The sacred truth of science is that there are no sacred truths.

The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.

I hold that popularization of science is successful if, at first, it does no more than spark the sense of wonder.

You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy making fun of all those other people who don't see things as clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it.

Science is only a Latin word for knowledge

We all have a thirst for wonder. It's a deeply human quality. Science and religion are both bound up with it. What I'm saying is, you don't have to make stories up, you don't have to exaggerate. There's wonder and awe enough in the real world. Nature's a lot better at inventing wonders than we are.

You could just as well say that an agnostic is a deeply religious person with at least a rudimentary knowledge of human fallibility.