There is a coherent plan to the universe, though I don't know what it's a plan for.

Fred Hoyle

Once I had learnt my twelve times table (at the age of three) it was downhill all the way.

Fred Hoyle

It is ironic that the scientific facts throw Darwin out, but leave William Paley, a figure of fun to the scientific world for more than a century, still in the tournament with a chance of being the ultimate winner.

Fred Hoyle

The further back we go, the greater the difference from external appearances and behavior patterns which we observe today.

Fred Hoyle

Things are the way they are because they were the way they were.

Fred Hoyle

It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare.

Fred Hoyle

What is so difficult to achieve is the cultural background that permits potential greatness to be converted into actual greatness.

Fred Hoyle

When I was young, the old regarded me as an outrageous young fellow, and now that I'm old the young regard me as an outrageous old fellow.

Fred Hoyle

Going further back, we share a common ancestry with our fellow primates; and going still further back, we share a common ancestry with all other living creatures and plants down to the simplest microbe.

Fred Hoyle

Words are like harpoons. Once they go in, they are very hard to pull out.

Fred Hoyle

I have always thought it curious that, while most scientists claim to eschew religion, it actually dominates their thoughts more than it does the clergy.

Fred Hoyle

In short there is not a shred of objective evidence to support the hypothesis that life began in an organic soup here on the Earth.

Fred Hoyle