"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism."

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"A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable."

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"All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value."

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"But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown."

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"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."

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"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."

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"I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students."

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"I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star."