The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.

If intelligence is our only edge, we must learn to use it better, to shape it, to understand its limitations and deficiencies -- to use it as cats use stealth, as katydids use camouflage -- to make it the tool of our survival.

I am not an atheist. An atheist is someone who has compelling evidence that there is no Judeo-Christian-Islamic God. I am not that wise, but neither do I consider there to be anything approaching adequate evidence for such a god. Why are you in such a hurry to make up your mind? Why not simply wait until there is compelling evidence?

Some racists still reject the plain testimony written in the DNA that all the races are not only human but nearly indistinguishable. . . .

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

We can't help it. Life looks for life.

Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.