The universe is incredibly wondrous, incredibly beautiful, and it fills me with a sense that there is some underlying explanation that we have yet to fully understand. If someone wants to place the word 'God' on those collections of words, it's OK with me.

The real question is whether all your pondering and analyses will convince you that life is worth living. That's what it all comes down to.

In essence, we string theorists have been trying to work out the score of the universe, the harmonies of the universe, the mathematical vibrations that the strings would play. So musical metaphors have been with us in science since the beginning.

Time allows change to take place and the very evolution of the universe is what requires some conception of time. Mathematically can we write down a universe that doesn't have time? Sure. Do we think that would be realised in the larger reality that is out there? None of us take that possibility seriously.

When you know the answer you want, it is often all too easy to figure out a way of getting it.

Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty.

All you are is a bag of particles acting out the laws of physics. That to me is pretty clear.