Single Idea 2656

[catalogued under 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof]

Full Idea

If someone thinks chance made the world, he should also think that if an infinite number of the letters of the alphabet were shaken together and poured out on the ground it would be possible for them to spell out the whole 'Annals' of Ennius.

Gist of Idea

Chance is no more likely to create the world than spilling lots of letters is likely to create a famous poem

Source

M. Tullius Cicero (On the Nature of the Gods ('De natura deorum') [c.44 BCE], II.93)

Book Reference

Cicero: 'The Nature of the Gods', ed/tr. McGregor,Horace [Penguin 1972], p.161