Quotes by Stephen Hawking
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I can't disguise myself with a wig and dark glasses -- the wheelchair gives me away.

We live in a bewildering world.

I have wondered about time all my life.

No one can resist the idea of a crippled genius.

Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.

'The Simpsons' appearances were great fun. But I don't take them too seriously. I think 'The Simpsons' have treated my disability responsibly.

There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

Obviously, because of my disability, I need assistance. But I have always tried to overcome the limitations of my condition and lead as full a life as possible. I have traveled the world, from the Antarctic to zero gravity.

There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end ofthe search for the ultimate laws of nature.

I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.

I don't have much positive to say about motor neuron disease, but it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I still could do. I'm happier now than before I developed the condition.

We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it.

Although almost every theoretical physicist agrees with my prediction that a black hole should glow like a hot body, it would be very difficult to verify experimentally because the temperature of a macroscopic black hole is so low.

Maybe I don't have the most common kind of motor neuron disease, which usually kills in two or three years.

What was God doing before the divine creation?

Sometimes I wonder if I'm as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.

The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.

In less than a hundred years, we have found a new way to think of ourselves. From sitting at the center of the universe, we now find ourselves orbiting an average-sized sun, which is just one of millions of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.

I think the human race doesn't have a future if it doesn't go into space.

I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming.

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.

I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.

To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.

I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their own life, and those that help them should be free from prosecution.

Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.

Many badly needed goals, like fusion and cancer cure, would be achieved much sooner if we invested more.

Some forms of motor neuron disease are genetically linked, but I have no indication that my kind is. No other member of my family has had it. But I would be in favour of abortion if there was a high risk.

There is no physical law precluding particles from being organised in ways that perform even more advanced computations than the arrangements of particles in human brains.

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.

There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet.

Although September 11 was horrible, it didn't threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do.

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.

Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein's general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.

My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn't prevent you doing well, and don't regret the things it interferes with. Don't be disabled in spirit as well as physically.

Even if it turns out that time travel is impossible, it is important that we understand why it is impossible.

One can't predict the weather more than a few days in advance.

People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.

In my school, the brightest boys did math and physics, the less bright did physics and chemistry, and the least bright did biology. I wanted to do math and physics, but my father made me do chemistry because he thought there would be no jobs for mathematicians.

I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.

Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

With genetic engineering, we will be able to increase the complexity of our DNA, and improve the human race. But it will be a slow process, because one will have to wait about 18 years to see the effect of changes to the genetic code.

The radiation left over from the Big Bang is the same as that in your microwave oven but very much less powerful. It would heat your pizza only to minus 271.3*C -- not much good for defrosting the pizza, let alone cooking it.

I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.

I don't want to write an autobiography because I would become public property with no privacy left.

I believe in universal health care. And I am not afraid to say so.

God not only plays dice, but also sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.

Time can behave like another direction in space under extreme conditions.

I was born on January 8, 1942, exactly three hundred years after the death of Galileo. I estimate, however, that about two hundred thousand other babies were also born that day. I don't know whether any of them was later interested in astronomy.

When we understand string theory, we will know how the universe began. It won't have much effect on how we live, but it is important to understand where we come from and what we can expect to find as we explore.

Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.

There is a real danger that computers will develop intelligence and take over. We urgently need to develop direct connections to the brain so that computers can add to human intelligence rather than be in opposition.

We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.

Philosophers have not kept up with modern developments in science. Particularly physics.