In the long run, there are no secrets. in science. The universe will not cooperate in a cover-up.

Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests.

I believe any malevolent supercivilisation would have rapidly self-destructed as we may be in the process of doing ourselves. If we do have contact, physical contact with aliens, I think it will be benign.

It was one thing to have guessed it, another to have had that guess confirmed beyond possibility of refutation.

My favorite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence'.

The fact that we have not yet found the slightest evidence for life - much less intelligence - beyond this Earth does not surprise or disappoint me in the least. Our technology must still be laughably primitive, we may be like jungle savages listening for the throbbing of tom-toms while the ether around them carries more words per second than they could utter in a lifetime.

There is the possibility that humankind can outgrow its infantile tendencies, as I suggested in 'Childhood's End.' But it is amazing how childishly gullible humans are.