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The internationally acclaimed physicist—who suffered from a debilitating motor neurone disease—has died at the age of 76, but his powerful words will live on forever. Here are a selection of Hawking's most inspirational, thought-provoking messages.
ON CURIOSITY:
"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. "
ON ADAPTING:
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
ON KNOWLEDGE:
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
ON LIFE:
"Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."
ON PERSISTANCE:
"However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up."
ON FAITH:
"God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator."
ON WOMEN:
"My [physician assistant] reminds me that although I have a PhD in physics, women should remain a mystery."
ON PHILOSOPHY:
"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities."
ON LOVE:
"It would not be much of a universe if it wasn't home to the people you love."
ON SUCCESS:
"However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at."
ON THE FUTURE:
“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. It's a crazy world out there. Be curious."
ON IMAGINATION:
“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.”
