I think human society for tens of thousands of years has sent young men out in small groups to do things that are necessary but very dangerous. And they've always gotten killed doing it. And they've always turned it into a matter of honor and a way of gaining acceptance back into society if they survived.

I'm very old-fashioned in some ways because of my father who thought that being a public servant was an honor. Everyone must find a capacity in which they can serve because we all benefit from society.

I used to be a discipline problem which caused me embarrassment until I realized that being a discipline problem in a racist society is sometimes an honor.

The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails they try to poison you. If this fails too the finish by loading honors on your head.

Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.

When we become a really mature grown-up wise society we will put teachers at the center of the community where they belong. We don't honor them enough we don't pay them enough.

Life was a lot simpler when what we honored was father and mother rather than all major credit cards.

Society honors its living conformists and its dead troublemakers.

1988 I also received from the city of Vienna the cross of honour for art and science. These titles and the various honors mean a great deal to me most of all for the reason that they would mean a great deal to my parents too.

As a theoretical physicist I feel at once proud and humble at the thought of the illustrious figures that have preceded me here to receive the greatest of all honors in science the Nobel prize.