We are educated to be amazed by the infinite variety of life forms in nature. We are, I believe, only at the beginning of being flabbergasted by its unity.

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.

Don't look for meaning in life. It was meant to be lived not understood

When trees burn, they leave the smell of heartbreak in the air.

When pointing out the flaws in others, people always end up talking about themselves.

This is the ultimate con game - I'm having fun and people pay me to do it.

We have a right to know or may lawfully know any truth. And a right to know any truth whatsoever implies a right to think freely.

I have never compromised on fundamentals. I've always believed in focusing on creating value and not valuation.

I mean you look back at American history and American culture, it's pretty striking. I mean this has been the safest country in the world forever, and the most frightened country in the world.

Writing is both my expression to the world and my way to hide from it - you get who I am without actually seeing me.

A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success

We have to truly become a united people of the United States of America, and divisiveness cannot make that happen.