“The notion of a universe filled with cowards... who stay cowardly FOREVER, no matter how advanced they become... seems no[t] only unimaginative and temporally myopic, but deeply dismal, as well.”

“Only people with full stomachs become environmentalists.”

“Prison for the crime of puberty -- that was how secondary school had seemed.”

“Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.”

“If facts are inconvenient, well, damn those who live and work with facts.”

“Does the universe hate us? How many pitfalls lie ahead, waiting to shred our conceited molecule-clusters back into unthinking dust? Shall we count them?”

“But there is one more reason to protect other species. One seldom if ever mentioned. Perhaps we are the first to talk and think and build and aspire, but we may not be the last. Others may follow us in this adventure. Some day we may be judged by just how well we served, when alone we were Earth’s caretakers.”