Is a mountain only a huge stone? Is a planet an enormous mountain?

A specialist is a barbarian whose ignorance is not well-rounded.

A writer should not run around with a mirror for his countrymen; he should tell his society and his times things no one ever thought before.

What gave you this idea of an imperfect god?' 'I don't know. It seems quite feasible to me. That is the only god I could imagine believing in, a god whose passion is not a redemption, who saves nothing, fulfills no purpose--a god who simply is.

Burn with that consuming fire of objectivity that forces a man to renew efforts that are doomed to failure.

If man had more of a sense of humor, things might have turned out differently.

And yet we knew, for a certainty, that when first emissaries of Earth went walking among the planets, Earth's other sons would be dreaming not about such expeditions but about a piece of bread.