Walking the streets of Tokyo with Hawking in his wheelchair ... I felt as if I were taking a walk through Galilee with Jesus Christ [as] crowds of Japanese silently streamed after us, stretching out their hands to touch Hawking's wheelchair. ... The crowds had streamed after Einstein [on Einstein's visit to Japan in 1922] as they streamed after Hawking seventy years later. ... They showed exquisite choice in their heroes. ... Somehow they understood that Einstein and Hawking were not just great scientists, but great human beings.

The only way to improve the chances for finding winners is to keep all the choices open and try them all.

It's us that's really amazing.

Scepticism is as important for a good journalist as it is for a good scientist.

Almost everything about the universe is astounding.

I grew up in England and we spent most of the time on Latin and Greek and very little on science, and I think that was good because it meant we didn't get turned off. It was... Science was something we did for fun and not because we had to.

Do not imagine that you have to know everything before you can do anything. My own best work was done when I was most ignorant.