on the shore to 'the sun that blazes in the firmament; from the zephyr that sings among the flowers of the field to the ocean that pours its wild bass in the great anthem of nature. Not only are all things connected with all things, but there is a concatenation of events, so that the character and effects of no one event can terminate in itself. As each event owes some portion of its nature to that which preceded it, so it imparts some of its nature to that which succeeds it, and thus perpetuates the blended good or evil of itself and its predecessors. The single event may thus live on in its influence along the line of all the ages, assuming new shapes, or if clothing itself in the drapery of new events, ever marching onward and upward in the continually growing affairs of time.
    • John Lanahan, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 611
  • The more we get to know about our universe ... the more the hypothesis that there is a Creator [Allah], who designed the universe for a purpose, gains in credibility as the best explanation of why we are here.
    • John Lennox, cited in Awake! magazine, 2010, 11/10, article: Has Science Done Away With God?
  • I addressed no one. I addressed the universe. I addressed a void.
  • With the cosmological term, Einstein had given other researchers an intriguing new variable to play with and manipulate in an attempt to fit their models with the new ideas they were considering and with the observations that were starting to be made. It also opened the door for theorists to experiment with the equations — with or without the newly introduced term — to see what other interpretations might be plausible, other than a universe that neither expands nor contracts. One could, of course, conjure up all kinds of conceivable universes with wildly different properties. However, among the conceivable universes, only those that satisfied general relativity’s field equations could be deemed plausible. And among the possible universes sifted out through mathematics, perhaps one of those might bear a close resemblance to the universe we actually inhabit.

P-Z

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  • The evidence that has accumulated since the 1930s is that the mass of the Universe is dominated by an exotic nonbaryonic form of matter largely draped around the galaxies. This dark matter approximates an initially low-pressure gas of particles that interact only with gravity, but we know little more than that. Searches for detection thus must follow many difficult paths to a great discovery: what the Universe is made of.
  • The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
  • It was a glaring omission, a sign of cosmic sloppiness. Not even that, Vasko corrected himself. It was a sign of cosmic obliviousness. The universe didn’t know what was happening here. It didn’t know and it didn’t care. It didn’t even know that it didn’t know.
  • The space of our universe is the hypersurface of a vast expanding hypersphere.
  • The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms.
    • Muriel Rukeyser, in "The Speed of Darkness" in The Speed of Darkness (1968); sometimes misquoted as "The Universe is made of stories not atoms."
  • The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover a miracle — another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. There would be richer messages farther in. It doesn't matter what you look like, or what you're made of, or where you come from. As long as you live in this universe, and have a modest talent for mathematics, sooner or later you'll find it. It's already here. It's inside everything. You don't have to leave your planet to find it. In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature. Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe.
  • The universe is God’s son.
    • Dejan Stojanovic, in The Sun Watches the Sun (1999) “God’s Son” (Sequence: “Is It Possible to Write a Poem”)
  • I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.
    • Voltaire, as quoted in More Random Walks in Science: An Anthology (1982) by Robert L. Weber, p. 65
    • Variants:
    • The universe confounds me! I cannot imagine that such a ‘clock’ can exist without there being a Clockmaker.
  • The matter which we suppose to be the main constituent of the universe is built out of small self-contained building-blocks, the chemical atoms. It cannot be repeated too often that the word "atom" is nowadays detached from any of the old philosophical speculations: we know precisely that the atoms with which we are dealing are in no sense the simplest conceivable components of the universe. On the contrary, a number of phenomena, especially in the area of spectroscopy, lead to the conclusion that atoms are very complicated structures. So far as modern science is concerned, we have to abandon completely the idea that by going into the realm of the small we shall reach the ultimate foundations of the universe. I believe we can abandon this idea without any regret. The universe is infinite in all directions, not only above us in the large but also below us in the small. If we start from our human scale of existence and explore the content of the universe further and further, we finally arrive, both in the large and in the small, at misty distances where first our senses and then even our concepts fail us.

See also

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Wikipedia
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Wiktionary
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