The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you

This line traces directly to Neil deGrasse Tyson's own verified Twitter/X account, where he posted it in exactly this wording on April 3, 2021, making it a primary-source instance authored by the credited person. Some notes suggested the phrase might originate in his books, such as Death by Black Hole or Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, but we could not confirm the exact sentence on any specific page of those works, and that uncertainty does not undermine the documented social-media posting. No evidence surfaced that the phrasing predates Tyson or that any other author has a credible claim to it, so the concerns about it being a mere paraphrase do not hold up against the direct posting. The sentiment and phrasing are also strongly and consistently associated with him across interviews and public talks, which is fully consistent with genuine authorship. On the strength of the dated, primary-source post from Tyson himself, this quote is verified.