I approached the bulk of my schoolwork as a chore rather than an intellectual adventure.

At Rochester, I came with the same emotions as many of the entering freshman: everything was new, exciting and a bit overwhelming, but at least nobody had heard of my brothers and cousins.

Education in my family was not merely emphasized, it was our raison d'etre.

Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.

As the saying goes, the Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones; we transitioned to better solutions. The same opportunity lies before us with energy efficiency and clean energy.

The atoms become like a moth, seeking out the region of higher laser intensity.

So imagine a world 6 degrees warmer. It's not going to recognize geographical boundaries. It's not going to recognize anything. So agriculture regions today will be wiped out.

Geometry was the first exciting course I remember.

I'm the least-educated person in my immediate family. My two other brothers have multiple advanced degrees, and I only have one. [...] Actually, now that I've got a Nobel Prize, I feel equal.

Sustainable energy is the equivalent of the U.S. moon shot.

If other countries don't impose a cost on carbon, then we will be at a disadvantage...we would look at considering perhaps duties that would offset that cost.

Without constructive skepticism, without human progress.

I'm just not having a very good time and I don't have any reason to think it'll get anything but worse. I'm tired. I'm hurt. I'm sad. I feel used.

Intimate relationships only have God's blessing if the man and woman are married.

Sacrifice was nine tenths of parenting.

I want to see riots! I want to see the kind of riots where cab drivers are afraid to pick up white people! I want to see this guy!

Neither my life of luxury in the palace -nor- my life as ascetic in the forest were ways to enlightenment.

In truth, Edward Teller ran the Livermore Lab, but for public purposes he liked it better to be known as only an associate director

This is a world inhabited not by people who have to be persuaded to believe but by people who want an excuse to believe.

I think sometimes we rush through countries, ticking off the attractions, but that's missing the point.

What a strange scene if the surge of conversation could suddenly ebb like the tide, and show us the real state of people's minds.