Pretending to know everything closes the door to finding out what's really there. Neil deGrasse Tyson More Quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson More Quotes From Neil deGrasse Tyson Artificial selection turned the wolf into the shepherd, and the wild grasses into wheat and corn. In fact, almost every plant and animal that we eat today was bred from a wild, less edible ancestor. If artificial selection can work such profound changes in only ten or fifteen thousand years, what can natural selection do operating over billions of years? The answer is all the beauty and diversity of life. Neil deGrasse Tyson animal profound years We are in the universe and the universe is in us. Neil deGrasse Tyson universe No one is dumb who is curious. Neil deGrasse Tyson curious dumb You don't need to be a scientist to know Earth's age or that life evolved. You just need be one who embraces objective truths Neil deGrasse Tyson objective-truth age needs Not only do we live among the stars, the stars live within us. Neil deGrasse Tyson stars It makes good sense to revere the sun and the stars ... because we are their children Neil deGrasse Tyson stars sun children Whenever people have used religious documents to make accurate predictions about our base knowledge of the physical world, they have been famously wrong. Neil deGrasse Tyson religious science people Science is a way of equipping yourself with the tools to interpret what happens in front of you. Neil deGrasse Tyson tools happens way Not only are we in the universe, the universe is in us. I don't know of any deeper spiritual feeling than what that brings upon me. Neil deGrasse Tyson religious spiritual science When students cheat on exams, it's because our school system values grades more than students value learning. Neil deGrasse Tyson wisdom education cheating Never presume that just because you disagree with an idea that you must be correct. Neil deGrasse Tyson disagree ideas Intelligent life can't be all that common because it's really rare on Earth and especially since we define ourselves to be intelligent. But in the eyes of an alien coming here who has the technology to make it here, they might observe us and conclude that there's no sign of intelligent life on Earth. Neil deGrasse Tyson technology intelligent eye Does the full moon affect people's behavior, you ask? Yup. It makes people think the full moon affects people's behavior. Neil deGrasse Tyson moon people thinking In science, if you don't do it, somebody else will. Whereas in art, if Beethoven didn't compose the 'Ninth Symphony,' no one else before or after is going to compose the 'Ninth Symphony' that he composed; no one else is going to paint 'Starry Night' by van Gogh. Neil deGrasse Tyson symphony night art Science is basically an inoculation against charlatans. Neil deGrasse Tyson charlatans bad-ass NASA was invented as a response to Cold War steps. There are those who presumed that we went to the moon because we're explorers. We went to the moon because we were at war with the Soviet Union. And so when it became clear that they (Soviet Union) were not going to the moon, we're done with the moon. Neil deGrasse Tyson unions moon war I don't want to go into space because of war. I think we would if it was triggered. If China said they want to put military bases on Mars, we'd be at Mars in two years. That would be quick. I don't want that to be the reason. Neil deGrasse Tyson military war thinking When asked about which scientist he'd like to meet, Neil deGrasse Tyson said, "Isaac Newton. No question about it. The smartest person ever to walk the face of this earth. The man was connected to the universe in spooky ways. He discovered the laws of motion, the laws of gravity, the laws of optics. Then he turned 26. Neil deGrasse Tyson earth law men Creativity is seeing what everyone else sees, but then thinking a new thought that has never been thought before and expressing it somehow. It could be with art, a sculpture, music or even in science. The difference, however, between scientific creativity and any other kind of creativity, is that no matter how long you wait, no one else will ever compose "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony" except for Beethoven. No matter what you do, no one else will paint Van Gogh's "Starry Night." Only Van Gogh could do that because it came from his creativity. Neil deGrasse Tyson creativity night art But to carve the Grand Canyon, Earth required millions of years. To excavate Meteor Crater, the universe, using a sixty-thousand-ton asteroid traveling upward of twenty miles per second, required a fraction of a second. No offense to Grand Canyon lovers, but for my money, Meteor Crater is the most amazing natural landmark in the world. Neil deGrasse Tyson twenties world years
