I just wanted to be the first one to fly for America, not because I'd end up in the pages of history books.

Obviously I was challenged by becoming a Naval aviator, by landing aboard aircraft carriers and so on.

It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.

When I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the Moon I cried

The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder.

Why don't you light that candle ?

You may not have any extra talent, but maybe you are just paying more attention to what you are doing.

I didn't mind studying. Obviously math and the physical science subjects interested me more than some of the more artistic subjects, but I think I was a pretty good student.

Got more dirt than ball. Here we go again.

We're going to see passengers in space stations in 15 years, who will be able to buy a ticket and spend a weekend in space.

I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on.

I think imagination is one of the greatest blessings of life, and while one can lose oneself in a book one can never be thoroughly unhappy.

The profession of film director can and should be such a high and precious one that no man aspiring to it can disregard any knowledge that will make him a better film director or human being.

Having been in Hollywood as a shadow, as someone who is almost invisible, I can see fame for what it is.

Are you the one with the blue eyes?" "Actually, my eyes are usually described as golden...and luminous.

A movie is never finished, only abandoned.

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

Thank you... preseason football, for having all the excitement, commercials, and time-outs of the regular season, but with none of the mattering. I appreciate it. Thank you.

The first sign of a 'smoking gun,' they argue, may be a mushroom cloud.

Why should we feel anger at the world? As if the world would notice?

Like the old Italian saying goes, 'It ain't rocket surgery.