I also wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes his oath of office, rather than to the flag and the nation

Scientists make mistakes. Accordingly, it is the job of the scientist to recognize our weakness, to examine the widest range of opinions, to be ruthlessly self-critical. Science is a collective enterprise with the error-correction machinery often running smoothly.

This oak tree and me, we're made of the same stuff.

All inquires carry with them some element of risk. There is no guarantee that the universe will conform to our predispositions.

When we look up at night and view the stars, everything we see is shinning because of distant nuclear fusion.

My parents were not scientists. They knew almost nothing about science. But in introducing me simultaneously to skepticism and to wonder, they taught me the two uneasily cohabiting modes of thought that are central to the scientific method.

The fact that someone says something doesn't mean it's true. Doesn't mean they're lying, but it doesn't mean it's true.