At lunch Francis [Crick] winged into the Eagle to tell everyone within hearing distance that we had found the secret of life.

[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.

The way to do great science is to stay away from subjects that are overpopulated, and go to the frontiers.

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.

There are many people of color who are very talented.

Ultimately, we'll help the people we discriminate against if we try to understand more about them; genetics will lead to a world where there is a sympathy for the underdog.

Biology has at least 50 more interesting years.