I was a close observer of the developments in molecular biology.

Looking through the list of earlier Nobel laureates, I note a large number with whom I became acquainted and with whom I interacted during those years as they passed through Cambridge.

At the age of 12, I developed an intense interest in mathematics. On exposure to algebra, I was fascinated by simultaneous equations and read ahead of the class to the end of the book.

From an early age I was told that I was expected to do more than continue to run a small business. Education was important and seen as a way of moving forward.

I am delighted to have had students, friends and colleagues in so many nations and to have learned so much of what I know from them. This Nobel Award honours them all.

On my return to Pittsburgh, I resolved to go back to the fundamental problems of electronic structure that I had contemplated abstractly many years earlier.

Leaving England was a painful decision, and we still have some regrets about it. However, at that time, the research environment for theoretical chemistry was clearly better in the U.S.

I had changed from being a mathematician to a practicing scientist. I was increasingly embarassed that I could no longer follow some of the more modern branches of pure mathematics.

Life with a scientist who is often changing jobs and is frequently away at meetings and on lecture tours is not easy. Without a secure home base, I could not have made much progress.

In the war, most young men were inducted into the armed forces at the age of 17. A group of students was permitted to attend university before taking part in wartime research projects.

Our children were mostly brought up and educated in the Churchill suburb east of Pittsburgh. Each summer, we took them back to England for an extended period.

Consciousness is a state of existence where subjects are aware of their surroundings and can respond to its demands according to internal and external perceptions.

Poetry is simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things.

The point about working is not to produce great stuff all the time, but to remain ready for when you can.

What if I pulled through and the pious faction contentedly claimed that their prayers had been answered? That would somehow be irritating.

We spend our time responding rationally to a world which we understand and recognize, but which no longer exists.

There is something wrong about the man who wants help. There is somewhere a deep defect, a want, in brief, a need, a crying need, somewhere about that man.

One of two things is usually lacking in the so-called Philosophy of Art: either philosophy or art.

If it were not for guests all houses would be graves.

I've never been on a cruise.

We were there [ in the newsroom] through the elections [2008] so it was quite a frenzy going on. The other thing I learn is that journalists are very messy.