Typically, only about 2 percent of the American populace tunes in to PBS's 'Nova' series - the most successful science show on the tube. 'Survivor' and 'X Factor' get twice the ratings.

If you took all the sand from all the beaches, all the desserts, and all the oceans and called that the Universe, our whole solar system would be less than one grain of sand.

If this is the only planet on which not only life, but intelligent life, has arisen, that would be very unusual.

Our brains are wired to interpret shapes as faces and bodies. That's why people see the Virgin Mary in the clouds or even in cheese sandwiches. It's your cytoplasm, not some strange ectoplasm.

The search for extra-terrestrial life is a failure until that moment when it suddenly becomes a success.

Despite the impression you may have from watching too much TV, movies are not about reproducing reality. Theyre about telling stories.

No heating system can deliver perfectly uniform temperatures throughout a house, and drafts can magnify the perceived difference in temperatures. Try walking around with a thermometer.

If you still believe that aliens would travel hundreds of light years to carve temporary graffiti in our wheat, then your imagination is one of the seven wonders of the world, and should be bronzed.

It bears mentioning that the Milky Way is only one of 150 billion galaxies visible to our telescopes - and each of these will have its own complement of planets.

Everything you see is filtered through your visual system (imperfect) and your brain (also imperfect, despite what your mom told you). Witness testimony is the worst kind of evidence in science.

A practical way to travel between the stars is a must-have for space opera, and a sine qua non for our frequently vaunted future as a galactic society.

Oh, sometimes I think it is of no use to make friends. They only go out of your life after awhile and leave a hurt that is worse than the emptiness before they came.

as they mock you due to your loss, you rise back strong and agile to win

Granted, not all uneducated women are prostitutes, and, not all prostitutes are uneducated. However, where building a family is employment, an uneducated woman's womb is her diploma.

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

I am mildly addicted to Mucinex-D. I feel like I should just come clean about that.

A life of unremitting caution, without the carefree - or even, occasionally, the careless - may turn out to be half a life.

The difference between Hitler's speeches and Churchill's speeches was that Hitler made you think he could do anything; Churchill made you think you could do anything.

Ive never supported a payroll tax.

It's hard to imagine her ever having felt lost, but it's impossible to know the people your parents were before they were your parents.