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The universe is a machine for making gods.

— Henri Bergson The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932)

[L]'universe […] est une machine à faire des dieux.

Original text (French)

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Space

More quotes by Henri Bergson

The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect was already in the cause.

Creative Evolution (1907)

This explains the primary mission which he feels to be entrusted to him, that of an intensifier of religious faith.

The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932)

Religion is to mysticism what popularization is to science.

The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932)

Life does not proceed by the association and addition of elements, but by dissociation and division.

Creative Evolution (1907)

Wherever anything lives, there is, open somewhere, a register in which time is being inscribed.

Creative Evolution (1907)

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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: Henri Bergson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.