"I'd like the [Cosmos] series to be so visually stimulating that somebody who isn't even interested in the concepts will just watch for the effects. And I'd like people who are prepared to do some thinking to be really stimulated."

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

"We are a way for the cosmos to know itself"

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it, we go nowhere"

"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking."