Has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? . . . No other human institution comes close.

Indeed the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the proponents of that belief; if they are incapable of defending it, they are well advised to abandon it. This self-questioning and error-correcting aspect of the scientific method is its most striking property.

When you make the finding yourself - even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light - you'll never forget it.

If we offer too much silent assent about mysticism and superstition - even when it seems to be doing a little good - we abet a general climate in which scepticism is considered impolite, science tiresome, and rigorous thinking somehow stuffy and inappropriate.

Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you.

We are a way of the universe knowing itself.

There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That’s perfectly all right: it’s the aperture to finding out what’s right. Science is a self-correcting process.