Mae Jemison Quotes

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Mae Jemison

Profession : Astronaut

Birth : October 17, 1956

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

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

The level of confidence women are able to build in women-only groups is important.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

I stayed in the astronaut program until 1993. People ask me why I left. I thought I had a lot of things to contribute that would be difficult to do if I stayed. I thought I could have a stronger voice as an advocate for space exploration. So I ended up starting my own technology consulting company.

Mae Jemison

We have to change the way people look at scientists. Today, they are the nerds, the geeks. Instead, we want some of the cool kids to say, 'Hey, this is all right.'

Mae Jemison

I'm not somebody who gets teared up or anything, but I still look up at the stars, and it gives me hope, and it gives me energy. I think one of the things that we have to think about it is, we are all a part of this universe.

Mae Jemison

I think that people need an adrenalin rush. Folks need something aspirational; they need to do something that is hard. That's what ignites the imagination.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

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

Mae Jemison

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

Mae Jemison

I want to make sure that that future that we're creating is one that is the best it can be for people around the world, and also one that includes the full range of our talent and our skills - and, you know, gender and ethnicity, geography - to solving the world's problems.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

We are all tasked to balance and optimize ourselves.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

In space, you need to exercise your heart since it's not pumping blood around at the same rate.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

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.

Mae Jemison

Intuitive versus analytical? That's a foolish choice. It's foolish, just like trying to choose between being realistic or idealistic. You need both in life.

Mae Jemison