Things are rarely just crazy enough to work, but they're frequently just crazy enough to fail hilariously.

But I’ve never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitations of humans. I see it as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive.

Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out.

I never trust anyone who's more excited about success than about doing the thing they want to be successful at.

You don't use science to show you're right, you use science to become right.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me think I deserved it.

The role of gender in society is the most complicated thing I’ve ever spent a lot of time learning about, and I’ve spent a lot of time learning about quantum mechanics.

Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing ‘look over there.’

If at first you don't succeed, that's one data point.

You don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.

There are so many adventures that you miss because you're waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.

A child s a special possession from God.

The study of social progress is to-day not less needed in literature than is the analysis of the human heart.

What if all possible pain was only the grief of truth?

The hardest exercise for most of us fat people is that one where we push our chairback from the dinner table.

Sometimes - this is a tough one - not everyone can handle the truth. Sometimes you have to take a beat. But if you can take that beat, and take the high road, it'll serve you in the long run.

Just because others have it worse doesn’t mean you have to suffer in silence.

Gardening is a humbling experience.

Scientists should continue doing what they've always done, which is to understand the Earth as well as they can.

The ability of Americans to toss off oppressive characters is the most rewarding aspect, to me, of U.S. history.

You have to remain positive and just try your best and part of that is doing things that continually surprise people, including yourself, so that you don't get pigeon-holed.