Tobacco, UV rays, viruses, heredity, and age are the main causes of cancer.

A cancer is not simply a lung cancer. It doesn't simply have a certain kind of appearance under the microscope or a certain behavior, but it also has a set of changes in the genes or in the molecules that modify gene behavior that allows us to categorize cancers in ways that is very useful in thinking about new ways to control cancer by prevention and treatment.

I had learned that science is a rewarding, active process of discovery, not the passive absorption of what others had discovered.

There are three great themes in science in the twentieth century : the atom, the computer, and the gene.

I keep encouraging the pharmaceutical companies to put more money into R&D.

Every cancer looks different. Every cancer has similarities to other cancers. And were trying to milk those differences and similarities to do a better job of predicting how things are going to work out and making new drugs.

Our biggest single theme is trying to make the NIH work better with the same amount of money.