In this post, we’ll venture into the world of Stephen Hawking quotes, who was a renowned British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author.
Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of theoretical physics and cosmology, mainly in the study of black holes and the nature of the universe.
Stephen William Hawking was born on January 8, 1942, in Oxford, England. He showed an early interest in science and mathematics. Despite being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 21, he continued his studies at the University of Cambridge.
He gradually got paralyzed over the years and continued his scientific work with the help of a computerized speech synthesizer. In addition to his academic work, he wrote several popular science books. He was known for his wit, humor, and ability to explain complex scientific ideas to the public.
Here are some of the best Stephen Hawking quotes about space, universe, science, and more.
Stephen Hawking Quotes
1. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.”
2. “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.”
3. “No one can resist the idea of a crippled genius.”
4. “I don’t want to write an autobiography because I would become public property with no privacy left.”
5. “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”
6. “Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.”
7. “What I’d really like to control is not machines, but people.”
Famous Stephen Hawking Quotes
1. “Where there is life, there is hope.”
2. “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
3. “People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”
4. “Simplicity is a matter of taste.”
5. “It matters if you just don’t give up.”
6. “Quiet people have the loudest minds.”
7. “The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.”
8. “I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die.”
9. “Nothing cannot exist forever.”
10. “We should seek the greatest value of our action.”
11. “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.”
12. “Government works best under the glare of public scrutiny. Absent such scrutiny, abuses occur.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Big Bang
1. “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.”
2. “Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in. It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth. The Earth is a sphere.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Life
1. “Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.”
2. “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”
3. “I have a full and satisfying life. My work and my family are very important to me.”
4. “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.”
5. “Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.”
6. “I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their own life, and those that help them should be free from prosecution.”
7. “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.”
8. “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 Universe
1. “There is nothing bigger or older than the universe.”
2. “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”
3. “Many people find the universe confusing – it’s not.”
4. “Observations indicate that the universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate. It will expand forever, getting emptier and darker.”
5. “If you understand the universe, you control it, in a way.”
6. “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
7. “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.”
8. “The universe is not indifferent to our existence – it depends on it.”
9. “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.”
10. “The universe doesn’t allow perfection.”
11. “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Time
1. “People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.”
2. “If I had a time machine, I’d visit Marilyn Monroe in her prime or drop in on Galileo as he turned his telescope to the heavens.”
3. “Even if it turns out that time travel is impossible, it is important that we understand why it is impossible.”
4. “I have so much that I want to do. I hate wasting time. ”
5. “Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a ‘crank.’”
6. “If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?”
7. “I have wondered about time all my life.”
8. “It now appears that the way the universe began can indeed be determined, using imaginary time.”
9. “Eternity is a long time, especially towards the end.”
10. “The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Space
1. “I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.”
2. “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.”
3. “It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Science
1. “I used to think information was destroyed in black hole. This was my biggest blunder, or at least my biggest blunder in science.”
2. “I believe there are no questions that science can’t answer about a physical universe.”
3. “Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion.”
4. “Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations.”
5. “If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed.”
6. “Science can lift people out of poverty and cure disease. That, in turn, will reduce civil unrest.”
7. “Evolution has ensured that our brains just aren’t equipped to visualise 11 dimensions directly. However, from a purely mathematical point of view it’s just as easy to think in 11 dimensions, as it is to think in three or four.”
8. “There is no unique picture of reality.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Women
1. “Women. They are a complete mystery.”
2. “It is generally recognised that women are better than men at languages, personal relations and multi-tasking, but less good at map-reading and spatial awareness. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that women might be less good at mathematics and physics.”
3. “I’m no better than anyone else at understanding what makes people tick, particularly women.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Religion
1. “God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.”
2. “Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe.”
3. “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.”
4. “What was God doing before the divine creation?”
5. “I’m an atheist.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes on Knowledge
1. “Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge.”
2. “Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.”
3. “Be brave, be curious, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done.”
4. “No one undertakes research in physics with the intention of winning a prize. It is the joy of discovering something no one knew before.”
5. “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
Stephen Hawking Quotes About Humanity
1. “The human race does not have a very good record of intelligent behaviour.”
2. “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.”
3. “It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.”
4. “I think it quite likely that we are the only civilization within several hundred light years; otherwise we would have heard radio waves.”
5. “We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.”
6. “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.”
7. “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.”
These Stephen Hawking quotes reflect his intellectual curiosity, resilience, and his pursuit of knowledge.
He also worked on various cosmological theories, including the “no-boundary condition” proposal, which suggests that the universe has no particular boundary or edge.
He became a globally recognized figure and a popular cultural icon. His life and work were portrayed in various films, documentaries, and TV shows. He passed away on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76.
Stephen Hawking received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to physics in his lifetime, including the Albert Einstein Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and being named a Companion of Honor by Queen Elizabeth II.
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