We pass thoughts around, from mind to mind, so compulsively and with such speed that the brains of mankind often appear, functionally, to be undergoing fusion.

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.

We love because we can lose. If there was no threat of separation, no death to shake us to our core, we probably wouldn't love much at all.

To stay sane in a mad world is the real victory.

I gave up years ago on the concept that you could actually have balance in your life, I think it's a phantom chase.

We have no limits to our world. We're only limited by our imagination.

President Barack Obama benefits from the shared experience and wisdom of top national security and foreign policy advisers, many of them career professionals.

Bistro cooking is good, traditional food, earnestly made and honestly displayed. It is earthy, provincial, or bourgeois; as befits that kind of food, it is served in ample portions.

Every master has but one disciple, and that one becomes unfaithful to him, for he too is destined for master-ship.

Banks have never made money in the history of banking, losing the equivalent of all their past profits periodically - while bankers strike it rich.

I could puke on myself and still be good looking.