Stephen Hawking Quotes

If you understand how the universe operates, you control it in a way.

In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?

What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.

I would rather be right than rigorous.

The wise never marry, and when they marry they become otherwise.

There are no black holes - in the sense of regimes from which light can't escape to infinity. There are however apparent horizons which persist for a period of time.

Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.

The meaning in life is not out there but inbetween our ears. In many ways this makes us the lords of creation.

Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation.

We've created life in our own image.

One cannot really argue with a mathematical theorem.

Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.

Although quantum mechanics has been around for nearly 70 years, it is still not generally understood or appreciated, even by those that use it to do calculations.

The lesson of the book is that the universe is governed by the laws of science.

Half the battle is just showing up.

It is impossible to imagine a four-dimensional space. I personally find it hard enough to visualize a three-dimensional space!

Religion believes in miracles, but these aren't compatible with science.

Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a 'crank.'

I believe in universal health care. And I am not afraid to say so.

The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.

I'm a child myself, in the sense that I'm still looking. Children are fascinated by black holes and ask me questions. I find they soon get the idea if it is explained in nontechnical language.

Why do we remember the past, but not the future?

I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer.

I believe everyone should have a broad picture of how the universe operates and our place in it. It is a basic human desire. And it also puts our worries in perspective.

To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.

Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.

If everything in the universe depends upon everything else in a fundamental way, it might be impossible to get close to a full solution by investigating parts of the problem in isolation.

Success is a relative term. It brings so many relatives.

Time travel may be possible, but it is not practical.

Time and space are finite in extent, but they don't have any boundary or edge. They would be like the surface of the earth, but with two more dimensions.

Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor.

There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.

Without imperfection, you or I would not exist.

Not to take this web of dualities as a sign we are on the right track would be a bit like believing that God put fossils into the rocks in order to mislead Darwin about the evolution of life.

When something is made idiot proof, they will just make better idiots.

One should love animals. They are so tasty.

Using e-mail, I can communicate with scientists all over the world.

I am damned if I'm going to die before I have unraveled more of the universe

Thirty years ago I was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and given two and a half years to live. I have always wondered how they could be so precise about the half.

Disability can be no handicap.

I've noticed that even people who believe in fate look both ways before crossing the street.

I think the next century will be the century of complexity.

Although September 11 was horrible, it didn't threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do.

Many badly needed goals, like fusion and cancer cure, would be achieved much sooner if we invested more.

We think we have solved the mystery of creation. Maybe we should patent the universe and charge everyone royalties for their existence.

One could imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand.

The life we have on Earth must have spontaneously generated itself. It must therefore be possible for life to generate spontaneously elsewhere in the universe.

Because imaginary time behaves like another direction in space, histories in imaginary time can be closed surfaces, like the surface of the Earth, with no [existential] beginning or end.

There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end ofthe search for the ultimate laws of nature.

We should seek the greatest value of our action.