DNA was my only gold rush. I regarded DNA as worth a gold rush.

You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient.

There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so.

If you succeed with your first dream, it helps. You know, people trust you, possibly, for the second one. They give you a chance to play out your second one.

[As a young man ] I came to the conclusion that the church was just a bunch of fascists that supported Franco. I stopped going on Sunday mornings and watched the birds with my father instead.

Knowing "why" (an idea) is more important than learning "what" (the fact).

Science has always been my preoccupation and when you think a breakthrough is possible, it is terribly exciting.