Astronomers ought to be able to ask fundamental questions without accelerators

It's interesting to wake up at 3 in the morning by someone saying they're a reporter and they want to know how you feel. I felt fine, but I said, 'Well, why do you ask?'

As a scientist, you feel a sense of team spirit for your country but you also have a sense of team spirit for the international community.

If you ask almost any of them, do you stand behind your theory, is this the answer, I think they would almost every one say that no, no, no, I'm just trying to expand the range of possibilities. We really don't know what is going on.

It is a tough choice between ending up in the cold or ending up in a fiery blast.

It seemed like my favourite kind of job - a wonderful chance to ask something absolutely fundamental: the fate of the Universe and whether the Universe was infinite or not

Your job as a scientist is to figure out how you're fooling yourself.