We love our planet Earth. We should - it is our home, and there's no place like home. There can't ever be a better place than Earth.

When we discover New Earth - a planet we could call home - the question of the plurality of worlds will come front and center, reminding us yet again that we are not the center of the universe.

My parents gave me a small telescope, then I built my own, and one thing led to another. So thats how I ended up going from being a hobby astronomer to a professional astronomer.

Deep and elegant explanations relate to natural or social phenomena and the observer often has no place in them.

In science, it is rare that a transformational change occurs during our lifetimes.

It feels great to discover a planet, just like any discovery in science, except that it has more of the feel of exploration - you can go back and look at it. However, I can never visit.

Life and the universe compare to each other like a child and a parent, parent and offspring.

Fear was stronger than the calculation of probabilities.

Nothing is final in history. It always moves on. Peace must be built again and again.

Be wary of smooth talkers. Words are rarely at your disposal if something is wholly, truly, completely true.

At some point in my early forties I realized that my primary goal in just about any verbal exchange is to lighten the mood.

I want people to listen to my lyrics and be okay with themselves. The people who have it the roughest are homosexuals who come out of the closet.

I don't like to sit back and gloat, because the world is fragile. Life is fragile, so I never really gloat.

My mom raise me so wonderfully. She gave me self esteem and made me appreciate my flaws, as well as my strengths.

The real honesty is a responsibility to the present moment. It needs tremendous awareness. You have to be honest to the present moment, not to the past, not to the future.

Yes, I wish I'd done it sooner.

For one who has really mastered the way of warfare, his enemy can do nothing to escape death.