Usually the wacky people have the breakthroughs. The smart people dont.

In 12 or 15 years, there will be routine, affordable space tourism not just in the U.S. but in a lot of countries.

A NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut can't be creative. He has to follow a predetermined detailed checklist written by an engineer and if he gets a little creative he'll never fly again.

I believe that research, that you can claim that you're doing research only if half of the people, and I'm talking about half of the experts, believe that the goal is impossible.

A true creator researches how to have confidence in nonsense.

NASA's myriad failures are in many ways the natural consequence of a catastrophic combination of bureaucracy, monopoly, and a calcifying aversion to the kind of risk necessary for innovation.

Everything looks nonsensical before it works.

Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding

I have a hunch the most important reason we're going to space is not known now.

Look at the aerospace industry as it was just after the Kennedy talk. We were hiring like crazy. We were trying to get people graduated from college. Hey, you got to go to the program. We need you.

It's not good enough for us to have generations of kids that ... look forward to a better version of a cell phone with a video in it. They need to look forward to exploration.

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there

External nature is only internal nature writ large.

Training is fabulous because it gives you a basis, a strong structure, so that when you're unbelievably nervous and you think that you can't get a word out, you will get the word out.

Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Of course, people with guns kill more people. But that's only natural. It's hard. But it's fair.

You know you're screwed when a Western doctor recommends acupuncture.

There is nothing namable but that some men will, or undertake to, do it for pay.

I can't stand the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard!

Without freedom, there is no creation.

You must find a way to get your vision seen, implemented, and contributed to by others.

Take this wealth and this fame, always stay humble, keep your family close, and do ridiculously crazy things.