Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

Extraordinary observations require extraordinary evidence to make them believable.

One of the great commandments of science is: 'Mistrust arguments from authority.'

First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

Cleverly designed experiments are the key.

The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff

A stars rich in europium; of distant galaxies analyzed through the collective light of a hundred billion constituent stars. Astronomical spectroscopy is an almost magical technique. It amazes me still. Auguste Comte picked a particularly unfortunate example.