The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible.

I cannot understand why we idle discussing religion. If we are honest—and scientists have to be—we must admit that religion is a jumble of false assertions, with no basis in reality. The very idea of...

If one is working from the point of view of getting beauty into one’s equation, … one is on a sure line of progress.

The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research.

Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star.