Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.

Purpose is what gives life a meaning.

If I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned—if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?

Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

I can't say that my disability has helped my work, but it has allowed me to concentrate on research without having to lecture or sit on boring committees.

I have a full and satisfying life. My work and my family are very important to me.