"Sire, I have no need of that hypothesis" is how Laplace supposedly replied to Napoleon’s question about the stabilizing role of God in the solar system. For years, I have heard that quote, and now Christopher Hitchens has made use of it in his atheist tract, God Is Not Great. Unfortunately, as Daniel Johnson points out, Laplace never said any such thing. And anyway, Laplace’s political opportunism casts doubt on the intellectual integrity of his irreligious (or religious) beliefs:

Laplace, who looks more and more like the Talleyrand of French science, enjoyed both Bonapartist and Bourbon patronage. Born in 1749, he was able to publish freely throughout the period from the ancien regime, the Republic, and the Empire through to the Restoration. Briefly Napoleon’s interior minister and president of his puppet senate, Laplace never hesitated to sign the warrant for the emperor’s deposition. He died a marquis, and was buried with great pomp, in 1827. If he was an atheist, he was certainly not prepared to risk his position in society by openly expressing his views. Laplace was a great man of science, but he was a great trimmer, as well. Hitchens and other militant atheists should look elsewhere for their heroes.