Neil DeGrasse Tyson Quotes

As an American, I grew up in an era where we led the world in everything. Everything!

If Pizza sizes were given in area not diameter, you'd see instantly that a 7 inch is less than half the size of a 10 inch pie

We need to look at NASA, not as a handout, but as an investment.

Never presume that just because you disagree with an idea that you must be correct.

When I shop for fruit & melons I like to hold a grape next to a cantaloupe & think of Earth next to Jupiter. Then I eat Earth.

We live on this speck called Earth - think about what you might do, today or tomorrow - and make the most of it.

There is no shame in not knowing. The problem arises when irrational thought and attendant behavior fill the vacuum left by ignorance.

Also, where does your identity come from? Your memory, of course.

It turns out our brain is sensitive, maybe too sensitive, to motion. It's a survival mechanism.

To learn that it's easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself.

Science needs the light of free expression to flourish. It depends on the fearless questioning of authority, and the open exchange of ideas.

We have people who believe they are scientifically literate but, in fact, are not.

If the people of Comic-Con ruled the world ... then tomorrow would be invented every day.

Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance.

The telescope ... is a conduit to the cosmos.

There's no denying the public's appetite for cosmic discovery.

The good thing about the laws of physics is that they require no law enforcement agencies to maintain them

I love the smell of the universe in the morning.

Adults, who outnumber kids four or five to one, are in charge. We wield the resources, run the world, and completely thwart kids' creativity.

Where ignorance lurks, so too do the frontiers of discovery and imagination

One of the most significant events in our distant past is still perhaps the greatest mystery: the origins of life itself.

That is, cosmic dark matter enjoys about six times the mass of all the visible matter.

If you want a nation to have space exploration ambitions, you've got to send humans.

Dreams about the future are always filled with gadgets.

Doing what has never been done before is intellectually seductive, whether or not we deem it practical.

The limits on your enlightenment come not from the age you stopped going to school but from the age you stopped being curious.

Can space exist in the absence of matter, if matter defines the edge of space?" Merlin

I love being wrong because that means in that instant, I learned something new that day.

All of the full moons for the entire year are special in that they have particular names.

Kids are born curious about the world. What adults primarily do in the presence of kids is unwittingly thwart the curiosity of children.

The supermoon is a 16-inch pizza compared with a 15-inch pizza. It's a slightly bigger moon; I ain't using the adjective 'supermoon.'

Merlin prefers to think of space as the regions between all the particles of all the atoms of the universe.

I never volunteer to talk about god or religion, but people feel compelled to talk about it.

Gamma rays are the sort of radiation you should avoid. Want proof? Just remember how the comic strip character "The Hulk" became big, green, and ugly.

The humblest person in this world is the astrophysicist. Because we are face to face with our ignorance every single day.

Nonetheless, they remind us that ignorance is the natural state of mind for a research scientist.

It's part of our pop culture to give animals human personalities and talents.

The less evidence we have for what we believe is certain, the more violently we defend beliefs against those who don't agree.

People who are scientists today are scientists in spite of the system, typically, not because of it.

The iron from that meteorite and the iron from your blood have common origin in the core of a star.

It's the great tragedy - people employed in ways that don't fully tap everything they do best in life.

I think the best thing a parent can do, when raising a child, is simply get out of their way.

How much would you pay ... for the Universe?

Before we start talking about genetic differences, you gotta come up with a system where there's equal opportunity,

In life and in the universe it's always best to keep looking up.

To earn the right to be criticized on a scientific level is a high compliment indeed.

The Venus transit is not a spectacle the way a total solar eclipse is a spectacle.

The Physics of Immortality,

All the traditional STEM fields, the science, technology, engineering, and math fields, are stoked when you dream big in an agency such as NASA.

The last person I ever want working for me is someone who says 'that's not in my job description.

Our five senses are faulty data-taking devices, and they need help.

The day gets about one second longer every 67,000 years.

I was born the same week NASA was founded, so we're the same age and feel some of the same pains, joys, and frustrations.

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

I'm often asked whether I believe in Global Warming. I now just reply with the question: "Do you believe in Gravity?"

God displayed a sense of humor when he configured the region between our legs an entertainment complex built around a sewage system.

Italy valued cathedrals while Spain valued explorers. So worldwide, five times as many people speak Spanish than Italian.

It may be that our cosmic curiosity ... is a genetically-encoded force that we illuminate when we look up and wonder.

If you're scientifically literate, the world looks very different to you, and that understanding empowers you.

On Venus you could cook a 16-inch pepperoni pizza in seven seconds, just by holding it out to the air. (Yes, I did the math.)

I never got into 'Star Wars.' Maybe because they made no attempt to portray real physics. At all.

Curiously, light-loving green plants reject the Sun's green light, reflecting it back at you, which is why they look green.

Society needs to see science not as a luxury of funding but as a fundamental activity that drives enlightenment, economics, and security.

Science is basically an inoculation against charlatans.

What are you doing? Why are you concerning yourself with the meaning of meaning?

Imagination alone is not enough, because the reality of nature is far more wondrous than anything we can imagine

The day we stop exploring is the day we commit ourselves to live in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity, empty of dreams.

You don't take a dead cat to the vet. I mean you might, but why?

The past is another planet.

I've accomplished enough in life so that I do not fear death.

When students cheat on exams it's because our school system values grades more than students value learning.

If the universe is anything, it should be fun.

I have yet to see a successful prediction about the physical world that was inferred or extrapolated from the content of any religions document.

Scientific literacy is an intellectual vaccine against the claims of charlatans who would exploit ignorance

When NASA says they're going into space, they don't mean up and back. They mean orbit.

Need a distraction today? Not only does 12 + 1 = 11 + 2, but the letters "twelve plus one" rearrange to give you "eleven plus two."

The Big Bang Theory: When geeky scientists can be main characters in a hit prime time series, you know there's hope for the world.

Any time we are answer-driven rather than idea driven, we have lost the true meaning of education.

I don't want to die ... I don't want to die poor. Two great motivators in the history of human cultures.

Aliens might be surprised to learn that in a cosmos with limitless starlight, humans kill for energy sources buried in the sand

We are born of this universe, we live in this universe, and the universe is in us.

Perhaps we've never been visited by aliens because they have looked upon Earth and decided there's no sign of intelligent life.

Everyone should have their mind blown once a day.

The power and beauty of physical laws is that they apply everywhere, whether or not you choose to believe in them.

Photons are accurately and legitimately described as waves and particles at the same time. They are genuine wavicles.

I don't comment on the physics errors of 'Star Wars,' all right. I just - you let that one go.

Not only do we live among the stars, the stars live within us.

Yes, Einstein was a badass.

Let there be no doubt that as they are currently practiced, there is no common ground between science and religion.

We are, each of us, a little Universe

The ordinary photon is a member of the boson family.

The universe's destiny has very little to do with the near-term destiny of Earth.

Would a NASA reality show "Lunar Shore" be more popular than "Jersey Shore?" Civilization's future depends on that answer.

And behold the greatest mystery of them all: an unopened can of diet Pepsi floats in water while an unopened can of regular Pepsi sinks.

I fear living a life where I could have accomplished something and didn't. That's what I fear. I don't fear death.

Claiming there is no other life in the universe is like scooping up some water, looking at the cup and claiming there are no whales in the ocean.

America 2012: The Learning Channel has HoneyBooBoo, History Channel has PawnStars: and the Science Channel has PumpkinChunkin

For centuries, magicians have intuitively taken advantage of the inner workings of our brains.

Geek e-mail sign-off: No trees were killed to send this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

The greatest teachers are the ones that turn a B student into an A student, or a failing student into a B student.