The Earth is a place. It is by no means the only place. It is not even a typical place.

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

I don't want to believe. I want to know.

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

You have to know the past to understand the present.

Laughter is a tranquilizer without after-effects.

We are taught words, not ideas.

Liberals want Conservatives to shut up. Conservatives want Liberals to keep talking. Because our arguments make sense and theirs don't

The more delicate and ambitious the soul, the further do dreams estrange it from possible things.

I am wholly in favour of 'dull stodges'. A surprising large proportion prove 'educable': for which a primary qualification is the willingness to do work.

She was a large, disordered woman, like a child's drawing that didn't stay within the lines.

I don't like seeing her this delicate.

There would be no advantage to be gained by sowing a field of wheat if the harvest did not return more than was sown.

Life without zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it dosen't tell time.

Every day is a good day.