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Once the threshold is crossed when there is a self-sustaining level of life in space, then life's long-range future will be secure irrespective of any of the risks on Earth (with the single exception of the catastrophic destruction of space itself).

— Martin Rees Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning (2003)

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Space

More quotes by Martin Rees

No one can say which approach is the right one — so no one can say how close we are to a solution.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

We live at what could be a defining moment for the cosmos, not just for our Earth.

Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning (2003)

When I discover I'm wrong, I change my mind. What do you do?

In future, children won't perceive the stars as mere twinkling points of light: they'll learn that each is a 'Sun', orbited by planets fully as interesting as those in our Solar system.

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Since, in the long run, every planetary society will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring — not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.

Carl Sagan Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994)

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature (1836)

Her blue eyes sought the west afar,
For lovers love the western star.

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)

Einstein's space is no closer to reality than Van Gogh's sky.

Arthur Koestler The Act of Creation (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Martin Rees (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.