For millions of years, mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk and we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible. Mankind's greatest achievements have come about by talking, and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn't have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future. With the technology at our disposal, the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking. Stephen Hawking
About This Quote

In this quote, the speaker makes a reference to the power of human imagination. In general, imagination allows humans to imagine new things and create new ideas. Without imagination, humans would have been limited to the things they could physically see. As a result, mankind would have remained part of the animal kingdom forever.

With imagination, humans were able to start building their own houses and cities. The ability of human beings to imagine what the future could be is what has allowed them to jump from one generation of technology to another. The speaker concludes this thought by saying that mankind needs to continue talking about the future if it wants to achieve these types of advancements into the future.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they... - Neil Degrasse Tyson
  2. And sometimes I believe your relentless analysis of June leaves something out, which is your feeling for her beyond knowledge, or in spite of knowledge. I often see how you sob over what you destroy, how you want to stop and just worship; and you... - Unknown
  3. The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. - Isaac Asimov
  4. I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here. - Arthur C. Clarke
  5. A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. - Charles Darwin
More Quotes By Stephen Hawking
  1. I think computer viruses should count as life ... I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image.
  2. I have noticed that even those who assert that everything is predestined and that we can change nothing about it still look both ways before they cross the street
  3. My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.", December 12, 2004)]
  4. When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in. It’s like asking directions to the...
  5. We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
Related Topics