Phil Plait Quotes

7 Sourced Quotes

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

Phil Plait
I'm tired of ignorance held up as inspiration, where vicious anti-intellectualism is considered a positive trait, and where uninformed opinion is displayed as fact.

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

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
They say that even the brightest star won't shine forever. But in fact, the brightest star would live the shortest amount of time. Feel free to extract whatever life lesson you want from that.

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

Phil Plait
If a little kid ever asks you just why the sky is blue, you look him or her right in the eye and say, "It's because of quantum effects involving Rayleigh scattering combined with a lack of violet photon receptors in our retinae."

Phil Plait