DOCTOR: Sometimes, if you stare at a painting for too long and get too close to it, all you can see are the brushstrokes. The harder you stare, the more formless and meaningless it seems to become.

NYSSA: And that’s your analogy for the whole of the universe, is it? A painting you don’t want to look at too closely in case it doesn’t mean anything?

DOCTOR: I don’t know. Sometimes I think of it that way, yes.