Lawrence M. Krauss Quotes & Sayings

For many, to live in a universe that may have no purpose, and no creator, is unthinkable. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I cannot stress often enough that what science is all about is not proving things to be true but proving them to be false. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I have always felt that, aside from research that violates universal human mores, when it comes to technological applications, that which can be done will be done. — Lawrence M. Krauss

But being uncomfortable is a virtue, not a hindrance. — Lawrence M. Krauss

You shouldn't be afraid of science. Accepting the reality of nature makes life more exciting and even more precious. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Andromeda was discovered to be another island universe, another spiral galaxy almost identical to our own, and one of the more than 100 billion other galaxies that, we now know, exist in our observable universe. — Lawrence M. Krauss

There are a lot of legislators who are afraid that kids will learn science and lose their faith. — Lawrence M. Krauss

There is a maxim about the universe which I always tell my students: That which is not explicitly forbidden is guaranteed to occur. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Indeed, the best answer I have ever heard to the question of what it would be like to be dead (i.e., be nonbeing) is to imagine how it felt to be before you were conceived. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I can't prove that God doesn't exist, but I'd much rather live in a universe without one. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Empty space is a boiling, bubbling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time scale so short that you can't even measure them. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Whatever the evolutionary basis of religion, the xenophobia it now generates is clearly maladaptive. — Lawrence M. Krauss

We should provide the meaning of the universe in the meaning of our own lives. So I think science doesn't necessarily have to get in the way of kind of spiritual fulfillment. — Lawrence M. Krauss

the universe is big and old and, as a result, rare events happen all the time. Go out some night into the woods or desert where you can see stars and hold up your hand to the sky, making a tiny circle between your thumb and forefinger about the size of a dime. Hold it up to a dark patch of the sky where there are no visible stars. In that dark patch, with a large enough telescope of the type we now have in service today, you could discern perhaps 100,000 galaxies, each containing billions of stars. Since supernovae explode once per hundred years per, with 100,000 galaxies in view, you should expect to see, on average, about three stars explode on a given night. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The Bible is full of dubious scientific impossibilities, from Jonah living inside a whale, to the sun standing still in the sky for Joshua. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Forget Jesus. Stars died so you could live. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I like to say that while antimatter may seem strange, it is strange in the sense that Belgians are strange. They are not really strange; it is just that one rarely meets them. — Lawrence M. Krauss

If you have nothing in quantum mechanics, you will always have something. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Now, since the time of Newton there had been a debate about whether light was a wave
that is, a traveling disturbance in some background medium
or a particle, which travels regardless of the presence of a background medium. The observation of Maxwell that electromagnetic waves must exist and that their speed was identical to that of light ended the debate: light was an electromagnetic wave. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Aside from communications satellites, space is devoid of industry. — Lawrence M. Krauss

One of the most poetic facts I know about the universe is that essentially every atom in your body was once inside a star that exploded. Moreover, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than did those in your right. We are all, literally, star children, and our bodies made of stardust. — Lawrence M. Krauss

As Einstein might have put it, only a very malicious (and, therefore, in his mind unimaginable) God would have conspired to have created a universe that so unambiguously points to a Big Bang origin without its having occurred. — Lawrence M. Krauss

It is a shame when nonsense can substitute for fact with impunity. — Lawrence M. Krauss

To be scientifically illiterate is to remain essentially uncultured. And the chief virtue of a cultural activity
be it art, music, literature, or science
is the way it enriches our lives. — Lawrence M. Krauss

We need to live our experience as it is and with our eyes open. The universe is the way it is, whether we like it or not. — Lawrence M. Krauss

For those who find it remarkable that we live in a universe of Something, just wait. Nothingness is heading on a collision course right toward us! — Lawrence M. Krauss

One might rationally argue that individual human beings should be free choose what moral behavior they approve of, and which they don't, subject to the constraints of the law. — Lawrence M. Krauss

No one intuitively understands quantum mechanics because all of our experience involves a world of classical phenomena where, for example, a baseball thrown from pitcher to catcher seems to take just one path, the one described by Newton's laws of motion. Yet at a microscopic level, the universe behaves quite differently. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Without science, everything is a miracle. — Lawrence M. Krauss

More often than you might think, teaching science is inseparable from teaching doubt. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The real thing that physics tell us about the universe is that it's big, rare event happens all the time - including life - and that doesn't mean it's special. — Lawrence M. Krauss

a negative charge moving backward in time is mathematically equivalent to a positive charge moving forward in time! — Lawrence M. Krauss

I hope that every [person] at one point in their life has the opportunity to have something that is at the heart of their being, something so central to their being that if they lose it they won't feel they're human anymore, to be proved wrong because that's the liberation that science provides. The realization that to assume the truth, to assume the answer before you ask the questions leads you nowhere. — Lawrence M. Krauss

If the universe doesn't care about us and if we're an accident in a remote corner of the universe, in some sense it makes us more precious. The meaning in our lives is provided by us; we provide our own meaning. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Indeed, in a strange coincidence, we are living in the only era in the history of the universe when the presence of the dark energy permeating empty space is likely to be detectable. It is true that this era is several hundred billion years long, but in an eternally expanding universe it represents the mere blink of a cosmic eye. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Once you assume a creator and a plan, it makes humans objects in a cruel experiment whereby we are created to be sick and commanded to be well. - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS — Lawrence M. Krauss

Neutrinos alone, among all the known particles, have ethereal properties that are striking and romantic enough both to have inspired a poem by John Updike and to have sent teams of scientists deep underground for 50 years to build huge science-fiction-like contraptions to unravel their mysteries. — Lawrence M. Krauss

[I]n science we have to be particularly cautious about 'why' questions. When we ask, 'Why?' we usually mean 'How?' If we can answer the latter, that generally suffices for our purposes. For example, we might ask: 'Why is the Earth 93 million miles from the Sun?' but what we really probably mean is, 'How is the Earth 93 million miles from the Sun?' That is, we are interested in what physical processes led to the Earth ending up in its present position. 'Why' implicitly suggests purpose, and when we try to understand the solar system in scientific terms, we do not generally ascribe purpose to it. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it — Lawrence M. Krauss

(For those who like to quote Aristotle's wisdom when appealing to his "Prime Mover" argument for the existence of God, let us remember that he also claimed that women had a different number of teeth than men, presumably without bothering to check.) Everything — Lawrence M. Krauss

Nothing can create something all the time due to the laws of quantum mechanics, and it's - it's fascinatingly interesting. — Lawrence M. Krauss

[The writers of the holy books] did not even know the earth revolves around the sun. Why are we listening? — Lawrence M. Krauss

Curiosity-driven research may seem self-indulgent and far from the immediate public good. However, essentially all of our current quality of life, for people living in the first world, has arisen from the fruits of such research, including all the electric power that drives almost every device we use. Two — Lawrence M. Krauss

Life has survived for more than three billion years because it is robust, and almost no mutations can easily outwit the defense mechanisms built up through eons of exposure to potential pathogens. — Lawrence M. Krauss

An electron accelerated to .9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 9999999999999 times the speed of light would hit you with the same impact as a Mack truck traveling at normal speed. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I don't know if science and reason will ultimately help guide humanity to a better and more peaceful future, but I am certain that this belief is part of what keeps the 'Star Trek' fandom going. — Lawrence M. Krauss

90% of the mass in your body comes from empty space. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Whenever one asks "Why?" in science, one actually means "How?". "Why?" is not really a sensible question in science because it usually implies purpose and, as anyone who has been the parent of a small child knows, one can keep on asking "Why?" forever, no matter what the answer to the previous question. Ultimately, the only way to end the conversation seems to be to say "Because! — Lawrence M. Krauss

The date here is very interesting, because, as far as I can determine, the first Star Trek episode to refer to a black hole, which it called a "black star," was aired in 1967 before Wheeler ever used the term in public. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Their mutual gravitational attraction will ultimately cause them to collapse inward, in manifest disagreement with an apparently static universe. — Lawrence M. Krauss

People say to me, "Are you looking for the ultimate laws of physics?" No, I'm not. I'm just looking to find out more about the world, and if it turns out there is a simple ultimate law that explains everything, so be it. That would be very nice to discover. If it turns out it's like an onion with millions of layers, and we're sick and tired of looking at layers, then that's the way it is ... My interest in science is to simply find out more about the world, and the more I find out, the better it is. I like to find out. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Lack of comfort means we are on the threshold of new insights. — Lawrence M. Krauss

What science is all about is a process. It's like saying, "Well, is it important for people to know that World War II happened?" Well it's part of what makes us who we are. And so, there's basic bits of science we need to know. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I've told you two things : First, you're much more insignificant than you ever imagined and second, the future is miserable. But you should be happy, because we may live in a universe without purpose but that means the purpose in our lives is the purpose we create. And we should consider ourselves fortunate to have evolved in this place in the middle of nowhere and evolved a consciousness so we can understand the universe from the earliest moments of the big bang to the far future. So instead of being depressed, you should enjoy your brief moment in the sun. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The really important thing is learning how to sceptically question and rely on empirical evidence. — Lawrence M. Krauss

For the record: Quantum mechanics does not deny the existence of objective reality. Nor does it imply that mere thoughts can change external events. Effects still require causes, so if you want to change the universe, you need to act on it. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Feynman once said, 'Science is imagination in a straitjacket.' It is ironic that in the case of quantum mechanics, the people without the straitjackets are generally the nuts. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The rise of a ubiquitous Internet, along with 24-hour news channels has, in some sense, had the opposite effect from what many might have hoped such free and open access to information would have had. It has instead provided free and open access, without the traditional media filters, to a barrage of disinformation. — Lawrence M. Krauss

A truly open mind means forcing our imaginations to conform to the evidence of reality, and not vice versa. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Imagining living in a universe without purpose may prepare us to better face reality head on. I cannot see that this is such a bad thing. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The forces that govern our experience, electromagnetism and gravity, are blind to the distinction between left and right. No process moderated by either force can turn something such as your right hand into its mirror image. I cannot — Lawrence M. Krauss

Does this prove that our universe arose from nothing? Of course not. But it does take us one rather large step closer to the plausibility of such a scenario. And it removes one more of the objections that might have been leveled against the argument of creation from nothing as described in the previous chapter. There, "nothing" meant empty but preexisting space combined with fixed and well-known laws of physics. Now the requirement of space has been removed. But, remarkably, as we shall next discuss, even the laws of physics may not be necessary or required. — Lawrence M. Krauss

If you ask religious believers why they believe, you may find a few "sophisticated" theologians who will talk about God as the "Ground of all Isness," or as "a metaphor for interpersonal fellowship" or some such evasion. But the majority of believers leap, more honestly and vulnerably, to a version of the argument from design or the argument from first cause. Philosophers of the caliber of David Hume didn't need to rise from their armchairs to demonstrate the fatal weakness of all such argument: they beg the question of the Creator's origin. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The lack of understanding of something is not evidence for God. It's evidence of a lack of understanding. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Religious leaders need to be held accountable for their ideas. — Lawrence M. Krauss

At the heart of quantum mechanics is a rule that sometimes governs politicians or CEOs - as long as no one is watching, anything goes. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Forget Jesus, the stars died so you could be born. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Metaphysical speculation is independent of the physical validity of the Big Bang itself and is irrelevant to our understanding of it. — Lawrence M. Krauss

We now know that we are more insignificant than we ever imagined. If you get rid of everything we see, the universe is essentially the same. We constitute a 1 percent bit of pollution in a universe ... we are completely irrelevant. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Keeping religion immune from criticism is both unwarranted and dangerous. — Lawrence M. Krauss

While the nature of this radiation will give no information whatsoever on what fell into the black hole, — Lawrence M. Krauss

Particle physicists are way ahead of cosmologists. Cosmology has produced one totally mysterious quantity: the energy of empty space, about which we understand virtually nothing. However, particle physics has not understood many more quantities for far longer! — Lawrence M. Krauss

nature is more imaginative than we are. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The fact is that people would rather cling when they're afraid of something to a priori beliefs than rather open their minds about it. — Lawrence M. Krauss

To me, what philosophy does best is reflect on knowledge that's generated in other areas. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Five hundred years of science have liberated humanity from the shackles of enforced ignorance. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Everyone (with the exception of certain school boards in the United States) now knows that the universe is not static but is expanding and that the expansion began in an incredibly hot, dense Big Bang approximately 13.72 billion years ago. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The one experience that I hope every student has at some point in their lives is to have some belief you profoundly, deeply hold, proved to be wrong because that is the most eye-opening experience you can have, and as a scientist, to me, is the most exciting experience I can ever have. — Lawrence M. Krauss

To the extent that we even understand string theory, it may imply a massive number of possible different universes with different laws of physics in each universe, and there may be no way of distinguishing between them or saying why the laws of physics are the way they are. And if I can predict anything, then I haven't explained anything. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Science is not just there for technology. It's part of what addressing who you are in the universe and understanding your place in the cosmos. Good art, good literature, good music - all of that is for that and science is a part of it. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Science is only truly consistent with an atheistic worldview with regards to the claimed miracles of the gods of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. — Lawrence M. Krauss

When it comes to the real operational issues that govern our understanding of physical reality, ontological definitions of classical philosophers are, in my opinion, sterile. — Lawrence M. Krauss

To argue that, in a universe in which there seems to be no purpose, our existence is without meaning or value is unparalleled solipsism, as it suggests that without us the universe is worthless. The greatest gift that science can give us is to allow us to overcome our need to be the center of existence even as we learn to appreciate the wonder of the accident we are privileged to witness. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Occam's razor suggests that, if some event is physically plausible, we don't need recourse to more extraordinary claims for its being. Surely the requirement of an all-powerful deity who somehow exists outside of our universe, or multiverse, while at the same time governing what goes on inside it, is one such claim. It should thus be a claim of last, rather than first, resort. — Lawrence M. Krauss

My area of research is something that in all fairness has no practical usability whatsoever and the thing is I'm often asked to apologize for that. It is interesting to me that people ask 'what's the point of doing that if it's not useful?' But they never ask that, or do they very rarely ask that about art or literature or music. Those things are not gonna produce a better toaster. — Lawrence M. Krauss

We live at a very special time ... the only time when we can observationally verify that we live at a very special time! — Lawrence M. Krauss

If our species is to survive, our future will probably require outposts beyond our own planet. — Lawrence M. Krauss

What people believe impacts on what they do. And it's not as if religion is universally bad. Of course it's responsible for many peoples doing good actions. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The universe has a much greater imagination than we do, which is why the real story of the universe is far more interesting than any of the fairy tales we have invented to describe it. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The universe is the way it is , whether we like
it or not. The existence or nonexistence of a creator is independent
of our desires . A world without God or purpose may seem harsh
or pointless, but that alone doesn ' t require God to actually exist. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Philosophy used to be a field that had content, but then natural philosophy became physics, and physics has only continued to make inroads. Every time theres a leap in physics, it encroaches on these areas that philosophers have carefully sequestered away to themselves, and so then you have this natural resentment on the part of philosophers. — Lawrence M. Krauss

If we wish to draw philosophical conclusions about our own existence, our significance, and the significance of the universe itself, our conclusions should be based on empirical knowledge. A truly open mind means forcing our imaginations to conform to the evidence of reality, and not vice versa, whether or not we like the implications. — Lawrence M. Krauss

You are all stardust. — Lawrence M. Krauss

I don't make any claims to answer any questions that science cannot answer, and I have tried very carefully within the text to define what I mean by "nothing" and "something." If those definitions differ from those you would like to adopt, so be it. Write your own book. But don't discount the remarkable human adventure that is modern science because it doesn't console you. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Of course, supernatural acts are what miracles are all about. They are, after all, precisely those things that circumvent the laws of nature. A god who can create the laws of nature can presumably also circumvent them at will. Although why they would have been circumvented so liberally thousands of years ago, before the invention of modern communication instruments that could have recorded them, and not today, is still something to wonder about. — Lawrence M. Krauss

Most people don't base their morality on religion in spite what they say. If you ask people, "If you didn't believe in God, would you go out and kill your neighbour?" Most people will say, "No". — Lawrence M. Krauss

This makes it sound as if light has intentionality, and I resisted the temptation to say light considers all paths and chooses the one that takes the least time because I fully expect that Deepak Chopra would later quote me as implying that light has consciousness. — Lawrence M. Krauss

The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. — Lawrence M. Krauss

A significant fraction of evangelical voters appear more likely to ignore the candidates' specific economic and foreign policy platforms in favor of concerns about gay marriage or abortion. — Lawrence M. Krauss

In this sense, science, as physicist Steven Weinberg has emphasized, does not make it impossible to believe in God, but rather makes it possible to not believe in God. Without science, everything is a miracle. With science, there remains the possibility that nothing is. Religious belief in this case becomes less and less necessary, and also less and less relevant. — Lawrence M. Krauss