QuoteProject
Sometimes I wonder if I'm as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.
Stephen Hawking
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Stephen Hawking reflects on how his physical challenges may overshadow his scientific achievements.

In this quote, Stephen Hawking expresses the duality of his public persona, pondering whether his disabilities and the wheelchair he uses define him more than his groundbreaking work in physics. This highlights the societal tendency to focus on an individual's perceived limitations rather than their accomplishments, ultimately prompting a conversation about fame, identity, and the essence of one's legacy.

Themes

FameDisabilityIdentityAchievementsChallenges

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a motivational speech about overcoming challenges.

More from Stephen Hawking

We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Stephen HawkingRead
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
Stephen HawkingRead
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Stephen HawkingRead
The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.
Stephen HawkingRead
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
Stephen HawkingRead

Similar quotes

In the 1920s and 1930s, scientists from both the political left and right would not have found the idea of designer babies particularly dangerous - though, of course, they would not have used that phrase.
Richard DawkinsRead
Molecular evidense suggests that our common ancestor with the chimpanzees lived, in Africa, between 5 and 7 million years ago, say half a million generations ago. This is not long by evolutionary standards.
Richard DawkinsRead
Cancer is not one disease but many diseases.
Siddhartha MukherjeeRead
Why is there space rather than no space? Why is space three-dimensional? Why is space big? We have a lot of room to move around in. How come it's not tiny? We have no consensus about these things. We're still exploring them.
Leonard SusskindRead
I fell in love with the elegance and precision of genetic analysis and experimentation to answer profound biological questions.
David SuzukiRead
Thus science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths; neither with the collection of observations, nor with the invention of experiments, but with the critical discussion of myths, and of magical techniques and practices.
Karl PopperRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.