I am trying to convince people—not only the public, but lawmakers and people in power—that investing in the frontier of science, however remote it may seem in its relevance to what you're doing today, is a way of stockpiling the seed corns of future harvests of this nation... Advancing a frontier—history has shown—has advanced a culture ever since the industrial revolution got underway.

At an interview with Stephen Colbert at Montclair Kimberley Academy on January 29th, 2010.