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Stephen Hawking, who
has died aged 76, combined a soaring intellect and a mischievous
sense of humour that made him an icon of both academia and popular
culture.
Here are a collection of some of his greatest quotes:
- “For millions
of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something
happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to
talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication
of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the
impossible. 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.”
- “My goal is
simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as
it is and why it exists at all.
- “I regard the
brain as a computer which will stop working when its components
fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers;
that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
- “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
realisation 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.”
- “Remember to
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. 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.”
- “Life would be
tragic if it weren’t funny”.
- “My
expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since
then has been a bonus”.
- “People who
boast about their IQ are losers.”
- “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 I want
to do first.”
- “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.”
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