# Stephen Hawking's best quotes (with sources)

Monkeys on a minor planet who can understand the Universe, people who boast about their IQ and the imperfection without which we would not exist: Stephen Hawking's most quoted lines, each with its interview, lecture or book — and without the misattributed ones.

- 74 votes · 14 items
- Jul 4, 2021 · Chinedu
- https://even.best/en/l/5050/stephen-hawking-s-best-quotes-with-sources

## Top 14

1. **People who boast about their IQ are losers.** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Interview in The New York Times (2004).
2. **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.** (5 · ▲7 ▼2) — Interview in Der Spiegel (1988).
3. **Life would be tragic if it weren't funny.** (5 · ▲6 ▼1) — Interview in The New York Times (2004).
4. **My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.** (5 · ▲6 ▼1) — Interview in The New York Times (2004).
5. **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.** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010).
6. **Equations are just the boring part of mathematics. I attempt to see things in terms of geometry.** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Quoted in Stephen Hawking: A Biography, by Kristine Larsen (2005).
7. **To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit.** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Foreword to The Physics of Star Trek, by Lawrence Krauss.
8. **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.** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Interview in The Guardian (2005).
9. **I am discounting reports of UFOs. Why would they appear only to cranks and weirdos?** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — TED talk "Asking Big Questions about the Universe" (2008).
10. **With current technology interstellar travel is utterly impractical. Alpha Centauri can never become a holiday destination.** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018).
11. **…the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order…** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — A Brief History of Time (1988).
12. **Einstein was confused, not the quantum theory.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Lecture in Amsterdam (1997).
13. **It's tempting to dismiss the notion of highly intelligent machines as mere science fiction, but this would be a mistake, and potentially our worst mistake ever.** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Brief Answers to the Big Questions (2018).
14. **The zero-G part was wonderful and the higher-G part was no problem. I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come!** (0 · ▲3 ▼3) — After his zero-gravity flight (BBC News, 2007).

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.