Phil Plait Quotes & Sayings

Other job markets may lay claim to the title, but astronomy is actually the world's oldest profession. — Phil Plait

The difference between the dinosaurs and us is that we have a space program and we can vote. — Phil Plait

If you took every nuclear weapon ever built at the height of the Cold War, lumped them together and blew them up at the same time, that would be one one-millionth of the energy released at that moment. — Phil Plait

I still hear some people say that science takes the wonder out of life. Those people are utterly wrong. Science takes us to the wonder — Phil Plait

When you're dealing with the universe, ignorance can be deadly. — Phil Plait

Astrology ... makes vague predictions that can always be adapted after the fact to fit observations, as we'll see. Astrologers don't seek causes at all, for a good reason: There isn't any cause to astrology. If you look for some underlying reason, some connection between the stars and planets and our lives, you won't find any. For astrology to sell, buyers must not seek out the fundamental principles behind it, because if they do they'll see that there is none. — Phil Plait

How do you convince someone they're not thinking clearly, when they're not thinking clearly? What we're actually saying is no magic, no afterlife, no higher moral authoritative father-figure, no security, and no happy ever after. This is a tough sell. — Phil Plait

The Universe is cool enough without making up crap about it. — Phil Plait

Pseudoscience is like a virus. At low levels, it's no big deal, but when it reaches a certain threshold it becomes sickening. — Phil Plait

It's dead obvious that creationism isn't science, or even bad science. It's nonsense. But I've long stated it's also bad religion, because it doesn't just take faith, it also takes a phenomenal disregard of reality. — Phil Plait

Teach a man to reason and he will think for a lifetime. — Phil Plait

You can experience the thrill of discovery, the incredible, visceral feeling of doing something no one has ever done before, see things no one has ever seen before, know something no one has ever known before ... Welcome to science, you're gonna like it here. — Phil Plait

However, science isn't just about showing when you're right; it's also about showing when you're wrong. — Phil Plait

It's amazing to me that not only can we put a probe around Saturn and get images of its moons, but our math and physics are so freaking accurate we can say, "Hey, you know what? On this date at this time if we turn Cassini that way we'll see a moon over 2 million kilometers away pass in front of another one nearly 3 million kilometers away."Every morning, I have a 50/50 chance of finding my keys. That kinda puts things in perspective. — Phil Plait

Some people try to tell me that science will never answer the big questions we have in life. To them I say: baloney! The real problem is your questions aren't big enough. — Phil Plait

The best idea ever thought of in the history of humanity is useless unless someone communicates it. It will die in the test tube. And in our case, what we're communicating here to people is not necessarily something they want to hear. And so, our demeanor - how we deliver this message - takes on crucial, crucial importance. — Phil Plait

Just like people, stars can be important without being terribly bright. — Phil Plait

Our solar system is fantastically bizarre. There are worlds with features we never imagined. Storms larger than planets, moons with under-surface oceans, lakes of methane, worldlets that swap places ... and that's just at Saturn. — Phil Plait

Not everything that's cool is science, but everything in science is cool. — Phil Plait

Humanity and life are reflected in the stars, and the Universe itself is poetry. — Phil Plait