"Instead of trying to explain how the universe gave rise to life, the anthropic principle reverses the process, beginning with life and working backward to deduce the initial conditions required for its appearance. In its 'weak form,' the principle states that since we are here, the universe must have been put together in a certain way. In its 'strong form,' it says that the universe was bound to produce us, since our consciousness makes it possible for the world to exist."
- Barbara Brown Taylor