Molecular genetics, our latest wonder, has taught us to spell out the connectivity of the tree of life in such palpable detail that we may say in plain words, "This riddle of life has been solved."

Any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors.

[Physicists] feel that the field of bacterial viruses is a fine playground for serious children who ask ambitious questions.

No amount of study of present forms [of life] would permit us to infer [the existence of] dinosaurs

A strong feeling of adventure is animating those who are working on bacterial viruses, a feeling that they have a small part in the great drive towards a fundamental problem in biology.

Becoming an author changes your attitude too. Once you see where books come from, and how they're made, they never seem quite as sacred again.

Tennis and golf are best played, not watched.

I think what my parents did was perfect. They were strict, concerned about my safety and held me back just a little.

We gave [Iran] $1.7 billion in cash, which is unheard of, and we put the money up and we have really nothing to show for it.

Lists only spell out the things that can be taken away from us by moths and rust and thieves. If something is valuable, don't put it in a list. Don't even say the words.

I won't mention the word tired. This is the 20th century and I can go around a little faster.

I think that when audiences find a movie that they don't expect to like, it adds great word of mouth.

Art is recuperation from time. I lie back convalescing upon the prospect of a harvest already at hand.

Love is the only path to anything worth doing, creating or pursuing.

You can't mess up. If you do, everyone wants to kill you.