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Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory.

— Stephen Hawking A Brief History of Time (1988)

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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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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.