Previous

"However, we must not exaggerate the importance of these figures. It is enough just to hold a stone in your hand. The universe would have been equally incomprehensible if it had only consisted of that one stone the size of an orange. The question would be just as impenetrable: where did this stone come from?"

At the very end of the book, Albert Knag sits with Hilde and discusses the universe with her. After he describes the Big Bang and points out that we are united in a spectacular way—each one of us stems from that infinitesimally small point that exploded forth and formed the universe—he says that the contents of the universe itself are relatively unimportant. The philosophical question remains the same either way. If the universe were simply a small rock we would still be forced to ask where it came from. Thus the end of the book returns to the beginning. The first questions that Alberto sent to Sophie were "who are you?" and "where does the world come from?" and the book ends pondering the same issues.

Previous section Important Quotes Explained Page 4

Popular pages: Sophie's World

Take a Study Break