"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?"
— Stephen W. Hawking (A Brief History of Time)

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"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."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"[In the Universe it may be that] Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"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."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"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."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"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."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. "
— Stephen W. Hawking

"Not only does God play dice but... he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"thus, in a sense, we are all doomed. even if we stay away from black holes"
— Stephen W. Hawking

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

"So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?"
— Stephen W. Hawking

"What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary."
— Stephen W. Hawking

" You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"One is always a long way from solving a problem until one actually has the answer."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"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."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"Time and space are finite in extent, but they don't have any boundary or edge. They would be like the surface of the earth, but with two more dimensions."
— Stephen W. Hawking (Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays)

"Not to take this web of dualities as a sign we are on the right track would be a bit like believing that God put fossils into the rocks in order to mislead Darwin about the evolution of life."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"One could say: "The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary." The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"God abhors a naked singularity."
— Stephen W. Hawking (A Brief History of Time)

"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."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it,
look before they cross the road."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"Government works best under the glare of public scrutiny. Absent such scrutiny, abuses occur."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"The Universe in a Nutshell"
— Stephen W. Hawking

""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."
"
— Stephen W. Hawking

"We got through all of Genesis and part of Exodus before I left. One of the main things I was taught from this was not to begin a sentence with And. I pointed out that most sentences in the Bible began with And, but I was told that English had changed since the time of King James. In that case, I argued, why make us read the Bible? But it was in vain. Robert Graves was very keen on the symbolism and mysticism in the Bible at that time."
— Stephen W. Hawking (Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays)

"My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.
"
— Stephen W. Hawking

"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.
"
— Stephen W. Hawking

"Government works best under the glare of public scrutiny. Absent such scrutiny, abuses occur."
— Stephen W. Hawking

"My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.
"
— Stephen W. Hawking