If you took all the sand from all the beaches, all the desserts, and all the oceans and called that the Universe, our whole solar system would be less than one grain of sand.

If this is the only planet on which not only life, but intelligent life, has arisen, that would be very unusual.

Our brains are wired to interpret shapes as faces and bodies. That's why people see the Virgin Mary in the clouds or even in cheese sandwiches. It's your cytoplasm, not some strange ectoplasm.

The search for extra-terrestrial life is a failure until that moment when it suddenly becomes a success.

Despite the impression you may have from watching too much TV, movies are not about reproducing reality. Theyre about telling stories.

No heating system can deliver perfectly uniform temperatures throughout a house, and drafts can magnify the perceived difference in temperatures. Try walking around with a thermometer.

If you still believe that aliens would travel hundreds of light years to carve temporary graffiti in our wheat, then your imagination is one of the seven wonders of the world, and should be bronzed.

It bears mentioning that the Milky Way is only one of 150 billion galaxies visible to our telescopes - and each of these will have its own complement of planets.

Everything you see is filtered through your visual system (imperfect) and your brain (also imperfect, despite what your mom told you). Witness testimony is the worst kind of evidence in science.

Typically, only about 2 percent of the American populace tunes in to PBS's 'Nova' series - the most successful science show on the tube. 'Survivor' and 'X Factor' get twice the ratings.

A practical way to travel between the stars is a must-have for space opera, and a sine qua non for our frequently vaunted future as a galactic society.

It's too theatrical not to express yourself constantly.

There is room in our ranks for the old and decrepit, as well as the young and vigorous.

No power of government ought to be employed in the endeavor to establish any system or article of belief on the subject of religion.

To the contrary, I think we bent over backwards to press for elections and for democratic reform.

I think every chef should have a food truck. It's a good way to test the markets, to invest in meeting the future restaurant goers.

If it's not scheduled, it's not real.

I think the less individuality you portray... not individuality but like the more solidarity you have the better.

I love the idea of having a kid who says, 'Yeah, of course I knew about Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash when I was nine years old.'

Make things better than they have to be.

I don't think an NC-17 rating is the kiss of death. Nor do I think that, in the hands of the right filmmakers, studios have a preconceived notion to pass on NC-17 material.