I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.

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.

All the evidence shows that God was actually quite a gambler, and the universe is a great casino, where dice are thrown, and roulette wheels spin on every occasion

When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

It matters if you just don't give up.

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”

It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value

If we find the answer [the unified theory], it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for we would know the mind of God.

The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years.

If we do discover a complete theory, it should be in time understandable in broad principle by everyone . . . . Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people be able to take part in the discussion of why we and the universe exist.

The old paradox: Can God make a stone so heavy that he canīt lift it?

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.