The most remarkable discovery in all of astronomy is that the stars are made of atoms of the same kind as those on the earth.

Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.

The most obvious characteristic of science is its application: the fact that, as a consequence of science, one has a power to do things. And the effect this power has had need hardly be mentioned. The whole industrial revolution would almost have been impossible without the development of science.

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.

Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.

Cosmology is a rapidly advancing field.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man.

I am not solicitous to examine particularly everything here, which indeed could not be done in fifty years, because my desire is to make all possible discoveries, and return to your Highnesses, if it please our Lord, in April.

Quarks came in a number of varieties – in fact, at first, only three were needed to explain all the hundreds of particles and the different kinds of quarks – they are called u-type, d-type, s-type.

I set up situations that involve abandoning control and finding out what happens.

We will explore the mysteries of science and harness the power of technology and innovation. We will realise the opportunities of the digital world. Our youth will learn more from – and with – each other.

Fiction is not necessarily about what you know, it’s about how you feel. That is the truth about fiction, and the other truth is that all science is a tool, and we use our tools not to actualise what we know, but to implement how we feel.

Science must have originated in the feeling that something was wrong.

We have lived long enough to experience the hollowness of earth and the rottenness of all carnal promises.

The earth was probably born by accident; but, in accordance with one of the most general laws of evolution, scarcely had this accident happened than it was immediately made use of and recast into something naturally directed.

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.

When I began in 1960, individuality wasn’t an accepted thing to look for; it was about species-specific behaviour. But animal behaviour is not hard science. There’s room for intuition.

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.

It is not scientifically possible to accurately predict the outcome of an action. To suggest otherwise runs contrary to historical experience and the nature of war.

My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards. This is my message to the young people.

One thing that I find very unmotivating is the kind of Plan B argument: when Earth gets destroyed, you want to be somewhere else. That doesn’t work for me. We have sent robotic probes now to every place in the solar system, and this is the best one.

There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance.

Science is global. Einstein’s equation, E=mc2, has to reach everywhere. Science is a beautiful gift to humanity, we should not distort it. Science does not differentiate between multiple races.

Among physicists, I’m respected I hope.

I’ve always been interested in science – one of my favourite books is James Watson’s ‚Molecular Biology of the Gene.‘

And yet it moves.

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.

It vexes me when they would constrain science by the authority of the Scriptures, and yet do not consider themselves bound to answer reason and experiment.

Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it.

The smaller the planets are, they are, other things being equal, of so much the greater density; for so the powers of gravity on their several surfaces come nearer to equality. They are likewise, other things being equal, of the greater density, as they are nearer to the sun.

Not all those who wander are lost.

Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.

If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.

I have been on the road and visited numerous places and met people from all over the globe. I can say that it looks nearly the same everywhere I have been: The climate crisis is ignored by people in charge, despite the science being crystal clear.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

We must accept what science tells us, that man was born from the earth. But, more logical than the scientists who lecture us, we must carry this lesson to its conclusion: that is to say, accept that man was born entirely from the world – not only his flesh and bones but his incredible power of thought.

The Milky Way is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars planted together in clusters.

Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.

Everything for me is sacred, beginning with earth, but also going to things made by man.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

I think you should always bear in mind that entropy is not on your side.

I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

Science never solves a problem without creating ten more.

Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong.

Science arose from poetry… when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.

It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful; they were found because it was possible to find them.

Ever since Newton, we’ve done science by taking things apart to see how they work. What the computer enables us to do is to put things together to see how they work: we’re now synthesized rather than analysed. I find one of the most enthralling aspects of computers is limitless communication.

Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are as sand, as dust – or less than dust – in the enormity of the space in which there is nothing.

Some day science may have the existence of mankind in power, and the human race can commit suicide by blowing up the world.

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Science and fiction both begin with similar questions: What if? Why? How does it all work? But they focus on different areas of life on earth.

I put up my thumb and it blotted out the planet Earth.

Globalization has made copper and other minerals more valuable, and Ghana and Kenya have recently discovered mineral resources.

Perhaps, as some wit remarked, the best proof that there is Intelligent Life in Outer Space is the fact it hasn’t come here. Well, it can’t hide forever – one day we will overhear it.

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can’t solve the equations, directly in the abstract.

I had no talent for science. What was infinitely worse: all my fraternity brothers were engineers.

The god whom science recognizes must be a God of universal laws exclusively, a God who does a wholesale, not a retail business. He cannot accommodate his processes to the convenience of individuals.

I have discovered that my interest in my dear pupil, Mabel, has ripened into a far deeper feeling than that of mere friendship. In fact, I know that I have learned to love her very sincerely.