Physicist Quotes

From the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.

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

Why are we here? Where do we come from? Traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead.

One cannot really argue with a mathematical theorem.

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.

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.

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

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

We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.

Not only does God play dice, but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.

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

It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years.

If we do discover a complete theory, it should be in time understandable in broad principle by everyone. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people be able to take part in the discussion of why we and the universe exist.

Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?

I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.

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

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

Women. They are a complete mystery.

Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.

God not only plays dice, He also sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen.

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.

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.

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.

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

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

We thought it would be nice to have atoms interact in such a gentle way with the photons that they would just take an imprint of the photons, so that many atoms could 'see' the same photon and it would give rise to a lot of interesting effects. Myself and my colleagues had this project for a very lo

It is important to fund young researchers who want to do curiosity-driven research. Curiosity-driven research is a part of life. Some people are curious. They want to learn more about nature and society should help that. It's like art: you can learn more and bring more beauty.

It is hard to rationalise or explain why you love what you love. But I have always been interested in science and maths, and in high school I was struck that you could use maths to understand nature and science.

Most technological advances in our life now come from serendipitous discoveries. That is a contraction of rocket technology and computer technology and atomic clock technology.