Words are all we have.

The most important kind of freedom 

is to be what you really are. 

You trade in your reality for a rôle. 

You give up your ability to feel, 

and in exchange, 

put on a mask.

To be without some of the things you want 

is an indispensable part of happiness.

We must learn to value the acquisition of knowledge,

for its own sake,

and not just because it grows our economy

or allows us to build better bombs.

We must also learn to value the human race

and take responsibility for our own survival;

because there's nobody else out there to value us

or to look after us.

And finally, most important of all,

we must educate the next generation

in the great discoveries of science

and we must teach them to use the light of reason

to banish the darkness of superstition.

The ultimate value of life 

depends upon awareness 

and the power of contemplation 

rather than upon mere survival.

A man may imagine things that are false, 

but he can only understand things that are true, 

for if the things be false, 

the apprehension of them is not understanding.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; 

Genius hits a target no one else can see.

It does not matter how slowly you go 

as long as you do not stop.

Scientific discovery and scientific knowledge 

have been achieved 

only by those 

who have gone in pursuit of it 

without any practical purpose 

whatsoever 

in view.

Our life is what our thoughts make it.

No phenomenon is a real phenomenon 

until it is an observed phenomenon.

For me, it is far better 

to grasp the Universe as it really is 

than to persist in delusion, 

however satisfying and reassuring.

Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the Infinite.

The principal mark of genius 

is not perfection 

but originality, 

the opening of new frontiers.