"Sailors on a becalmed sea, we sense the stirring of a breeze."

"There are wonders enough out there without our inventing any."

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."

"It is said that men may not be the dreams of the god, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men."

"The visions we offer our children shape the future."

"The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be."

".. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the 'Momentary' masters of a 'Fraction' of a 'Dot'"

"We can't help it. Life looks for life."

"The way to find out about our place in the universe is by examining the universe and by examining ourselves - without preconceptions, with as unbiased a mind as we can muster."

"But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble."

"You could just as well say that an agnostic is a deeply religious person with at least a rudimentary knowledge of human fallibility."

"In the vastness of space and the immensity of time, it is my joy to share a planet and an epoch with Annie. [Dedication to Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, in Cosmos]"

"You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe"

"Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works."

"The single life is not one I willingly chose for myself."

"To get it first is important - but more important is to get it right."

"Walking into a room filled with people you don't know but who know you brings out your worst vulnerabilities."

"When for so long you can't get a job for reasons that seem specious, you you finally do have it, you are constantly afraid of losing it."

"When I first anchored in 1970, I had never seen a woman anchor a news show."

"When I was a little girl in the 1950s, it would not have been possible for me to say, I want to be an anchorwoman when I grow up."

"Women were seldom given quality assignments or adequate air time."

"Texas was defined by its larger-than-life characters, particularly politicians."

"The bad news is that 50 people died in a hotel fire; the good news is that we got exclusive footage."

"The better the coverage, the more discriminating the viewer."

"The code of the road is, if there is anything to eat, eat; if there is a place to sit, sit; if there is a restroom, go."

"The idea of stardom was difficult to grasp. It was like being schizophrenic; there was her, the woman on television, and the real me."

"The latest wrinkle is on wrinkles. There is a widespread belief that women can't grow old in television news."

"The minute viewers callin or write about your looks, they were not listening to what you were saying."

"The most important event I covered was the Panama Canal debate, which dragged on for months."

"The news anchor is exactly that - an anchor, a center, a focus."

"The relationship between talent and management is uneasy, at best."

"News events are like Texas weather. If you don't like it, wait a minute."

"News events cannot be controlled, nor can newscasts be mapped out like entertainment shows."

"News reporting is a cycle: No matter how much you work at sending a message, it's only successful if it's received."

"Newscasters cannot call attention to themselves by being too attractive or too unattractive."

"One reason I left local news was that I was tired of the constant musical chairs among news directors."

"Our free enterprise system of disseminating information is collectively referred to as The Media. But there is no collective."

"Shootouts are not gunfights of honor, they're gang wars and racial riots."

"Some news managers have been slow to grasp that good television news is always substance over form."

"Television is intensely personal."

"Television news is a delicate balance of serving public good and private gain."

"When we look up at night and view the stars, everything we see is shinning because of distant nuclear fusion."

"Any faith that admires truth, that strives to know God, must be brave enough to accommodate the universe."

"The visions we offer our children shape the future. It _matters_ what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps."

"If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?"

"Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgement, the manner in which information is coordinated and used."

"Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world."

"We make our purpose."

"If we are merely matter intricately assembled, is this really demeaning? If there's nothing here but atoms, does that make us less or does that make matter more?"

"The fossil record implies trial and error, the inability to anticipate the future, features inconsistent with a Great Designer (though not a Designer of a more remote and indirect temperament.)"