Quotes by Stephen Hawking
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What place, then, for a creator?

Science fiction can be exciting and very gripping, but it doesn't tell us anything about the universe in which we live.

The human capacity for guilt is such that people can always find ways to blame themselves.

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.

Before I lost my voice, it was slurred, so only those close to me could understand, but with the computer voice, I found I could give popular lectures. I enjoy communicating science. It is important that the public understands basic science, if they are not to leave vital decisions to others.

The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

If we ever do find a complete theory of the universe, it would be a great triumph of human reason but it wouldn't leave much for us to do. We need an intellectual challenge.

I don't care much for equations myself. This is partly because it is difficult for me to write them down, but mainly because I don't have an intuitive feeling for equations.

Maxwell is the physicist's physicist.

Only in the few universes that are like ours would intelligent beings develop and ask the question: Why is the universe the way we see it? The answer is then simple: If it had been any different, we would not be here!

There is no prescribed route to follow to arrive at a new idea. You have to make the intuitive leap.

It should soon be possible dramatically to increase the intelligence and life span of a few individuals. They and their offspring could become a master race. Evolution pays no regard to social justice. It was not fair on the Neanderthals they were replaced by modern humans.

My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.

I want to encourage public interest in space. I have never let my condition stop me. You only live once.

Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.

There are no black holes -- in the sense of regimes from which light can't escape to infinity. There are however apparent horizons which persist for a period of time.

One could say: The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary. The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE.

A person who smiles in the face of adversity...probably has a scapegoat.

Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention.

Just like a computer, we must remember things in the order in which entropy increases. This makes the second law of thermodynamics almost trivial. Disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases. You can't have a safer bet than that!

You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it.

One should love animals. They are so tasty.

We've created life in our own image.

Nuclear weapons need large facilities, but genetic engineering can be done in a small lab. You can't regulate every lab in the world. The danger is that either by accident or design, we create a virus that destroys us.

Money is not everything. There's Master card and Visa.

God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.

If I had a time machine, I'd visit Marilyn Monroe in her prime or drop in on Galileo as he turned his telescope to the heavens.

Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.

So Einstein was wrong when he said, God does not play dice. Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that he sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen.

What lies north of the North Pole?

Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you just want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn.

Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool.

Perhaps we could write code to optimize code, then run that code through the code optimizer?

Success is a relative term. It brings so many relatives.

You cannot predict the future.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.

When the going gets tough, the tough take a coffee break.

Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge.

The universe doesn't allow perfection.

I regard the afterlife to be a fairy story for people that are afraid of the dark.

The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.

So next time someone complains that you have made a mistake, tell him that may be a good thing. Because without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.

The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary.

Real science can be far stranger than science fiction and much more satisfying.

The intelligent beings in these regions should therefore not be surprised if they observe that their locality in the universe satisfies the conditions that are necessary for their existence. It is a bit like a rich person living in a wealthy neighborhood not seeing any poverty.

For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen.

There is no way that we can predict the weather six months ahead beyond giving the seasonal average.

There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. However bad life may seem, there is always hope.

One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist.....Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.

Without imperfection, you or I would not exist.

Look up at the stars, not down at your feet.

The concern here is that financial services become a kind of tech-led Wild West.

If at first you don't succeed, try management.

Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations.

Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.
It matters that you don't just give up.

According to 'M' theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, 'M' theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing.

I have a full and satisfying life. My work and my family are very important to me.

Cambridge is one of the best universities in the world, especially in my field.

If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed.

Science can lift people out of poverty and cure disease. That, in turn, will reduce civil unrest.

I hope I have helped to raise the profile of science and to show that physics is not a mystery but can be understood by ordinary people.

The Planck satellite may detect the imprint of the gravitational waves predicted by inflation. This would be quantum gravity written across the sky.

I have visited Japan several times and have always been shown wonderful hospitality.

I entered the health care debate in response to a statement in the United States press in summer 2009 which claimed the National Health Service in Great Britain would have killed me off, were I a British citizen. I felt compelled to make a statement to explain the error.

I had not expected 'A Brief History of Time' to be a best seller.

Perhaps one day I will go into space.

It was Einstein's dream to discover the grand design of the universe, a single theory that explains everything. However, physicists in Einstein's day hadn't made enough progress in understanding the forces of nature for that to be a realistic goal.

Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor.

The cyclic universe theory predicts no gravitational waves from the early universe.

Computers double their performance every month.

Throughout history, people have studied pure science from a desire to understand the universe rather than practical applications for commercial gain. But their discoveries later turned out to have great practical benefits.

I am in touch with a company that hopes to replicate my voice. However, they are not replicating my original voice -- if they did that, I would sound like a man in his 20s, which would be very strange! They are actually trying to replicate the synthesizer that sits on my wheelchair.

As scientists, we step on the shoulders of science, building on the work that has come before us -- aiming to inspire a new generation of young scientists to continue once we are gone.

Many people find the universe confusing -- it's not.

The doctor who diagnosed me with ALS, or motor neuron disease, told me that it would kill me in two or three years.

I think the discovery of supersymmetric partners for the known particles would revolutionize our understanding of the universe.

I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found.

Before 1915, space and time were thought of as a fixed arena in which events took place, but which was not affected by what happened in it. Space and time are now dynamic quantities... space and time not only affect but are also affected by everything that happens in the universe.

We are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe.

As Irving Good realised in 1965, machines with superhuman intelligence could repeatedly improve their design even further, triggering what Vernor Vinge called a 'singularity.'

Cosmology is a rapidly advancing field.

The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world.

Our minds work in real time, which begins at the Big Bang and will end, if there is a Big Crunch -- which seems unlikely, now, from the latest data showing accelerating expansion. Consciousness would come to an end at a singularity.

It now appears that the way the universe began can indeed be determined, using imaginary time.

Theoretical physics is one of the few fields in which being disabled is no handicap -- it is all in the mind.

Earth might one day soon resemble the planet Venus.

The voice I use is a very old hardware speech synthesizer made in 1986. I keep it because I have not heard a voice I like better and because I have identified with it.

The human race may be the only intelligent beings in the galaxy.

We think we have solved the mystery of creation. Maybe we should patent the universe and charge everyone royalties for their existence.