Stephen Hawking

I have noticed that even people who claim that everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

1993 — From 'Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays'

Strange & Unusual Confirmed

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

1988 — From 'A Brief History of Time'

Strange & Unusual Confirmed

Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.

2010 — From 'The Grand Design'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

Unknown — From a television interview, widely quoted.

Strange & Unusual Confirmed

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.

1988 — From 'A Brief History of Time'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven't done badly. People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.

2013 — From 'My Brief History'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The universe doesn't allow perfection.

1988 — From 'A Brief History of Time'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Women. They are a complete mystery.

2012 — From an interview in New Scientist magazine.

Strange & Unusual Confirmed

Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.

2013 — From 'My Brief History'

Strange & Unusual Confirmed

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up.

Unknown — From an interview, often quoted as advice.

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.

2013 — From 'My Brief History'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.

2014 — From an interview with El Mundo newspaper.

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The human race is a single, genetic family.

2018 (posthumous) — From 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

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.

1988 — From 'A Brief History of Time'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

We are all different, but we share the same human spirit. Perhaps it's human nature that we adapt and survive.

2013 — From 'My Brief History'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I would like to know the mind of God—everything else is details.

1988 — From 'A Brief History of Time'

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

Unknown — Attributed, often used to describe the wonders of cosmology.

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

2017 — From a speech at his 75th birthday celebration.

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.

2004 — In response to a question about his IQ during an interview with The New York Times.

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

We are all time-travelers, heading into the future at the rate of one second per second.

Unknown — From a documentary or public lecture, widely quoted.

Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Sayings by Stephen Hawking