I entered the health care debate in response to a statement in the United States press in summer 2009 which claimed the National Health Service in Great Britain would have killed me off, were I a British citizen. I felt compelled to make a statement to explain the error.
— Stephen Hawking
It was Einstein's dream to discover the grand design of the universe, a single theory that explains everything. However, physicists in Einstein's day hadn't made enough progress in understanding the forces of nature for that to be a realistic goal.
God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship. An impersonal God.
The universe is not indifferent to our existence - it depends on it.
There could be shadow galaxies, shadow stars, and even shadow people.
Throughout history, people have studied pure science from a desire to understand the universe rather than practical applications for commercial gain. But their discoveries later turned out to have great practical benefits.
I am in touch with a company that hopes to replicate my voice. However, they are not replicating my original voice - if they did that, I would sound like a man in his 20s, which would be very strange! They are actually trying to replicate the synthesizer that sits on my wheelchair.
When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.
Most people don't have time to master the very mathematical details of theoretical physics.
Many people find the universe confusing - it's not.
I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.
If I had to choose a superhero to be, I would pick Superman. He's everything that I'm not.
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.
What I'd really like to control is not machines, but people.
M-theory is the unified theory Einstein was hoping to find.
I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.
There is no physical law precluding particles from being organised in ways that perform even more advanced computations than the arrangements of particles in human brains.
I had not expected 'A Brief History of Time' to be a best seller.
So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?
It's a pity that nobody has found an exploding black hole. If they had, I would have won a Nobel prize.
The cyclic universe theory predicts no gravitational waves from the early universe.
We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it.
Although almost every theoretical physicist agrees with my prediction that a black hole should glow like a hot body, it would be very difficult to verify experimentally because the temperature of a macroscopic black hole is so low.
As scientists, we step on the shoulders of science, building on the work that has come before us - aiming to inspire a new generation of young scientists to continue once we are gone.
It is extremely important to me to write for children.
I can't disguise myself with a wig and dark glasses - the wheelchair gives me away.
We live in a bewildering world.
If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, it would have recollapsed before it reached its present size. On the other hand, if it had been greater by a part in a million, the universe would have expanded too rapidly for stars and planets to form.
I think the discovery of supersymmetric partners for the known particles would revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
Before 1915, space and time were thought of as a fixed arena in which events took place, but which was not affected by what happened in it. Space and time are now dynamic quantities... space and time not only affect but are also affected by everything that happens in the universe.
We are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe.
Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.
What was God doing before the divine creation?
Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.
Perhaps one day I will go into space.
Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Computers double their performance every month.
No one undertakes research in physics with the intention of winning a prize. It is the joy of discovering something no one knew before.
A few years ago, the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved bowls... saying that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl with curved sides because, gazing out, the fish would have a distorted view of reality. But how do we know we have the true, undistorted picture of reality?
Time can behave like another direction in space under extreme conditions.
I was born on January 8, 1942, exactly three hundred years after the death of Galileo. I estimate, however, that about two hundred thousand other babies were also born that day. I don't know whether any of them was later interested in astronomy.
Even if it turns out that time travel is impossible, it is important that we understand why it is impossible.
The doctor who diagnosed me with ALS, or motor neuron disease, told me that it would kill me in two or three years.
I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn't be found.
Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion.
The missing link in cosmology is the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a 'crank.'
As Irving Good realised in 1965, machines with superhuman intelligence could repeatedly improve their design even further, triggering what Vernor Vinge called a 'singularity.'
