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.

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.

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.

Show me a man that gets rich by being a politician, and I'll show you a crook.

It won't be as easy, but lots of things that are worth doing aren't easy. It just takes commitment, discipline, and, most important, faith that it's all going to work out.

Your brand name and recognition is important. However, to create a lasting and remarkable impression, you must remember that you and your brand are as good as the value you bring to the marketplace.

We aren't different, from the others.

Rock & roll is not about what you play, it's about how you play it.

In one important respect a man is fortunate in being poor. His responsibility to God is so much the less

I stand before you to proclaim tonight: America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us.

I'll take any risk there is.

This is the generation whose first cry of life was the Hungarian uprising.

I first met Myra Henshawe when I was fifteen, but I had known her about ever since I could remember anything at all.