We had a lot of confidence that there was going to be a successful mission. We weren't off on some suicide effort, certainly [with Friendship 7].

As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.

The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.

To sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate.

We have an infinite amount to learn both from nature and from each other.

I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets.

There are times when you devote yourself to a higher cause than personal safety.

I suppose the one quality in an astronaut more powerful than any other is curiosity. They have to get some place nobody's ever been.

Too many people, when they get old, think that they have to live by the calendar.

Zero G and I feel fine.

I am a stranger. I come in peace. Take me to your leader and there will be a massive reward for you in eternity.

Happiness begins with you. Not with your relationship, your friends, or your job. but with you.

Run the race of life with your sacred strength.

The Path of Purpose is paved with healing. That healing goes as deep as the wound or only as deep as you let it.

There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.

We don't care to eat toadstools that think they are truffles.

We never lose our loved ones. The accompany us; they don't disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms.

I realized that everything important in sci-fi showed up in the magazines first. It's the proving ground for new writers and new ideas.

We must not only strike the iron while it is hot, but strike it till it is made hot.

I have a tendency, after a play of mine is produced, to look back on it disparagingly, seeing only its faults; before production, I see only its virtues.

I just don't see how anyone can hate America. I mean, crap, I live there. What more do you need?