Mae Jemison Quotes & Sayings

“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.”

“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.”

“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 always knew I'd go to space.”

“Some of the most fun people I know are scientists.”

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

“We look at science as something very elite, which only a few people can learn. That's just not true. You just have to start early and give kids a foundation. Kids live up, or down, to expectations.”

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

“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.”

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