Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

The arts put man at the center of the universe, whether he belongs there or not. Military science, on the other hand, treats man as garbage— and his children, and his cities, too. Military science is probably right about the contemptibility of man in the vastness of the universe. Still— I deny that contemptibility, and I beg you to deny it, through the creation of appreciation of art.

Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.

I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.

Jupiter's fly-by had been carried out with impeccable precision. Like a ball on a cosmic pool table, Discovery had bounced off the moving gravitational field of Jupiter, and had gained momentum from the impact. Without using any fuel, she had increased her speed by several thousand miles an hour.

Yet there was no violation of the laws of mechanics; Nature always balances her books, and Jupiter had lost exactly as much momentum as Discovery had gained. The planet had been slowed down - but as its mass was a sextillion times greater than the ship's, the change in its orbit was far too small to be detectable. The time had not yet come when Man could leave his mark upon the Solar System.

Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.