About seven years later I was given a book about the periodic table of the elements. For the first time I saw the elegance of scientific theory and its predictive power.

I was born in Montreal in 1939, the second son of poor immigrants.

Eight months later, having left Columbia, I was studying physics in a summer program and working in Colorado when I decided to enroll as a graduate student in biophysics.

For our immediate family and relatives, Canada was a land of opportunity.

I spent eighteen months as a graduate student in physics at Columbia University, waiting unhappily for an opportunity to work in a laboratory and wondering if I should continue in physics.

The RNA World referred to an hypothetical stage in the origin of life on Earth.

Nevertheless, as is a frequent occurrence in science, a general hypothesis was constructed from a few specific instances of a phenomenon.

I should mention that while I was growing up, Einstein was presented as a worthy role model for a young boy who was good at his studies.

My intention was to enroll at McGill University but an unexpected series of events led me to study physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

...there’s nothing of any importance in life—except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will come from that. It’s the only measure of human value.

Canada I don't trust. The Canadian government hates me more than the Japanese.

No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied - it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.

Beware! Freedom of speech also includes the freedom to be misunderstood.

I'm gonna get me a gun, all those people who put me down you better get ready to run.

If you carry the weather with you, then character is determined by the prevailing wind

Being part of an agenda beyond ourselves liberates us to complement each other rather than compete with each other.

If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money.

Learn to listen. It's amazing the ideas that pop into your head while people are saying them into your ear.

My musical career was an accident.