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Bodies like the earth are not made to move on curved orbits by a force called gravity; instead, they follow the nearest thing to a straight path in a curved space, which is called a geodesic. A geodesic is the shortest (or longest) path between two nearby points.

— Stephen Hawking A Brief History of Time (1988)

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Science

More quotes by Stephen Hawking

Although September 11 was horrible, it didn't threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do.

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.

A Brief History of Time (1988)

I still believe there are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end of the search for the ultimate laws of nature.

A Brief History of Time (1988)

Disorder increases with time because we measure time in the direction in which disorder increases.

A Brief History of Time (1988)

In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Henri Poincaré Science and Hypothesis (1901)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Stephen Hawking (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.