I say to the grown-ups, 'If you want to deny evolution and live in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we've observed in the universe that's fine. But don't make your kids do it.'

From an evolutionary standpoint you can't just wipe everything out and start over, and I don't think you can do it in the school system either.

Science is the key to our future, and if you don't believe in science, then you're holding everybody back.

Evolution is one of the most powerful and important ideas ever developed in the history of science. Every question it raises leads to new answers, new discoveries, and new smarter questions. The science of evolution is as expansive as nature itself. It is also the most meaningful creation story that humans have ever found.

Recommending or insisting on abstinence has been completely ineffective.

I feel that I've often pointed out that there are countless aspects of life and nature that scientists and scientific thinkers cannot explain. Why the universe is accelerating in its expansion and what came before the Big Bang serve as compelling examples. The process of science provides a way to seek answers to those questions.

If you meet somebody who says he or she has never dreamed of flying, I don't believe you. I mean, they're lying.