Quote

I try to keep this in mind when tied in to a rope 75 feet up in a tree... The history of ideas about our place in the universe has been a long series of let-downs for those who like to believe we are special.

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
Ideas
Series
Trying
Tree
Long
Feet
Mind
Special
Believe
Universe
Like
History
Downs
Keep
Rope
Place
Tied

More quotes by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Image
The persistent failures of controlled, double-blind experiments to support the claims of parapsychology suggest that what's going on is nonsense rather than sixth sense.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Why can't Pluto be a planet? Some people like Pluto. And if it doesn't exist then they don't have a favorite planet. Right? Please write back but not in cursive because I can't read cursive.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Curious that we spend more time congratulating people who have succeeded than encouraging people who have not.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
After 50 years of television, there's no other conclusion the aliens could draw, but that most humans are neurotic, death-hungry, dysfunctional idiots.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
I can't think that leaving Earth once is enough.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The first colony on Mars is not going to be built by a private company. How are you going to make money? You're not.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Give a kid a book, and you change the world. In a way, even the universe.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
People are really excited about robotic exploration. I understand the feeling there because, in fact, robots can do things humans can't. They can survive harsh conditions, they can explore places we would never go, plus you never actually have to bring them back.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
I didn't even know there were stars to look at to not see. If you don't know that they're there, you don't know that you're missing 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
When students cheat on exams, it's because our school system values grades more than students value learning.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
He invited people to sign a petition that demanded either strict control of, or a total ban on, dihydrogen monoxide.... Yes, 86 percent of the passersby voted to ban water (H2O) from the environment. Maybe that's what really happened to all the water on Mars.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Wow, monitor lizards are pretty gnarly creatures. I want to go with the monitor lizard. That's just weird enough to be true. No?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
We in astrophysics we think of the universe all the time. So to us, Earth is just another planet. From a distance, it's a speck. And I'm convinced that if everyone had a cosmic perspective you wouldn't have legions of armies waging war on other people because someone would say, Stop, look at the universe.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Quantum physics fluctuates all the time. But now the fluctuations are not just particles coming into and out of existence, which happens all the time. It's whole universes coming into and out of existence.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
The only accounting we had of the origins and the structure of nature was Biblical Genesis.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Next time you're stunned by a large moon on the horizon, bend over and view it between your legs. The effect goes away entirely.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
Miniaturization of electronics started by NASA's push became an entire consumer products industry. Now we're carrying the complete works of Beethoven on a lapel pin listening to it in headphones.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
What are you doing? Why are you concerning yourself with the meaning of meaning?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Image
When we try to look farther into the universe we come to what appears to be the end of space but actually it's the beginning of time.
Neil deGrasse Tyson