All life is a struggle for existence. Why should it cease to be a struggle if it spreads among the stars?

The idea of determinism combined with complete human responsibility struck me as very hard to reconcile with an idea of justice, let alone mercy.

I don't really believe in the Devil, but if the Devil is the Father of Lies, then he certainly invented the Internet.

Hey, this is Europe. We took it from nobody; we won it from the bare soil that the ice left. The bones of our ancestors, and the stones of their works, are everywhere. Our liberties were won in wars and revolutions so terrible that we do not fear our governors: they fear us. Our children giggle and eat ice-cream in the palaces of past rulers. We snap our fingers at kings. We laugh at popes. When we have built up tyrants, we have brought them down. And we have nuclear ********* weapons.

Science fiction made me aware of how big and strange the universe was, leaving aside the whole question of aliens.

I'm a long-term optimist, and I don't think the problems with our society are from being overly optimistic.

Change the problem by changing your mind.