I look upon ourselves as partners in all of this, and that each of us contributes and does what he can do best. And so I see not a top rung and a bottom rung - I see all this horizontally - and I see this as part of a matrix. And I see every human being as having a purpose, a destiny, if you like - the destiny that exists in each of us - and find ways and means to provide such opportunities for everyone.

Reply when questioned on the safety of the polio vaccine he developed: It is safe, and you can't get safer than safe.

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.

A wisdom deficit - fewer elders and even fewer people who listen to them.

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

If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish.

Charlotte's Web Life is magic, the way nature works seems to be quite magical.