Of all the failed technologies that litter the onward march of science - steam carriages zeppelins armoured trains - none has been so catastrophic to prosperity as the last century's attempt to generate electricity from nuclear fission.

Einstein was searching for String Theory. It not only reconciles General Relativity to Quantum Mechanics but it reconciles Science and the Bible as well.

Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction but Einstein's general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.

Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is of course living in a state of sin.

I hate facts. I always say the chief end of man is to form general propositions - adding that no general proposition is worth a damn.

I believe in general in a dualism between facts and the ideas of those facts in human heads.

A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

I only really watch sport. That's where you see real joy. I don't like watching much else on TV because it's generally either twisted or sad.

My father comes from a generation of film that actors my age don't even know about which is really sad.

When I did the film Generations in which the character died I felt like a guest for the first time. That made me very sad.

People say the 'Lost Generation' in a romantic sense but I think it was tragic. They were really lost.

More generally I made an effort to leave out things that weren't relevant to the main narrative themes of the book namely that there were two sides to Steve Jobs: the romantic poetic countercultural rebel on one side and the serious businessperson on the other.

I think that the romantic impulse is in all of us and that sometimes we live it for a short time but it's not part of a sensible way of living. It's a heroic path and it generally ends dangerously.

I had these kind of unrealistic expectations that were fueled by romantic comedies and it has both helped me and hurt me in many ways. It helped me because in general they've made me hopeful. I just figure things will eventually work out for me. But nobody is like any Tom Hanks character. Nobody is Hugh Grant. No one is Meg Ryan!

I think in general romantic comedies tend to take one person's point of view but every once in a while you get something that is balanced for two people.

I'm a feminist but I think that romance has been taken away a bit for my generation. I think what people connect with in novels is this idea of an overpowering encompassing love - and it being more important and special than anything and everything else.

About the twenty-third year of my age I had many fresh and heavenly openings in respect to the care and providence of the Almighty over his creatures in general and over man as the most noble amongst those which are visible.

They all matter to me whether I'm working on a Sam Jackson film for a week or I'm the star of my own TV series - I take it all very seriously and I have a healthy respect for the work in general despite the role.

General Musharraf needs my participation to give credibility to the electoral process as well as to respect the fundamental right of all those who wish to vote for me.

The respect for human rights essential if we are to use technology wisely is not something alien that must be grafted onto science. On the contrary it is integral to science as also to scholarship in general.

There are some people whose opinion I value and respect and it would be very bothersome if I forfeited their respect. But the general public? I'm not preoccupied with the opinions of others.

As a politician you have to deal with someone wanting you to fail every day. I think I prefer being in a situation where generally people are rooting for me and if they aren't rooting for me they aren't out there to see my downfall. I respect the people who have the stomach for it.

I think the new generation is much more demanding about respect for the environment than we have ever imagined.

I've always had great respect for Paddington because he is amusingly English and eccentric. He is a great British institution and my generation grew up with the books and then Michael Horden's animations.