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 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.

We could call order by the name of God, but it would be an impersonal God. There's not much personal about the laws of physics.

The meaning in life is not out there but inbetween our ears. In many ways this makes us the lords of creation.

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

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

Equations are just the boring part of mathematics. I attempt to see things in terms of geometry.

It is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God.

It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.

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

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

The Science of Second-Guessing (New York Times Magazine Interview, December 12, 2004).

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.

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

Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it.

Time and space are finite in extent, but they don't have any boundary or edge. They would be like the surface of the earth, but with two more dimensions.

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

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

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.

Stephen Hawking said that his quest is simply trying to understand the mind of God.

One should love animals. They are so tasty.