Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant.

Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves.

It's easier to change what you do than people think it is. If you don't change, your field changes around you.

Biology will relate every human gene to the genes of other animals and bacteria, to this great chain of being.

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

The interaction of the variation in our genes is what's responsible for lots of our attributes and vigor.

We haven't been able yet to determine in terms of genes what makes a human being a human and not another mammal.

Three billion bases of DNA sequence can be put on a single compact disc and one will be able to pull a CD out of one's pocket and say, 'Here is a human being; it's me!'

The community as a whole doesn't listen patiently to critics who adopt alternative viewpoints. Although the great lesson of history is that knowledge develops through the conflict of viewpoints.

The human's place in the universe will be set in the scheme of evolution, the product of our biological inheritance.

We are embedded in a biological world and related to the organisms around us.

Nothing is hard or simple

When a deposit bottle is broken, you don't get your nickel back.

The Constitution created a framework, not a Ouija board, precisely because the Framers understood that prospect of a nation ruled for centuries by dead prophets would be the very opposite of freedom.

I lie! I cheat! I steal!

Whether the ice caps melt, or expand - whatever happens - the anthropogenic global warming theorists claim it confirms their theory. A perfect example of a pseudo-science like astrology.

I don't believe in happiness anyway... it's too much of an American pastime, this search for happiness. Just forget happiness and enjoy your misery.

If precious metals had been abundant, they would not have been precious.

Humor is like a frog; if you dissect it, it dies.

Have you ever gotten breathless before from a beautiful face, for i see you there, my dear.

I'm enjoying my years, I'm enjoying my life, I'm enjoying my family. I'm just happy - a happy person.