We are not angels, we are merely sophisticated apes. Yet we feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, craving transcendence and all the time trying to spread our wings and fly off, and it's really a very odd predicament to be in, if you think about it.

If we knew about the real facts and statistics of mortality, we’d be terrified.

A culture without mythology is not really a civilisation.

Curiosity illuminates the correct path to anything in life. If you're not curious, that's when your brain is starting to die.

In the fetus, or a really young child, all the different brain areas are connected to each other, diffusely. And as the brain develops, the excess connections are turned off, so you get very specialized areas. So most people have really specialized talents. What happens in creative people is this pooling doesn't take place.

A genius is somebody who seemingly just reaches out of nowhere.

Science is like a love affair with nature; an elusive, tantalising mistress. It has all the turbulence, twists and turns of romantic love, but thats part of the game.