Science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward (and sometimes backward) are often very human events in which personalities and cultural traditions play major roles.

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

The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was that my father didn't believe in God, and so he had no hang-ups about souls.

Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them.

Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind.

The ever quickening advances of science made possible by the success of the Human Genome Project will also soon let us see the essences of mental disease. Only after we understand them at the genetic level can we rationally seek out appropriate therapies for such illnesses as schizophrenia and bipolar disease.

Ever since we achieved a breakthrough in the area of recombinant DNA in 1973, left-wing nuts and environmental kooks have been screaming that we will create some kind of Frankenstein bug or Andromeda Strain that will destroy us all.