Quotes from Gregory Benford

Congress came to see NASA primarily as a jobs program, not an exploratory agency.

Mathematics cannot handle physical quantities like density that literally go to infinity.

I have an artificial left shoulder, wired back together after a softball accident.

True twins share womb chemistry and endure many fateful slings and arrows together. The fabled connection between twins is true in my case.

My brother Jim and I shared a womb without a view for nine months.

As fandom grew more variegated, genzines reflected a broadening of interests, carrying personal columns of humor and reflection, science articles, amateur fiction, stylish gossip, and inevitably, thoughtful pieces on the future of fandom.

Any technology that does not appear magical is insufficiently advanced.

Everybody feels he has a right to a life of luxury - or at least comfort - so there's a lot of frustration and resentment when the dream craps out.

DNA sequencing opens vast ethical issues. We shall be able to know who has defective genes. What will it mean when we can be sure we're not all born equal? Worked out, the implications will scare a lot of people. Insurance companies will not want to cover those with a genetic predisposition to illness, for example. Here lurk myriad lawsuits.

IT IS OUR STATION TO LIVE WITHIN LAWS THAT GIVE US BEING, BUT OFFER OF THEMSELVES NO PURPOSE OR PROMISE, NO TRIUMPH AS A SPECIES. THE UNIVERSE ALLOWS US A PLACE IN ITS SYSTEMATIC WORKINGS BUT ONLY CARES FOR THE SYSTEM ITSELF, NOT US.

Maybe education is wasted on the young.

He had grown up believing that the universe was hostile to people and in a way that made them important. They were locked in a grand struggle with a great enemy. The truth was a lot worse. The universe did not care at all.

it's not love that makes the world go round, it's inertia

Immortality is an aim, not a fact.

It is better to be wrong than to be vague. In trial and error, the error is the true essential. —FREEMAN DYSON

Nobody can test an idea before taking the trouble to have an idea.

Humans and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension. With aliens, that has to go double.

The difference between a conviction and a prejudice is that you can explain a conviction without getting angry.

The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery. —ANAÏS NIN

amateur gynecology.

To expect the world to treat you fairly because you're a good person, my new friend, is like expecting a bull not to charge you because you are a vegetarian.

In your country the munitions makers ride in their limousines and prepare their wars, while the workers cannot afford new shoes.

catch me with an unexpected result

Very carefully he thought about nothing.