# Quote — Ted Chiang, Exhalation

> Even if humanity is not the reason for which the universe was made, I still wish to understand the way it operates. We human beings may not be the answer to the question why, but I will keep looking for the answer to how.

- Author: [Ted Chiang](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang.md)
- Book: [Exhalation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/exhalation.md)
- Page: 269
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ted_Chiang#Exhalation:_Stories_(2019)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/exhalation/even-if-humanity

## More from this book

> Humans have lived alongside parrots for thousands of years, and only recently have they considered the possibility that we might be intelligent.
>
> I suppose I can’t blame them. We parrots used to think humans weren’t very bright. It’s hard to make sense of behavior that’s so different from your own.

p. 233 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/exhalation/humans-have-lived.md)

> Let me always be inquisitive, but never be suspicious.

p. 249 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/exhalation/let-me-always.md)

> When the public interest is involved, finding out what actually happened is important; justice is an essential part of the social contract, and you can’t have justice until you know the truth.

p. 190 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ted-chiang/exhalation/when-the-public.md)