We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged.

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.

What you call pride, I call courage.

Children of the light, live in the light.

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

I don't want to be Mr. Romantic Leading Man. I don't want to be the Dance Dude. I don't want to be the Action Guy. If I had to do any one of those all my life, it'd drive me crazy.

A toleration of slavery is, in effect, a toleration of inhumanity.

She knows what is the best purpose of education: not to be frightened by the best but to treat it as part of daily life.

I once stopped to pick up a girl, and then there was this creepy-looking guy standing behind the bushes waiting to jump out and get in, too. So I just quickly drove away.

Audiences believe what you believe. It's a matter of believing yourself. If I believe me, then you've got no choice. None at all.

If something is not right we give out about it. He is almost a Yorkshireman with a Portuguese accent.

You think America is the biggest place on Earth, but it's not. [The view from Mir] put everything in perspective.