Ageing is, simply and clearly, the accumulation of damage in the body. That's all that ageing is.

Accept the difficulty of what you cannot yet change. But do not accept the impossibility of ever changing it.

There is no difference between saving lives and extending lives, because in both cases we are giving people the chance of more life.

It's not just about life, of course; it's about healthy life. Getting frail and miserable and dependent is no fun, whether or not dying may be fun.

[Anti-aging therapies will] never be perfect, but we'll be able to fix the things that 200-year-olds die of before we have any 200-year-olds, and the same for 300 and 400 and so on.

The right to choose to live or to die is the most fundamental right there is; conversely, the duty to give others that opportunity to the best of our ability is the most fundamental duty there is.

If changing our world is playing God, it is just one more way in which God made us in His image.

The biggest handicap in research is an ability to think outside the box. The handicap is being encumbered by all the conventional wisdom in a given field.

What I actually wanted to do with my life is make a difference to the world. That led me into science very quickly.

If you look at winners of the Nobel Prize in biology, you'll find a fair smattering of people who don't know how to work a pipette.

What I'm after is not living to 1,000. I'm after letting people avoid death for as long as they want to.

The choice of daring life is a great spirit.

Slavery all day, and then, suddenly, by nightfall- freedom!

The flaws you see in others are actually a reflection of yourself.

Never to read another book that was born and baptized (with ink) at the same time.

I was born old and get younger every day. At present I am sixty years young.

Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world

I'm seventy-one now, so it's hard to imagine a dramatic change.

In Rome, I loved seeing the Caravaggios. There are churches in Rome that have Caravaggios, and there's one, not far from Piazza Navona, that has the best, I think: St. Matthew with the money.

Why don't those damn oil companies fly their own flags on their personal property-maybe a flag with a gas pump on it.

A life of fulfillment is one in which we put urgency in its place and remember that the ultimate target is to spend our lives doing the things we believe are most important to us.