Neil deGrasse Tyson Quotes

For me at age 11, I had a pair of binoculars and looked up to the moon, and the moon wasn't just bigger, it was better. There were mountains and valleys and craters and shadows. And it came alive.

For my confirmation, I didn't get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like most Lutheran boys. I got a telescope. My mother thought it would make the best gift.

I was interested in telescopes and the way they worked because I had an intense desire to see what things looked like, so I learned how to use telescopes and find things in the sky.

Astronomy's much more fun when you're not an astronomer.

Everybody thought I was a bit of an eccentric for wanting to be out there looking at the stars, but I still do.

And so we came forth, and once again beheld the stars.

I'd rather spend my time looking at the sky than listening to Whitney Houston.

I study the universe. It's the second oldest profession. People have been looking up for a long time.

As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.

I was, I remember, I still remember when the first time I pointed the telescope at the sky and I saw Saturn with the rings. It was a beautiful image.

If I had a time machine, I'd visit Marilyn Monroe in her prime or drop in on Galileo as he turned his telescope to the heavens.

There are still so many questions to answer. When you look at any part of the universe, you have to feel humbled.

From the time I was 9 years old, I loved magic. I was an only child, and I think that had a big impact on me. I always had grown-up friends even though I was a little kid. I would take the train from Lido Beach into Manhattan, and I'd hang out in magic shops.

It was probably my parents who inspired me most. My father was a scientist and answered my scientific questions, while my mother took me on walks and showed me birds and plants. She also took me out at night and showed me the constellations and the aurora.

I do not remember exactly when I became interested in astronomy, but I know it was at a very young age. I did organize an astronomy club for my friends at the age of 11. We would meet once a week to learn about the constellations.

Kristina, my wife, and I thought about this one day when the kids were, of course, watching television. And we took a big blanket and put it in the backyard and said, 'Let's go out on our back and look at the sky and call it sky television.' We saw all kinds of things.

Don't feel you have to stick to plans, because something better might come up; and try to blend in, because you see more. I've learnt that the principles of moving around a big city are the same everywhere; only the people and streets are different.

I have a strange habit of walking down streets and staring up, rather than looking at shopfronts and stuff like that.

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently.

I'm a total nerd, so I'm on my telescope, or I read a lot. I'm very inspired by ancient history.

We gazed dreamily at the Milky Way and once in a while caught some shooting stars. Times like those gave me the opportunity to wonder and ask all those very basic questions. That sense of awe for the heavens started there.

Space has always fascinated me. As a young boy looking up at the stars, I found it impossible to resist thinking what was out there and if I ever would experience space first-hand.

By about age 12, I would prefer to stay up and watch the stars than go to sleep. I started learning. I started going to the library and reading. But it was initially just watching the stars from my bedroom that I really did. There was just nothing as interesting in my life as watching the stars every night.

People have to be pushed out of their comfort zones to be able to see things for what they are.

You come to the city, and you have a chance to find out who you really are.