Indeed the reasoned criticism of a prevailing belief is a service to the proponents of that belief; if they are incapable of defending it, they are well advised to abandon it. This self-questioning and error-correcting aspect of the scientific method is its most striking property.

Our intelligence is imperfect, surely, and newly arisen; the ease with which it can be sweet-talked, overwhelmed, or subverted by other hardwired propensities - sometimes themselves disguised as the cool light of reason - is worrisome.

Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological state plans for it. Everyone knows it is madness, and every nation has an excuse

We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands.

I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos in which we float, like a mote of dust in the morning sky.

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe

Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns.