In 15 years we'll have all the sequence, a list of the genes everyone has in common and those that differ among people. We know only something like a tenth of 1 percent of the sequence at the moment.

Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves.

It's easier to change what you do than people think it is. If you don't change, your field changes around you.

Biology will relate every human gene to the genes of other animals and bacteria, to this great chain of being.

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

The interaction of the variation in our genes is what's responsible for lots of our attributes and vigor.

We haven't been able yet to determine in terms of genes what makes a human being a human and not another mammal.

Three billion bases of DNA sequence can be put on a single compact disc and one will be able to pull a CD out of one's pocket and say, 'Here is a human being; it's me!'

The community as a whole doesn't listen patiently to critics who adopt alternative viewpoints. Although the great lesson of history is that knowledge develops through the conflict of viewpoints.

Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant.

The human's place in the universe will be set in the scheme of evolution, the product of our biological inheritance.

Father, be my comfort in this dark times.

Fee-fi-fo-fum, you better run and hideI smell the blood of a petty little coward

I think the mystery of what's out there in the universe is just very compelling.

The female form is much more erotic than the male, who doesn't think that?

I watch actors destroy themselves by trying to get it right.

For someone so violent, he has a gentle face, doesn't he?

If you have a legal problem, guess how you determine whether or not you need a lawyer. You see a lawyer. Isn't that weird?

[Erotica] contains the idea of love, positive choice, and the yearning for a particular person.

There's a word for that kind of lie. Hope.

Women in our generation, we were taught we can be and do anything as long as we work hard. But you can't work hard enough for two people.