If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.

Carl Sagan used this line in his popular science writing to illustrate the deep interconnectedness of everyday objects with cosmic history. The remark is associated with his late–Cold War era efforts to communicate scientific thinking to general audiences, emphasizing that even mundane human activities depend on vast chains of natural processes: stellar nucleosynthesis creating the chemical elements, planetary formation, biological evolution, agriculture, and human culture. In this context, the “from scratch” phrasing is a deliberately playful exaggeration meant to jolt readers into recognizing how much hidden complexity and prior causation lies behind what seems simple.

The quote argues that nothing is truly made “from scratch” in an absolute sense: every artifact or meal is the endpoint of an immense causal history. By invoking “create the universe,” Sagan compresses cosmology, chemistry, and biology into a single image, suggesting humility about human self-sufficiency and inviting awe at the layered prerequisites of ordinary life. It also models a scientific worldview: to explain a thing fully is to trace its origins and dependencies, often far beyond the immediate scene. The apple pie becomes a metaphor for reductionism and for the grandeur of cosmic evolution.

1) “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
2) “To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.”
3) “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”