Quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson

I dont know anybody who said, I love that teacher, he or she gave a really good homework set, or Boy, that was the best class I ever took because those exams were awesome. Thats not what people want to talk about. Its not what influences people in one profession or another.

I cant tell you how many people say they were turned off from science because of a science teacher that completely sucked out all the inspiration and enthusiasm they had for the course.

For me at age 11, I had a pair of binoculars and looked up to the moon, and the moon wasnt just bigger, it was better. There were mountains and valleys and craters and shadows. And it came alive.

I think that intelligence is such a narrow branch of the tree of life - this branch of primates we call humans. No other animal, by our definition, can be considered intelligent. So intelligence cant be all that important for survival, because there are so many animals that dont have what we call intelligence, and theyre surviving just fine.

When we see animals doing remarkable things, how do we know if were simply seeing tricks or signs of real intelligence? Are talented animals just obeying commands, or do they have some kind of deeper understanding? One of the biggest challenges for animal researchers is to come up with tests that can distinguish between the two.

What people are really after is, what is my stance on religion or spirituality or God? And I would say, if I find a word that came closest, it would be agnostic.

I know of no time in human history where ignorance was better than knowledge.

In the animal kingdom, one of the keys to survival is to outwit your enemies. And when youre surrounded by carnivores, one of the best strategies is to fade into the background and disappear.

Humans arent as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.

Ive spent quality time in the aerospace community, with my service on two presidential commissions, but at heart, Im an academic. Being an academic means I dont wield power over person, place or thing. I dont command armies; I dont lead labor unions. All I have is the power of thought.

Innovations in science and technology are the engines of the 21st-century economy; if you care about the wealth and health of your nation tomorrow, then youd better rethink how you allocate taxes to fund science. The federal budget needs to recognize this.

Stephen Hawkings been watching too many Hollywood movies. I think the only kind aliens in Hollywood are the ones created by Steven Spielberg - Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., for example. All other aliens are trying to suck our brains out.

Although Im not actually embarrassed by this, I tend not to read books that have awesome movies made from them, regardless of how well or badly the movie represented the actual written story.

There is no greater education than one that is self-driven.

One of my great laments is that education today seems to have... be less about passion and more about process, more about tactic or technique.

Perhaps weve never been visited by aliens because they have looked upon Earth and decided theres no sign of intelligent life.

I have a personal philosophy in life: If somebody else can do something that Im doing, they should do it. And what I want to do is find things that would represent a unique contribution to the world - the contribution that only I, and my portfolio of talents, can make happen. Those are my priorities in life.

We explore our environment, more than we are compelled to utter poetry, when were toddlers. We start doing that later. Before that happens, every child is a scientist.

Passion is what gets you through the hardest times that might otherwise make strong men weak, or make you give up.

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 were alone in the universe.