My main point today is that usually one gets what one expects, but very rarely in the way one expected it.

The usual designation of the magnitude scale to my name does less than justice to the great part that Dr. Gutenberg played in extending the scale to apply to earthquakes in all parts of the world.

Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field.

Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations.

As seismologists gained more experience from earthquake records, it became obvious that the problem could not be reduced to a single peak acceleration. In fact, a full frequency of vibrations occurs.

Only fools, liars, and charlatans predict earthquakes

The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.

Spring makes everything young again except man.

Refining is inevitable in science when you have made measurements of a phenomenon for a long period of time.

I was lucky because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil.

If one introduces the concept of energy of an earthquake then that is a theoretically derived quantity.

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change

Strike a match, ignite my past.

If the truth gets in the way, I will remove it. But truth be told, removing the truth never removes the truth.

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

I had been doing something for more than half of my life that I wanted to continue doing - I really loved making the film and I really love acting and it is what I want to do.

It's good walking with a horse in ones hand.

To be honest, all I wanted to do, all I ever, ever wanted to do - I just wanted to perform.

All good criticism should be judged the way art is. You shouldn't read it the way you read history or science.

The Japanese say, if the flower is to be beautiful, it must be cultivated.

We should embrace our immigrant roots and recognize that newcomers to our land are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution.