41 Galaxy Quotes To Help Understand Our Place Beyond the Sky
Galaxies consist of stars, dust, and gas bound together by gravity, and we see them from afar as stars. People have appreciated galaxies with an other-worldly fascination since we first looked up at the night sky. Our place in the galaxy continues to fascinate today, as our compilation of galaxy quotes goes to show.
Here, you’ll find quotes about life beyond Earth, our significance within the universe, galaxy quotes in literature, and many more. These quotes will undoubtedly get you thinking about what it means to be human on our own planet and beyond.
Life beyond earth opens up doors and windows of curiosity. This is why astronomers today are focused on studying space - including the mysterious dark matter. We’re left to wonder how small the earth is relative to the whole universe.
The Milky Way is the galaxy in which our solar system is one of the many billions. Our galaxy lies in the grander space of the universe. In the following sections, we feature some of the most insightful and eye-opening quotes about galaxies. If you’re curious about outer space, you’ll appreciate these quotes.
Related: Dark Quotes and Dusk Quotes.
Best Galaxy Quotes
The universe consists of billions of galaxies with billions of stars. As humans, we tend to focus on our lives in our perceived big world. Carl Sagan said, “We’re made of star-stuff.”
This statement is not just a saying but a truth. The Milky Way is mind-blowing. One of the most fascinating things about galaxies is their various shapes. For instance, the Milky Way has a spiral shape with lots of energy at the center, while many other galaxies have different forms.
The image of the Milky Way is one of the most beautiful sights. It appears as a hazy band of light as seen from the Earth. As we contemplate the beauty of our galaxy and universe, let’s explore some of our favorite galaxy quotes.
"When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system."
- Kalpana Chawla
"We are all stars in this galaxy. All of us. No one's greater than the other."
- Scatman Crothers
"However alert we are, antiquity remains an unknown, unanticipated galaxy."
- Donald Hall
"Look at the stars... It helps you to remember that you and your problems are both infinitesimally small and conversely, that you are a piece of an amazing and vast universe."
- Kate Bartolotta
"Keep up the good work, if only for a while, if only for the twinkling of a tiny galaxy."
- Wislawa Szymborska
Galaxy quotes about looking up at the stars
Related: You might also like our star quotes for more twinkly brightness in the night sky.
"All of the stars rotate, have orbits around the center of the galaxy, and most of them go around the center of the galaxy in nearly circular orbits. They vary a little bit from circular, but they're predominantly circular."
- Nancy Roman
"When we look out into space, we're looking back in time; the light from a galaxy a billion light-years away, for instance, will take a billion years to reach us. It's an amazing thing. The history is there for us to see. It's not mushed up like the geologic record of Earth. You can just see it exactly as it was."
- Margaret Geller
"I had always seen myself as a star; I wanted to be a galaxy."
- Twyla Tharp
"We must remember that the sun is a star, but not all the stars are the sun."
- Munia Khan
Galaxy quotes about science and understanding the universe
When we think of “nature,” many people immediately associate it with greenery and animals. Although a part of it, nature represents something even more extensive.
In its broadest sense, we consider the universe when we look up in contemplation. That is everything that the human being didn’t and can’t make or produce.
The galaxy, however, remains an area that we have barely scratched the surface of understanding due to its vast and ever-expanding nature. Here, we feature some galaxy quotes that’ll get you thinking about our understanding of the universe.
For more reading, check out our moon quotes & night quotes, appreciating all that is up and above us.
"A typical neuron makes about ten thousand connections to neighboring neurons. Given the billions of neurons, this means there are as many connections in a single cubic centimeter of brain tissue as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy."
- David Eagleman
"It is quite the big galaxy, perspective is ever a good thing. It is small compared to the Universe, one of an estimated trillion, more perspective."
- C.A.A. Savastano
"The lunar flights give you a correct perception of our existence. You look back at Earth from the moon, and you can put your thumb up to the window and hide the Earth behind your thumb. Everything you've ever known is behind your thumb, and that blue-and-white ball is orbiting a rather normal star, tucked away on the outer edge of a galaxy."
- Jim Lovell
"Earlier generations of stars in the galaxy could well have had planets. But really, there was only hydrogen and helium to work with, so they'd all be gas giants and not small, rocky planets."
- Jill Tarter
"In less than a hundred years, we have found a new way to think of ourselves. From sitting at the center of the universe, we now find ourselves orbiting an average-sized sun, which is just one of millions of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy."
- Stephen Hawking
"Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is one of 50 or 100 billion other galaxies in the universe. And with every step, every window that modern astrophysics has opened to our mind, the person who wants to feel like they're the center of everything ends up shrinking."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
Galaxy quotes about life and living
Many people see themselves as intrinsically connected to the universe. People like Carl Sagan, an American astronomer, popularized astronomy and the study of the galaxy. Many galaxy quotes and sayings reflect on our lives. This section explores some fascinating quotes about life and living related to our place and significance in the galaxy.
"Everybody is their own galaxy, their own separate entity."
- Weyes Blood
"Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."
- Douglas Adams
"We're electrical items and when we die the electricity goes somewhere else. When we die our energy goes into the galaxy."
- Dominic Monaghan
"Is it not careless to become too local when there are four hundred billion stars in our galaxy alone."
- A. R. Ammons
"The priceless galaxy of misinformation called the mind."
- Djuna Barnes
"Everything dies, from the smallest blade of grass to the biggest galaxy."
- Stephen R. Donaldson
The universe appears to be expanding, much like cooked pasta, as illustrated by observed light from distant galaxies shifting toward the Marinara Spectrum. Some scientists cite this as support for His preference for red sauce, but they are most likely idiots.
~ Bobby Henderson
Quotes about galaxies and our significance
“Who am I?” and “What are we doing here?” remain the greatest questions that man continues to explore. First, we get to know our planet, earth. Then, we explore other planets and, after that, our galaxy and others.
Pondering on these subjects can leave us feeling utterly insignificant in the grand scheme. It’s important to remember that there’s so much more to the galaxy we call home and the ones beyond it despite our mighty civilizations. From our place on our little blue-green planet, we can ponder on the nature of existence. If you enjoy reflecting on this subject, here are some galaxy quotes about human significance.
"Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people."
- Carl Sagan
"How can you look at the galaxy and not feel insignificant?"
- Ridley Scott
"Everyone is part of a connected cosmic system. Part earth and sea, wind and fire, with some salt and dust swimming in them. We have a universe within ourselves that mimics the universe outside."
- Suzy Kassem
"The universe is so enormous, and we have no idea what's on the other side of the galaxy. It's a lovely thing to be able to tap into. I'm definitely not opposed to any supernatural ideas, but I've never encountered any. I believe in spirits, but I've never seen a ghost. And I believe in Heaven and Hell."
- Rose Leslie
"I'm absolutely positive about human survival. We will continue to develop our civilisation and expand not just on Earth, but also across the solar system, the galaxy, even the entire universe."
- Liu Cixin
The Big Bang theory is based on the fact that the universe is expanding right now. And if you rewind the tape, the universe appears to be shrinking. If you rewind the tape far enough, eventually the universe must be just one singular point.
~ Oliver Gaspirtz
Galaxy quotes about life on earth
Following our quotes about life beyond earth earlier, we also examine quotes about life on earth. After all, this is where we’re all living and existing. Below, we’ve compiled some interesting quotes exploring the galaxy and life on our planet.
"Our galaxy's pretty ordinary, garden-variety. So if we believe our galaxy has a super massive black hole, that tells us that most, if not all, galaxies host such a black hole at their centers."
- Andrea M. Ghez
"I've always thought that we, as human beings, would be naive and arrogant to pretend that we're the only life form in the galaxy."
- Jonathan Frakes
"There are at least as many galaxies in our observable universe as there are stars in our galaxy."
- Martin Rees
Galaxy quotes from the arts and literature
Many writers draw inspiration from the universe when creating their work. Apart from fiction pieces, countless non-fiction literature books explore the topic of galaxies from science fiction through dreamy narratives of imaginary worlds. Here, we feature some galaxy quotes from the arts and literature.
"The near side of a galaxy is tens of thousands of light-years closer to us than the far side; thus we see the front as it was tens of thousands of years before the back. But typical events in galactic dynamics occupy tens of millions of years, so the error in thinking of an image of a galaxy as frozen in one moment of time is small."
- Carl Sagan
"The spiral in a snail's shell is the same mathematically as the spiral in the Milky Way galaxy, and it's also the same mathematically as the spirals in our DNA. It's the same ratio that you'll find in very basic music that transcends cultures all over the world."
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
"Perhaps two million years ago the creatures of a planet in some remote galaxy faced a musical crisis similar to that which we earthly composers face today."
- George Crumb
Galaxy quotes about life beyond earth
The subject of life beyond earth is often up for debate. However, as we reflect on the planets left unexplored and billions of galaxies, it’s easy to become curious. If you’ve ever questioned whether there’s much more beyond the human race and other life on our planet, you’re not alone.
We may not know the specifics of everything out there; however, that doesn’t stop us from thinking about the chances of unknown worlds. This section features quotes that explore reflections on life beyond earth.
"There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost certain that there is life somewhere in space."
- Buzz Aldrin
"One in 200 stars has habitable Earth-like planets surrounding it - in the galaxy, half a billion stars have Earth-like planets going around them - that's huge, half a billion. So when we look at the night sky, it makes sense that someone is looking back at us."
- Michio Kaku
"Clearly, unless thinking beings inevitably wipe themselves out soon after developing technology, extraterrestrial intelligence could often be millions or billions of years in advance of us. We're the galaxy's noodling newbies."
- Seth Shostak
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Quotes
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy science-fiction franchise. Lovers of science-fiction Sci-Fi will appreciate the universe the creator, Douglas Adam, created with this work. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy started as a comedy radio drama series. Afterward, novels, comics, and stage shows followed. Below, we highlight some Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quotes.
"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."
- Douglas Adams
"Since androids are, by definition, a product of that illogical mind, a more likely scenario is that they will evolve to resemble their masters more and more."
- So long and thanks for all the fish.
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
- Douglas Adams
"Whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons."
- Douglas Adams
Jen’s a passionate environmentalist and sustainability expert. With a science degree from Babcock University Jen loves applying her research skills to craft editorial that connects with our global changemaker and readership audiences centered around topics including zero waste, sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity.
Elsewhere Jen’s interests include the role that future technology and data have in helping us solve some of the planet’s biggest challenges.
