Science moves with the spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and by the belief that the truth, once found, would be simple as well as pretty.

Science seldom proceeds in the straightforward logical manner imagined by outsiders. Instead, its steps forward (and sometimes backward) are often very human events in which personalities and cultural traditions play major roles.

I would only once have the opportunity to let my scientific career encompass a path from the double helix to the three billion steps of the human genome.

Take young researchers, put them together in virtual seclusion, give them an unprecedented degree of freedom and turn up the pressure by fostering competitiveness.

I'm too old to know everything

I think the reason people are dealing with science less well now than 50 years ago is that it has become so complicated.