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• Even if we put all these nagging thoughts [four embarrassing questions about astrology] aside for a moment, one overriding question remains to be asked.
  Why would the positions of celestial objects at the moment of birth have an effect on our characters, lives, or destinies?...
• The most savage controversies are about those matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
  -- Bertrand Russell...
• hose who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded .
  . . Sad, indeed, is it to see how men occupy themselves with trivialities, and are indifferent to the grandest phenomena-- care not to understand the architecture of the heavens, but are deeply interested in some contemptible controversy about the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots!...
• Two things are certain about science. It does not stand still for long, and it is never boring.
  Oh, among some poor souls, including even intellectuals in fields of high scholarship, science is frequently misperceived....
• The only way to have real success in science, the field I'm familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be.
  If you have a theory, you must try to explain what's good and what's bad about it equally....
• There is no conclusive evidence of life after death.
  But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know....
• A serious public debate about the validity of astrology?
  A serious believer in the White House? Two of them?...
• Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof. There are many examples of outsiders who eventually overthrew entrenched scientific orthodoxies, but they prevailed with irrefutable data.
  More often, egregious findings that contradict well-established research turn out to be artifacts....
• In science, right conduct consists of evaluating evidence honestly and according to the canons of scientific reasoning.
  To misrepresent the evidence and the criteria of judgement is not merely to provide misinformatio...