To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
Love is space and time measured by the heart.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Until they come to see us from their planet, I wait patiently. I hear them saying: Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-born American Actor, Singer
Space is almost infinite. As a matter of fact, we think it is infinite.
—Dan Quayle (b.1947) American Head of State, Politician, Elected Rep
The moon and other celestial bodies should be free for exploration and use by all countries. No country should be permitted to advance a claim of sovereignty.
—Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) American Head of State, Political leader
We have no proof, but if we extrapolate, based on the best information we have available to us, we have to come to the conclusion that … other life probably exists out there and perhaps in many places…
—Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) American Astronaut
Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the drug store, but that’s just peanuts to space.
—Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English Novelist, Scriptwriter
In this unbelievable universe in which we live there are no absolutes. Even parallel lines, reaching into infinity, meet somewhere yonder.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
Space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind union of the two will preserve an independent reality.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Let there be spaces in your togetherness.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
—Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) American Astronaut
Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.
—Democritus (c.460–c.370 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
It is good to renew one’s wonder, said the philosopher.
Space travel has again made children of us all.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
The universe, as far as we can observe it, is a wonderful and immense engine…. If we dramatize its life and conceive its spirit, we are filled with wonder, terror and amusement, so magnificent is the spirit.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Prometheus is reaching out for the stars with an empty grin on his face.
—Arthur Koestler (1905–83) British Writer, Journalist, Political Refugee
Our ancestors worshipped the Sun, and they were not that foolish.
It makes sense to revere the Sun and the stars, for we are their children.
—Carl Sagan (1934–96) American Astronomer
That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
—Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) American Astronaut
The sky is no longer the limit.
—Richard Nixon (1913–94) American Head of State, Lawyer
Space is the breath of art.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the little space which I fill and even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant and which know me not, I am frightened and am astonished at being here rather than there; for there is no reason why here rather than there, why now rather than then… The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The question that will decide our destiny is not whether we shall expand into space. It is: shall we be one species or a million? A million species will not exhaust the ecological niches that are awaiting the arrival of intelligence.
—Freeman Dyson (1923–2020) American Theoretical Physicist, Author
At two-tenths the speed of light, dust and atoms might not do significant damage even in a voyage of 40 years, but the faster you go, the worse it is—space begins to become abrasive. When you begin to approach the speed of light, hydrogen atoms become cosmic-ray particles, and they will fry the crew. …So 60,000 kilometers per second may be the practical speed limit for space travel.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
Space, like time, engenders forgetfulness; but it does so by setting us bodily free from our surroundings and giving us back our primitive, unattached state
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought—particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
When friendship disappears then there is a space left open to that awful loneliness of the outside world which is like the cold space between the planets. It is an air in which men perish utterly.
—Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) British Historian, Poet, Critic
Don’t tell me that man doesn’t belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go—and he’ll do plenty well when he gets there.
—Wernher von Braun (1912–77) German-born American Engineer, Scientist
The question is not so much whether there is life on Mars as whether it will continue to be possible to live on Earth.
—Unknown
Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
Space is the stature of God.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
For the wise man looks into space and he knows there is no limited dimensions.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
Even the wildest dreams have to start somewhere. Allow yourself the time and space to let your mind wander and your imagination fly.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Space is to place as eternity is to time.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.
—William S. Burroughs (1914–97) American Novelist, Poet, Short Story Writer, Painter
Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Space is as infinite as we can imagine, and expanding this perspective is what adjusts humankind’s focus on conquering our true enemies, the formidable foes: ignorance and limitation.
—Vanna Bonta (1958–2014) Italian-American Novelist, Poet, Actress
Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
Acoustic space has the basic character of a sphere whose focus or centre is simultaneously everywhere and whose margin is nowhere.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
From a short-sided view, the whole moving contents of the heavens seemed to them a parcel of stones, earth and other soul-less bodies, though they furnish the sources of the world order.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
It’s only during an eclipse that the Man in the Moon has a place in the sun.
—Unknown
It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create “one world.” Instead of one world, we have “star wars,” and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.
—Gore Vidal (1925–48) American Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Playwright
No matter how vast, how total, the failure of man here on earth, the work of man will be resumed elsewhere. War leaders talk of resuming operations on this front and that, but man’s front embraces the whole universe.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
It was a thunderingly beautiful experience—voluptuous, sexual, dangerous, and expensive as hell.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
There is a space between man’s imagination and man’s attainment that may only be traversed by his longing.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor