So it's possible that someday, by understanding a little bit more about how the world works, it will come back to help us in some other way that will be surprising

There are still so many questions to answer. When you look at any part of the universe, you have to feel humbled.

Your job as a scientist is to figure out how you're fooling yourself.

It seemed like my favourite kind of job - a wonderful chance to ask something absolutely fundamental: the fate of the Universe and whether the Universe was infinite or not

From our point of view, the most exciting thing would be if we discovered something really fundamental in our understanding was just off a bit - and that now we have a chance to revisit it

Astronomers ought to be able to ask fundamental questions without accelerators

I was one of those kids who always thought that we should know how the world works around us

Nobody really expects a Nobel Prize call

Probably the single most important thing about the Nobel Prize for most people is whether they get the coveted parking space on campus.

It is a tough choice between ending up in the cold or ending up in a fiery blast.

We have a remarkably complete picture in many ways - and it could be that we're not accounting for something that's almost three-quarters of the entire universe

Truth, at the wrong time, can be dangerous.

When things don't go your way, never forget who you are, and always remember the bigger picture.

My songs are the door to every dream I've ever had and every success I've ever achieved.

I am not really much interested in talking to adults, although I suppose practically every mother in the kingdom knows my name and my books. It's their children I love.

Despair has been called the unforgivable sin-not presumably because God refuses to forgive it, but because it despairs of the possibility of being forgiven.

I am not likely to die of bashfulness but neither am I prepared to be crucified to attest the perfection of my art. I dislike to hear of any stray heroics on the prowl for me.

Sexuality poorly repressed unsettles some families; well repressed, it unsettles the whole world.

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.

Praise will come to those whose kindness leaves you without debt.

I'm not comfortable being photographed, though I accept it is part of the job.