What Quotes From A Brief History Of The Time Are Most Famous?

2025-08-28 02:34:42 150

5 Answers

Claire
Claire
2025-08-29 15:38:45
Late one rainy evening I dug 'A Brief History of Time' out from a pile of half-read books and found myself underlining lines that stuck like little lanterns. Two passages people quote endlessly are these: "If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we would know the mind of God." and "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." Those sentences always catch me—part humility, part audacious hope.

Another line I love because it’s cheeky and unforgettable is: "If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?" It reads like Hawking smiling as he nudges readers to think clearly yet playfully about big questions. Rereading these, I felt both comforted and provoked, the way a late-night conversation with a curious friend does. If you haven’t read 'A Brief History of Time' in a while, flip to those passages and see which ones feel alive to you now.
Oliver
Oliver
2025-08-29 20:52:19
Some of the most quoted fragments from 'A Brief History of Time' function almost like philosophical one-liners that slip easily into everyday speech. One is the bold line about understanding the cosmos being akin to "knowing the mind of God," which captures Hawking’s framing of science as a quest for ultimate explanation. Another, more humorous and skeptical, is the time-travel jest: "If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?" That one often pops up in debates about paradoxes and speculative ideas.

Then there’s the quietly astonishing observation about our place in the cosmos—"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe." I find that sentence both grounding and oddly uplifting: it acknowledges our smallness while celebrating our curiosity. Those three lines, taken together, show why the book bridges pop culture and serious thought: they’re compact, memorable, and provoke more questions than they settle.
Selena
Selena
2025-08-31 12:06:28
On my commute I often flip through 'A Brief History of Time' and the lines I see quoted most are the ones that sound like tiny philosophical grenades. The cheeky favorite—"If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?"—gets shared a lot because it’s short and funny, but smart. Then there’s the ambitious, almost poetic claim about finding the ultimate explanation being like "knowing the mind of God," which always sparks heated chats about science and meaning.

I also return to the humble-but-brave passage about humans being "an advanced breed of monkeys" who nonetheless can understand the universe. For everyday motivation, that one is golden: it’s a reminder that curiosity matters, even if we’re small. Makes me want to reread whole chapters and argue with friends over coffee.
Liam
Liam
2025-08-31 15:23:22
Growing up on sci-fi and late-night documentaries made 'A Brief History of Time' feel like a bridge between wonder and math for me. The most famous lines from the book are the ones that get reposted in memes and lecture slides: the famous, slightly theological flourish—"If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God"—and the modest-yet-grand: "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys... But we can understand the Universe." Those capture Hawking’s mix of humility and ambition.

People also love his sense of humor; the "Where are the tourists from the future?" quip about time travel is iconic. What I appreciate is how those quotes act as invitations: they make complex physics feel like a conversation instead of a locked door. When I teach friends basics of cosmology, those lines always open the chat and make the heavy stuff less intimidating.
Yasmin
Yasmin
2025-09-03 02:42:29
I keep a dog-eared copy of 'A Brief History of Time' on my shelf and the short lines that circulate most are the ones that stick in my head: "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys... But we can understand the Universe," the cheeky "If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?", and the striking: "If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God." Each one shows different faces of Hawking—wry, awe-filled, and philosophical. They’re the phrases I quote to friends when the conversation turns to meaning or the strange beauty of science.
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