"No. We have to stay here and there's a simple reason why. Ask ten different
scientists about the environment, population control, genetics and you'll get
ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet
agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or
a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that
happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe and Lao-Tzu, Einstein,
Morobuto, Buddy Holly, Aristophanes .. and all of this .. all of this was for
nothing unless we go to the stars."
"Then I will tell you a great secret, Captain. Perhaps the greatest of all time.
The molecules of your body are the same molecules that make up this station
and the nebula outside, that burn inside the stars themselves. We are starstuff,
we are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out. As we have both
learned, sometimes the universe requires a change of perspective."
"An old friend of mine once quoted me an ancient Egyptian blessing:
'God be between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk.'"
"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought,
wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen
to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort
in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
"Hey, come on Chief, it's not your fault. I heard what happened. You offered to
help, he walked away."
"Yeah, I know, but the thing is: sometimes people walk away because they want
to be alone, and sometimes they walk away because they want to see if you care
enough to follow them into hell. I think I went the wrong way."
