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I don’t want people to say, ‘Something is true because Tyson says it is true.’ That’s not critical thinking.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Imagine a world in which we are all enlightened by objective truths rather than offended by them.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Enlightenment Imagination Objection Truth
God displayed a sense of humor when he configured the region between our legs an entertainment complex built around a sewage system.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Build Display Entertainment God Humor Ourselves System
Pretending to know everything closes the door to finding out what’s really there.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Close Pretend Reality
Practically every food you buy in a store for consumption by humans is genetically modified food. There are no wild, seedless watermelons. There’s no wild cows.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Buy Food Human Store Wild Yourself
You can’t have people making decisions about the future of the world who are scientifically illiterate. That’s a recipe for disaster. And I don’t mean just whether a politician is scientifically literate, but people who vote politicians into office.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Decision Disaster Future Literature Office People Politics Recipe Vote
The molecules that comprise our body are traceable to the crucibles of the centers of stars.These atoms and molecules are in us because, in fact, the universe is in us. And, we are not only figuratively, but literally, stardust.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Body Literature Stardom Universe
I love being wrong because that means in that instant, I learned something new that day.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Learning Love Myself Wrong
Somehow it’s O.K. for people to chuckle about not being good at math. Yet if I said, ‘I never learned to read,’ they’d say I was an illiterate dolt.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Goodness Literature Mathematics Myself People Reading
If we have the power to turn another planet into Earth, then we have the power to turn Earth back into Earth.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Earth Inspirational Motivational Planet Power
If you want to assert a truth, first make sure it’s not just an opinion that you desperately want to be true.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Desperate Opinion True Truth Yourself
Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to a problem.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Build Discover Philosophy Problem Program Science Smart
There is no shame in not knowing. The problem arises when irrational thought and attendant behavior fill the vacuum left by ignorance.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Ignorance Problem Shame Thinking Unknown
We live in a world where not everyone has the urge to help others. It is OK to encourage others to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, but if you do, just remember that some people have no boots.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Encouragement Live Need People World
Knowledge of the natural world and how it works should be counted as fundamental to informed governance. You can’t have a functioning democracy, if the electorate is under-informed or, worse, mis-informed.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Fundamental Information Knowledge Natural World
Claiming there is no other life in the universe is like scooping up some water, looking at the cup and claiming there are no whales in the ocean.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Life Ocean Universe Water
We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Fact Important Inspirational Motivational Ourselves Spiritual Universe
The universe is almost 14 billion years old, and, wow! Life had no problem starting here on Earth! I think it would be inexcusably egocentric of us to suggest that we’re alone in the universe.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Earth Old Thinking Universe
I dream of a world where the truth is what shapes people’s politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is true.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Dreams People Politics Thinking True Truth World
Imagination alone is not enough, because the reality of nature is far more wondrous than anything we can imagine.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Enough Imagination Nature Reality Wonderful
One thing in life is for certain, the more profoundly baffled you have been in your life, the more open your mind becomes to new ideas.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Ideas Life Mindset Open Yourself
I think the best thing a parent can do, when raising a child, is simply get out of their way.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Best Children Myself Raise Simplicity Thinking Way
My goal is not to shove information into your head. It’s to find ways to reignite the curiosity that we all had as children for the natural world. You don’t have to tell a child to explore the backyard.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Children Exploration Goal Head Ignition Information Yourself
If factual information upsets you, then you are creating a world that is not embracing objective truths, and that’s not how you advance a democracy.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Democracy Information Upset Yourself
It’s better to understand something than to memorize something.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Better Choice Remember Understand
When we try to look farther into the universe we come to what appears to be the end of space but actually it’s the beginning of time.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Appearance Beginning Time Try Universe
To be scientifically literate is to empower yourself to know when someone else is full of bullshit.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Empowerment Literature Science Yourself
For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And along the way, lessen the suffering of others. You’d be surprised how far that gets you.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Drive Philosophy Suffering Surprise World Yourself

I don’t want people to say, ‘Something is true because Tyson says it is true.’ That’s not critical thinking.

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I don’t want people to say, ‘Something is true because Tyson says it is true.’ That’s not critical thinking.

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