The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no in the endeavor of science. We do not know in advance who will discover fundamental insights.

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

The usual rejoinder to someone who says 'They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Galileo' is to say 'But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown'.

Nevertheless, (Jefferson) believed that the habit of skepticism is an essential prerequisite for responsible citizenship. He argued that the cost of education is trivial compared to the cost of ignorance, of leaving government to the wolves. He taught that the country is safe only when the people rule.

A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars - billions upon billions of stars. Every star may be a sun to someone.

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.

Man is the matter of the cosmos, contemplating itself.