Quotes from Alan Lightman

Thus, to explain what we see in the world and in our mental deductions, we must believe in what we cannot prove.

The universe could be infinite in extent, but we cannot see beyond a certain distance because there hasn't been enough time since the Big Bang for light to have traveled from there to here.

Because of the hazy, nondefinite character of quantum physics (called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle), at the dimensions of the Planck length, space and time churn and seethe, with the distance between any two points wildly fluctuating from moment to moment, and time randomly speeding and slowing, perhaps even going backward and forward. In such a situation, time and space no longer exist in a way that has meaning to us.

Don't we owe that young woman, and all of our children, a world in which their contemplative lives are valued and supported? Don't we owe it to ourselves?

Is this happy coincidence just good luck, or an act of providence, or what? No, it is simply that we could not live on planets without such properties. Many other planets exist that are not so hospitable to life, such as Uranus, where the temperature is –371 degrees Fahrenheit, or Venus, where the rain is sulfuric acid.

A small number of residents in each city have stopped caring whether they age a few seconds faster than their neighbors. These adventuresome souls come down to the lower world for days at a time, lounge under the trees that grow in the valleys, swim leisurely in the lakes that lie at warmer altitudes, roll on level ground. They hardly look at their watches and cannot tell you if it is Monday or Thursday. When the others rush by them and scoff, they just smile.

So trivial are the traces of different natures that remain [in people]…that nothing hinders our living a life worthy of gods.

His dreams have taken hold of his research. His dreams have worn him out, exhausted him so that he sometimes cannot tell whether he is awake or asleep.

Without ever hearing it spoken out loud, we budding scientists simply embraced a principle I call the Central Doctrine of Science: All properties and events in the physical universe are governed by laws, and those laws hold true at every time and place in the universe. Graduate

T]he truth is I write by ear, always with difficulty and seldom with any exact notion of what is taking place under the hood.

It is not easily summoned. It does not follow the clock. It cannot be rushed. It withers and fades under external schedules and noise and assignments. Rather, it lollygags along on its own; it sprawls in the sun, taking its own time. Divergent thinking is associated with play, creativity, and curiosity.

I would argue, however, that in most and perhaps all forms of creative activity, an unencumbered, unregimented, inward-looking mind is required at certain points—a mind that has unplugged from the wired world.

But too often we dread being stuck. Especially our students and young people. We believe that if we are stuck we have failed. On the contrary, we should welcome getting stuck. We should embrace getting stuck. That's when discovery begins.

Theoretical physics is the deepest and purest branch of science. It is the outpost of science closest to philosophy, and religion. Experimental scientists occupy themselves with observing and measuring the cosmos, finding out what stuff exists, no matter how strange that stuff may be. Theoretical physicists, on the other hand, are not satisfied with observing the universe. They want to know why .

It is the celebration of privacy and solitude. It is the willingness to follow one's own thoughts. It is the indulgence of play and unscheduled time.

They draw strength from being alone while they create or explore new worlds. They need that aloneness. They have developed the habit of mind to accept and seek out that aloneness. Sometimes, they must push back against their society to get what they need.

For me the big questions about life are: 1. How should I live in the world? 2. Why should I live this way?

A world in which time is absolute is a world of consolation. For while the movements of people are unpredictable, the movement of time is predictable. While people can be doubted, time cannot be doubted. While people brood, time skips without looking back.

Where are they now, as he sits at his bedside table, listening to the sound of his running bath, vaguely perceiving the change in the light.

like the luminescence of the night above the trees just when a rising moon has touched the treeline.

Most religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, subscribe to an interventionist view of God. ...all of these religions, at least in their orthodox expressions, are incompatible with science. This is as far as one gets with a purely logical analysis. Except for a God who sits down after the universe begins, all other Gods conflict with the assumptions of science.

At the present time... we certainly do not know all the laws of nature, and it is a good bet that most of our current formulations of those laws will be revised in the future. Yet the great majority of scientists believe that a complete and final set of laws governing all physical phenomena exists, and that we are making continual progress toward discovery of those laws.

A Presbyterian minister recently said to me that science and religion share a sense of wonder. I agree.

Einstein leans over to Besso, who is also short, and says, I want to understand time because I want to get close to The Old One.