It is always good to know which ideas cannot be checked directly, but it is not necessary to remove them all. It is not true that we can pursue science completely by using only those concepts which are directly subject to experiment.

The world moves, and ideas that were once good are not always good.

Science is a tool, and we invent tools to do things we want. It’s a question of how those tools are used by people.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.

We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.

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

The situation in the sciences is this: A concept or an idea which cannot be measured or cannot be referred directly to experiment may or may not be useful. It need not exist in a theory.

Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion.

It seems almost backwards to me that my music seems the more emotional outlet, and the art stuff seems more about ideas.

It is the weight, not numbers of experiments that is to be regarded.

Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that ‚Oryx and Crake‘ is anti-science. Science is a way of knowing, and a tool. Like all ways of knowing and tools, it can be turned to bad uses. And it can be bought and sold, and it often is. But it is not in itself bad. Like electricity, it’s neutral.

We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.

Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied.

Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Science is the effective way of doing things. Business is the economic way of doing things.

I work all day, do research, sketch my ideas, prepare for performances.

Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives‘ mouths.

A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise, you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

They say the universe is expanding. That should help with the traffic.

Science does not know its debt to imagination.

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

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I’ve only ever had one.

Gravitation is, so far, not understandable in terms of other phenomena.

To this day, some of my closest friends say, ‚Gaga, you know, everything’s great. You’re a singer; your dreams have come true.‘ But, still, when certain things are said to you over and over again as you’re growing up, it stays with you and you wonder if they’re true.

In the early days of aviation, there was a great deal of experimentation and a high death rate.

The proper method for inquiring after the properties of things is to deduce them from experiments.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date.

Science, as everyone knows, is responsible, moderate, unsentimental, and otherwise good.

I was a very keen reader of science fiction, and during the time I was going to libraries, it was good, written by people who knew their science.

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

In American math classes, we teach a lot of concepts poorly over many years. In the Asian systems they teach you very few concepts very well over a few years.

Science has revealed that the human body is made up of millions and millions of atoms… For example, I am made up of 5.8×10 27 atoms.

My first popular book, ‚A Brief History of Time,‘ aroused a great deal of interest, but many found it difficult to understand.

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.

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.

Soon, I’ll be like all the others. The time will come for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain.

My proposal happens to be very mainstream.

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.

The science of psychology has been far more successful on the negative than on the positive side… It has revealed to us much about man’s shortcomings, his illnesses, his sins, but little about his potentialities, his virtues, his achievable aspirations, or his psychological health.

The greatest progress is in the sciences that study the simplest systems. So take, say, physics – greatest progress there. But one of the reasons is that the physicists have an advantage that no other branch of sciences has. If something gets too complicated, they hand it to someone else.

Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.

The capacity of the female mind for studies of the highest order cannot be doubted, having been sufficiently illustrated by its works of genius, of erudition, and of science.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.

I am a great fan of science, but I cannot do a quadratic equation.

My message to the Americans is the same as to everyone – that is to unite behind the science and to act on the science.

I think that growing up in a crowded continent like Europe with an awful lot of competing claims, ideas… cultures… and systems of thought, we have, perforce, developed a more sophisticated notion of what the word ‚freedom‘ means than I see much evidence of in America.

Women tend to be more intuitive, or to admit to being intuitive, and maybe the hard science approach isn’t so attractive. The way that science is taught is very cold. I would never have become a scientist if I had been taught like that.

Writing means sharing. It’s part of the human condition to want to share things – thoughts, ideas, opinions.

Hypotheses should be subservient only in explaining the properties of things but not assumed in determining them, unless so far as they may furnish experiments.

Good jokes are gems. A good idea is hard to come by. I couldn’t give them to someone else, even for money. It just wouldn’t seem right.

Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which, before their union, were not perceived to have any relation.

Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement.

I just want to keep pushing the envelope without it feeling forced.

If anyone offers conjectures about the truth of things from the mere possibility of hypotheses, I do not see by what stipulation anything certain can be determined in any science, since one or another set of hypotheses may always be devised which will appear to supply new difficulties.

My preparation is about precision. It is a science.

People wonder aloud about whether I am an okay mother. That is obviously painful because it’s so important to me. It’s hard to hear that people think I’m not a capable mother and a good person, that they just think I’m nuts.

All writers are going to have to learn more about science, because it’s such an interesting part of their environment.

Science never solves a problem without creating ten more.