CURATED COLLECTION

Awe at the Universe

The universe is incomprehensibly vast and old — and somehow that makes the present moment feel more precious.

50 quotes found

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Everything in the universe, from particle to planet, reflects a single truth.

—Ibn TufaylPhilosopher & Physician

Medieval ERA • MENA

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In the silence of the village, I hear the universe breathing.

—Namdeo Dhondo MahanorPoet

Contemporary ERA • South Asia

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The universe is a book, and everything in it is a letter.

—Ibrahim al-KoniNovelist

Contemporary ERA • North Africa

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We are travelers, and our home is the entire universe.

—Olga TokarczukNovelist & Essayist

Contemporary ERA • Eastern Europe

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There is a force that from the motion of the stars gives light to the moon and the sun.

—Hildegard of BingenComposer, Philosopher & Mystic

Medieval ERA • Western Europe

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An old silent pond. A frog jumps into the pond. Splash! Silence again.

—Matsuo BashoPoet

Renaissance ERA • East Asia

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The great Tao flows everywhere. All things are born from it, yet it does not claim them.

—Lao TzuPhilosopher

Ancient World ERA • East Asia

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The universe is immense, full of wonders beyond human comprehension.

—Al-BiruniPolymath

Medieval ERA • Central Asia

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If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.

—Carl SaganAstronomer & Author

Post-War ERA • North America

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Mountains and rivers are the expressions of the Buddha‑dharma.

—Eihei DogenScholar & Thinker

Medieval ERA • East Asia

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For without doubt, the world is one, and all things are related.

—Keri HulmeNovelist

Late Modern ERA • Oceania

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The world is a network of connections, not a collection of separate objects.

—Olga TokarczukNovelist & Essayist

Contemporary ERA • Eastern Europe

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Our lives are like the rivers, flowing ever onward to a vast, unknown sea.

—Sarojini NaiduPoet & Activist

Early Modern ERA • South Asia

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O Holy Spirit, who makes life alive, who moves in all things, root of all created being.

—Hildegard of BingenComposer, Philosopher & Mystic

Medieval ERA • Western Europe

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Nature has neither core nor shell; she is everything at once.

—Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWriter, Scientist & Statesman

Enlightenment ERA • Western Europe

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The beauty of the Lord is endless, like the vastness of the sky.

—AndalPoet

Medieval ERA • South Asia

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Mind (Nous) is infinite and self‑ruled, and is mixed with nothing.

—AnaxagorasPre-Socratic Philosopher

Ancient World ERA • Southern Europe

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We are made of star‑stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.

—Carl SaganAstronomer & Author

Post-War ERA • North America

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The moon appears from the ocean; a thousand miles, she shares the light.

—Li BaiPoet

Medieval ERA • East Asia

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To me every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.

—Walt WhitmanPoet & Essayist

Industrial Age ERA • North America

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