Quotes from Stephen Hawking

Up until the 1920s, everyone thought the universe was essentially static and unchanging in time.

I believe there are no questions that science can't answer about a physical universe.

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

We are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe.

There is nothing bigger or older than the universe.

We think that life develops spontaneously on Earth, so it must be possible for life to develop on suitable planets elsewhere in the universe. But we don't know the probability that a planet develops life.

For years, my early work with Roger Penrose seemed to be a disaster for science. It showed that the universe must have begun with a singularity, if Einstein's general theory of relativity is correct. That appeared to indicate that science could not predict how the universe would begin.

When we understand string theory, we will know how the universe began. It won't have much effect on how we live, but it is important to understand where we come from and what we can expect to find as we explore.

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?

Throughout history, people have studied pure science from a desire to understand the universe rather than practical applications for commercial gain. But their discoveries later turned out to have great practical benefits.

According to 'M' theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, 'M' theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing.

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

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

There could be shadow galaxies, shadow stars, and even shadow people.

Nothing cannot exist forever.

We are all now connected by the Internet, like neurons in a giant brain.

Our minds work in real time, which begins at the Big Bang and will end, if there is a Big Crunch - which seems unlikely, now, from the latest data showing accelerating expansion. Consciousness would come to an end at a singularity.

Theology is unnecessary.

Science can lift people out of poverty and cure disease. That, in turn, will reduce civil unrest.

Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.

There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

9. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

Chaos, when left alone, tends to multiply.

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