I don't think there are any secrets to writing in the - everybody has their own techniques. You must be widely read, that's one thing, because you have to resolve a tremendous amount of background information. Also, you should know what the competition is writing, just so you're not wasting your time doing the same thing. Unless you do it better, of course.

I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers.

Judge me by my deeds, though they are few, rather than my words, though they are many.

I don't think there is such a thing as as a real prophet. You can never predict the future. We know why now, of course; chaos theory, which I got very interested in, shows you can never predict the future.

Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

Sometimes a decision has to be made by a single individual, who has the authority to enforce it. That's why you need a captain. You can't run a ship by a committee-at least not all the time.

Don't mess up the environment until you're quite sure what you're doing.