Brief Answers to the Big Questions

by Stephen Hawking

When we see the Earth from space, we see ourselves as a whole. We see the unity, and not the divisions. It is such a simple image with a compelling message; one planet, one human race.

When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realise that there are lots of things you want to do before your life is over.

After my expectations had been reduced to zero, every new day became a bonus, and I began to appreciate everything I did have. While there’s life, there is hope.

Be brave, be curious, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done.

I think the universe was spontaneously created out of nothing, according to the laws of science.

So what does this mean in our quest to find out if there is a God? It means that if the universe adds up to nothing, then you don’t need a God to create it. The universe is the ultimate free lunch.

You can’t get to a time before the Big Bang because there was no time before the Big Bang. We have finally found something that doesn’t have a cause, because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means that there is no possibility of a creator, because there is no time for a creator to have existed in.

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