Most geniuses are just talented people who get up really early in the morning.

It depends on your specific conception of God, because belief can equally well leave you with this constant sense that you're coming up short and you're being judged and you're not doing quite the perfect thing. You know, I was brought up very religiously, and I never totally lost that sense, you know, that I'm screwing up.

There is nothing scarier than a mediocre man with a mission.

Uncertainty is inevitable at the frontiers of knowledge.

Right-thinking people are not supposed to discuss any meteorological or geophysical event - a hurricane, a wildfire, a heat wave, a drought, a flood, a blizzard, a tornado, a lightning strike, an unfamiliar breeze, a strange tingling on the neck - without immediately invoking the climate crisis. It causes earthquakes, plagues and backyard gardening disappointments. Weird fungus on your tomato plants? Classic sign of global warming.

Coffee is one of the special things I have, instead of a social life.

Characters last. Beautiful writing lasts. A compelling narrative lasts. Art survives long after ideas go extinct.