A single message from space will show that it is possible to live through technological adolescence. . . . It is possible that the future of human civilization depends on the receipt of interstellar messages.

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

When permitted to listen to alternative opinions and engage in substantive debate, people have been known to change their minds. It can happen.

We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands. The loom of time and space works the most astonishing transformations of matter.

We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

There are as many atoms in one molecule of DNA as there are stars in a typical galaxy.

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