I guess they just took it for granted that that was what I was interested in and let nature take its course.

Can you imagine young people nowadays making a study of trigonometry for the fun of it? Well I did.

I guess the two things I was most interested in were telescopes and steam engines. My father was an engineer on a threshing rig steam engine and I loved the machinery.

I have a lot of sympathy for young people because I realize how disturbed I was. How would I deal with life in the future? What would I do for a living?

Young man, I am afraid you are wasting your time. If there were any more planets they would have been found long before this.

Unfortunately, a lot of the concepts in the Bible are based on ancient mythology that doesn't fit the findings of science.

I was interested in telescopes and the way they worked because I had an intense desire to see what things looked like, so I learned how to use telescopes and find things in the sky.

You have to compete with others in the field. Sometimes the competition gets pretty fierce because you're competing for funds or grants to do your work, the financial work.

That's the way I got along in life. I don't ever remember being particularly jealous of anybody, because I figured if I can't do it myself, I don't deserve to get it.

When I was in the fourth grade, I became intensely interested in geography and I learned it well.

I think the driving thing was curiosity about the universe. That fascinated me. I didn't think anything about being famous or anything like that, I was just interested in the concepts involved.

The human person finds his perfection "in seeking and loving what is true and good.

We love out of compassion, passion or a sense of commitment.

I learned to play the instruments of war, " he said, "and paint in blood.

Well I'm finding it harderto be a gentleman every dayAll the manners that I've been taughthave slowly died awayBut if I held the door open for youIt wouldn't make your day.

‎There's no way to cheat a sensualist like me, somebody who can die laughing for hours over the pattern of the carpet in a hotel lobby.

I love little Peter Pan collars and little puff sleeves.

[Completely bored by a country weekend, wiring to a friend:] For heaven's sake, rush me a loaf of bread, enclosing saw and file.

We cannot help living in history. We can only fail to be aware of it.

You’re still waiting for the running and the screaming, aren’t you?

Asking God for a specific thing will amount to limiting God to a specific answer.