In the eye, there is a type of junk that accumulates in the back of the retina that eventually causes us to go blind. It's called age-related macular degeneration.

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.

Always remember that with privilege comes responsibility. You must go to Casa Azul and see the place you came from. Only then will you be able to understand how far you've come.

A lot of my stories are inspired by Japanese folklore or literature or movies: I've done stories based on Kabuki and Noh plays, and on Kurosawa's 'Yojimbo' movies.

I'm quite interested in the absolute roots of narrative, why we tell stories at all: where the monsters come from.

I'm pretty much a chocolate guy. I'm up for any type of chocolate. Any chocolate.

Success is terrifying. Like happiness, it is often appreciated in retrospect. It's only later that you place it in perspective. Years from now, I'll look back and say, ‘God, wasn't it wonderful.’

You would not believe the amount of feedback I've gotten over people binge-watching The West Wing. Most of them have binge-watched it countless times.

I do get one chance to dance [in GoF], I had to dance with Maggie Smith. That was the only dancing experience I had, which was actually quite enough really.

Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

People will believe thousands of different lies in succession rather than confront a single scintilla of truth.

An artist don't make you bigger than life - being that person that can break artists can make you bigger than life.