--- title: Quotes: Stephen Hawking’s Life Philosophy description: "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet" canonical: https://time.com/4045560/stephen-hawking-quotes/ author: Business Insider article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-25T21:03:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:23.099Z og:title: 12 Quotes That Perfectly Sum Up Stephen Hawking’s Life Philosophy og:description: "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet" og:url: https://time.com/4045560/stephen-hawking-quotes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 12 Quotes That Perfectly Sum Up Stephen Hawking’s Life Philosophy twitter:description: "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 12 Quotes That Perfectly Sum Up Stephen Hawking’s Life Philosophy by [Drake Baer / Business Insider](https://time.com/author/business-insider/) ## Drake Baer / Business Insider Sep 25, 2015 9:03 PM UTC by [Drake Baer / Business Insider](https://time.com/author/business-insider/) ## Drake Baer / Business Insider Sep 25, 2015 9:03 PM UTC When he was 21, Stephen Hawking learned he had motor neurone disease. Doctors told him he had a few years to live. He’s now 72 and one of the foremost physicists alive — a professor at the University of Cambridge, an [investigator of black holes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking%5Fradiation), and the author of the bestselling book, [_A Brief History of Time_](http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Time-Stephen-Hawking/dp/0553380168?tag=bisafetynet-20). Here are a dozen quotes showing Hawking’s approach to science and to life. ### On Disability “My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit, as well as physically.” — [The New York _Times_, 2011](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/science/10hawking.html?pagewanted=all&%5Fr=2&) _More from Business Insider:_ * [19 hard things you need to do to be successful](http://www.businessinsider.com/hard-things-you-need-to-do-to-be-successful-2014-1) * [5 times the best leaders say no](http://www.businessinsider.com/5-times-the-best-leaders-say-no-2015-9) * [21 signs you’re mentally stronger than average](http://www.businessinsider.com/signs-you-are-mentally-strong-2015-9) * [7 small habits that can make you luckier](http://www.businessinsider.com/7-small-habits-that-can-make-you-luckier-2015-9) * [Why attitude is more important than IQ](http://www.businessinsider.com/why-attitude-is-more-important-than-iq-2015-9) ### On Priorities “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.” — [_Stephen Hawking’s Universe_, 1985](http://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Hawkings-Universe-John-Boslough/dp/0688035302/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407851952&sr=1-1&keywords=stephen+hawking%27s+universe+boslough) ### On Free Will “I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.” — [_Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays_, 1994](http://www.amazon.com/Black-Holes-Universes-Other-Essays/dp/0553374117) ### On Humor “Life would be tragic if it weren’t funny.” — [The New York Times _Magazine_, 2004](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/12QUESTIONS.html) ### On His IQ “I have no idea. People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.” — [The New York Times _Magazine_, 2004](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/magazine/12QUESTIONS.html) ### On What He Think About All Day “Women. They are a complete mystery.” — [The New Scientist, 2012](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328460.500-stephen-hawking-at-70-exclusive-interview.html#.U-of7oBdWZE) ### His Advice to His Three Children “One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.” — [ABC News, 2010](http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Technology/stephen-hawking-religion-science-win/story?id=10830164&page=2) ### On Why He Writes for a Popular Audience “I put a lot of effort into writing [_A Briefer History_](http://www.amazon.com/Briefer-History-Time-Stephen-Hawking/dp/0553385461/) at a time when I was critically ill with pneumonia because I think that it’s important for scientists to explain their work, particularly in cosmology. This now answers many questions once asked of religion.” — [_The Guardian_, 2005](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/27/scienceandnature.highereducationprofile) ### On the Value of String Theory “When we understand string theory, we will know how the universe began. It won’t have much effect on how we live, but it is important to understand where we come from and what we can expect to find as we explore.” — [_The Guardian_, 2005](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/27/scienceandnature.highereducationprofile) ### On His Health “When I was first diagnosed with ALS, I was given two years to live. Now 45 years later, I am doing pretty well.” — [CNN, 2010](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/10/lkl.01.html) ### On God “God may exist, but science can explain the universe without a need for a creator.” — [CNN, 2010](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1009/10/lkl.01.html) ### On Hitting Roadblocks “It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years.” — [_The Guardian_, 2005](http://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/27/scienceandnature.highereducationprofile) _This_ [_article_](http://www.businessinsider.com/stephen-hawking-quotes-2014-8?op=1) _originally appeared on_ [_Business Insider_](http://www.businessinsider.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4045560/stephen-hawking-quotes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4045560/stephen-hawking-quotes/"},"headline":"12 Quotes That Perfectly Sum Up Stephen Hawking’s Life Philosophy","datePublished":"2015-09-25T21:03:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:23.099Z","description":"\"Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet\"","url":"https://time.com/4045560/stephen-hawking-quotes/","keywords":["Living","Stephen Hawking","Science topic","advice"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Drake Baer / Business Insider"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4045560/stephen-hawking-quotes/","name":"12 Quotes That Perfectly Sum Up Stephen Hawking’s Life Philosophy"}}]}] ```