You are all stardust.

Celebrate our brief moment in the sun

The universe does not care what we want.

Without science, everything is a miracle.

90% of the mass in your body comes from empty space.

The universe is the way it is, whether we like it or not.

If I knew what the next big thing was, I'd be doing it now.

Forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.

If innovations were predictable, they wouldn't be discoveries.

Religious leaders need to be held accountable for their ideas.

Lack of comfort means we are on the threshold of new insights.

Aside from communications satellites, space is devoid of industry.

It is a shame when nonsense can substitute for fact with impunity.

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.

Keeping religion immune from criticism is both unwarranted and dangerous.

If you have nothing in quantum mechanics, you will always have something.

It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: you are all stardust.

I was most eager to see how Trump would respond to the climate-change question.

The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded.

For many, to live in a universe that may have no purpose, and no creator, is unthinkable.

I can't prove that God doesn't exist, but I'd much rather live in a universe without one.

To me, what philosophy does best is reflect on knowledge that's generated in other areas.

If our species is to survive, our future will probably require outposts beyond our own planet.

For a man with an impressive educational C.V., Ben Carson makes a lot of intellectual missteps.

It is, after all, impossible in the modern world to shield everyone from nonsense and stupidity.

There are a lot of legislators who are afraid that kids will learn science and lose their faith.

The really important thing is learning how to sceptically question and rely on empirical evidence.

Whatever the evolutionary basis of religion, the xenophobia it now generates is clearly maladaptive.

The lack of understanding of something is not evidence for God. It's evidence of a lack of understanding.

[The writers of the holy books] did not even know the earth revolves around the sun. Why are we listening?

A truly open mind means forcing our imaginations to conform to the evidence of reality, and not vice versa.

As a physicist, I've always found cosmology to be a rational elixir; it distances me from ordinary concerns.

The biggest conceptual change over the last 100 years in the way physicists think about the world is symmetry.

We need to walk into the future, no matter how unnerving, with open eyes if society is to keep pace with technology.

You shouldn't be afraid of science. Accepting the reality of nature makes life more exciting and even more precious.

We all trust each other to some extent. We have to rely on experts to some extent, but we should learn to be sceptical.

We live at a very special time . . . the only time when we can observationally verify that we live at a very special time!

Nothing can create something all the time due to the laws of quantum mechanics, and it's - it's fascinatingly interesting.

I cannot stress often enough that what science is all about is not proving things to be true but proving them to be false.

Empirical explorations ultimately change our understanding of which questions are important and fruitful and which are not.

Cabinet members may disagree and even resign in protest, but, ultimately, they must obey the order of the Commander-in-Chief.

There is a maxim about the universe which I always tell my students: That which is not explicitly forbidden is guaranteed to occur.

At the heart of quantum mechanics is a rule that sometimes governs politicians or CEOs-as long as no one is watching, anything goes.

By no definition of any modern scientist is intelligent design science, and it's a waste of our students' time to subject them to it.

The illusion of purpose and design is perhaps the most pervasive illusion about nature that science has to confront on a daily basis.

Metaphysical speculation is independent of the physical validity of the Big Bang itself and is irrelevant to our understanding of it.

The fact is that people would rather cling when they're afraid of something to a priori beliefs than rather open their minds about it.

Imagining living in a universe without purpose may prepare us to better face reality head on. I cannot see that this is such a bad thing.

The Bible is full of dubious scientific impossibilities, from Jonah living inside a whale, to the sun standing still in the sky for Joshua.

People are interested in science, but they don't always know they're interested in science, and so I try to find a way to get them interested.

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