The history of atomism is one of reductionism – the effort to reduce all the operations of nature to a small number of laws governing a small number of primordial objects.

Theorists write all the popular books on science: Heinz Pagels, Frank Wilczek, Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman, et al. And why not? They have all that spare time.

Physics isn't a religion. If it were, we'd have a much easier time raising money.

The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God.

I sometimes think about the tower at Pisa as the first particle accelerator, a (nearly) vertical linear accelerator that Galileo used in his studies.

Those who do not stop asking silly questions become scientists.

We hope to explain the entire universe in a single, simple formula that you can wear on your T-shirt.

Science should have no less lofty a goal. My ambition is to live to see all of physics reduced to a formula so elegant and simple that it will fit easily on the front of a T-shirt.

My children have often asked me why I never received a Nobel Prize. I used to tell them it was because the Nobel committee couldn’t make up its mind which of my projects to recognize.

I'm so old I can remember when the Dead Sea was only sick.

One of the major ingredients for professional success in science is luck. Without this, forget it.

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Life is too short to be anything but happy. So kiss slowly. Love deeply. Forgive quickly. Take chances and never have regrets. Forget the past but remember what it taught you.

I think if there's a great depression there might be some hope.

I'm a realist and a dreamer. There are certain things you can give certain people and certain things you can't.

Is the glass half full, or half empty? It depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking.

I sometimes follow people who attract my curiosity in the street for five, ten minutes.

Nothing is too much trouble for Love.

If a person is determined to fight to the death, then they may very well have that opportunity.

Don't use the hardships of your past as excuses to deny the possibilities of your future.

The problem that religious moderation poses for all of us is that it does not permit anything very critical to be said about religious literalism.