Adulthood isn't an award they'll give you for being a good child. You can waste years, trying to get someone to give that respect to you, as though it were a sort of promotion or raise in pay. If only you do enough, if only you are good enough. No. You have to just take it. Give it to yourself, I suppose. Say, I'm sorry you feel like that and walk away. But that's hard

It's an ancient and honorable term for the final step in any engineering project. Turn it on, see if it smokes.

I'm very interested in the impact of biotechnology on the way people live.

Whether you function as welders or inspectors, the laws of physics are implacable lie-detectors. You may fool men. You will never fool the metal.

The Imperial Service could win a war without coffee, but would prefer not to have to.

Anything worth achieving is worth overachieving.

I miss it every minute, and I have no wish at all to go back.