--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The telescope sweeps the sky without…" description: "\"The telescope sweeps the sky without finding God.\" — Pierre-Simon Laplace" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg" --- # The telescope sweeps the sky without finding God. ![“The telescope sweeps the sky without finding God.” quote by Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg) > “The telescope sweeps the sky without finding God.” [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science seeks natural explanations, leaving no room for divine intervention in observed phenomena. **In simple terms:** Science explains without invoking God. Key Takeaway Accept natural explanations. Themes science skepticism philosophy Mood contemplative inquisitive Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - astronomy research - education - public debates Key Concepts empiricism methodology Questions to Reflect On - Can science and faith coexist? - What role does wonder play in discovery? A Different Perspective Faith may still guide personal meaning despite scientific findings. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Finding god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/finding-god/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Telescopes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telescopes/) ## Related quotes > [A power of Butterfly must be - The Aptitude to fly Meadows of Majesty concedes And easy Sweeps of Sky -](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-power-of-butterfly-must-be-the-aptitude-to-fly-meadows-of-majesty/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [The reason we have the stars twinkle at night is because the light is being kind of blurred by the atmosphere around the Earth.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-j-massimino/the-reason-we-have-the-stars-twinkle-at-night-is-because-the-light-is/) [Michael J. Massimino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-j-massimino/) > [With correction, and given the chance, 'Terra Nova' can and will deliver seasons of transcendent images and story-telling. Failing to renew 'Terra Nova' is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-lang/with-correction-and-given-the-chance-terra-nova-can-and-will-deliver/) [Stephen Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-lang/) > [As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the use of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-whately/as-the-telescope-is-not-a-substitute-for-but-an-aid-to-our-sight-so/) [Richard Whately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-whately/) > [For some reason most critics have a hard time fixing their minds directly under their noses, and before they see the object that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-tate/for-some-reason-most-critics-have-a-hard-time-fixing-their-minds/) [Allen Tate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-tate/) > [The best thing we're put here for's to see; The strongest thing that's given us to see with's a telescope. Someone in every town,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frost/the-best-thing-we-re-put-here-for-s-to-see-the-strongest-thing-that-s/) [Robert Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frost/) > [We have all kinds of limitations as human beings. I mean we can't see the whole electromagnetic spectrum, we can't see the very small,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-silva/we-have-all-kinds-of-limitations-as-human-beings-i-mean-we-can-t-see/) [Jason Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-silva/) > [The one way to discover about aliens is to tune your radio telescope and listen to the signals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garik-israelian/the-one-way-to-discover-about-aliens-is-to-tune-your-radio-telescope/) [Garik Israelian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garik-israelian/) > [My parents gave me a small telescope, then I built my own, and one thing led to another. So that's how I ended up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dimitar-sasselov/my-parents-gave-me-a-small-telescope-then-i-built-my-own-and-one/) [Dimitar Sasselov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dimitar-sasselov/) > [The telescope... is a conduit to the cosmos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/the-telescope-is-a-conduit-to-the-cosmos/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [What can be more soul shaking than peering through a 100-inch telescope at a distant galaxy, holding a 100-million-year-old fossil or a 500,000-year-old stone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/what-can-be-more-soul-shaking-than-peering-through-a-100-inch/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [Look at life through the wrong end of the telescope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dr-seuss/look-at-life-through-the-wrong-end-of-the-telescope/) [Dr. Seuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dr-seuss/) > [She avoids mirrors, and lifts a powerful telescope to find herself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/she-avoids-mirrors-and-lifts-a-powerful-telescope-to-find-herself/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [Our eyes see very little and very badly – so people dreamed up the microscope to let them see invisible phenomena; they invented the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dziga-vertov/our-eyes-see-very-little-and-very-badly-so-people-dreamed-up-the/) [Dziga Vertov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dziga-vertov/) > [It happens to be one of those days when I see everybody in the family, including myself, through the wrong end of a telescope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-happens-to-be-one-of-those-days-when-i-see-everybody-in-the-family/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Pierre-Simon Laplace > [It is interesting thus to follow the intellectual truths of analysis in the phenomena of nature. This correspondence, of which the system of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/it-is-interesting-thus-to-follow-the-intellectual-truths-of-analysis/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [“L'homme ne poursuit que des chimères. ( Man follows only phantoms .) { His true last words, according to Augustus De Morgan .}”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/l-homme-ne-poursuit-que-des-chim-res-man-follows-only-phantoms-his/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [Such is the advantage of a well constructed language that its simplified notation often becomes the source of profound theories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/such-is-the-advantage-of-a-well-constructed-language-that-its/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [Napoleon: You have written this huge book on the system of the world without once mentioning the author of the universe. Laplace: Sire, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/napoleon-you-have-written-this-huge-book-on-the-system-of-the-world/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-weight-of-evidence-for-an-extraordinary-claim-must-be/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [“...by shortening the labours doubled the life of the astronomer. { On the benefit of John Napier 's logarithms .}”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/by-shortening-the-labours-doubled-the-life-of-the-astronomer-on-the/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [To Napoleon on why his works on celestial mechanics make no mention of God: Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/to-napoleon-on-why-his-works-on-celestial-mechanics-make-no-mention/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [We are so far from knowing all the forces of nature and their various modes of action that it would be unworthy of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/we-are-so-far-from-knowing-all-the-forces-of-nature-and-their-various/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [If an event can be produced by a number n of different causes, the probabilities of the existence of these causes, given the event…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/if-an-event-can-be-produced-by-a-number-n-of-different-causes-the/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [The word 'chance' then expresses only our ignorance of the causes of the phenomena that we observe to occur and to succeed one another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-word-chance-then-expresses-only-our-ignorance-of-the-causes-of/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-simplicity-of-the-law-by-which-the-celestial-bodies-move-and-the/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [His last words, according to De Morgan: Man follows only phantoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/his-last-words-according-to-de-morgan-man-follows-only-phantoms/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [The most important questions of life are indeed, for the most part, really only problems of probability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-most-important-questions-of-life-are-indeed-for-the-most-part/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [Man follows only phantoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/man-follows-only-phantoms/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) > [The simplicity of nature is not to be measured by that of our conceptions. Infinitely varied in its effects, nature is simple only in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-simplicity-of-nature-is-not-to-be-measured-by-that-of-our/) [Pierre-Simon Laplace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) [Explore all 39 Pierre-Simon Laplace quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/) ## More Finding god quotes > [“Discernment is first of all a habit, a way of seeing that eventually permeates our whole life. It is the journey from spiritual blindness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-haley-barton/discernment-is-first-of-all-a-habit-a-way-of-seeing-that-eventually/) [Ruth Haley Barton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-haley-barton/) > [“One of the most challenging aspects for those who are seeking to find the God of their understanding for the first time is His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marta-mrotek/one-of-the-most-challenging-aspects-for-those-who-are-seeking-to-find/) [Marta Mrotek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marta-mrotek/) > [“hope is taking in your real-life situation and finding God smack-dab in the midst of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-j-swoboda/hope-is-taking-in-your-real-life-situation-and-finding-god-smack-dab/) [A.J. Swoboda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-j-swoboda/) > [Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute final way. What you are in love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nothing-is-more-practical-than-finding-god-that-is-than-falling-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Religion can be one of the greatest impediments to finding God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-graham-lotz/religion-can-be-one-of-the-greatest-impediments-to-finding-god/) [Anne Graham Lotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-graham-lotz/) > [“Words are like nets - we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, or grief,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/words-are-like-nets-we-hope-they-ll-cover-what-we-mean-but-we-know/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [In finding God and delivering his message I get more joy now than I ever did when I was boxing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-benn/in-finding-god-and-delivering-his-message-i-get-more-joy-now-than-i/) [Nigel Benn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-benn/) > [Jennifer Fulwiler's story of finding God when you aren't looking for Him is a universal tale which will touch many hearts. With warmth and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-arroyo/jennifer-fulwiler-s-story-of-finding-god-when-you-aren-t-looking-for/) [Raymond Arroyo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-arroyo/) > [Some people talk about finding God, as if He could get lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jreyes/some-people-talk-about-finding-god-as-if-he-could-get-lost/) JREYES > [“define Ignatian spirituality in a few words, you could say that it is: Finding God in all things Becoming a contemplative in action Looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-martin/define-ignatian-spirituality-in-a-few-words-you-could-say-that-it-is/) [James Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-martin/) > [Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute final way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pedro-arrupe/nothing-is-more-practical-than-finding-god-that-is-than-falling-in-2/) [Pedro Arrupe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pedro-arrupe/) > [No, I have definitely not found any magic formula for success. I don't even know if it is possible for me to do that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuthirakani/no-i-have-definitely-not-found-any-magic-formula-for-success-i-don-t/) [Samuthirakani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuthirakani/) > [There are a lot of poems where I am questing for God. I don't think there is any finding of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hirsch/there-are-a-lot-of-poems-where-i-am-questing-for-god-i-don-t-think/) [Edward Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hirsch/) > [“So get this clear in your minds: Abraham did not get close to God by trying to keep the law; his method was simply…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-a-swaney/so-get-this-clear-in-your-minds-abraham-did-not-get-close-to-god-by/) Richard A. Swaney > [“Given our present physical reality and limited awareness, it is difficult to see how God is an integral and intimate portion of our being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-van-auken/given-our-present-physical-reality-and-limited-awareness-it-is/) John Van Auken [Browse all 72 Finding god quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/finding-god/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The telescope sweeps the sky without finding God.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pierre-Simon Laplace" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-finding-god/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Finding god" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-finding-god/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea7/pierre-simon-laplace-15849_finding-god_the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-fin_3133985.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The telescope sweeps the sky without finding God.” — Pierre-Simon Laplace", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Pierre-Simon Laplace", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-simon-laplace/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The telescope sweeps the sky without...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-finding-god/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-simon-laplace/the-telescope-sweeps-the-sky-without-finding-god/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```