That's the harm of Close Encounters: that it convinces tens of millions that that's what just science fiction is.

In the presence of total Darkness, the mind finds it absolutely necessary to create light.

One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order to create an environment that will suit them better.

While he lives, he must think; while he thinks, he must dream.

Intelligence is a valuable thing, but it is not usually the key to survival. Sheer fecundity ... usually counts. The intelligent gorilla doesn't do as well as the less intelligent but more-fecund rat, which doesn't do as well as the still-less-intelligent but still-more-fecund cockroach, which doesn't do as well as the minimally-intelligent but maximally-fecund bacterium.

During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.

I don't expect to live forever, nor do I repine over that, but I am weak enough to want to be remembered forever. - Yet how few of those who have lived, even of those who have accomplished far more than I have, linger on in world memory for even a single century after death