Curiosity and the urge to solve problems are the emotional hallmarks of our species.

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.

Our children long for realistic maps of the future that they can be proud of. Where are the cartographers of human purpose?

The Earth is a place. It is by no means the only place. It is not even a typical place.

There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy. And in the final tolling it often turns out that the facts are more comforting than the fantasy.