I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.

I think of evolution as an error-making and error-correcting process, and we are constantly learning from experience.

I pictured myself as a virus or a cancer cell and tried to sense what it would be like.

I speak about universal evolution and teleological evolution, because I think the process of evolution reflects the wisdom of nature. I see the need for wisdom to become operative. We need to try to put all of these things together in what I call an evolutionary philosophy of our time.

What you see in living systems, and in genetic systems, is that the genes are already there, having arisen in the course of time, and when they are needed they become activated. If they had to be invented, the time would be too late.

When you inoculate children with a polio vaccine, you don't sleep well for two or three months.

My life is pretty well at peace, and the profession is more of an avocation. It's a calling, if you like, rather than a job. I do what I feel impelled to do, as an artist would.