--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Consider now the Milky Way. Here also we…" description: "\"Consider now the Milky Way. Here also we see an innumerable dust, only the grains of this dust are no longer atoms but stars; these grains also move wi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21a/henri-poincare-3339_action_consider-now-the-milky-way-here-also-we_1337518.jpg" --- # Consider now the Milky Way. Here also we see an… ![“Consider now the Milky Way. Here also we see an innumerable dust, only the grains of this dust are no longer atoms but stars; these grains also move with great velocities, they act at a distance one upon another, but this action is so slight at great distances that their trajectories are…” quote by Henri Poincare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21a/henri-poincare-3339_action_consider-now-the-milky-way-here-also-we_1337518.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21a/henri-poincare-3339_action_consider-now-the-milky-way-here-also-we_1337518.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21a/henri-poincare-3339_action_consider-now-the-milky-way-here-also-we_1337518.jpg) > “Consider now the Milky Way. Here also we see an innumerable dust, only the grains of this dust are no longer atoms but stars; these grains also move with great velocities, they act at a distance one upon another, but this action is so slight at great distances that their trajectories are rectilineal; nevertheless, from time to time, two of them may come near enough together to be deviated from their course, like a comet that passed too close to Jupiter. In a word, in the eyes of a giant, to whom our Suns were what our atoms are to us, the Milky Way would only look like a bubble of gas.” [Henri Poincare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-poincare/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote uses the Milky Way as a metaphor to illustrate how vast scales make individual components seem insignificant, yet occasional close encounters can cause noticeable deviations. **In simple terms:** On a cosmic scale, stars are like grains of dust, mostly moving straight, but sometimes they interact. Key Takeaway Even tiny forces can matter when conditions align. Themes cosmology scale interaction Mood wonderful contemplative Type metaphorical educational When to use this quote - astronomy education - science communication - philosophical reflection Key Concepts gravity emergent behavior relativity Questions to Reflect On - How does perspective change our sense of significance? - What does this imply about rare events in other fields? A Different Perspective The analogy may oversimplify complex astrophysical dynamics. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Action](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/action/) [Astronomy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/astronomy/) [Atoms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms/) [Atoms Milky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms-milky-4507834/) [Atoms Stars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atoms-stars-273370/) [Bubbles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bubbles/) [Comets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comets/) [Distance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/distance/) [Dust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dust/) [Dust Grains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dust-grains-2222870/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Eye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eye/) [Gas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gas/) [Giants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giants/) [Grain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grain/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Jupiter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jupiter/) [Looks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looks/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Milky way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/milky-way/) [Moving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moving/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Stars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stars/) [Stars Grains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stars-grains-4507835/) [Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sun/) [Together](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/together/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Velocity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/velocity/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [For hundreds of thousands of years I have been dust-grains floating and flying in the will of the air, often forgetting ever being in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/for-hundreds-of-thousands-of-years-i-have-been-dust-grains-floating/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [The same Being that fashioned the insect, whose existence is only discerned by a microscope, and gave that invisible speck a system of ducts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-brougham-1st-baron-brougham-and-vaux/the-same-being-that-fashioned-the-insect-whose-existence-is-only/) [Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-brougham-1st-baron-brougham-and-vaux/) > [What goes on inside a star is better understood than one might guess from the difficulty of having to look at a little dot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/what-goes-on-inside-a-star-is-better-understood-than-one-might-guess/) [Richard P. 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Here also we see an innumerable dust, only the grains of this dust are no longer atoms but stars; these grains also move with great velocities, they act at a distance one upon another, but this action is so slight at great distances that their trajectories are rectilineal; nevertheless, from time to time, two of them may come near enough together to be deviated from their course, like a comet that passed too close to Jupiter. 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