The doctor who diagnosed me with ALS, or motor neuron disease, told me that it would kill me in two or three years.

Some forms of motor neuron disease are genetically linked, but I have no indication that my kind is. No other member of my family has had it. But I would be in favour of abortion if there was a high risk.

My three children have brought me great joy.

I have wanted to fly into space for many years, but never imagined it would really be feasible.

I was born on January 8, 1942, exactly three hundred years after the death of Galileo. I estimate, however, that about two hundred thousand other babies were also born that day. I don't know whether any of them was later interested in astronomy.

Some people live more in twenty year than others do in eighty. It's not the time that matters, it's the person. - The Doctor