The brain rewards us for interacting with beautiful things. In this way, evolution wants to encourage us to do what is good for us.

If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a big mistake.

I went off to college planning to major in math or philosophy-- of course, both those ideas are really the same idea.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

In physics, your solution should convince a reasonable person. In math, you have to convince a person who's trying to make trouble. Ultimately, in physics, you're hoping to convince Nature. And I've found Nature to be pretty reasonable.

I'm convinced that art and science activate the same parts of the brain.

An ordinary mistake is one that leads to a dead end, while a profound mistake is one that leads to progress. Anyone can make an ordinary mistake, but it takes a genius to make a profound mistake.