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Wyman's overpopulated universe is in many ways unlovely. It offends the aesthetic sense of us who have a taste for desert landscapes.

— Willard van Orman Quine

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Space

More quotes by Willard van Orman Quine

The word 'definition' has come to have a dangerously reassuring sound, owing no doubt to its frequent occurrence in logical and mathematical writings.

One man's observation is another man's closed book or flight of fancy.

Our argument is not flatly circular, but something like it. It has the form, figuratively speaking, of a closed curve in space.

Necessity resides in the way we talk about things, not in the things we talk about.

Ways of Paradox and Other Essays (1976)

Logic chases truth up the tree of grammar.

Philosophy of Logic (1970)

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Since, in the long run, every planetary society will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring — not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.

Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature (1836)

Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Einstein's space is no closer to reality than Van Gogh's sky.

Arthur Koestler The Act of Creation (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Willard van Orman Quine (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.