I don't have much positive to say about motor neuron disease, but it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I still could do. I'm happier now than before I developed the condition.

No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.

My view is that at a younger age your optimism is more and you have more imagination etc. You have less bias.

Certainly, I've never wanted to live on past achievements.

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.