“Understanding the laws of nature does not mean that we are immune to their operations.”

“I have a very simple philosophy of life:Kindness. Ferocious, unrelenting, ruthless, committed, passionate, kindness.Life is sacred everywhere. We all have better things to do than beat each other up.Arguing for the exception is to invest it with energy, it's to negotiate the loophole. The commitment to kindness must be total.”

“Fantasy isn't about escape; it's a survival mechanism. It's a way to deal with things that are so much bigger than you are. So I think fantasy is special, something to be cherished and protected because it's a very fragile thing and without it, we're so defenseless, we're paralyzed.”

“In the 20th century, we had a century where at the beginning of the century, most of the world was agricultural and industry was very primitive. At the end of that century, we had men in orbit, we had been to the moon, we had people with cell phones and colour televisions and the Internet and amazing medical technology of all kinds.”

“Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order.”

“If you were a kid in 1955, you would pick up a copy of 'Popular Science' and it would say, 'This is the kind of car you're going to be driving in five years or in 20 years you'll be able to take a jet plane from New York to London in four hours,' or something like that. We actually got used to the idea that the future's going to be different.”

“'Star Trek' is the McDonald's of science fiction; it's fast food storytelling. Every problem is like every other problem. They all get solved in an hour. Nobody ever gets hurt, and nobody needs to care. You give up an hour of your time, and you don't really have to get involved. It's all plastic.”

“Understanding the laws of nature does not mean that we are immune to their operations.”

“Life is full of little surprises.Time travel is full of big ones.”

“Somebody should have warned the Trojans. Beware of gifts bearing Greeks.”

“The fifties are a peaceful time, a quiet sleeping time between two noisy bursts of years, a blue and white time filled with sweet yellow days, music and bright smelling memories.”