All the effects of Nature are only the mathematical consequences of a small number of immutable laws.
Pierre-Simon LaplaceThe most important questions of life are indeed, for the most part, really only problems of probability.
Pierre-Simon LaplaceNapoleon: You have written this huge book on the system of the world without once mentioning the author of the universe. Laplace: Sire, I had no need of that hypothesis. Later when told by Napoleon about the incident, Lagrange commented: Ah, but that is a fine hypothesis. It explains so many things.
Pierre-Simon Laplace