“If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't.”

“Most information doesn’t constitute a story. Think of a telephone directory: lots of information, strong cast, but a bit weak on narrative. What counts in a story is its meaning. And that’s a very different concept from information.”

“Only three constants are significant for star formation: the gravitational constant, the fine structure constant, and a constant that governs nuclear reaction rates.”

“If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't.”

“St. Bernard said, ‘Every word one writes smites the Devil.”