In the fields I know best, among the life sciences, it is required that the most expert and sophisticated minds be capable of changing course - often with a great lurch - every few years.

It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we all take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is in fact a family resemblance.

The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.

Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you'd think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise.

In real life, every field of science is incomplete, and most of them - whatever the record of accomplishment during the last 200 years - are still in their very earliest stages.

We owe our lives to the sun... How is it, then, that we feel no gratitude?

The greatest single achievement of nature to date was surely the invention of the molecule DNA.

It is in our genes to understand the universe if we can, to keep trying even if we cannot, and to be enchanted by the act of learning all the way.

I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach into outer space on the Voyager spacecraft. But that would be boasting.

Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species.

We leave traces of ourselves wherever we go, on whatever we touch.

I'm more interested in the meaning of funerals and the mourning that people do. It's not a retail experience. It's an existential one.

I am interested in politics so that one day I will not have to be interested in politics.

Faith will not be restored in the West because people believe it to be useful. It will return only when they find that it is true.

There'll be no sense in sexual theories until women start telling their minds; and, of course, until they have some.

When science starts to be interpretive it is more unscientific even than mysticism.

Nature spontaneously keeps us well. Do not resist her!

If you've never tried, how will you ever know if there's any chance?

With new jobs, new ideas, and growing confidence that our brightest days lie ahead, Wisconsin is on the move.

In the monastery of your heart, you have a temple where all Buddhas unite.