Real life isn't a series of interconnected events occurring one after another - like beads strung on a necklace. Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event may change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way.

At forty, I was too old to work as a programmer myself anymore; writing code is a young person’s job.

Reality is always greater - much greater - than what we know, than whatever we can say about it.

Safety is the last refuge of the scoundrel!

Human beings are so destructive. I sometimes think we're a kind of plague, that will scrub the earth clean. We destroy things so well that I sometimes think, maybe that's our function. Maybe every few eons, some animal comes along that kills off the rest of the world, clears the decks, and lets evolution proceed to its next phase.

The nasty little apes that call themselves human beings can do nothing except run and hide.

This fascination with computer models is something I understand very well. Richard Feynmann called it a disease. I fear he is right.