Stephen Hawking

“People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”

“We lived in a tall, narrow Victorian house, which my parents had bought very cheaply during the war, when everyone thought London was going to be bombed flat. In fact, a V-2 rocket landed a...”

“My ideal role would be a baddie in a James Bond film. I think the wheelchair and the computer voice would fit the part.”

“Evolution has ensured that our brains just aren't equipped to visualise 11 dimensions directly. However, from a purely mathematical point of view it's just as easy to think in 11 dimensions,...”

“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 had not expected 'A Brief History of Time' to be a best seller.”

“In Britain, like most of the developed world, stem-cell research is regarded as a great opportunity. America will be left behind if it doesn't change policy.”

“I entered the health care debate in response to a statement in the United States press in summer 2009 which claimed the National Health Service in Great Britain would have killed me off, wer...”

“I have found far greater enthusiasm for science in America than here in Britain. There is more enthusiasm for everything in America.”

“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...”

“I believe everyone should have a broad picture of how the universe operates and our place in it. It is a basic human desire. And it also puts our worries in perspective.”

“I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.”

“Cambridge is one of the best universities in the world, especially in my field.”

“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.”

“Some people would claim that things like love, joy and beauty belong to a different category from science and can't be described in scientific terms, but I think they can now be explained by...”

“There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end ofthe search for the ultimate laws of nature.”

“I think the brain is essentially a computer and consciousness is like a computer program. It will cease to run when the computer is turned off. Theoretically, it could be re-created on a neu...”

“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 on...”

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

“We think we have solved the mystery of creation. Maybe we should patent the universe and charge everyone royalties for their existence.”