Quote

Exploration is what you do when you don't know what you're doing. That's what scientists do every day. If a scientist already knew what they were doing, they wouldn't be discovering anything, because they already knew what they were doing.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Neil deGrasse Tyson
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: October 5
Actor
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Cosmologist
Non-Fiction Writer
Philosopher
Physicist
Science Communicator
Science Writer
Teacher
Trekkie
The Bronx
New York City
Neil Tyson
Anything
Every
Exploration
Discovering
Scientists
Scientist
Wouldn
Already
Knew

More quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Image
I don't see why there is no intelligent alien life in the universe.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
It seems that we're better at finding someone to blame for our problems than we are at finding creative solutions to fix them.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Only when creative people take ownership of cosmic discovery will society accept science as the cultural activity that it is.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The day we stop exploring is the day we commit ourselves to live in a stagnant world, devoid of curiosity, empty of dreams.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The telescope... is a conduit to the cosmos.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
We are all connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically and to the rest of the universe atomically. That's kinda cool! That makes me smile and I actually feel quite large at the end of that. It's not that we are better than the universe, we are part of the universe. We are in the universe and the universe is in us.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The more I learn about the universe, the less convinced I am that there's any sort of benevolent force that has anything to do with it, at all.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The typical person has no trouble believing without knowing. What people need to realize is simply that you do not need to believe to know.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
There's a saying in the scientific community, that every great truth goes through three phases. First, people deny it. Second, they say that it conflicts with the Bible. Third, they say that they've known it all along.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Science is a way of equipping yourself with the tools to interpret what happens in front of you.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The history of exploration across nations and across time is not one where nations said, 'Let's explore because it's fun.' It was, 'Let's explore so that we can claim lands for our country, so that we can open up new trade routes let's explore so we can become more powerful.'
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
If all that you see, do, measure and discover is the will of a deity, then ideas can never be proven wrong, you have no predictive power, and you are at a loss to understand the principles behind most of the fundamental interconnections of nature.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
If the people of Comic-Con ruled the world...then tomorrow would be invented every day.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
If something comes up that is completely freaky, it's spiritual-looking to the scientist, the first explanation is not going to be that it's God, because the history of that has failed. It would have to be, like, the hundredth explanation.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
If there's some kind of rock star status, would I be irresponsible if I didn't somehow use it for a continued greater good? I'm always involved in some way with reaching the public.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
You don't take a dead cat to the vet. I mean you might, but why?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
I don't want to go back into space for military reasons, but the economic driver still remains. And so it's a matter of people understanding how that economic driver is revealed with healthy investments on the space frontier.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Practically every food you buy in a store for consumption by humans is genetically modified food. There are no wild, seedless watermelons. There’s no wild cows.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
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
Image
Unlike what you may be told in other sectors of life, when observing the universe, size does matter, which often leads to polite ‘telescope envy’ at gatherings of amateur astronomers.
Neil deGrasse Tyson