One of the greatest gifts science has brought to the world is continuing elimination of the supernatural, and it was a lesson that my father passed on to me, that knowledge liberates mankind from superstition. We can live our lives without the constant fear that we have offended this or that deity who must be placated by incantation or sacrifice, or that we are at the mercy of devils or the Fates. With increasing knowledge, the intellectual darkness that surrounds us is illuminated and we learn more of the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

The pace of discovery is going unbelievably fast.

One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.

It's necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant.

No good model ever accounted for all the facts, since some data was bound to be misleading if not plain wrong.

(The National Cancer Program is) a bunch of (obscenity).

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