My first popular book, 'A Brief History of Time,' aroused a great deal of interest, but many found it difficult to understand.

Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.

I think computer viruses should count as life ... I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.

The progress of the human race in understanding the universe has established a small corner of order in an increasingly disordered universe.

For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen.

God not only plays dice, he throws them in the corner where you can't see them.

Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long term survival, is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.