"I think that 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." "To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." "My goal is simple. It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is, and why it exists at all." "Some of our greatest catastrophes have been caused by people talking, and some by people not talking." "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? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?" From A Brief History of Time. [regarding the Star Trek warp engine] "I'm working on that." "However, if we discover a complete theory, it should in time be understandable by everyone, not just by a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God." From 'A Brief History of Time' (1989). "By the age of fourteen, I knew I wanted to do Physics because it was the most fundamental of the sciences."