Science is properly more scrupulous than dogma. Dogma gives a charter to mistake, but the very breath of science is a contest with mistake, and must keep the conscience alive.

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

Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?

Good thinkers always prime the pump of ideas. They always look for things to get the thinking process started, because what you put in always impacts what comes out.

I’ve always been amazed by Da Vinci, because he worked out science on his own. He would work by drawing things and writing down his ideas. Of course, he designed all sorts of flying machines way before you could actually build something like that.

The answers you get from literature depend on the questions you pose.

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

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

In order to arrive at knowledge of the motions of birds in the air, it is first necessary to acquire knowledge of the winds, which we will prove by the motions of water in itself, and this knowledge will be a step enabling us to arrive at the knowledge of beings that fly between the air and the wind.

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.

OK, so what’s the speed of dark?

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

My preparation is about precision. It is a science.

The equal right of all citizens to health, education, work, food, security, culture, science, and wellbeing – that is, the same rights we proclaimed when we began our struggle, in addition to those which emerge from our dreams of justice and equality for all inhabitants of our world – is what I wish for all.

Conscience is a man’s compass.

The separation of church and state is a source of strength, but the conscience of our nation does not call for separation between men of state and faith in the Supreme Being.

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

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.

I am always wary of decisions made hastily. I am always wary of the first decision, that is, the first thing that comes to my mind if I have to make a decision. This is usually the wrong thing. I have to wait and assess, looking deep into myself, taking the necessary time.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.

Rational discussion is useful only when there is a significant base of shared assumptions.

What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.

Faith… must be enforced by reason… when faith becomes blind it dies.

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.

I don’t know that my schooling was conducive to wild ideas and creativity, but it gave me discipline, drive. They taught me how to think. I really know how to think.

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.

I have a big following among the biogeeks of this world. Nobody ever puts them in books.

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

The pursuit of science leads only to the insoluble.

The human being is a strange mixture of blind instinct, on one hand, and conscience, on the other.

It now appears that the way the universe began can indeed be determined, using imaginary time.

Presented with the claims of nineteenth-century racist anthropology, a rational person will ask two sorts of questions: ‚What is the scientific status of the claims?‘ ‚What social or ideological needs do they serve?‘

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

I still think like a Marxist in many ways.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.

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

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.

I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

Among physicists, I’m respected I hope.

Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn’t the thing.

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.

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.

The next time someone tells you we can trim the budget by cutting aid, I hope you will ask whether it will come at the cost of more people dying.

Science is not everything, but science is very beautiful.

I’m never going to go to Mars, but I’ve helped inspire, thank goodness, the people who built the rockets and sent our photographic equipment off to Mars.

Since many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are non-believers, from the bottom of my heart I give this silent blessing to each and every one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you but knowing that each one of you is a child of God.

How well he’s read, to reason against reading!

It would be an egregious mistake to ever refer to me in the same breath as most of the people I write about.

It has not yet become obvious to me that there’s no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.

The mineral world is a much more supple and mobile world than could be imagined by the science of the ancients. Vaguely analogous to the metamorphoses of living creatures, there occurs in the most solid rocks, as we now know, perpetual transformation of a mineral species.

We’ve got to dumb America up again.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.

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.