Mae Jemison Quotes

"I like to think of ideas as potential energy. They're really wonderful, but nothing will happen until we risk putting them into action."

"Timidity does not inspire bold acts."

"The difference between science and the arts is not that they are different sides of the same coin even, or even different parts of the same continuum, but rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity."

"The really wonderful thing that happened to me when I was in space was this feeling of belonging to the entire universe."

"The biggest challenge we all face is to learn about ourselves and to understand our strengths and weaknesses. We need to utilize our strengths, but not so much that we don't work on our weaknesses."

"For me, it was really a childhood dream coming true. It's sort of where the fantasy led reality, and then I got to be on the Starship Enterprise anyway. And the cool thing was - is I was the only person on this bridge who had actually been in space."

"What we find is that if you have a goal that is very, very far out, and you approach it in little steps, you start to get there faster. Your mind opens up to the possibilities."

"I was thinking as a little girl growing up that I would be there. When I look at whether we can go to Mars, it's definitely something we can do."

"We are all tasked to balance and optimize ourselves."

"I believe the biggest impediment we have right now with going to Mars is public commitment. More people need to see themselves as a part of space travel; we need to see more inclusiveness."

"I always knew I'd go to space."

"When I left NASA, I was looking at how you could use space technologies for developing countries' work."

"I was a science fiction geek. That lets you know that they come in all sizes and styles, right?"

"A big part of engaging kids in science is not getting the single, correct answer; it's being willing to work with students to discover the correct answer."

"Some of the most fun people I know are scientists."

"Sometimes parents squash students' interests because they are afraid of science or math. So they don't participate. You don't have to know the answers to engage kids; you just have to let them know it's important."

"As an astronaut, you have a very defined set of tasks to do. Those tasks may require you to work 60, 70 or 80 hours a week."

"I think science fiction helps us think about possibilities, to speculate - it helps us look at our society from a different perspective. It lets us look at our mores, using science as the backdrop, as the game changer."

"I've gotten this advice at different times, and it distills down to one word: purpose. Why are you here? When you start to get distracted by thoughts such as 'Do I fit in? Does this person like me?' - remember why you're there and what you want to accomplish."

"Kids come out of the chute liking science. They ask, 'How come? Why? What's this?' They pick up stuff to examine it. We might not call that science, but it's discovering the world around us."

"I went to school at night in L.A. to brush up on my engineering while I applied to the astronaut program. I really did not know if I would get in. It was the year after the Challenger accident in 1987."

"There are individuals who can support you, but frequently, you have to risk putting yourself out there - and sometimes you just have to push."

"The reality is the majority of us will not get off this planet. So the long run is, some kind of space exploration has to benefit us here on Earth."

"To survive as a species on this planet, we're going to have to see ourselves as Earthlings."

"My perspective is the Earth will be here. It just may not be habitable to our life form. We get confused. We think we're the center of everything."

"Some people say they feel very small when they think about space. I felt more expansive, very connected to the universe."

"Everyone in the astronaut program has a degree in a science field. The crew are the ones who do the experiments, help to design some of the experiments that come from other primary researchers. So it becomes very important that you have a science background."

"Science provides an understanding of a universal experience. Arts provide a universal understanding of a personal experience."

"Sometimes people ask me how difficult the astronaut program was, but being in Sierra Leone, being responsible for the health of more than 200 people, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at age 26 - that prepared me to take on a lot of different challenges."

"In fourth grade, I was interested in all areas of science. I particularly loved learning about how the earth was created."