Stephen William Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018), was a British theoretical author, physicist, cosmologist, and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His major contribution includes the collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Stephen had a rare early-onset, slow-progressing form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that gradually paralyzed him over the decades. He was still able to communicate using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device. He was a strong supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Hope this Stephen Hawking quotes from one of the world’s most famous scientist inspire you to achieve the success.
Stephen Hawking Quotes
- “We are all different, but we share the same human spirit. Perhaps it’s human nature that we adapt and survive.”
- “If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball more than eight miles wide.”
- “In an infinite universe, every point can be regarded as the centre, because every point has an infinite number of stars on each side of it.”
- “The eventual goal of science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe.”
- “So next time someone complains that you have made a mistake, tell him that may be a good thing. Because without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
- “Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious, and however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” , Stephen Hawking quotes be curious
- “One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.” , Stephen Hawking quotes about love
- “I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions. Occasionally, I find an answer.”
- “The computer in your cell phone today is a million times cheaper and thousand times more powerful and about a hundred thousand time smaller than the one computer at MIT in 1965.”
- “We now know that our galaxy is only one of some hundred thousand million that can be seen using modern telescopes, each galaxy itself containing some hundred thousand million stars.” , Stephen Hawking quotes about stars
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“Quiet people have the loudest minds.”
- “Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor.”
- “Some people would claim that things like love, joy and beauty belong to a different category from science and can’t be described in scientific terms, but I think they can now be explained by the theory of evolution.”
- “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”
- “Women. They are a complete mystery.”
- “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fails. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
- “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
- “To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would limit the human spirit.”
- “It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us.”
- “The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.”
- “Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.” , Stephen Hawking quotes about technology
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“Aggression, humanity’s greatest vice, will destroy civilization.”
- ‘If I had to choose a superhero to be, I would pick Superman. He’s everything that I’m not.”
- “I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much that I want to do. I hate wasting time.”
- “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans. We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”
- “I wouldn’t compare it to sex, but it lasts longer.” [ON THE EUREKA MOMENT SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY]
- “I would go back to 1967, and the birth of my first child, Robert. My three children have brought me great joy.”
- “There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works.” , Stephen Hawking quotes religion
- “It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven’t done badly. People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.”
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“I have no idea [what my IQ is]. People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”
- “The victim should have the right to end his life, if he wants. But I think it would be a great mistake. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.” , Stephen Hawking quotes about life
- “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.”
, Stephen Hawking quotes about intelligence- “I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.”
- “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
- “One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist…..Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
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“The universe doesn’t allow perfection.”
- “Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.”
- “If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?” , Stephen Hawking quotes on time travel
- “People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.”
- “It’s the gravity that shapes the large scale structure of the universe, even though it is the weakest of four categories of forces.”
- “We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.”
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“You cannot predict the future.”
- “Not only does God play dice but… he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.”
- “I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.”
- “You cannot understand the glories of the universe without believing there is some Supreme Power behind it.”
- “The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.”
- “I regard the afterlife to be a fairy story for people that are afraid of the dark.”
- “One is always a long way from solving a problem until one actually has the answer.”
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“I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die.”
- “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a mirror planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special.”
- “To confine our attention to terrestrial matters, would be to limit the human spirit.”
- “It’s not the size, but what you do with it that counts.”
- “The human capacity for guilt is such that people can always find ways to blame themselves.”
- “Eternity is a long time, especially towards the end.”
- “We each exist for but a short time, and in that time explore but a small part of the whole universe.”
- “The universe does not behave according to our pre-conceived ideas. It continues to surprise us.”
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“To boldly go where no one has gone before.”
- “As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe. This was first pointed out by St. Augustine. When asked: “What did God do before he created the universe?” Augustine didn’t reply: “He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions.”
- “Why are we here?
Where do we come from?
traditionally, these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead.” - “We create history by our observation, rather than history creating us.”
- “Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion.”
- “If you understand how the universe operates, you control it, in a way.” , Stephen Hawking quotes about the universe
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“God not only plays dice, he also sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen.”
- “My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit, as well as physically.”
- “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.”
- “I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”
Few facts about Stephen Hawking:
- He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics
- Stephen was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States
- In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons
- His book, A Brief History of Time, appeared on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks
- Stephen Hawking was nicknamed as- Einstein, during his school times
- Stephen’s animated version appeared on ‘The Simpsons’ (American Sitcom) for which he had lent his voice. He also appeared on ‘Star Trek: Next Generation.’ He was also featured in popular documentary shows like ‘Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe’ and ‘Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.’
Hawking had countless famous phrases and saying, here we offer you a short selection of Stephen Hawking quotes.