Space tells matter how to move
Gravitation (1973), Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, page 5, right-hand margin. See below (in Geons, Black Holes, ...) for a 2000 quote attributable individually to Wheeler, where he appears to attribute pre-2000 use of a similar phrase to himself.
More quotes by John Archibald Wheeler
Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to curve.
We will first understand how simple the universe is when we realize how strange it is.
All John Archibald Wheeler quotes →
Attribution
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Archibald Wheeler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.