A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars - billions upon billions of stars. Every star may be a sun to someone.

Our concern for the future can be tested by how well we support our libraries.

A millennium before Europeans were willing to divest themselves of the Biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans were thinking of millions and the Hindus billions.

For a long time the human instinct to understand was thwarted by facile religious explanations.

Has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? . . . No other human institution comes close.

The lifetime of a human being is measured by decades, the lifetime of the Sun is a hundred million times longer. Compared to a star, we are like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out their lives in the course of a single day.

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.