Even Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Gregor Mendel, and Albert Einstein made serious mistakes. But the scientific enterprise arranges things so that teamwork prevails: What one of us, even the most brilliant among us, misses, another of us, even someone much less celebrated and capable, may detect and rectify.

We are not smart enough to decide which pieces of knowledge are permissible and which are not.

Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.

We live at a moment when our relationships to each other, and to all other beings with whom we share this planet, are up for grabs.

In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature.

Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society.

Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.