Stephen Hawking Quotes

“Aggression, humanity's greatest vice, will destroy civilization.”

“For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

“Government works best under the glare of public scrutiny. Absent such scrutiny, abuses occur.”

“I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.”

“I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.”

“I have noticed that even those who assert that everything is predestined and that we can change nothing about it still look both ways before they cross the street.”

“I like physics, but I love cartoons.”

“I regard the afterlife to be a fairy story for people that are afraid of the dark.”

“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.”

“I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die.”

“If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

“If the government is covering up knowledge of aliens, they are doing a better job of it than they do at anything else.”

“In a sense, we are all doomed. even if we stay away from black holes.”

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

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

“It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.”

“Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.”

“Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge.”

“One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist... Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”

“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.
Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away.”

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

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

“Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth.”

“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”

“Simplicity is a matter of taste.”

“So Einstein was wrong when he said, "God does not play dice." Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that he sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen.”

“The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.”

“The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.”

“The universe does not behave according to our pre-conceived ideas. It continues to surprise us.”

“The victim should have the right to end his life, if he wants. But I think it would be a great mistake. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope.”