“Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves.”

Every star may be a sun to someone.

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.

Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.

We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers.

Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.

The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.

The price we pay for anticipation of the future is anxiety about it.

We can’t help it. Life looks for life.

We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths.

Those at too great a distance may, I am well are, mistake ignorance for perspective.

Arguments from authority carry little weight, authorities have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.

Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.

Always seeing the best in people and choosing to avoid their faults.

Every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid.

Avoid him who talks sweetly before you but tries to ruin you behind your back, for he is like a pitcher of poison with milk on top.

The best way to avoid a hangover is to stay drunk.

I’ve told you the four thunderstorms – disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.

When we are in doubt whether an action is good or bad, abstain from it.

If there is anything good about nobility it is that it enforces the necessity of avoiding degeneracy.