Quote collection
421 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"As those who have seen Jurassic Park will know, this means a tiny disturbance in one place, can cause a major change in another. A butterfly flapping its wings can cause rain in Central Park, New York. The trouble is, it is not repeatable. The next time the butterfly flaps its wings, a host of other things will be different, which will also influence the weather. That is why weather forecasts are so unreliable."
"Being confined to a wheelchair doesn't bother me as my mind is free to roam the universe, but it felt wonderful to be weightless."
"We got through all of Genesis and part of Exodus before I left. One of the main things I learned from this exercise was not to begin a sentence with "And." When I pointed out that most sentences in the Bible began with "And," I was told that English had changed since the time of King James. In that case, I argued, why make us read the Bible? But it was in vain. Robert Graves at that time was very keen on the symbolism and mysticism in the Bible."
"It is said that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But the universe is the ultimate free lunch."
"Eternity is a long time, especially towards the end."
"Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention."
"Exploration by real people inspires us."
"A picture is worth a thousand words...and uses up a thousand times the memory."
"In A Brief History Of Time I used the word "God" like Einstein did as a shorthand for the laws of physics. However, this is not what most people mean by God, so I have decided not to use the term. The laws of physics can explain the universe without the need for a God."
"Real science can be far stranger than science fiction and much more satisfying."
"There are plenty of dead scientists I admire, but I can't think of any living ones. This is probably because it is only in retrospect that one can see who made the important contributions."
"Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention. (The Catholic Church, on the other hand, seized on the big bang model and in 1951 officially pronounced it to be in accordance with the Bible."
"The media need superheroes in science just as in every sphere of life, but there is really a continuous range of abilities with no clear dividing line."
"A model is a good model if first it interprets a wide range of observations in terms of a simple and elegant model, and second if the model makes definite predictions that can be tested, and possibly falsified, by observation."
"So great a contribution to physics was Two New Sciences that scholars have long maintained that the book anticipated Isaac Newton's laws of motion."
"The human capacity for guilt is such that people can always find ways to blame themselves"
"We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit."
"Humanities deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for continuing our quest. and our goal is nothing less than a complete description of the universe we live in."
"Do you believe in first love - or should I pass by again?"
"The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression."