All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star stuff.

Our passion for learning ... is our tool for survival.

The method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.

The very act of understanding is a celebration of joining, merging, even if on a very modest scale, with the magnificence of the Cosmos.

In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken..."

I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive.

In the deepest sense the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.