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

"The notion that the pre-Copernican Earth was flat is a common misconception."

"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pie were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff."

"What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made of trees, with flexible parts on which are imprinted many dark squiggles. But it is still a world of strong emotion, of thought, of revelat…"

"We are a way for the cosmos to contemplate itself."