By asking a novel question that you don't know the answer to, you discover whether you can formulate a way of finding the answer, and you stretch your own mind, and very often you learn something new.

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

I have the same sense of the power and virtue of knowledge that some people get from a religious background.

Everyone wants a hand in the outcome, a piece of the knowledge.

Science doesn't in the slightest depend on trust. It depends completely on the belief that you can demonstrate something for yourself.

It's easier to change what you do than people think it is. If you don't change, your field changes around you.

Three billion bases of DNA sequence can be put on a single compact disc and one will be able to pull a CD out of one's pocket and say, 'Here is a human being; it's me!'