Quotes for the Week: Stephen William Hawking (1942 - )

Stephen Hawking is an English physicist and the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Stephen Hawking is one person that has many excuses not to try anything but he is one of the best theoretical physicists alive despite being disabled.

Stephen Hawking was diagnosed for Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 21. Normally, anybody diagnosed of this disease is expected to die less than 5 years after the diagnosis. However, the professor has defied all odds and is still alive at the age of 71.

He has been in the wheelchair since 1985 and communicates through computer at events. He is the author of The Brief History of Time, a book that stayed on top of the British Sunday Times for 237 weeks (more than 4 years). He was also a recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award by a civilian in the United States.

Stephen Hawking

Here are some of his quotes, you’ll agree with some and you may not agree with some but they’re worth checking out:

“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, 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.”

“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

“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.”

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

“I have no idea. People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.”

 “I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.”

“I think computer virus 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.”

“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.”

“God not only dice, He also sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen.”

“Although September 11 was horrible, it didn’t threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do.”

“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.”

“What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the law of science. In that case it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn’t prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary.”

Have a wonderful week.

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