Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

To sit back and let fate play its hand out and never influence it is not the way man was meant to operate.

We have an infinite amount to learn both from nature and each other.

I wanted to be a professional dancer for some time, and I did a lot of dancing and choreography and got paid for it.

Some of the most fun people I know are scientists.

When God made the colour purple, God was just showing off.

The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity.

I always knew I'd go to space.

The thing that I have done throughout my life is to do the best job that I can and to be me.

Greatness can be captured in one word: lifestyle. Life is God's gift to you, style is what you make of it.

For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences.

I don't have any nicknames.

Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in space.

On both of my flights, everything went very well.

It's too bad our society isn't further along.

If it wasn't for the women's movement, I wouldn't be where I am today.

Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing.

The rockets light! The shuttle leaps off the launch pad in a cloud of steam and a trail of fire.

Because I was a tennis player, Billie Jean King was a hero of mine.