Switching to light-coloured roofs and roadways would have the equivalent effect on greenhouse gas emissions to taking one billion cars off the road for eleven years.

At Rochester, I came with the same emotions as many of the entering freshman: everything was new, exciting and a bit overwhelming, but at least nobody had heard of my brothers and cousins.

Education in my family was not merely emphasized, it was our raison d'etre.

Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.

As the saying goes, the Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones; we transitioned to better solutions. The same opportunity lies before us with energy efficiency and clean energy.

The atoms become like a moth, seeking out the region of higher laser intensity.

So imagine a world 6 degrees warmer. It's not going to recognize geographical boundaries. It's not going to recognize anything. So agriculture regions today will be wiped out.

I approached the bulk of my schoolwork as a chore rather than an intellectual adventure.

Geometry was the first exciting course I remember.

I'm the least-educated person in my immediate family. My two other brothers have multiple advanced degrees, and I only have one. [...] Actually, now that I've got a Nobel Prize, I feel equal.

Sustainable energy is the equivalent of the U.S. moon shot.

He seemed like he was baiting me to ask, like he wanted me to know his troubles but wanted me to ask first.

Do you trust me to be strong enough…strong enough to love you in the way you need to be loved?

Divorce is a process, not an event. It takes months to unfold, a barrage of emotional ups and downs as denial is replaced by grief, grief by anger, and anger gradually eases into acceptance.

If you give a good thing to the world, then over time your karma will be good, and you'll receive good.

No worthwhile life can be lived without risks, despite current American superstitions to the contrary.

I can't tell a joke to save my soul. It's just not my thing, though I love to listen to jokes.

With the number of people I ignore, I'm lucky I work at all in this town.

Caged birds sing of freedom, free birds fly.

I would have started the National Actors Theatre 30 years earlier

He makes a July's day short as December.