The dumbing down of America is evident in the slow decay of substantive content, a kind of celebration of ignorance.
Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves.
Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.
We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way Galaxy which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up a universe which may be one of a very large number, perhaps an infinite number, of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is well worth pondering.
Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence
Our passion for learning ... is our tool for survival.
The words "question" and "quest" are cognates. Only through inquiry can we discover truth.
Who are we, if not measured by our impact on others?
You have to know the past to understand the present.
If I finish a book a week, I will read only a few thousand books in my lifetime, about a tenth of a percent of the contents of the greatest libraries of our time. The trick is to know which books to read.
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.
The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.
Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy.
Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.
Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us --- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.
Frederick Douglas taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn't he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why's he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there's one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He's not good at design, he's not good at execution. He'd be out of business, if there was any competition.
One of the great commandments of science is: 'Mistrust arguments from authority.'
we make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers
Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgement, the manner in which information is coordinated and used.
To live in the hearts of others is to never die in those we leave behind.
One of the greatest gifts adults can give - to their offspring and to their society - is to read to children.
An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.
If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power.
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