It was getting the results that made science worth doing; the accolades were a thin, secondary pleasure.

Once you've grown up in space, moving on means moving out, not going back to Earth. Nobody wants to be a groundpounder.

When the chemistry is right, all the experiments work.

(Crank theories) always violated the first rule of a scientific model: they were uncheckable.

People fear their hidden selves, afraid that they will burst out.

Any technology that does not appear magical is insufficiently advanced.

In a tough situation, don't avoid acting just because it's easier or comfortable. Don't lapse into a passive state. People who give up, die.

To shine is better than to reflect.

Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available

Science is like literature, a continuing dialog among diverse and conflicting voices, no one ever wholly right or wholly wrong, but a steady conversation forever provisional and personal and living.

I don't get even, I get odder.

I’m not good enough for Duke.” “I’m good enough for you.

Can you wait until I'm gone to be her boyfriend? Cause right now, I like to think of you as my boyfriend.

If the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.

The best way to be thankful is to use the goods the gods provide you.

Why do you have to go and make Things so complicated.

You cannot even begin to understand contemporary African politics if you have not read this fascinating book

Eloquence is the essential thing in a speech, not information.

When an American heiress wants to buy a man, she at once crosses the Atlantic. The only really materialistic people I have ever met have been Europeans.

Stories, like whiskey, must be allowed to mature in the cask.

A bad feeling is a commotion of the mind repugnant to reason, and against nature.