[A certain class of explanations in science are] analgesics that dull the ache of incomprehension without removing the cause.

Scientific reasoning is a dialogue between the possible and the actual, between proposal and disposal between what might be true, and what is in fact the case.

The alternative to thinking in evolutionary terms is not to think at all.

Is the Scientific Paper a Fraud?

Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in.

I cannot give any scientist of any age better advice than this: the intensity of a conviction that a hypothesis is true has no bearing over whether it is true or not.

Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth.

The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.

Heredity proposes and development disposes.

The art of research [is] the art of making difficult problems soluble by devising means of getting at them.

If a scientist were to cut his ear off, no one would take it as evidence of a heightened sensibility.

The story is about being loyal to the truth as a nation, that citizens of a democracy are collectively responsible for what their troops do in war, good or bad.

Kindness gives courage.

I love libraries. Everybody there is serious and focused even if they are not absorbing or learning anything better

I've never really cared if I was famous for my music. It was just something I had to do.

The scientific process has two motives: one is to understand the natural world, the other is to control it.

They say when one door shuts, another one opens. But they haven’t been living at my house. Most of the doors I open seem to have something scary crouched behind them, anyway.

Adult dragons are,astute,powerful,and sure of their strength.

Experts always tend to obscure the obvious.

Finally we got some good news about the economy. Barack Obama got $800 billion to rescue the economy. All I can say is, 'Thank you, Oprah.'

Every time I write a book, I've probably taken five years off my life.