Quotes from Stephen Hawking

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

Let us fight for every woman and every man to have the opportunity to live healthy, secure lives, full of opportunity and love. We are all time travellers, journeying together into the future. But let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit.

As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe. This was first pointed out by St. Augustine. When asked: What did God do before he created the universe? Augustine didn't reply: He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions.

I have spent my life travelling across the universe, inside my mind.

Einstein never accepted that the universe was governed by chance; his feelings were summed up in his famous statement "God does not play dice.

I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer.

You cannot predict the future.

No matter how powerful a computer you have, if you put lousy data in you will get lousy predictions out.

A million million million million (1 with twenty-four zeros after it) miles, the size of the observable universe.

If one is physically disabled, one cannot afford to be *psychologically* disabled as well.

Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this.

A theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements. It must accurately describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements, and it must make definite predictions about the results of future observations.

Le persone silenziose sono quelle che hanno le menti più rumorose.

Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention. (The Catholic Church, on the other hand, seized on the big bang model and in 1951 officially pronounced it to be in accordance with the Bible.

It's the gravity that shapes the large scale structure of the universe, even though it is the weakest of four categories of forces.

As those who have seen Jurassic Park will know, this means a tiny disturbance in one place, can cause a major change in another. A butterfly flapping its wings can cause rain in Central Park, New York. The trouble is, it is not repeatable. The next time the butterfly flaps its wings, a host of other things will be different, which will also influence the weather. That is why weather forecasts are so unreliable.

There is no way that we can predict the weather six months ahead beyond giving the seasonal average

I am very aware of the preciousness of time. Seize the moment. Act now.

It is said that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But the universe is the ultimate free lunch.

It is hard to imagine how free will can operate if our behavior is determined by physical law, so it seems that we are no more than biological machines and that free will is just an illusion.

We believe human begins have existed for only a small fraction of cosmic history, because human race has been improving so rapidly in knowledge and technology that if people had been around for millions of years, the human race would be much further along in it's mastery.

The most remarkable property of the universe is that it has spawned creatures able to ask questions.

In his eyes shone the reflection of the most beautiful planet in the Universe---a planet that is not too hot and not too cold; that has liquid water on the surface and where the gravity is just right for human beings and the atmosphere is perfect for them to breathe; where there are mountains and deserts and oceans and islands and forests and trees and birds and plants and animals and insects and people---lots and lots of people. Where there is life. Some of it, possibly, intelligent.

Each exists for but a short time, and in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe.