If we do not speak for Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

I don't want to believe. I want to know.

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

You have to know the past to understand the present.

Our love was a two-person game. At least until one of us died, and the other became a murderer.

I think you must be some kind of a freak. Either that or you’re trying toconvert me to your secret horse religion.”“Darn, you got me, ” she says theatrically. “You thwarted my evil plan.

I assumed that everything would lead to complete failure, but I decided that didn't matter – that would be my life.

I come from a working-class background in Queens, New York.

When you believe yourself to be master of your thoughts, you become so.

Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn.

The fame and reputation part came later, and never was much of a motivator, although it did enable me to work without feeling guilty about neglecting my studies.

Clear prose indicates the absence of thought.

The last batter to hit, blast shattered your hip, Smash any splitter or fastball-that'll be it.

I think of myself as a storyteller, and that is it.