I hadn't realized quite how extraordinary Charles Lindbergh's achievement was in flying the Atlantic alone. He had never flown over open water before, but he flew straight to Dingle Bay in Ireland and then on to Paris, exactly as planned.

The great failure in education, much of the time, is the lack of excitement and stimulus

... it occurred to me that never again would he be seven years, one month and six days old, so we had better catch these moments while we can.

When you sit in a chair, you are not actually sitting there, but levitating above it at a height of one angstrom (a hundred millionth of a centimetre), your electrons and its electrons implacably opposed to any closer intimacy.

You may find that your parents are the most delightful people, but you don't want to live with them.

You can be a scientist and believe in god: the two can go hand in hand.

Have you ever seen Glenn Beck in operation? It is the most terrifying thing. It's so bad that you think he's going to announce in a minute that it's all a great con. He makes Sarah Palin look reasonable and steady.